992. Chapter 992

After Much Ado About Murder

Episode 8.20

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Once more unto the breach for I do not own Castle. Rating: K Time: See above.

She put her hand on the jug of wine. "Father, please don't."

James Beckett pulled the jug back. "I need this. Every time I close my eyes I see her. I see her burning and I can do nothing to help. The men are holding me too tightly. I tried to close my eyes, but they pulled my eyelids open. I heard the screams. I smelled her burning. I need this." He ended softly.

Kate let loose of the jug and went to her room. She sat in her room all afternoon, trying to think of some way to get her father to stop drinking. Nothing other than locking him away occurred to her, and to leave him with the memories of her mother's death seemed too cruel.

At dusk, she went downstairs for dinner. Constance and Lanie had prepared a meal and had set three place settings.

"Dona Katarina, "Constance said, "we have set a place for your father, but I'm afraid he's in no state to come to the table."

"Who is the other place for?" Kate asked.

"Captain Castle. He returned about an hour ago, but I haven't seen him since."

Kate thought for a moment and then rose. "I'll look for him. He has been a very generous guest and we should feed him."

Kate looked through the downstairs and finally found Castle in the library, reading a book.

"Captain Castle? Dinner is ready."

Castle looked up, obviously surprised. "I'm sorry. I got interested in this book and time slipped away from me."

"You can read?" Kate said and was instantly embarrassed. "I apologize. That was a horrible thing to say."

Castle laughed. "You assumed I was an ignorant warrior, didn't you?"

She blushed deeply. "You gave orders to Father Ryan to prepare letters to your commander. I thought…."

"I see. Well, Father Ryan is much better at the flowery language one should use in addressing one's betters, especially a duke. And we needed five copies made. One for each of the couriers and one for our records."

Wishing to change the subject, Kate quickly asked. "What were you reading so intently?"

"I found an English translation of Ser Marco Polo's book about his wonderful travels to Cathay and back. I would love to travel there and see the marvels he witnessed."

"That is an odd wish for a soldier. How did you become a soldier, anyway?" She walked to a chair by him and sat.

"My father is a landowner in Sussex, in England. Not one of the great landowning aristocracy. We have some thousand acres, most in wheat, a small vineyard and some fruit trees. My oldest brother, Gregory, will inherit, if he hasn't already. He's married and had three sons and a daughter when I last heard. The middle brother, Michael, went to London to work for a merchant who traded wool with the low countries. I was destined for the Church"

"You? A priest?" Kate giggled.

"The Church had much the same reaction. After a few years, the good fathers thought I should seek my fortune elsewhere, but I did learn how to read and write, both Latin and the vulgate, English."

"And you became a soldier?"

He shook his head slowly. "First I became a problem. I drank, I chased after young ladies and I got into trouble. I ended up stealing the sheriff's horse while drunk. When I was caught, the sheriff suggested that since I was an excellent bowman, I might wish to follow King Edward III to France to fight. The other option being less pleasant."

"And you became a captain of archers? A leader of over a hundred men?"

"Yes. It wasn't easy, but…"

Castle was interrupted by Constance. "Dona Katerina, Captain Castle, the dinner is getting cold."

"We'll be right there." Kate called out.

The next day was easier for Castle, as all the work was well under way. Most of the portcullises were operational and the few repairs to the town walls were well under way. The manufacture of new arrows was also proceeding apace, but it was unlikely that any great number of arrows could be produced before Demming and his pirates arrived.

The ten men that Pietro Cattaro had recommended were familiar with crossbows, so Castle had raided the town arsenal to provide them. He had also taken all of the helmets and armor from the militia that he could find to distribute to his own troops. Normally, archers preferred to be lightly equipped, some preferring no armor of any sort, and most wanting nothing more than a helmet. This was because they valued speed and maneuverability over protection. However, defending the city walls would require neither.

He was interrupted by two personnel issues within his company. One was a young lad who believed he was sixteen or seventeen who wished to be enrolled as an archer. Both his mother and father had died years before and he had somehow ended up being care for by an old woman with the company. Castle had him shoot at targets and found he was acceptable. He also dueled with him using wooden swords and found he was strong, but not a terribly good swordsman.

"Tell Will Fox to enroll you, and give you a war axe to use. I prefer a war axe myself to this." He tapped the sword at his side that he'd taken from a dead French knight "But as a captain of archers, I'm expected to wear a sword like all the gentlemen."

The second problem was more difficult. One of his archers had gotten two women of the company pregnant. Both were demanding that he marry them. The archer, one Tom Ford, was standing by Will Fox. One either side of them were the women. Meg Williams, a maid of some eighteen years was standing with her parents. Her father, Charles, a burly archer was loudly demanding that Tom marry his daughter. Ann O'Neill, a redheaded Irish lass of some thirty years, was holding her stomach and demanding that Tom marry her.

The talk stopped when Castle arrived. "Tom, you admit to being the father of both children?"

"I do." He muttered.

"If I may speak?" Charles said. "My Meg is just a girl. She needs a husband to take care of her."

"What about me?" Cried Ann. "She has her parents, but I have no one. Am I to look after the child all by myself?"

Castle thought for a minute. "Tom, do you have a favorite of these two?"

The archer just shook his head.

"Then you shall marry Meg as she is young and needs a man."

Ann began crying.

"As to you, Ann, I shall find you a husband. John Clark lost his wife to the bloody flux some months back and he's been miserable without a woman. Would you accept him?"

Ann nodded slowly. "He's a good man and don't drink much. He didn't never hit Brigid, either. He'll do."

Between wounds and sickness, death was a constant in the company. If a man lost his wife, or a woman lost her husband, remarriages would soon follow. There were people who'd been married six or seven times in the company and children who had been through so many "fathers" and "mothers" that no one could quite remember their paternity any more.

Castle went to see John Clark, who was amenable to the marriage.

"To tell the truth, Captain, I've had my eye on Ann. She's a redheaded Irish spitfire like my Brigid was. I do hopes Ann bears a boy, though. They're easier to raise, I'm thinking."

By the end of the day, both couples had been seen by Father Ryan and the wedding banns would be announced at the next Mass.

Just before dinner, two of the riders he'd sent to Sir William returned. Castle led them back to the Beckett palazzo as it was nearly dinner time. He found Kate sitting at the table.

"You have business." She said. "I'll leave,"

"No, stay. I value your knowledge of Italy and Istria. Your knowledge may be useful." He looked at Lanie. "Bring a jug of wine for my men and two cups."

"Four cups, Lanie." Kate added.

"What can you report? You took the coast road, did you not?"

"Aye." Said Sam Miller, a lean and swarthy lad. He raised his cup in toast to Kate. "The lady was right. We came to an inn called the Happy Virgin and a rascal came out and offered us free wine and said he had beautiful women inside. I kicked him in the head and we ran for it. A dozen louts came out of the inn waving their weapons. We got a hundred yards ahead of them and then opened fire on them. I got a shaft through that rotten innkeeper's neck."

"What did Sir William say?"

"I have his written reply, sir." Miller handed over a sealed square of parchment.

Castle quickly read it. "The Company and the Duke's army won't be here for a week to ten days. The Duke is still accepting the fealty of the towns to the north and collecting taxes and troops. But, Sir William is sending a hundred mounted archers. He said they are mounted on good palfrey's and not the archers' usual ponies. Plus, they have pack horses with extra arrows. Captain Sam Aylward will be leading them, but I'm to remain in charge of both forces. They'll be here in three days."

Castle sighed. "Tomorrow is the third day, and on the fourth, Demming will arrive."

"What shall we do?" Kate asked, hardly realizing she had used the word we.

"We'll have an archery contest tomorrow."

Crossbowmen were common in Italy, but English longbowmen were a rarity. The next day many townspeople came out to watch the archery contest which was to be held just beyond the town walls.

First the archers piled up bales of hay and then put ten crude targets on the side of the piles of hay bales. The targets themselves were simple concentric circles painted on cheap cloth.

Kate had come out to watch with Lanie as her escort. She found herself standing next to Captain Castle.

"Captain Castle, I can understand why you'd want your men to practice their archery, but why did you insist that so many others come out and watch?"

"The residents of Pola are worried. Terrified even. Demming is coming with some thousand or more pirates and they have but a company of archers to protect them. They know very little of archers. Crossbowmen are useful. Their bolts can travel a bit farther than an arrow but they're slow to load. And you must train an archer from the time he's a babe to reach the standard we English have reached. A crossbowman can be trained much faster. An archer needs to be much stronger to pull back a bow. A crossbowman only needs to pull his bow back and cock it." Castle smiled. "No one here knows what an English arrow storm looks like. Today they'll get a glimpse."

Save for some men on watch in the tower of the church, all of the company were present. The archers began shooting from a distance of one hundred paces. Each archer fired five arrows at one of ten targets. Each man was to hit the center of the target or the next ring to proceed to the next round. Captain Castle, who shot himself, was not surprised that every archer continued to the next round.

The archers moved back by fifty paces. This time the archers had to hit the center of the target with four out of five arrows to advance. Castle was happy that only twelve archers failed.

The next round was similar, with but one difference. Father Ryan held an hourglass with sands that would run out in thirty seconds. This time almost fifty men were eliminated.

The archers were moved back to two hundred paces. This time all five arrows must hit the center ring within thirty seconds to advance.

When this round was over, Kate was surprised at how happy she was that Captain Castle was one of five men still in the contest.

A new target was set up, also to be shot at with five arrows within thirty seconds, but from a distance of two hundred and fifty paces. However, the target was a silhouette of a man. Points would be given based on whether a hit was apt to be fatal, or merely wounding.

When the round was over, there were two men left: Captain Castle and Huw of Llandovery, a tall, broad shouldered Welsh lad with blond hair and a shy smile.