1037. Chapter 1037

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.

"Sir Richard Castle!" Rollo roared. "So good to see you. I must apologize for not recognizing you on our last meeting. Had I known that you were the man who ravaged the pirates of the Adriatic Sea, I would have properly honored you. Any man who destroys those pirate scum deserves my hearty thanks."

"You dislike pirates?" Castle asked mildly.

Rollo spat. "The bastards steal from everyone who tries to cross the sea. How can a man such as myself, a protector of honest merchants and travelers, collect my just taxes if some swine steals everything a merchant has? It was only last year that a band of formerly rich merchants had to walk through my territories, dressed in the rags that the pirates had left them and subsisting on moldy bread and water. I was so moved by their plight that I gave each man two loaves of bread apiece."

Castle bowed to Lord Rollo. "You are a prince among men, Lord Rollo."

"I am, am I not?" Rollo replied, immodestly. "But there is more. These mountains are becoming dangerous. Three days ago, I came upon a band of fifty armed men, a scurvy lot they were, too. I advised them that these were my mountains and that any business they had here should be approved with me. As I had only ten men with me, they laughed at me and insulted me. They told me that if I didn't leave, they would strip me naked and scourge me. Me! They threatened me!"

"The swine." Castle remarked.

"Precisely. But normally, I would not bother a man of your eminence with the stories of what I do to keep these mountains safe from scum like that. However, when I returned that night with my men, I had a chat with the few survivors of the band. They advised me that they had come to kill you and your fair lady. They said some priest named Van, or some foreign name, had paid them good gold to do so. I killed them all, of course. Then I said to myself, what should a man, a lord such as myself do, when another nobleman is threatened by low born, paid killers. And so, here I am, to escort you through my mountains." Lord Rollo stood up in his stirrups and examined the troops behind Castle. "Although you have a fair escort."

"But an escort through these mountains, by the lord of these mountains, would be more than fair." Castle said. "Perhaps I could make a tax payment?"

Lord Rollo looked offended. "Nonsense. Noblemen such as us do not pay taxes. The very idea is absurd. I won't hear of it."

Castle nodded vigorously. "Agreed. Agreed, of course, Lord Rollo. But my retinue contains men who are not of noble birth such as us. However, you offer your protection to them as well. It would only be fair and reasonable for me to pay the appropriate tax for such men. Is that not so?"

Lord Rollo saw that Lady Alexis had noticed the tenor of the conversation and was edging her horse nearer to Castle and Lord Rollo. Lord Rollo noticed she had a particularly determined look on her face.

"Whatever amount you think fair, Sir Richard. That will be fine with me." Lord Rollo said quickly.

Sir Richard handed Lord Rollo a bag of gold coins. Lord Rollo smiled and bowed. "A perfect sum. Perfect indeed."

"Twice again too much." Alexis muttered.

Castle, wisely, said nothing.

With the aid of Lord Rollo, and his son, Cosmo, the party made it through the mountains and soon found themselves on the eastern coastal plains of Italy.

"We'll sleep in Ravenna tonight, Kate." Rick said to his wife.

"But we'll do more than sleep, will we not?"

Castle laughed.

But when they arrived in Ravenna, they found Captain Fredo Andolini, who commanded the Istrian Navy's small scout ship waiting for them.

"We are so glad to see that you are alive, Sir Richard and Lady Katherine. We were told by His Eminence, Cardinal Benedetto, that there were plots to murder you."

"Are you to take us back to Istria?" Castle asked. "My company will hardly all fit in your small ship. Do they need us back so quickly?"

Andolini shook his head. "The entire Istrian Navy is coming for you tomorrow, Sir Richard. In addition to the fine sailing cog you captured, we now have ten galleys. Not enough to overmatch the damned Venetian fleet, but with our gonnes and Greek fire, we can take you safely back to Pola."

"What are the Venetians doing now?" Lady Kate asked. "Has the war begun?"

"No, my lady. But de Braquenne's army is assembling and preparing to march south. Their fleet, much reduced after their defeat at the hands of the Turks and preparing to sail a small force of some fifteen galleys while the rest of their ships are repaired and recrewed. I fear that the war will start soon."

The next morning the Castle's and their followers were loaded on the Istrian ships that arrived before dawn. As Lady Alexis climbed aboard the cog, a familiar face greeted her.

"Greetings, Lady Alexis. I hope your journey went well?"

"Magda? You've grown and your English is so much better."

"I have been eating well and I have been studying English with some of the fathers and the ladies on the gonne crews. Come see the gonnes we have, Lady Alexis."

Magda led Alexis to the side of the ship. They were followed by the Castles and Father Ryan.

"Look!" Cried Magda. "We now have four gonnes per side on the cog. Oh, yes. The cog is named for Duke Rodrigo. I asked that the ship be named the Lady Alexis, but to no avail. I will demand that one of the galleys being built be named for you. Oh, come meet the gonne crews."

There were a half a dozen women standing by each gonne. Magda introduced every one to Sir Richard and Lady Katherine as well as Lady Alexis and Father Ryan. A few were English, but most were from Pola or the surrounding area. A fair number had been widowed by the pirates or by de Braquenne's men and were longing for revenge.

"And notice the clothing!" Magda said, pointing to the identical sets of clothing the women wore. "Duke Rodrigo has given all of the women gonners their own livery. See? It is black so that the powder smoke won't stain our clothes. And the black makes us look more fierce."

A tarry handed sailor approached Sir Richard and bowed. "Beggin' yer pardon, m'lord, but the captain sez we's ready to sail if you are."

"Of course. The captain may sail as soon as he wishes."

The crossing of the Adriatic Sea was uneventful. They did see one galley in the distance that had the lion of St. Mark, the insignia of Venice, painted on its sail, but the ship kept its distance. By morning, they were all safe in the now fortified harbor of Pola. As soon as they landed, Castle and his party went to meet with Duke Rodrigo. They found him in his palazzo with Sir James Walden, Lord Pietro Dandalo and Peter, the Turkish commander of the Istrian navy.

"Sir Richard! It's so good to see you." The Duke cried upon seeing Richard. "And Lady Katherine as well. We heard that there were attacks on you both."

"There were." Castle said. "But now we're here and ready to face Venice. How are things?"

"They could be better." Peter said. "The Venetians are trying to build gonnes as we have and to duplicate Greek fire, both with little success. But until the Genoese arrive in the spring, we are outnumbered. But we can raid our enemies and also escort our convoys. We are not that heavily outnumbered. I think I shall enjoy this little naval war."

"The land war hasn't started." Said Sir James, the English commander of the Duke's troops. "There's some good and some bad. The Venetians have been able to recruit more men than we have, but they like to recruit knights and men at arms. They're much like our enemies the French in that manner. They do recruit crossbowmen, though. We, however, have been able to recruit English and Welsh archers. Many are coming to Italy now that there's a peace of sorts in France. And many have heard of the famous Sir Richard Castle and wish to serve him."

"They would serve Duke Rodrigo, of course." Castle said quickly.

"You needn't be modest, Richard. You are quite a famous commander now. You've won battles on both land and sea, have risen from a captain of archers to a knighted army commander, you're wealthy, and you have a beautiful and intelligent wife. Every archer wants to be just like you."

"You're too kind, Sir James. Except for the part about my wife, of course."

They all laughed.

Sir James continued. "Look at the map here. The Venetians are in camps on the mainland. Venice itself is too crowded to support many troops. They appear to be almost ready to march."

Castle looked at the map. "The camp here, by this little fishing village seems to be rather far from any supporting troops. Could we raid it?"

Sir James shook his head. "According to our spies, there are some thousand German men at arms there, but the countryside between Istria and them is full of enemy light cavalry. By the time you pushed the cavalry out of the way, the Germans would be alert and armed, plus reinforcements would be on their way. It wouldn't work."

"But if we came by sea?"

Five days later Sir Richard Castle found himself on a galley, one of five, that was carefully hidden in a small cove on the northernmost coast of Istria, looking north at a dark blur on the horizon that marked Venetian territory. His ship, and the other four, were covered in fishing nets to which had been attached tree branches and indeed entire small trees to make the ships blend in with the coast.

"Watching the sun go down won't bring the night any faster." A familiar voice said.

"I know, Kate. But all we need is for some enemy cavalry troop to find us or some Venetian boat to sail in here, and our whole raid is a failure."

"We've been here since before dawn and neither horsemen nor ships have come near us. In another hour it will be night and we can sail away and let the Venetians know that Sir Richard Castle doesn't fear them, nor does the Company of St. Katherine of England, nor does all of Istria."

"We should fear them. They have twice the army that we have and half again as many ships."

Kate put her arm around his waist. "They have hired knights and crossbowmen where we have hired good, stout English archers. You bested knights in France and we've bested them in Istria."

"You will stay with the ships when we land. You promised." He changed the subject.

She kissed him on the cheek." Absolutely. I know that someone needs to stay behind and keep our oarsmen from leaving the ships and joining the fray. But, come with me and we'll have dinner."

In an hour, the sun sank into the sea and darkness covered both land and sea. Peter came to Castle.

"Richard, we should dump the nets and the foliage and sail now. We're two hours from our target and we need to arrive before the moon rises."

Castle nodded. "Then we should be about it."