1010. Chapter 1010

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).

"Demming is already dead. We defeated his army of pirates last year. My wife, Lady Katherine, and her mother, Lady Johanna, were….dishonored by Demming. And Lady Johanna was murdered by him. When we caught him, he was castrated and then burned at the stake."

Hamid shook his head slowly and sadly. "You did not stretch him on the rack? No iron maiden? No bastinado? How sad."

Castle smiled. "We were in a battle at the time and we needed to hurry so we could get back to the fight. It seemed best at the time. However, I personally castrated the man and my wife, Lady Katherine, set the fire herself."

Hamid smiled hugely. "And to think that people think the English aren't civilized."

"Who else do you seek?"

"That Greek witch who calls herself Xanthippe. She captained the ship that took us off the coast of Greece. I had my two youngest sons with me. They were too young to pull an oar, so she castrated them. She wears their manhoods in her hair."

"I know of her. We fought her pirates. We killed many, but she was wise enough to lead from the rear. She escaped. But, should I capture her, she'll be executed."

Hamid changed the subject. "What are your plans for the five Liburnians you've taken?"

"The ships will go towards re-establishing the Istrian navy."

"Who will crew for you?"

"My archers are strong men. They should be able to pull an oar."

Hamid smiled. "You have no knowledge of the sea, do you?"

Castle nodded. "Very little, I fear."

"Rowing a warship is much more difficult than you imagine. You need to get some seventy two men rowing in perfect harmony, otherwise it's complete chaos. And there's more to sailing than just pulling an oar. The men that you've freed are largely seamen and all are experienced oarsmen. I would suggest you arm the men and offer them pay to hunt the pirates. You'll now need ships to fight the pirates. Having been defeated twice on land, they won't face you again. They'll flee to offshore islands where your mounted men cannot follow. Or, they'll simply sail about in the sea and wait for you to return to Pola."

Castle thought for a bit. "We can pick up weapons from the pirates we killed. We have taken loot from the pirates that we can use to pay the men. There is enough to give each man some gold coins. But will they agree to go back to sea after having been freed?"

"If you will put me in command of your navy, I'm sure I can talk the men into it."

Castle held out his hand. "Done."

Hamid took it. "Sir Richard Castle, I now serve you and the Company of Saint Katherine of England. And His Grace, the Duke of Istria."

Hamid began talking to the men who had been on the ship he had served on. Most had reservations, although hunting pirates appealed to all of them. Hamid had the shackles torn out of the five ships and thrown into the sea, and also offered weapons taken from the pirates to anyone who wanted one, whether they agreed to go back to sea or not. Those who agreed, we're given a few coins. Eventually, almost all of the rowers agreed.

They spent three days building up the men's strength with good food and treating their injuries. On the fourth day, Hamid decided to take a Liburnian out with the healthiest men and as many archers as could be crowded onto the ship. Castle and Kate went as well.

They were hardly out of sight of the shore when a problem Castle had not expected emerged. His archers began rushing to the sides of the ship and vomiting into the sea, much to the delight of the oarsmen.

Castle himself felt a little queasy, but was determined not to give in. He stood by the ship's only mast and looked stoically ahead.

Kate on the other hand was enjoying herself immensely. She ran all over the ship, asking what everything was and how it worked. Then she took Rick's hand and dragged him all over the ship showing him this and that. Oddly, Castle found that when his mind was occupied with Kate and her constant descriptions of the ship and its parts, he had no time to be seasick.

"The biggest problem with a galley is its large crew and the lack of space to carry enough food and water for so many men." She said, pointing to casks of water and barrels of salted fish in the small hold. "After a few days at sea, a ship must either return to a friendly port, or beach itself so that the crew can go ashore and get provisions by whatever means they can. In addition, the ships are very lightly built so that they can be rowed faster. So, beaching a ship repeatedly can cause accumulated damage and eventually the ship has to be abandoned. Usually, they're burned so that the valuable iron nails can be recovered."

Castle nodded and wished he was back on land.

After several hours, the archers began to get better, either because they had nothing left in their stomachs or because they were becoming used to the sea. By late afternoon, Hamid had the ship back in port.

As the oarsmen grew stronger from their improved diet and lack of abuse, the other four ships were taken out with different archers, crossbowmen, spearmen and knights. As the ships began to work as a unit, Hamid started exercising them as a squadron.

"We are an unusual squadron." Hamid told Castle as the five ships sailed together. "Most local pirates depend on the swiftness of their ships to overhaul their prey and then overwhelm them by boarding. With your archers, we can stand off and decimate the pirates. This was what you English did to the French at the battle of Sluys, more than twenty years ago."

"Can we do the same now? With these ships?"

"That is what we will find out. There is a small island some ten leagues off the coast a bit south of here. It has a freshwater spring and several villages that are friendly to the pirates. I suggest we raid it."

Castle decided that he would take fifty archers, thirty spearmen and twenty men at arms on each ship for the raid. The rest of his army would take an abandoned town near their island target so that they would have a nearby friendly port to return to. Castle went with the ships and, in spite of much arguing, Kate accompanied him.

The five ships approached the island. They could see three small ships beached by what Hamid said was the largest town on the island.

"No one seems to care that we're headed right for them." Castle muttered.

The soldiers were mostly laying down so as to not be seen from the shore. A few, dressed in shabby seamen's clothing, or in looted finery, strutted about on deck as if they were pirates.

Hamid, dressed in a long, bright green robe, took a long swig of well watered wine. He did make an excellent pirate captain, Castle thought. He wondered what Hamid had done for the Ottoman Turks to make him so valuable to the Sultan.

"We look like pirates. In fact, we have ships that they know are pirate craft. As far as they're concerned, we're just a small squadron that's been out raiding. The villages are imagining that we'll be looking to turn our loot into wine and women."

Something tipped the villagers and their pirate friends off, however. Someone pointed at the ships when they were two hundred yards from shore and everyone began to run. Some went to arm themselves and some went to hide.

"Bowmen! Up and at 'em!" Castle yelled.

The bowmen on the five ships leapt to their feet and began loosing their arrows. In spite of their training at sea over the last few days, the motion of the ships effected their accuracy. Although Castle had told them to shoot only men, there were women and even children who were hit.

The pirates who had rushed to arm themselves massed on the beach, clashing their swords against their shields and screaming at the oncoming ships.

All five ships beached within seconds of each other. The archers remained on the ships, providing covering fire while the men at arms and spearmen leapt into the shallow surf and formed up on the beach. The well armed and armored men at arms were in front and the lightly equipped spearmen formed up behind them.

Within seconds the mass of pirates who had taken up arms fled. Only a few were caught and killed before the bulk of the pirates and villagers disappeared into the interior of the island.

Castle jumped down from the ship, closely followed by Kate. Kate at once ran to a young boy whose leg had been pierced by an arrow. As she approached, he slashed at her with a small knife. One of the archers grabbed the boy's arm and wrenched the knife away from him.

"She's trying to help ye, ye daft idjit." The man screamed.

The child replied with a torrent of abuse in Italian which made Kate blush. As she knelt to try to remove the arrow, a woman ran to the boy's side and tried to pull him away. She screamed at Kate, pulling on the boy, until two spearmen dragged her away. They held her a few feet away, still screaming at Kate.

Kate was joined by Father Ryan who was carrying a pouch of bandages and medicine. Between them, they removed the arrow and patched up the wound. The boy hobbled back to his mother, who promptly kicked the good father between the legs.

"Why are they like that?" Kate asked.

Hamid, who had come ashore as well, replied. "The usual result of a pirate raid, or any kind of a raid, is for everyone to be either killed or enslaved. The mother probably thought you helped the boy so that he'd be a more valuable slave."

Kate just shook her head.

Castle walked over to see how his wife was.

"Are you all right?"

"I suppose." She replied.

Castle nodded and turned to Hamid. "What about the three ships we've captured?"

Hamid spat. "We can use them. Load all of the food and loot we find on them and take it all back to the main army on the mainland. Maybe we can use the ships later, but they're rather small."

The soldiers spread out among the buildings in the small town to gather food and any loot that might still be about. But, as the remaining women and children discovered that they weren't going to be murdered, raped or enslaved, they began to fight back. An archer who had gone into a house to search it, was chased out by an old woman who batted him about the head with an old broom. The archer drew his dagger, but Castle stopped the man. As soon as the women saw that, they became more aggressive. Soon, there was a mass of women and children standing between the soldiers and the town. And, the solders began to be bombarded with chunks of firewood, old pots and pig shit. Things were getting very ugly.