Accompanied earl ordered guards around (8)
I believe the answer is:
escorted
'accompanied' is the definition.
(escorting is a kind of accompanying)
'earl ordered guards around' is the wordplay.
'earl' becomes 'e'.
'ordered' becomes 'sorted' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'guards' indicates putting letters inside.
'around' becomes 'c' (abbreviation for 'circa').
'sorted' going around 'c' is 'scorted'.
'e'+'scorted'='ESCORTED'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for escorted that I've seen before include "Accompanied" , "as bride comes up the aisle" .)