1036. Chapter 1036

After Much Ado About Murder

Part Three

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: The game's afoot. Follow your spirit and upon this fanfic, cry," God for Istria, England and Lady Katherine." Rating: K Time: Immediately following After Much Ado About Murder, Part Two.

"What can we do to hurry that downfall, Cardinal?" Castle asked.

"Very little, I'm afraid, my son. The bureaucracy here in Rome moves slowly and sometimes not at all. I am doing what I can to get Vaughn recalled or to have his orders changed, but this takes time."

"So all we can do is wait?" Castle said.

"There are great powers involved here, and lesser powers. The English, although you have a treaty of peace with France, have no desire to see a Church led by France. Neither does the Holy Roman Empire. It is said, although I cannot say if it is true, that King Louis, the Great of Hungary, covets the Duchy of Carniola which would bring him close to the borders of Venice. Likewise, it is said that the Dukes of Austria covet the Tyrol and Carinthia, which Venice also covets. Much may come of this, or very little, as each party has other enemies they must concern themselves with."

"Then we shall wait." Kate said, rising. "We shall take up no more of your valuable time, Your Grace."

Once outside of the Cardinal's residence and remounted, Castle shook his head. "I have no head for politics. None at all."

Kate took his hand. "You do have a head for what's right and what's wrong. Let others, such as Cardinal Benedetto, handle the politics." However, when she said this, she glanced quickly at Lady Alexis who nodded almost imperceptibly.

Preparing to return to their villa, Rick and Kate led the way, followed by Alexis and Father Ryan, then the soldiers, all in a ragged line. They had to squeeze past a cart delivering food to the Cardinal's palazzo, but just as Rick and Kate passed the cart, three armed men on horseback exploded out of an alley. Rick had no time to draw his sword, but grabbed Kate around her waist and hauled her by main force out of her saddle, then both fell to the ground. But not before Rick felt a searing pain in his head.

Huw of Llandovery put an arrow into the chest of one attacker, but the other two whirled their horses about and ran for it. Before Huw could loose a second arrow, something flew from Lady Alexis' hand and struck one of the attackers in the side. He fell from his horse while the third escaped down a narrow alley. By the time Castle's troops reached the alley, it was empty.

"Back to Sir Richard and Lady Katherine." Huw cried.

A dozen guards had rushed from Cardinal Benedetto' palazzo quickly followed by Sister Sophia and another sister. Shortly after that, Cardinal Benedetto himself arrived.

But the first one to the wounded assailant was Lady Alexis, who delivered a kick to his head.

"Sir Richard, Lady Katherine? Are you injured?" Asked the Cardinal.

"I'm not but my husband is bleeding from the head. He needs help."

Benedetto turned to one of his guards. "Get Father Angelo, the herbalist, to look after Sir Richard. And Lady Katherine."

Sister Sophia knelt by the wounded man. "Sister Brigitta and I will look after this one."

"I should like to assist." Lady Alexis said.

"I don't think that what we do is suitable for the eyes of a gently born English lady."

Lady Alexis pulled the slender dagger from the villain's side, and lifting her skirt, returned it to the scabbard which was strapped to her thigh. "I think I can be of assistance."

Sister Sophia smiled. "I believe you can be."

Father Angelo was a rather stout priest who ran as fast as he could with a look of concern on his face. "Please step back and let me look at my patient." He said softly. Everyone did move back but Kate stayed close enough to hold her husband's hand.

Father Angelo knelt and examined Richard. "Hmm." He said, followed by, "Mmmm."

"What is it?" Kate demanded.

"He does have a nasty gash on his head, but the skull appears undamaged, which is good. "Get a stretcher and bring him to the infirmary."

Two servants brought a stretcher and carried Sir Richard inside, with Kate still holding his hand. Sister Sophia and Alexis had already left with the wounded attacker.

Kate stayed with her husband. "What are you doing?" She demanded of Father Angelo.

"Washing my hands in brandy. It seems to keep the corruption away, or so says the famous herbalist, Father John of York. I have found it a help myself. I have written to Father John, but have yet to receive a reply. Not unusual given the distance from Rome to York." Father Angelo leant over Rick and inhaled. "Do you and your husband bathe?"

"Yes."

"Daily?"

"Not when we're on campaign. Why?"

"Some say that bathing disturbs the body's humors, but our Roman ancestors bathed daily and it did them no harm. I recommend you bathe as often as possible."

Father Angelo began to work on Rick, cleaning the gash on his head, then sewing it up and rubbing a potion on the wound. Lastly, he put a clean linen bandage on the wound.

Castle moaned and opened his eyes. "Kate? Where's Kate?"

"Right here, lover." She gripped his hand tightly.

"I fear I need to give Sir Richard a bit of brandy with a drop or two of the juice of the poppy to help him rest and recover."

Lady Alexis, Father Ryan, Sister Sophia, Huw and several other of Castle's troops came in.

"Lady Katherine, we have interrogated the man we caught." Lady Alexis reported. "His name is Antonio Crespi, a former soldier who was lamed and became a cutthroat. He had little to tell us. He and his friends were approached by a man in a dark tavern. The man kept his hat down to cover his face. From his accent they thought him a Roman, of the servant class. He knows nothing of the man aside from that. The one who got away is called Paulo the Bull, and he's probably twenty miles away by now and still riding hard."

Father Angelo interrupted. "I should like to keep Sir Richard here for the night and perhaps until noon tomorrow to be sure, but it appears he'll suffer no ill effects from his injury."

"Thank you." Kate said softly. She turned to Alexis. "Can I talk to this cutthroat?"

Alexis shook her head. "He died of loss of blood."

Kate frowned. "His injury did not seem so severe."

Lady Alexis shrugged. "I suppose it was when I sliced his manhood off and shoved it down his throat."

"Lady Alexis is quite devoted to you and to Sir Richard." Sister Sophia said.

"Yes, she is, isn't she?" Kate replied softly.

Castle, now asleep from the juice of the poppy, was carried to a magnificent bedroom in Cardinal Benedetto's pallazo. Four of his archers laid him carefully on the bed.

"There will be four men outside of your door all night, Lady Katherine." Huw said. "And I have sent to bring half of our company here to guard Sir Richard."

Alexis approached Kate. "And I'll see if I can learn anything of this Crespi fellow and his associate Paulo the Bull."

Kate sat by Rick's bedside, holding his hand and holding a dagger in her other hand for the whole night. She did not fall asleep until an hour before dawn.

"Kate?" Rick mumbled, well past dawn.

"How are you, lover?"

"My head hurts. What happened? I remember we were going back to the villa and then…nothing."

Kate explained what had happened.

"And you're all right?" Castle asked anxiously.

"Much better now that you are awake."

Kate called Father Angelo who examined Castle closely. "There is no damage to the skull and no corruption to the soft tissue. I believe a large breakfast is in order. "

"Are you sure my husband can eat now?"

Father Angelo smiled and rubbed his large stomach. "The breakfast I had in mind was for me. But your good husband can eat as well." And with that, he left.

They remained at the villa for another two days. With each day, Castle was more and more anxious to go back to Rome and see Cardinal Benedetto. Kate, Alexis, Father Ryan and Huw were equally determined that Castle would have sufficient time to recover.

"Why can't I ride into Rome to see Cardinal Benedetto?" Castle asked over breakfast, which Kate still insisted he eat in bed. "I'm fine. Father Angelo says I'm fine. I feel fine. I should go to see the Cardinal now."

"Sir Richard Castle?" The speaker was a young page in the gold and blue livery of Cardinal Benedetto. "A thousand pardons for interrupting your repast, but Cardinal Benedetto is on his way here. He should arrive in approximately two hours' time."

Castle swung his legs out of bed. "I need to bathe and shave. And have clean clothes. I can't meet a Cardinal looking like this. And we need to prepare the villa for His Eminence."

Castle and, indeed, all of the villa and all of the people in it were spic and span and ready for the Cardinal.

The Cardinal arrived in a gilded coach drawn by a team of six magnificent bays, with two coachmen and a boy riding postillion, with two footmen on the back of the carriage. The carriage was surrounded by thirty knights in gleaming plate armor with a dozen mounted crossbowmen also in attendance.

As the carriage came to a halt, the footmen leapt to the ground and placed a set of steps under the carriage's door so the Cardinal could alight with ease. He did so, followed by Sister Sophia, who somehow managed to display a considerable amount of her legs as she dismounted the carriage.

"Your legs are better." Castle whispered to his wife. Kate blushed.

"Sir Richard!" Cried the Cardinal. "So good to see you up and about. I have been sending couriers back and forth from here to Rome keeping myself informed of your progress. Come, let us talk. With your good lady and with Father Ryan as well." Seeing Alexis glare at him, Cardinal Benedetto laughed. "Perhaps I should have said your ladies: Your good wife and her cousin, Lady Alexis."

Once inside, refreshments were served and Cardinal Benedetto told them his news. "There is good news and there is bad news, Sir Richard."

"Perhaps the good news first?" Rick said.

"Louis the Great, King of Hungary, has won a great victory over the Wallachians in the east. This will free his armies to move to the west to confront Venice. Also, you will recall that Venice sent a fleet to Aegean Sea and the eastern Mediterranean to attack Genoese ships and trading bases there. Their fleet fought with the Turks and were smashed. Genoa can now bring its naval power to bear in the Adriatic Sea against Venice directly."

"And the bad news?" Alexis asked.

"All of this will take time. It will not be until spring that the Hungarians will be able to march to the west and it will take about the same amount of time for the Genoese fleet to be recalled and made ready. In the meantime, Venice appears to want to take Istria before her enemies can converge on her. Vaughn delivered an ultimatum to Duke Rodrigo: Surrender to Venice now or Venice will attack. Duke Rodrigo tried to stall, but Vaughn has left Pola and advised everyone that there will be war between Venice and Istria quite soon. I'm afraid, Sir Richard, you need to return to Istria and face battle once again."

Castle nodded. "I'm not happy to leave for battle again, but it is my duty."

"Sir Richard, I am sending an escort of knights and crossbowmen with you as far as the port of Ravenna. The mountains in central Italy are full of bandits and cutthroats and after the attack on you here, I fear for your life. And that of your friends and family."

"Thank you, Your eminence."

Preparations for the trip were made and at first light the next day, they all set off for Ravenna on the Adriatic coast of Italy. As everything had been done quickly and quietly, no horde of travelers accompanied the party.

Once they were deep in the Apennine Mountains, a scout rode back to the main party.

"Sir Richard! There's a group of armed men ahead."

"How many?" Castle asked.

"No more than a dozen, all on horseback, but these mountains could hide an army."

Castle conferred with his captains and with Lord Ludovico Braganza, who commanded the troops of Cardinal Benedetto. Then he turned to Kate.

"Kate, love, can I convince you to ride in the center of our column?"

Kate smiled. "My place, as always, is at your side. But if you could wait until I put on my chain mail and helmet and get my sword, I'd appreciate it, Richard."

"Wait until we get our armor and weapons." Lady Alexis added and headed for the packhorses carrying their gear. In minutes, they were all ready to ride on.

"Oh my God!" Kate gasped. "Look at who it is?"

"You know that man?" Asked Lord Braganza. "He looks like a brigand."

"That's Lord Rollo." Castle said, suppressing a grin. "He is admittedly a bit rough hewn." He rode forward.