1006. Chapter 1006

After Much Ado About Murder

Episode 8.20

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: He who hath no stomach for this fanfic, let him depart, his passport shall be made, But no crowns for convoy will be put in his purse as I make no money from this. Rating: K. Time: See above. (and below).

"Please, Don Ricardo, it would be easier if I was simple Pedro del Valle while in your army. And I will show you what an arbalest is." Del Valle dismounted and took a bundle off of his pack horse. As soon as he unwrapped the canvas around it, Castle saw what an arbalest was.

"A crossbow with a steel bow instead of wood?" He asked.

"Yes, Don Ricardo. The bows on my two arbalests are made from the finest steel from Toledo. It will shoot farther and harder than a mere crossbow."

"But I imagine it's far more expensive." Castle said.

"I'm afraid so. And it has another problem." Del Valle removed an odd looking device from his pack horse. It appeared to be some sort of small winch.

"You need to cock it with a winch?" Castle guessed.

Don Pedro nodded. "I prefer to call the device a windlass, but you are correct." He hooked one end over the butt of the crossbow and attached a hook at the other end to the crossbow's string. Then he wound the windlass and the bowstring was drawn back. "There, done. But with a helper and my two arbalests, I can maintain a decent rate of fire. But watch." El Valle looked around. "Do you see that bare tree some five hundred paces or more from here."

Castle nodded.

Before Castle could say anything, del Valle raised his weapon and fired. Castle heard a distinct thunk and could see bark flying from the tree. "Can any of your longbowmen or crossbowmen make that shot?"

"None could have hit a target at that range, I'll admit. I think you would be worth two crossbowmen. Shall we say six ducats a month?"

"I would fight for you for food and crossbow bolts to kill these pirates."

"But you will take the gold, I assume?"

Del Valle smiled. "I shall."

"We have an Aragonese crossbow company led by Don Javier de Esposito. Would that be acceptable?"

"Of course."

"And we can find a spearman to cock your other weapon."

"Even better."

Castle motioned to a page who he used as a messenger. "James, take Don Pedro to Captain de Esposito. Then take him to Father Ryan and have Don Pedro sign a contract."

"Por favor, Don Ricardo. Please refer to me as Pedro del Valle."

Castle nodded and the men rode off.

It took three days to pass through the territory devastated by de Braquenne's army. They found only a few villages and they had few people, as most were too frightened to return from Pola. They did find wrecked villages, the only inhabitants of which were the bones of the dead.

Riding through one such village, Castle stood up in his stirrups and looked around him. "None of our patrols have seen any sign of enemy cavalry. If I were them, I'd have patrols out keeping an eye out for an approaching enemy."

"But they are not you." Kate said. "They're pirates, not soldiers. Any real soldiers left when de Braquenne was defeated. The only horsemen around are local bandits. They know there's nothing left to steal here, so they don't come here. And pirates don't worry about fighting on land. They know little about it and after the beating Demming's pirates took, they want nothing to do with anything but the sea."

"Reasonable, I suppose."

"Perhaps I should ask for a contract with the famous Sir Richard Castle?" Kate teased. "I could be Captain Lady Katherine Beckett-Castle, chief of explaining Italy and the Balkans to Sir Richard."

"May I remind you that you do have a contract. One that lasts until death do us part."

Kate laughed. "Exactly the contract I wanted"

Things changed on the fourth day.

A patrol came in riding hard and fast. The leader came to an abrupt halt in front of Castle. Another rider came up next to him and began speaking in Italian to Kate. She listened and then turned to Rick.

"We've found our first enemies. It's an old fort that's been taken over by some local bandit chief. It guards the only bridge across the river that we need to cross."

"What can they tell me about the castle and its garrison?"

There was more discussion, then Kate spoke to Castle again. "It's called the Roman fort, and it probably was once Roman before the Western Empire fell. After that it was Byzantine, but has been held by mostly bandits the last fifty or so years. Lorenzo, he's one of Fox's scouts, says it's rectangular with four towers at the corners, but one tower is badly damaged. There's no moat, but there is a large door, big enough for three horsemen to ride abreast."

"What of the garrison?"

"It's held by a German who calls himself Graf von Schiller, although he certainly isn't a count or any other kind of nobility. In addition to his own men, he gives shelter to other bandits. For a price, of course. He has perhaps a hundred of his own men and up to fifty other men."

"Can we go around it? We have no siege train, so even a small fort will be hard to take."

Kate began talking to Lorenzo again. "The river here is narrow and deep. He says we'd have to go twenty miles out of our way in either direction. The bridge is quite narrow, so our army would take many casualties if we tried to just push across without taking the fort."

"I need to go see it for myself."

Later that night, Rick and a half a dozen archers lay in a small grove of trees not fifty yards from the fort.

"Sounds like they're having fun." Huw of Llandovery said, listening to the drunken laughter coming from the fort.

The night pierced by a female scream.

"Not everyone, I'd guess." Fox said.

"I only saw one sentry on the far tower and he's headed back inside the tower. He could be asleep." Castle broke in.

"I've seen no one on the damaged tower." Huw replied. Three of the towers stood ten feet above the walls of the fort, but the damaged tower was now level with the walls. "We could attack there."

Castle nodded and smiled in the dark. "I could lead a small group to the…." He felt Huw's hand on his shoulder.

"Sir Richard, your good lady would gut me like a fish if I let you complete that sentence. Your place is not leading a daring assault on that fort. It's my place."

Castle said nothing for several seconds. "I'd not want you gutted, Huw."

An hour later the moon had gone down. Huw and a dozen archers, dressed in dark clothing moved through the underbrush as silently as they could. Once at the base of the damaged tower, Huw threw a grappling hook up, only to have it come falling down and clatter on the wall as it fell.

"Jesus, man. Can you no throw better than that?" Muttered an archer.

Hum threw again and this time the hook caught hold. Huw gave it a good tug, then scrambled up the wall, followed by his men. Once on top. Huw looked around. He could see no sign of a sentry anywhere. Once his men were up, they headed for the tower nearest the door.

They found the sentry there sound asleep and quick dagger work made sure of him. Then they went down the stars and found the door. A simple wooden bar held it closed. They lifted the bar and opened the door. When it was halfway open, there was a shriek of rusted hinges. They heard someone yell something and then footsteps coming to them.

Huw went through the door and yelled. "It's open. Hurry! Hurry!"

Castle, wearing his full plate armor at Kate's insistence led the well armored and well armed men at arms, now on foot, towards the door. As they rushed in they could hear yelling and the clash of arms. He had intended to lead the men at arms, but he found that more and more of them were running past him and he was soon in the middle of the pack.

Entering the fort, all was chaos. The bandits were mostly drunk and unarmed. That didn't save the ones who were slow. The bulk of the bandits were jumping over the walls and running for their lives. Castle knew that the stratiote had surrounded the place and would finish off any who got out of the fort.

"Sir Richard!" Yelled a man at arms. "We've found the leader, Schiller. This way, sir."

Schiller was sprawled naked at the foot of a stairway with a sword in his hand. Two women were standing over him, battering his dead body with clubs and screaming in a language he didn't understand. Castle suddenly realized that there were a lot of female screaming in the fort.

He found Kate, dressed in her armor, trying to talk to fifty or more women, all of whom were shouting in various languages.

"What's happening, Kate?"

She turned to him and smiled. "These are women who were kidnapped from local villages, or taken by pirates from ships and sold as slaves. They've been sexually assaulted by these bandits and many others. "They are terrified of us and want to go home. But I can't get them to stop screaming long enough to try to explain anything to them."

Castle thought. "Find one who's screaming in Italian, take her away from this mob, give her some food and drink and then explain that we mean them no harm. Once she understands, get another one. As the Italians begin to calm down, the others will, too. Eventually, we'll make them all understand."

Kate stood on her toes and kissed her husband. The kiss was interrupted by Huw.

"Sir Richard?"

Castle broke the kiss and Kate hurried off. "Yes, Huw?"

"We've found two people in some cells under the main keep."

"So, release them."

"They won't go. One is apparently a leper."

"Take me to them."

The cells stank, but that wasn't what kept Castle's troops away. It was fear of leprosy. Four bowmen stood as far from the cells as they could manage.

"Give me a torch." Castle demanded.

"Sir, you shouldn't go in there." An archer said, crossing himself repeatedly.

"I'll be careful."

As Castle headed to the occupied cell, he heard the ringing of a bell and the cry of, "Unclean. Unclean."

He found a niche for the torch by the cell door and observed the two. One was standing in a long, shapeless gown. His face was obscured by a long, grey beard and equally long and grey hair. Perched on his head was a tall hat covered with odd designs. The other was crouched behind the standing man. Little could be seen other than pustules and rotting flesh.

"Stay back, good sir." The man said in a deep, sepulchral voice. "I am Ibn ben Witan, and I come from the lands of the Great Cham and the lands of Prester John beyond that, almost to the borders of the Hind and the land of the Chin. I am a philosopher, an astrologer, a thaumaturgist, and a seer into the mysteries of mankind. My grandson is afflicted with leprosy, I fear and even my great powers cannot cure him. Please leave us alone so that we may continue our journey to a monastery that cares for poor unfortunates like my grandson."

As soon as Castle heard the voice he knew what he had to do.