1009. Chapter 1009

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).

The army, all mounted on horseback, began to move. The five hundred stratiotes were in the van, searching in front of the army for the pirates. Then came the best mounted of the five hundred archers, a hundred or so, followed by those archers riding poorer quality horses. Then the spearmen. Behind them were the mounted knights and men at arms, then the baggage, either pack horses or light carts. Lastly were the crossbowmen, encumbered with their spare crossbows and pavises.

It didn't take too long for the first patrol to report in. The horseman spoke to Lady Kate, who translated for Castle.

"The pirates' army is headed this way. He says that there are more than four thousand and that he can see a dust cloud close behind them indicating another force is hurrying to catch up to them."

"What about scouts?" Castle asked. "Do the pirates have scouts out? I don't want them finding out how strong we really are."

Kate spoke with the rider, and as she did another rider arrived. There was a short three way conversation and then Kate spoke again.

"The first man said the pirates are moving like a mob. They apparently believe that their numbers are large enough to overwhelm the small force of archers and cavalry they expect. The second rider says that the first mob has stopped to allow the other force to catch up."

Castle called over his captains, including Fox, Paleologos, several local scouts that had stayed with the main army and the leader of his heavy cavalry, Jock Tait of Teviotdale.

With Kate, Castle and his captains tried to plan the best way to destroy the pirate army. In the end, the plan was quite simple.

"Captain Tait, do you think your one hundred and fifty men at arms can finish this off once the trap is sprung?"

Tait was a tall and very muscular man in his late thirties. His hair and beard were black as were his eyes. He blackened his own armor and the armor of his men. He came from the borderlands between England and Scotland. Like many of the border lords, he had lands and family on both sides of the border. He served either England or Scotland based solely on which served his own interests best. He was a wild and dangerous man who had apparently managed to enrage powerful men on both sides of the border. Too many men wanted him dead for him to remain on the border. He had gathered his followers and fled to the English army in France. During the war, Edward III fond him too useful to send back to England to answer for his crimes. But with the coming of a truce between France and England, Tait knew he must move on. Istria seemed far enough away from both England and Scotland.

Tait laughed. "Let my men get amongst them while they're running from an English arrow storm and we'll slaughter them like sheep."

That night a patrol of fifty stratiotes set fire to an abandoned seacoast village. The stratiotes made sure that not only the village was set on fire, but trees surrounding the village were as well. The conflagration was easily visible to the pirates' army.

As dawn began to break, the stratiotes, who had rested their horses at night headed straight for the pirates. They rode out of the tree line in a straggling line, just a few hundred yards ahead of the pirates. Seemingly surprised, they rode away from their enemy up a small valley.

Those pirates on horseback, no more than fifty men, chased after them. As the chase went on, the pirates gained on the light horsemen as it seemed their horses were tired. That made the pirates spur their horses all the harder. But, somehow, they hardly gained an inch on their fleeing foes.

Behind them, the pirates on foot broke into a run. Those who were young and strong, or lightly armed and armored, began to draw away from the rest. Soon the pirates were strung out along the floor of the valley.

The stratiotes rode up a small ridge, then stopped near the top. They drew their short bows and began to fire volleys of arrows at the mounted pirates. Surprised, the pirates stopped or turned, changing their charge into a mass of struggling horses and men. Thirty or more pirates fell and the rest rode rapidly back to their friends.

The stratiotes rode down the ridge and began to kill the wounded pirates and loot their bodies, This allowed the mass of pirate foot to almost catch up to them. The stratiotes began yelling and clumsily mounting their horses. Several ignored the yells of their comrades to flee and continued to loot the dead until the great mass of pirates was within a hundred yards. At last the horsemen fled and disappeared over the ridge.

No sooner had the stratiotes disappeared than their places were taken by a long line of archers, crossbowmen and spearmen. Looking down at the pirates, they unleashed a barrage of arrows and bolts as well as one odd weapon that shot smoke and flame at the pirates.

The pirates were stunned for several seconds as hundreds of missiles slammed into them. Then they ran. The ran in all directions except towards their enemy. Most ran back the way they had come.

Behind them, a line of men at arms, armored in black, rode from the trees and into the valley, forming a long line with each rider knee to knee with his fellows. They began to walk towards the pirates who stopped and then headed for the trees on either side of the valley. Tait's men moved to a trot and then a canter. When they were within thirty yards of the pirates, the riders galloped. They slammed into the mass of pirates piercing them with lance, sword or axe. Some used a mace to shatter the heads of the pirates.

Once through the mass of running pirates, Tait formed his men up again and charged just as Castle's infantry started down the hill. The running pirates soon found that the stratiotes had formed up behind them. As the heavy cavalry charged through the pirates again, the stratiotes rode to the flanks to keep the pirates from gaining the apparent safety of the trees. But, those who made it to the trees found the woods full of spearmen.

If they had been a disciplined army, the pirates might have been able to fight their way clear, but as a leaderless mob, they were doomed.

"The bitch got away!" Tait raged as he rode up to Castle. "I saw her. That Xanthippe. She had the brains to ride at the back of her army. She let us ride over her army and then ran. By the time I got out of the melee, she had too much of a head start. No damned woman threatens to wear my manhood as her jewelry. Damn her eyes."

Castle would have liked to have chased down Xanthippe and what was left of her shattered army, but too many men were engaged in the time honored custom of looting the dead. After first making sure they were dead, of course.

After an hour, a lone stratiote rode up and reported to Kate in broken Italian. Kate translated to Rick and his captains.

"His patrol rode along the seacoast not more than five miles south of here. There's a deserted village on a small inlet. He says he doesn't think it can be seen from the sea and it would be hard to see from the land due to the hills."

Castle nodded. "We'll burn it tomorrow." He said tiredly.

"That's not the important part. There are five war galleys beached there."

"Then we'll go now." He turned to his captains. "Get your men together. We're going to get a navy for Istria."

Rick and Kate managed to get together a force of several hundred mounted archers and most of Tait's men and headed for the small port. The captains that remained behind chivvied their troops together to follow as soon as they could.

They found the patrol watching from a stand of trees overlooking the port. A stratiote bowed to Castle.

"No people in ville. No burn. See ships."

That seemed to be the extent of both his knowledge and his English. Castle clapped him on the shoulder and smiled at him.

"Very good. Buono."

They rode down into the little port and found that, indeed, there were no people there. There were also no valuables left, nor any food.

"What's that?" Kate asked, hearing an odd wailing.

"The wind?" Castle said.

"It's coming from the ships."

As they rode closer to the ships, the wailing became more intense. An athletic young archer jumped from his horse and swung aboard the ship.

"Slaves. There are slaves here chained to their benches." He called down.

Castle could hear more yelling from the ships.

"Rick, they're calling for water. The pirates just left them here."

Castle stood in his stirrups and called to his men. "Get well watered wine for these men. Anything liquid you can find. Hurry. And look for hammers and chisels to free them."

There was a smithy in the little port, but the blacksmith had taken all of his tools. However, an archer named Red Tom worked as a farrier for extra coin. He had both a hammer and a chisel that he used to shoe horses. He began to free the galley slaves one at a time as others gave them drink.

The stratiotes told the men in Italian, Greek, Albanian and many other languages that they had been rescued by the famous English knight, Sir Richard Castle, whose army was harrying the local pirates.

As Castle watched the freed men jump down on the sand and look about them, he was approached by a tall, well muscled and heavily bearded man.

"Excuse me, but did they say that you're English?"

Castle nodded. "Sir Richard Castle, leader of the Company of Saint Katherine of England, serving His Grace Duke Rodrigo of Istria."

The man bowed. "I am Hamid ibn Jinnah. I serve the Ottoman Sultan, Orhan the Warrior. Or I did, until my most unfortunate capture. These men have been starved and beaten for a long time. They need food."

"My army is some miles away, and we have food. However, we don't have much. All of us will be on short rations."

Hamid smiled. "The pirates took their gold and other valuables with them, but the food they hid in a cave just down the beach. I can lead your men to it."

Castle sent fifty archers with Hamid and they came back loaded down with loaves of bread, smoked hams, salted fish, dried fruits and several large tuns of wine.

Huw smiled at Castle as they passed. "There's a lot more food back there, Sir Richard. We can feed the army for several days with what we found."

The archers and freed slaves pulled down several houses for firewood and began to cook the food. Several ex-slaves found tools in the galleys to free their fellows. Soon a feast was in progress.

Hamid, holding a large sausage in his hand, approached Castle.

"I am a man of some substance, Sir Richard. The Sultan will pay well for my safe return."

"I didn't take you prisoner, so as far as I'm concerned, you may return to your master. However, I have my mission to fulfill. You and the others will have to make their way home however they can."

"And what is your mission, if I may ask."

"Duke Rodrigo has ordered me to harry the pirates that threaten Istria and teach them the power of the Duke."

Hamid scratched his long beard. "I have set myself a similar mission. I wish to track down and kill two pirates. One is named Demming and he is English, or so I have been told."