1015. Chapter 1015

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.

Hamid looked at the enemy ships and then at the sun. "They're running to the south as fast as they can and I can't say that we'd catch them before it's dark and we lose them. They'll get as far away from you and Istria as they can for a good long while. It would be better if they were sunk and the crews dead, but chasing them away is a victory. Now, shall we see about destroying the ships we can?"

Castle's ship easily caught up with the next pirate ship and the archers began firing arrows. The oars of the other ship stopped moving and the ship merely wallowed in the sea's swells.

"Perhaps they're all dead." Castle said hopefully. "We could board them and see if anyone is left alive."

Hamid shook his head. "I'll bet they're hiding below decks where our arrows can't reach them. We have some tar and oakum aboard. Let's try some fire arrows and see what happens."

In minutes, fire arrows were shot into the pirate ship. But, they could hear and see water being thrown on the fires, and only occasionally could they briefly glimpse a crewman.

Hamid's eyes swept the horizon. One pirate ship was burning fiercely and the rest were either nearly over the horizon, or were wallowing in the water while arrows swept their decks.

"Sir Richard, I suggest we leave these fellows be and destroy the two ships that beached themselves and destroy the town. We might find food or even a bit of loot."

Castle agreed and gathered his small fleet, heading for the harbor town.

Huw of Llandovery was down from his place high above the deck, now idly watching the sea go by. Suddenly he caught a flash of blonde hair and recognized a young girl clinging desperately to a barrel.

"Sir Richard! Captain Hamid! Please, have the scout ship stop and pick up that blonde girl." He pointed at the girl, who was now well behind the ship.

"Isn't one woman enough for you, Huw?" Castle teased.

"Sir Richard, she could have shot at me earlier but did not. I owe her."

"And we do not make war on women. Unless they make war on us." Kate said.

Castle knew better than to argue. He had a leather lunged sailor bellow an order to the scout to pick up the girl. Shortly thereafter, the scout pulled alongside and a rather bedraggled young girl came aboard. Huw decided she was older than he had thought, perhaps early teens, but she was so skinny he doubted she had eaten well in months. Her clothes were little more than rags, plus she was barefoot. As soon as she saw Huw, she threw herself down onto the deck and began screaming in some language no one knew. Her tears and the piteous look on her face led them to think she was begging for her life.

"Can anyone understand her?" Kate demanded.

The girl was taken around the ship, but no one could understand her. One old Basque who had been in nearly every port in the Mediterranean and in many beyond, ventured a guess.

"Sir Richard, from her hair and her blue eyes, she might be one of the Rus, from Muscovy, Kiev, Pskov, Novgorod, one of those places. But I can't understand a word she says."

"One thing she will understand is food and drink." Kate interrupted. "Bring bread, cheese and meat as well as a flagon of well watered wine."

When presented with the food, the girl only looked at it, seeming suspicious as to why it was given to her. Alexis took a bit of bread, put some cheese on it and placed it in front of the girl's mouth. She looked at Alexis, then slowly put the food in her mouth. Seeing Alexis, and the others smile, she began gobbling the food down. When it was gone, Alexis ordered more.

As the girl ate, the six ships ran onto the beach, and Castle led his troops ashore. The town was empty of people, food and loot. But Castle could see large numbers of people, armed pirates among them, massing on the hills a few miles above the town. They waved weapons and shouted what Castle assumed were insults.

"Sir Richard?" Will Fox said, coming back from the town. "She's bloody empty. Not a loaf of bread, a drop of wine or a farthing. But Hamid has gone to look at the two ships."

Castle looked at the two pirate craft that were pulled up on the beach. Although the smallest of the ships they had faced that day, they were larger than any of the English ships. Castle hoped that he could man them and get them back to his main army on the mainland. Then he saw Hamid heading towards him with a frown on his face.

"I assume there's a problem?"

"Yes, Sr Richard. The bastards have chopped holes in the hull of the two ships. They'll sink as soon as they're in the water."

"Can't they be repaired?"

Hamid shook his head. "It's too close to dark. It'll be dark well before we could repair even one ship. And then the damned pirates can come down from those damned hills and rush us. By the time your bowmen could see them, they'd be on us. But, damn, those are fine ships."

Castle turned to Fox. "We'll burn the town. Then as we get ready to leave, we'll set fire to the ships."

"I'll search the ships for tar, oakum, sails, ropes, anything that'll burn." Hamid headed back to the two ships.

The sun was just setting when they left. The town and the two ships were a mass of flames. They could see the pirates coming down from the hills, but they had little chance of getting to the town in time to change anything.

The blonde girl, still eating, stood on the deck near Castle and Kate, screaming at the people on shore.

In the dark, they came across two pirate galleys, pulling for the burning town. As soon as they saw the English, they changed course and disappeared into the night.

The little fleet got back to the main army not too many hours before sunrise.

Castle decided that the army would remain where they were for the next day. His stratiotes had scoured the countryside for twenty miles in every direction and found only small farming and fishing villages, all empty of people, food and valuables.

"We need a good rest." Castle said as he got into bed with Kate. "We can sleep in tomorrow, unless something untoward happens."

"I'm going to ask Alexis to make me a handgonne." Kate asked, surprising Castle.

"Why?"

"It's a weapon that a woman can handle as well as a man. What other weapons are there like that?"

"You'd be better off keeping your crossbow. The handgonne is slow to load, and you have to let your enemy get nearly on top of you before you can fire with any hope of hitting him."

"I'm not sure about that. If we used steel instead of iron for the barrels, we could use more powder. It would have more punch. And I was thinking of using a number of small lead balls instead of one large one."

"I see that, as usual, I can't stop you."

Kate giggled and reached down. "And now I'm interested in something else that's as stiff as steel and shoots something other than balls."

Castle groaned. "I hope my balls don't go flying out."

The army relaxed the next day. The men repaired their armor, restrung their bows and put new edges on their edged weapons. Once that was done, they sat drinking wine, talking, casting dice or just going back to sleep. One young man brought out a lute and played sad songs of homes far away that they might never see again.

Castle sat in front of his tent, relaxing. Suddenly the blonde girl that had been rescued from the sea ran up, yelling in her language and pointing to the nearby woods. Castle recognized that she was saying "Alexis" over and over.

"That wench has gotten herself in trouble of some sort again." He muttered, rising from where he sat. As he headed towards the woods, the girl grabbed him and pointed to his sword, laying just inside the tent. Castle went back and buckled the sword belt and its sword around his waist.

"Will." He called. "It seems Alexis is in some sort of trouble. Come with me."

The girl led the two men into the deep woods. Soon they could hear ahead of them the sound of a woman screaming. Coming to a small clearing they found Alexis on her back with her dress pulled up around her neck. On top of her was a tall, heavily built man with a beard. He wore a rather dirty white robe which had been pulled up to his waist.

Behind him, tied to a tree was a horse.

The man pulled himself up and struck Alexis in the stomach three times, driving the breath out of her.

"Stop fighting you whore. I'll have you and I'll have you as I want you. Fight me again and I'll really hurt you."

Castle drew his sword. "Stop. Get off her at once."

"Get off of her? It's no business of yours. Now go away and let me finish. You can have her when I'm done with her."

Castle took a step forward and lifted his sword. "I said get off of her and get off right now."

The man glared at Castle. "See here, fellow. Do you know who I am? I am Professor Doctor Joshua Davidson, Professor of Thaumaturgy at the University of Paris, Royal Astrologer to the King of the Swedes, and Professor of Alchemy at more universities than you could name. Now be off with you. This whore took my money some months ago and did not service me. I intend to get my money's worth and more now."

"Whore she may be, but she said no today. So, get up, get off of her and leave before I run you through."

Davidson stood up. "Be careful, fellow. There's a powerful English army hereabouts and the commander is my friend. Why, he's more like a brother to me."

Castle bowed mockingly. "In that case, "brother", allow me to introduce myself. I am Sir Richard Castle and I command the only English army in Dalmatia."

Davidson smiled, then grabbed Alexis by the hair and dragged her to her feet. As he did so, he pulled a long heavy bladed knife and held it to Alexis' throat.

"I think I'll be on my way, fellow. I'll take the whore with me. Oh, and one false move and I'll slit her throat."

He began backing away toward his horse. He had neither seen nor heard Will Fox circle around and get between him and his horse. He was totally surprised when Fox smashed the hilt of his sword into his head, stunning him. He collapsed at once.