1039. Chapter 1039

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.

The Castles looked at each other. Neither had any idea.

"Send Bishop d'Alencon out to make a last-minute plea for peace. "A familiar voice said from behind them. "Any bishop worth his salt should be able to talk for hours without actually saying anything."

Rodrigo laughed. "I imagine you've had to sit through a few over long sermons, Lady Alexis."

Alexis just smiled.

"She's right." Kate said. "De Brequenne can hardly turn down a request from a bishop who wants peace. But will the good bishop do it?"

An hour after dawn, Bishop d'Alencon rode towards the Venetian army, escorted only by a herald and a young page carrying a flag of truce. After a bit, both de Braquenne and Bishop Vaughn rode out, escorted by one of their own heralds, a page with flag of truce, and a dozen knights.

"So, "Growled de Braquenne, "does Rodrigo wish to surrender? If so, I'll let him and his followers go. Where they go is of no interest to me as long as they leave Istria."

Bishop d'Alencon slowly shook his head. "I have prevailed upon Duke Rodrigo to allow me to make one final effort to bring peace to all of us."

Vaughn laughed. "Of course, he accepted your offer. We outnumber him three to one. As soon as the battle begin, it'll be over."

"Perhaps," d'Alencon said slowly, "but Cardinal Orsini in the Vatican has asked that I make this attempt."

Vaughn frowned. Venice had bribed Orsini, but he knew that the man would not stay bribed. He started to wonder if other powerful churchmen might be wondering if a too powerful Venice might impinge on the Church's powers. He nodded. "We can at least hear what the good Bishop d'Alencon has to say."

D'Alencon smiled and took a large sheaf of paper from beneath his cloak. He began to read. "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth." Bishop d'Alencon then discussed original sin, the Biblical battles from the Old Testament, the Crusades and was just discussing the Sermon on the Mount when the first large, heavy raindrop landed on his parchment. The page took off his cloak at once and held it over the bishop so he could continue reading. Somewhere around the discussion of the Roman soldiers at the Crucifixion, both de'Braquenne and Vaughn grew tired of waiting as a heavy rain poured down on them.

"This is enough, Bishop. We're done here." De'Braquenne snarled and he and Vaughn turned their horses and rode away, followed by their men.

"But I'm almost done." Bishop d'Alencon called after them, to no avail.

Riding back, d'Alencon was happy to see that their horses slipped badly in the mud, but by going very slowly they didn't fall.

Once back with the Istrian army, the bishop rode to where Duke Rodrigo and his officers were.

"It appears we've succeeded." The bishop said. "And it looks like the rain is passing us by now." A sudden thought occurred to the bishop. "The rain hasn't wet the bowstrings of the archers and the crossbowmen, has it?"

Castle answered. "The archers unstrung their bows and put their strings in greased leather bags where they'll stay dry. It's much harder to unstring a crossbow, but they've managed to cover their bows it seems."

Duke Rodrigo stood up in his saddle. "The bishop's long sermon must have angered d'Braquenne. He's beginning to move his army up. He'll be crossing the river in no more than an hour." The duke looked up at the sky. "The rain is moving to the east. I think it'll be stop raining here quite soon. Don't you agree, Lady Katherine."

Bishop d'Alencon was surprised when an armored knight next to Sir Richard answered, in a very feminine voice. "It'll stop here soon, but the rain will pile up against the mountains to the east. The river will rise, hopefully.

"Rodrigo," Pietro Dandalo cried, "De'Braquenne's army is starting across already. And he has cataphracts leading them. Several hundred, as I count."

"Cataphracts?" Sir Richard enquired.

"The most heavily armed and armored knights. Covered entirely in plate armor and armed with a kontos a lance, some twelve to fifteen feet long. In addition, the horses are armored as well. A few will have plate armor like their masters, others will have chain mail or lamellar armor and some will have coats of thick felt covering them. The felt will have absorbed the rain which will make it heavier, but also more resistant to arrows. We should pass the word to our archers and crossbowmen to aim for the horses' legs and eyes, and the eyes of the riders. Everything else will be covered in armor."

Dandalo laughed. "The good bishop did anger d'Braquenne. He's too eager and is moving his army piecemeal. The cataphracts are crossing the river and some of his knights, but much of his horse is still in camp. And I see no infantry. He's too confident of his strength in numbers. He's not waiting to attack us with his full force."

Castle remained by Duke Rodrigo, although St. Katherine's Company was drawn up behind the forward line of the duke's troops. They were to fulfill two functions: To seal off any breakthrough by d'Braquenne's troops; and, if Duke Rodrigo's army was victorious, to fall on the retreating enemy and turn a retreat into a rout.

The company had a few hundred mounted men at arms, riding large, powerful warhorses, and wearing all the armor they could find. They would be supported by a little more than two hundred armored infantry, carrying spears and halberds. They would have to fill any gaps caused by d'Braquenne's horsemen.

Should the enemy retreat, several hundred lightly armored and armed horsemen would attack along with archers mounted on smaller horses, ponies and the occasional mule. Then would come Castle's spearmen. These were almost entirely unarmored, with a few having only a steel helmet for protection. For the most part they were wild, nearly naked men from Ireland and Scotland, with a few Iberians, Germans, and poor Istrians who had little to fight with, but a burning desire to kill the men who had attacked their homes.

Castle watched as the cataphracts began to head towards them at a trot. However, as the horses came towards them, the heavy horses quickly turned the ground under their hooves to a slurry of mud that caused the horses behind them to slip and slide. Horses careened into each other, sometimes causing horses and riders to fall, but at the very least, breaking the momentum of the charge. As the lead cataphracts tried to move from a trot to a gallop, the congestion became worse. Finally, still several hundred yards from the Istrians, the commander of the Venetian cataphracts stopped his charge and began reordering his force. As he did so, a few archers and crossbowmen tried long range shots at their enemies.

"Stop that." Sir Richard bellowed. "You're wasting your arrows and bolts. They're too far away and too well armored to do any damage. Wait until they're closer."

Now, the Venetians began to come forward. Although coming at no more than a slow walk, they moved as a compact mass, headed straight for the center of the Istrian line.

Fifty feet from the Istrians the horses began to run afoul of the holes that had been dug in the ground and the sharp caltrops that had been scattered. Horses cried in agony and bucked madly as their legs and hooves were damaged. But there were not enough holes or caltrops to stop the great mass of the enemy cavalry from closing with the Istrians.

Horses are in some ways more intelligent than men. When horses see what appears to them to be a solid mass of something, in this case, Istrian soldiers, and when the horses are moving very slowly, they're smart enough to stop. The possibility of running into a solid line of sharpened wooden stakes only serves to convince the horses that they've made the right choice.

Both sides were now only a few feet from each other. However, the cataphracts long lances allowed them to attack the Istrian men at arms and crossbowmen. The crossbowmen were able to fire at their enemies, but most of their bolts failed to penetrate. On the other hand, the cataphracts' lance thrusts only occasionally wounded the heavily armored Istrian men at arms who were on foot, but the more lightly armored crossbowmen were not so lucky.

Castle saw one of the Istrian knights push his way past the stakes and swing a six-foot long, solid steel war hammer at the armored head of a horse. The horse, either dead or stunned, collapsed, trapping his rider. The knight again swung his war hammer in an arc, hitting the head of his foe. The foe stopped moving. The knight leaped back to his own lines, somehow managing to escape injury.

"Duke Rodrigo!" Yelled Sir James Walden. "To our right. Some cataphracts have pushed their horses past the stakes!"

Indeed, a half a dozen of the enemy was in among the Istrians. They had dropped their long lances and were laying about them with swords and maces. As the Istrians retreated, more Venetians pushed their way through the gap.

Castle turned his horse back towards the armored men of the Company of St. Katherine of England.

"Men at arms! For England, Istria and St. Katherine. Attack them."

With Castle at their head, they charged.

Later, Castle could only remember parts of what happened. He recalled getting inside the reach of a long lance and began chopping at the enemy with his sword. The man dropped his lance and drew his sword. They exchanged blows, but then another horseman smashed into Castle's foe and the other two disappeared from Castle's view.

He saw an Istrian bashing away at the saddle of a riderless horse. Castle yelled at the man to stop, but the man paid him no mind. The fight carried Castle away.

His heart almost stopped when he saw that Kate was being attacked by an enemy cataphract. He tried to push his way through the vast scrum of men and horses to rescue her. Then he saw a woman dressed in black fire her hand gonne into the side of the man attacking Kate. The noise, smoke and bright flash apparently frightened the horse who began to buck, but aside from a small dent in his breastplate, the man suffered no injuries. As he raised his sword to strike down the handgonner, a fully armored Flemish spearman drove the long sharp spike of his halberd into the cataphracts armpit, an area of his body covered by chain mail, not armor plate. The sword fell from his hand. Another woman ran up and pushed the muzzle of her gonne under the man's helmet. She fired and he toppled from his horse.

Castle wanted to go to Kate, but he was drawn away by the continuing battle that swirled around him.

Castle was unable to remember how long the fight went on. He recalled fighting with different enemy horsemen, and then he found himself alone. He looked around and saw the Venetians retreating. Not just the ones who had penetrated the Istrians lines, but all of them. Then he saw Kate, standing by her horse.

He rode quickly to her and dismounted.

"Are you all right."

She fell into his arms. "I thought I was going to die." She began crying.

"Sir Richard." Called a page. "Duke Rodrigo wishes to see you."

Castle looked up. "I need time with my wife."

But Kate pushed him away and turned to the page. "We'll both be with Duke Rodrigo in a moment." She kissed her husband and then mounted her horse. "Coming, Richard?" They rode to the Duke and his officers.

"You did well, Sir Richard." Duke Rodrigo said with a grim smile. "We'll see few cataphracts after this. We didn't kill many of them, but we did kill or injure many of their horses. And those cataphracts who managed to retreat are tired men on tired horses."

"But d'Braquenne is bringing more horsemen across the river." Castle pointed out. He was correct. Several thousand horsemen were slowly wading their horses across the river.

Rodrigo stood in his saddle. "But not cataphracts. There are few horses with any armor and few men have plate armor. Our archers and crossbowmen will handle them, just as you English handled the French in your many battles."

As they were speaking, men began to leave the Istrian lines to loot the dead, or make sure that their enemies were dead. A burly archer seemed to be having a conversation with an injured Venetian cataphract. Then, he pulled the wounded man to his feet and led him back towards Duke Rodrigo.

The archer bowed clumsily. "Beggin' yer pardon, sirs. But this man claims he be worth fifty thousand gold Venetian ducats. Do ye know if that's true?"

Pietro Dandalo, the Venetian who served Istria, replied. "Fifty thousand ducats? Nonsense! He's worth a hundred thousand if he's worth a copper cent. The man is Amadeo Colonna. Hs family owns half of Venice."

Hearing a familiar voice, the man looked up. "Pietro? Is that you? I had heard you served the enemies of Venice."

Lord Pietro shrugged. "The fortunes of war, Amadeo. After the Serene Republic banished me, for no good reason…."

"No good reason? You beat a man half to death."

"I beat a pig half to death. There is a difference. And to add insult to injury, some of the man's family actually paid an assassin to murder me. The man was so inept that I felt quite insulted after I had killed him. Then my family insisted that to make up for what they called my "wild and unchristian ways", they insisted that I ride with that brigand d'Braquenne. However, I was taken prisoner by Sir Richard here and he made it a condition of my ransom that I no longer serve d'Braquenne. As an advisor to the good Duke Rodrigo, I am in a position to be of assistance when this needless war ends in a peace treaty. The Serene Republic will be glad that I was in such a position."

Amadeo nodded. "Speaking of ransom, is the gentleman who captured me a noble?"

"Who are you, sir?" Pietro asked.

"Ned of Oldham, your lordship. An archer with the Company of St. Katherine's of England."

"The man is not noble!" Cried Amadeo. "My family will never agree to a ransom. I will not allow it. To be taken by a peasant? It's humiliating. I'd rather die."

Ned shook his head sadly and drew a dagger. "Who'd have ever thought I'd have to kill so much gold?"

"One moment, Ned." Said Lord Pietro. "Suppose I were to buy Amadeo from you for fifty thousand gold ducats?"

"Do you have the money?" Ned said suspiciously.

Pietro explained how banks worked, and once Sir Richard had assured Ned that he would get his money, a contract was quickly drawn up and signed.

"Ned, as you're now a wealthy man, perhaps you should go and make sure that supplies of arrows keep coming forward from our baggage train." Castle suggested. Ned hurried off, holding his contract to his chest and laughing.

Castle looked at the Venetians massing on the near bank of the river. "It'll be a while before they attack. May I go to the archers and hurry the defenses along, Duke Rodrigo?"

Rodrigo nodded and Castle rode off. He found that Captain Huw of Llandovery, who now lead what had been Castle's old company of archers was way ahead of him. He was not only repairing and replacing the sharpened stakes that had been torn up by the Venetians, but had sent his men out to gather spears, lances and swords to pound into the ground.

"That should keep them away from you." Castle called.

Huw nodded. "What's before the stakes will help more. Horses hate to ride over dead horses and dead men. Come to think on it, men don't much like riding over them very much either."

Castle saw that the other captains, on either flank, had seen what Huw was doing and had their own men busy putting their defenses in order.

When Castle rode back to Duke Rodrigo and the soldiers around him, his mind was much relieved.

"Look!" Cried a young page. "There on that small hill to the left. That's d'Braquenne, I'm sure of it."

"And that's Bishop Vaughn next to him. The bastard." Sir James muttered.

Duke Rodrigo studied the scene before him for a few minutes. "I'd say that d'Braquenne is bringing all of his horsemen forward. I can see a few of his crossbowmen on the far bank, but they don't appear to be moving across the river. He appears to want to arrack us without his foot soldiers."

"Like the Frenchman he is." Said Sir James Walden. "They've learned nothing from their defeats at the hands of good English longbowmen."

Lord Pietro Dandalo spoke. "They feel the English don't fight fairly. You allow your social inferiors, mere peasants, to kill noblemen who can trace their ancestry back to the days of Rome. They think that is very unfair and cowardly of you."

"Let them think what they want." Castle growled. "We'll be alive when this is over." I hope. He added silently.

"Listen." Kate said suddenly. "That's thunder. The storm that passed over us is in the mountains upstream." There was a sudden flash of light. "Lightning."