1018. Chapter 1018

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.

Castle rose before dawn, leaving Kate sleeping in their warm bed. Leaving the tent, he stepped over Alexis and Magda, who had taken to sleeping in front of the tent flap so that no one could enter without their knowledge. As he stepped over her, Castle saw Alexis open an eye.

"You can go back to sleep, Alexis."

However, Alexis rose, displaying more of herself than Castle wished to see.

"We need to start your breakfast, Sir Richard. From what I heard of you and Lady Katherine last night, you'll be needing sustenance this morning."

Castle blushed, but said nothing. Instead, he walked to the fire outside the tent and put two more logs onto it. As he warmed his hands, he saw a group of riders approaching the camp. They rode straight to where Captain Paleologos was sleeping and woke him. Castle could see the riders talking and gesturing, then pointing up the hill to where Castle stood. Then they all mounted and rode towards Castle. Sir Richard felt that he was unlikely to have a leisurely breakfast that morning.

"Sir Richard. We have news."

"Please dismount and tell me, Captain."

"There is an army approaching us. Four of my men came back to report and I have two more patrols watching them."

The arrival of the stratiotes and Paleologos' visit had not gone unnoticed in the camp. The other captains began arriving, soon joined by Kate and Alexis.

"What kind of an army? What did you see?" Castle asked.

The stratiotes answered in Italian with Kate translating.

"He said all that they saw were horse archers forming a screen between us and the other army. They estimate there were five to six hundred horse archers that they saw. They could see the glint of armor behind the archers, but that was all."

Castle stood and thought.

"There's a ridge about three miles north of here. It runs to the sea on one side and to a cliff on the other side. There's enough room to place our army between them and cover our flanks."

"Why not stay here?" Asked de Esposito. "We're already dug in."

Castle shook his head. "The enemy army can easily get around our flanks and surround us. The more so if the pirates in Spolato join them."

"We could attack the army from here. Surprise them." That was Jock Tait, whom Castle had always thought too aggressive.

"We don't know how strong the enemy is and going south would put the pirates in Spolato in our rear." He looked around. "Paleologos, send as many men as you can to scout the enemy. And keep an eye out elsewhere. We don't want to be surprised. Everyone else, get your companies moving. And contact Hamid and tell him where we're going. I'll want his ships to cover our seaward flank. He has enough archers to keep anyone from going around us by sea."

It took several hours to strike the camp and get everyone on the way to the ridge to the north. First were the supply wagons and pack horses they'd taken with the few civilians, mostly women, with them, then spearmen, then crossbowmen and archers, next the knights and men at arms, and finally the light cavalry, the stratiotes.

Paleologos told Castle that his men had been unable to penetrate the screen of horse archers protecting the enemy. The best that one patrol had been able to do was to get close enough to see a dust cloud raised by the marching troops and horses. The stratiotes, experts at reconnaissance, thought there might be four thousand men under the dust cloud. The only good news was that other patrols found no signs of any other enemies.

The night passed without an attack. Castle decided the enemy wanted to rest his troops before offering battle. That suited him, as it allowed him to work on his defenses and to rest his own soldiers.

Before dawn they could hear the sound of matching feet, the clop-clop of horses' hooves, neighing, the rattle of armor and weapons as well as the sound of men's voices yelling orders. Then there was relative silence.

When the dawn broke, the looked at the enemy army on the plain before them.

Paleologos, the most knowledgeable about local forces, rode out with a small escort to look them over. He stayed well out of the range of any weapon, then rode back.

"Sir Richard, in the center, they fly the banner of the Lion of St. Mark, the flag of Venice. They are our enemy for sure."

Castle moved a bit forward to see his enemies better. In the center of the small valley was a wall of armored spearmen which Castle estimated as about three thousand men. Castle looked hard, but could see no archers or crossbowmen among them. On the right side of the line was a mass of armored men at arms. Castle estimated them to be nearly a thousand strong. To the left was a smaller group of horsemen. These were not only armored themselves, but their horses were armored as well. Behind all of them, Castle could see horsemen moving, but they were too far away to for him to see them clearly.

"What can you tell me about them?"

"They're Latin Greeks, from Epirus, Thessalonica, and Achaea, by their flags."

"Latin Greeks?" Jock Tait said. "What the hell are they?"

"In 1204 the Fourth Crusade decided to conquer what was left of the Byzantine Empire by taking the city of Constantinople. The Venetians paid for it, by the way. The western Europeans were successful, took Constantinople, sacked it and divided Greece among themselves. We Greeks call them Latins because that's the language they use for Mass, rather than Greek."

"But what can you tell me about them?" Castle growled, pointing to the enemy army.

"The foot soldiers are professionals. They're well armed, well trained and well disciplined."

"But they have no bowmen. We'll shoot them to bits." Will Fox said happily.

"They have bowmen." Paleologos replied. "They have horse archers behind the infantry. "They're not just bowman who ride a horse from place to place, they fight on horseback. And they're very good at it. They could shoot us to pieces."

"What about the cavalry?"

"On the right, standard European heavy cavalry, much as you'd see among the nations of the west. To the right are cataphracts. Very heavy cavalry, mounted on the biggest, strongest horses they can find with man and horse covered in armor. None of our bowmen are likely to penetrate their armor."

"Damn!" Castle muttered.

"Sir Richard! There's a rider coming to us."

Castle saw a single rider approaching very slowly. He had no armor and appeared to be unarmed. Castle sent word to his troops to let him pass.

The stranger doffed his hat and bowed to Castle from his horse. "Sir Richard Castle, I presume?"

Castle nodded. "That's me."

"I serve as a herald for Strategos George Frankopolous, the commander of the army facing you. My master feels that this…difficulty can be resolved without battle. He would like to meet with you between the two armies. I should note that my master speaks Greek, and a bit of German, but not well. He speaks no English. He believes your wife speaks Italian and he has a woman who also speaks Italian as well as Greek. However, if you speak Greek…"

"I speak no Greek. Kate and I will meet your master exactly halfway between our two armies in one hour. Is that acceptable?"

"My master will be most pleased. He will be very happy if we can resolve this unfortunate situation."

The herald rode back to his army.

Castle turned to his captains. "What do you think?"

Paleologos relied. "From his name and title, he's Greek. The Byzantines always preferred to negotiate rather than fight. You should hear what he has to say."

"You should go in your finest armor. "Kate added. "Make him see you're someone who's worth negotiating with."

"You should also wear your armor, Kate. Let him know that even our women are dangerous."

Castle called for his finest armor to be brought out and polished. Kate's chain mail hauberk and steel war hat were polished as well.

At the appointed hour, the two rode out between the armies. As they left two riders left the opposing army and headed for them.

"The man is a cataphract." Castle said. "The woman appears to be armored much as you are."

"Odd dress for negotiators." Kate muttered.

"They want to impress us with their power." Castle replied.

"Their army does that."

Halfway between the armies, the two couples stopped and faced each other.

Castle took off his helmet. "I'm Sir Richard Castle and this is my wife, Lady Katherine. My army is in the service of Duke Rodrigo of Istria."

The other man took off his helmet. He had a full beard and rather long hair, pulled back in a ponytail. His face was suntanned and he had a small scar on one cheek. He smiled and said something in Greek.

The woman with him spoke. She was tall and slender, with a very pale face and long black hair that hung loosely down her back. Like Kate, she wore a chain mail hauberk with a round helmet.

"I am Lady Xanthippe. This is Strategos George Frankopoulos, who serves the Serene Republic of Venice. I shall be brief and to the point. Today there are two armies facing one another. Should they fight, one will win and one will lose. Both will be damaged. Perhaps so damaged that neither will be able to help their patrons. Would it not be better to avoid such a fate?"

Castle nodded slowly. "Most probably."

Xanthippe smiled. "What we suggest is simple. The Serene Republic will pay you one hundred thousand golden ducats, which we have with our army, for you and your army to simply stand aside and let us pass so that we may attack Istria from the south while Lord de Braquenne attacks from the north. Would that not be better for all concerned?"

"For all concerned?" Castle said. "Not for Duke Rodrigo, certainly."

Xanthippe smiled. "For those of us immediately concerned then."

"I fear I am unable to accept your generous offer. I have pledged myself to serve Duke Rodrigo honorably."

Xanthippe frowned. "Alas, now we must fight."

Castle saw Frankopoulos put on his helmet and move towards him. Her jerked his reins to the side, but his horse moved too slowly. Frankopoulos' sword missed Castle, but came close to beheading his horse. As the horse fell, Castle leapt to the ground, drawing his own sword. Now he faced a heavily armored man and horse while afoot.

Xanthippe reached for her own sword to kill Kate, but Kate drew her handgonne, aiming at Frankopoulos and pushing the burning slow match into the touchhole of the weapon. The handgonne fired, but did no more than dent the cataphract's heavy armor.

Neither Xanthippe nor her horse were prepared for the noise, the flash and the smoke from Kate's weapon. The horse bolted, giving Kate time to push another load of powder and a lead ball down the barrel of the handgonne and fire again. However, it had no effect on the armored man, and less of an effect on Xanthippe's horse.

The woman charged Kate, sword in hand. Kate drew her own sword. Xanthippe made a clumsy attack on Kate, which she easily parried. The Greek woman screamed in rage and struck again, missing entirely and leaving herself open to a backhanded blow from Kate which caught her shoulder.

In the meantime, Castle was trying to avoid being ether trampled by the huge warhorse or spitted by the long sword that the cataphract wielded. He could see out of the corner of his eye that Kate was also being attacked, but could think of no way to help her.