1013. Chapter 1013

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).

Castle looked at the blacksmith, who was now prostrated before Alexis, crying. "He seems to be unwilling."

Alexis frowned. "Oh, this foolish man thinks I'm having him make some devilish device that will place his immortal soul in peril. If you could provide him with a bit of gold, and have your men gather the ingredients I mentioned, I can supervise the blacksmith."

Castle noticed that Kate had arrived and was smiling. She nodded slightly towards him. Castle sighed and gave the blacksmith some gold, which cheered him immensely. Then he had some of his men gather the items Alexis had mentioned.

Castle then continued to inspect the rest of the carts, but when he was done, he saw Alexis motioning him to follow her away from army, down the beach. Afraid that she had carnal acts in mind, he was determined to teach her that he had no interest in her. He soon found he was in error.

"Sir Richard," She said formally, "I have misled you. The mixture I make is a combination of charcoal, saltpeter and sulfur. I asked for the other things so no one would steal our formula. I can show you how to mix it, if you desire."

Castle shook his head. "I trust you, Alexis."

A smile lit her face. "Thank you, Sir Richard. You'll not regret this."

Castle laughed. "So, the beer is for you?"

"Oh, no. I can mix the three ingredients by themselves, but if moved about, they can revert to three things again, and not fire. But, if I mix them with beer, when it dries, nothing will separate the three parts."

"Please do remember we're English and need our beer, although wine will do."

Alexis smiled, curtsied and ran off towards the blacksmith.

Three days later Alexis, Castle, Kate, ten Welsh spearmen, and a large number of curious soldiers gathered in front of a newly whitewashed wall that been part of a wealthy pirate captain's home. Each of the Welshmen had a brand new handgonne, which had been carefully loaded under Alexis' supervision. None of the men looked at all happy with their new weapons and Castle had heard that Alexis had had problems getting volunteers. Kate had suggested that it might be best if he didn't inquire too closely into Alexis' methods.

Alexis walked behind the men, now arranged in a line facing the wall. She insured that each man had his weapon tucked under his right arm and that a burning fuse was held in their left hand. She nodded to Huw, the archer, who could give the Welsh commands in their native language. Huw spoke and the men pushed their fuse into the touch hole. There was a second when nothing happened, then there was aloud roar, a flash of light and a cloud of dirty grey smoke.

Two men were thrown onto their backs by the recoil, several horses bucked, neighed and began to run, with their riders fighting to keep control, and eight lead pellets hit the wall.

One man began to turn his weapon around to see why it hadn't fired. Alexis grabbed the weapon just in time to keep him from being shot in the head.

The men all began shouting to Alexis and Huw. Finally Huw approached Castle. "The men say the weapon is as dangerous to them as to the enemy. They refuse to use them."

The men threw down the handgonnes and stomped away.

Castle looked over to Alexis, expecting her to be crushed by the refusal. However, she was smiling.

"Huw, if you would please bring forth the second group of handgonners."

To Castle's surprise, ten women who had managed to join the army on the chevauchee stepped forward. Under Alexis' supervision, the weapons were reloaded and the women faced the wall.

Alexis gave the command. "Fire!"

Again, there was a loud blast, a flash of light and more smoke. The women began laughing and walked to the wall, examining their handiwork. They counted ten new holes in the wall.

The ten male ex-handgonners looked on unhappily as their friends chided them.

"I think we'll have handgonners, one way or another, Sir Richard." Alexis said as she walked past him.

Although the ten men agreed, somewhat halfheartedly, to use the handgonnes, the women insisted that they should use the new weapons.

"We're as good as any man with these things." Said Long Sal, with conviction. "It takes but a bit of strength and it gives Sir Richard ten more soldiers. Pr'haps more when Lady Alexis can build more."

The next day they moved on to another pirate town and destroyed two half built warships.

While the liburnians stayed with the army, Hamid had taken the scout ship with a picked crew of oarsmen to scout the offshore islands. Although he had taken twice as many oarsmen as he needed so that the rowers could be spelled if they were chased, the only ships they saw were no danger to them.

Hamid returned to the army late that afternoon with a smile on his face. He at once sought out Sir Richard. He found him preparing for dinner with Lady Katherine, Alexis and Martha.

"Sir Richard. I have good news. I have found a pirate fleet at anchor off Kornati Island."

Castle wasn't sure. "How is finding a pirate fleet good news?"

"How many ships in this fleet and how large are the ships?" Kate added.

"I counted fourteen ships, all larger than any of ours." Hamid said, still smiling.

"You have an odd notion of good news." Alexis said.

"The ships are anchored across the mouth of the harbor. There isn't enough room between them to get our scout through, let alone our larger ships. Plus, all the ships are chained together. They can't move."

"Why is that?" Castle asked.

"Pirates capture their prey by boarding them. After all, you don't want to sink a valuable prize. They essentially fight as if they were on land, not at sea. As they see it, their ships are, in effect, a large island that you would have to invade, and they outnumber you heavily. But you remember the battle of Sluys that you English fought against the French, do you not?"

Castle smiled, and after a second, Kate smiled.

Early the next morning, Castle's ships headed south for the island of Kornati. Castle was upset that Kate had demanded to come with him. He accepted, although he didn't like the fact, that Alexis and her ten female handgonners came along as well. In addition to all the archers Castle could cram onto his ships.

"What exactly happened at this battle of Sluys?" Alexis asked. "I don't recall hearing about it."

"Before your time." Castle replied brusquely.

"When then?"

"The year of Our Lord 1340." Kate answered. "At the very start of the war with the French king."

"So what happened?" The redhead asked.

"The French fleet, some two hundred ships, wanted to keep our king, Edward III, from landing his army in Flanders to meet up with our allies there. They chained their ships together, a standard defensive tactic. We had but some one hundred and fifty ships. But, Edward sent three ships at a time against single French ships. Two ships were full of archers, and one full of men at arms. The archers could fire ten times as fast as the French crossbowmen. Once the French decks had been cleared by the archers, the men at arms boarded to kill anyone who remained. The French fleet was destroyed."

"And this is what you hope to do?" Alexis asked.

"It's what we all hope to do."

Castle noticed that the smooth rhythm of the oars had begun to become choppy. He saw the ship's captain, a swarthy, bearded and bowlegged Cornishman named Penrose stomp up to Castle and the two women.

"Beggin' yer pardon, Lady Alexis, "Penrose said, doffing his cap and pulling at his forelock, "but could ye cover up a bit? The men can see right up your dress an' it's a bit distracting."

"Only a bit?" Alexis said innocently, causing the captain to blush. "Old habits die hard, I suppose." She said, rearranging her dress.

With the oarsmen's minds no longer distracted, Castle noticed the rhythm of the oars improved.

Hamid, who was acting as commander of the little fleet, swung to the deck on a rope from the top of the mast, where he had been keeping watch. He landed nimbly and bowed to Castle.

"Sir Richard, the enemy is in sight. The ships are still anchored across the mouth of the harbor, and I see many small boats pulling out from the shore to the ships. Doubtlessly the crews remained mostly on shore until they caught sight of us."

Castle strode to the bow of the ship, but could see nothing but haze.

"In another ten minutes we'll see them well." Hamid assured him.

And in ten minutes, the enemy fleet was clearly in sight.

"Might I suggest we attack the portside ships first, Sir Richard?"

"Why?"

"Observe. Their starboard most ship is anchored almost against a cliff of several hundred feet. Doubtlessly they have brawny lads atop the cliff with heavy rocks to throw down on us. But to the port of their ships is just marshland."

Castle nodded. "Make it so."

Castle's little fleet moved into position. Each of the six ships took station opposite one of the six pirate craft on the left, leaving the others unengaged. Once in position, Castle's ships had their broadsides towards the bows of their enemies. That way all of the archers could fire while only a small portion of the pirates could cram themselves into the narrow bows to fight back. To further protect his men, Castle had nailed shields and pavises to the sides of the ships.

As Castle's ships slowly moved into position, the pirates banged their weapons against their shields or the wood of the ships, making a fearful row as they screamed.

"Hamid!" Castle yelled. "Are those crosses they're waving at us?"

The Turk laughed. "They seem to be screaming that your Satanic weapons will fail against their Christian imagery. Foolish unbelievers." Hamid seemed to realize that he had perhaps insulted Sir Richard's religion, but Castle just laughed.

"Our weapons are good English longbows. God will not be favoring the pirates today.

When Hamid had the ships positioned as he wished, he nodded to Sir Richard.

"Archers!" Castle bellowed as loudly as he could. "Loose!"

Hundreds of arrows flew through the air, sweeping the bows of the pirate ships clear. The remaining pirates took what cover they could, and pirates from the unengaged ships rushed over to provide reinforcements.

Perched high on the ship's mast, Huw looked down at the pirate ship below him. While the archers on deck kept up a steady fire, Huw was more deliberate. He picked out pirates that were better dressed, or better armed than the rest, or anyone who seemed to be trying to give orders. He figured that eliminating the leaders would break the pirates' resolve.