1008. Chapter 1008

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).

Seventy stratiotes and a hundred archers rode into the village from three sides, making sure no one got away to warn others. An old man came out and bowed low to Castle.

"Great Lord, I am Michelangelo, the chief of this village. We are simple fishermen here. Yes, we sell our fish to the pirates who infest this coast. We sell other foods to them, and to our eternal shame, some of our young men have run off to be pirates. But we are honest men. Please spare our village. We have so little…."Michelangelo began to cry.

Castle felt sorry for the old man and was about to tell his troops to leave them alone.

Huw, however, spoke up." There's a ship being built on the south side of the village. It's no fishing boat. It's a fast galley, a liburnian. A lightly built warship with two banks of oars, eighteen oars to a side and two men to each oar. That's seventy two men, far too many for a fishing expedition."

Michelangelo nodded sorrowfully. "Yes, Lord, the pirates force us to do these things for them. I beg of you, do not harm my village, we are poor but honest people."

"I doubt that." Said a female voice.

Castle turned to see Alexis coming towards them from out of the village with clothing under her arm.

"This poor but honest village chieftain dresses his wife in silk gowns. And, from the looks of it, he dresses a younger woman as well. And he provides them with jewelry. We have carved ivory from Africa, gold and silver bracelets and this red stone. I've seen it before. It's called coral and it comes from far, far away. And it's very valuable." Alexis walked to her horse and began putting the gowns and the jewelry in her saddlebags."

"Anything taken in a chevauchee is divided up equally among the soldiers." Castle said.

Alexis turned and smiled at him. "I am not a soldier, and I think that if I had not recognized these people for what they are, you would have nothing. I propose that I get the silk gowns, jewelry and the coral. The rest can be divided up among the company." Alexis held the young woman's silk gown up against her slender frame. Castle could see that the gown was nearly translucent. Alexis winked at him. "Surely none of your men will want to wear this. Or look as good in it as I do."

That caused a ripple of laughter among the men. "Let her have the gown." Several men cried.

Castle nodded. "You may have it, but only if you don't wear it on the chevauchee."

Alexis nodded slyly. "So, Sir Richard, you don't want me to wear a gown?" She waited a beat. "At all?"

Castle made no answer, but began ordering the destruction of the town.

The villagers were allowed to take a few days food and wine with them on the assumption that their men would be back in a few days. Before they were allowed to leave, they were searched. Almost all had tried to hide coins, jewelry or other valuables on their persons. Martha and Alexis checked the women. To the delight of the soldiers, the two redheads seemed to know every trick in smuggling valuables. By the time the villagers were permitted to leave, the company had a small stash of loot and food and wine for several days.

"Sir Richard!" Called an archer, "You must come. The village priest will not allow us to search the church, even though Father Ryan has assured him that no sacrilege will be done."

Castle followed the archer to a ramshackle church. A shabby and rather poorly dressed priest stood in front to the door, his arms outstretched, preventing anyone from passing. He as arguing with Father Ryan.

"My people are sinners, Father. I do not dispute that. But the church is holy, or at least it should be held as such by any proper Christian."

"Father Federico, we merely wish to make sure than none of your sinners have further sinned by using the church to hide their loot."

"They have not." Father Federico said boldly. "And you will have to kill me to get past me."

"No we won't" Castle said, picking up the priest and putting him down between to large archers. Then he opened the door.

"Well, Father Ryan, we don't have to worry that some sinning villagers have used the church to hide their loot."

"My, my." Said the Irish priest. "Silken vestments, and altar cloths. Golden candlesticks, a silver salver and some rather nice cups. The workmanship is exquisite. And there appears to be a rather large amount of wine here. I should think they could say Mass for the whole village for many years before they drank all of the wine here."

"And the poor box appears to be overflowing." Sir Richard added, pointing to baskets full of coins, jewelry and gems. He called to the archers at the door. "Bring the packhorses here. We'll load them and then burn the village."

As he walked past the village priest, Castle was spat upon. "You may be able to steal our goods now, captain, but once the people of this land get after you, you'll sing a different tune."

Castle just laughed and strode away. Once out of earshot of the priest, he called Fox over. "Make sure no one brags that we are a large army. If the pirates think we're a small band, they'll come after us. That'll be easier than us having to hunt them down."

The village was well afire when Castle led his troops back towards the main army. As they rode away, the villagers screamed threats and curses at them from a hill. The priest seemed to have the most colorful invective.

Alexis rode up beside Rick and Kate. "You should have given us more time to search the village. They'll have more hidden away in their homes, which will be ash now, unless it's gold or silver. That'll just melt. And they'll have the most valuable things buried. Given some time and a bit of encouragement, I could have doubled or tripled our take."

Rick glared at the redhead. "We are here to drive pirates from the lands near Istria, not to get rich."

Alexis smiled sweetly. "There's no reason we can't do both."

That night, the army camped in a small valley. From the hills around the valley, they could see villages along the coast burning. The stratiotes were doing their part.

"You don't like this part of war, do you?" Kate asked, putting her arms around her husband.

"Sometimes it seems better to fight men who have taken up the calling of arms. But, today, although men lost their homes, their goods and their valuables, everyone is still alive. Perhaps this is a better way."

The next seaside village they came to had received warning of an army's approach.

"Sir Richard, the stratiotes have checked the village." Fox told him. "There's nothing here. There's no food, no wine, no gold, silver or jewels. The church is empty as are the houses."

"Someone ran all night to get here before we did. Where did they go, though?"

Paleologos answered that. "There are fresh marks in the sand showing small galleys being pulled ashore. The pirates based in this village boarded their ships and sailed away. Taking everything with them."

"Then we'll burn the village as it is." He turned to Fox, "Will, make sure the rest of the army stays away from the seashore. If possible, we want the pirates to think we're a small band of raiders, not a full army."

"Do you think anyone here will still believe that?"

Castle shrugged. "We might get lucky."

With nothing to do but burn the village, that job was soon done. Castle moved his army away from the seacoast by a few miles and headed for the next town. That town was also deserted, but the army was lucky. The town was located a few miles from the sea on the banks of a small river. It couldn't be seen from the sea. The army settled in for the night, glad to have roofs over their heads, even if Castle insisted that no fires be lit.

Castle spoke with his captains. "It's natural for pirates to flee to the sea when they're threatened. They'll stay out of the sight of land in the daytime, but will probably come closer to shore to try and find where we are. I've sent a hundred archers and a hundred stratiotes back to the village we burned today with orders to light big campfires and then return here. With any luck, the towns that are next for us will get reports we're farther away than we are and we'll catch them unawares."

How unaware the pirates were, was proven later that night when a patrol brought in two armed men.

"They were found blundering around to the north of us. They're sailors for sure. No one else could make so much noise while trying to find an enemy." Huw muttered as he brought the two men, who were blindfolded, into Castle's tent.

The blindfolds were taken off and the two men were forced to their knees. "Tell us the truth and you'll live. Otherwise, you'll face the fate of all captured pirates."

"It would be better if you surrendered to us." One man said. "Some of you might be of use to us. But him," He gestured at Castle, "him, we'll kill. Very slowly."

Castle laughed. "I don't think that you are that dangerous."

The man laughed back. "It's not us. Father Federico, whose church you burned, got a horse and he's preaching to all the towns and villages to band together and fight you. The other priests are taking up the call."

"We've already seen what happens to pirates when faced with English archers."

"We have a leader who we'll follow to the death. Her name is Xanthippe and she's as big and as strong as you. She'll cut your manhood off and wear it in her hair once its properly dried. She'll cut off the balls of any man who offends her. She has lots and lots of them. Just imagine seeing your balls ride away in her hair, Englishman."

"But she'll have to beat us first. That may be a problem."

The second man spat. "There are two thousand brave men coming for you, Englishman. A few hundred bowmen can't stop them and by the time we catch you, there will be thousands more."

"They've been very cooperative. Tie them up and put a guard on them. We'll take them with us tomorrow."

When the sun rose the next morning and the pirates saw the strength of Castle's army, their attitude changed. But not by much.

"You English bastard! You've lied to us. You have thousands of men."

Castle nodded. "And I'll be sure to let you go after the battle. That way, everyone will assume you helped me with my little deception. You might want to consider a change in career."