996. Chapter 996

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.

"Dismount, lead the horses into the trees. Huw and I'll go look." Castle ordered.

"You should stay here." Kate said. "You're the military governor of Pola now. You're too important to risk."

"Kate, I've been sneaking up on people…."

"She's right, Captain." Will said. "You're an important man now. We can't afford to take a chance and lose you. Besides, Huw has taken off by himself."

Castle turned around. Huw was gone.

He started to go after Huw, but Kate gently took his hand.

Huw was back in a few minutes. "He's a young man, and a peasant by his dress. Hasn't been there for too long by my guess."

Castle thought for a second. "We'll head for the village on foot, leading the horses through the trees. Whoever did that might still be around."

It was only a short way to the village. Rick and Kate slipped behind a large tree and looked at the village.

"It's been raided." Castle said. That was obvious. The peasants' little huts were wrecked, the contents of their homes were strewn about and there were blood trails where bodies had been dragged off. There were, however, a half a dozen people standing around in shock.

"We should go see what happened." Kate said and began walking into the little village. As soon as the villagers saw her, booted, armed, and wearing a mail coat and a helmet, they ran.

"Wait!" I'm Dona Katerina Beckett. I won't hurt you. I have friends with me. They'll help and protect you."

But the people kept on running.

Kate was followed into the village by Rick and the rest of his patrol.

"I should have taken my helmet and mail shirt off." Kate said sadly.

"We can do that later." Rick whispered in her ear so no one would hear.

Before Kate could glare at him, Huw spoke. "Someone's coming back."

A short, thin, elderly woman peeked around the corner of a hut. "Dona Katerina, it is you." The old woman walked painfully to Kate and hugged her. "I am so happy you are well, Dona Katerina."

"I've brought help, Antonia."

"Too late." The old woman cried. "They have taken all of our food. We have nothing for when winter comes. We'll starve."

Kate looked beseechingly at Rick.

"There is food in Pola." Rick said. "You should go there."

"Pola? The city? We are farmers. How would we earn our bread in the city?"

Luckily, Kate had an answer. "You can cut wood to be made into arrows. Captain Castle here will pay you. He's the military governor of Pola now. Under Duke Rodrigo."

Antonia looked Rick over. "So young to be a governor. But he's handsome, is he not? Ruggedly handsome."

Kate blushed. "He's very handsome."

"And your children will be beautiful."

"Antonia!" Kate cried, blushing furiously.

"I'll write you a letter telling Captain Aylward to feed you and put you to work cutting wood for arrows," Castle said, smiling at Kate.

"To leave our home…."

"Is better than starving here." Kate finished.

"Do you know who the soldiers were that raided you?" Rick asked.

Antonia spat. "De Braquenne's people. They not only stole our food, they took four women. One was married to poor Antonio. He tried to stop them, but they hung him."

"Where did they to when they left?"

"Only God, or more likely, the Devil, knows."

Castle gave the villagers a bit of food and some wine and the letter to Sam Aylward. He hoped they made it.

They headed towards the next village.

"Do you smell that?" Will asked.

Castle stopped and inhaled deeply. "Smoke. Something's burned." He turned to Kate. "Where's the next village from here?"

"Straight ahead. About half a mile." Kate had a sickening feeling in her stomach.

"We'll ride in slowly. I'll go and…" Kate kicked him and Will glared at him. "I mean, we'll have Edward go and have a look."

Edward, a tall lanky man smiled. "Always glad to be first in, Captain." He spurred his horse into a slow trot. He was back within five minutes.

"Bad news. The villages been sacked and burned. It looks like everyone is dead."

They rode in and found that Edward was right. All that was left of the little village was smoldering ashes and corpses. The men, women and children of the village had been savagely cut down.

Kate leaned over and vomited.

"Edward, take Lady Katherine to the far end of the village." Castle ordered.

But as Edward reached to take her reins, she pulled away. "No. I came because I can be of help. I will be of help."

"Movement!" An archer yelled as a man dashed from a pile of rubble that was once a chimney.

Kate recognized the boy at once. "Guido! Guido! It's me, Dona Katerina. Please stop. We want to help you."

The boy kept running until he reached the trees, but stopped to look back. "Done Katerina, is it truly you?"

"Yes, and these are friends. They serve Duke Rodrigo."

The boy slowly walked over to Kate and stopped.

"What happened here, Guido?"

"Soldiers came to steal our food, but they found our plum brandy. They got drunk and….and…" He could go no further.

"Do you know where they went?" Castle asked.

"Yes, to the Convent of St. Ursula, just over the hill."

"The convent has a lot of young postulants. If they're drunk and looking for women…."

"Guido," Castle asked, "we need to get to the convent quietly and without being seen. Can you tell us how to do that?"

"I can lead you. I know this land like the back of my hand."

"Huw, let Guido ride behind you."

They stopped and dismounted aa few hundred yards from the convent. Even at that distance, they could hear screams and yelling. Castle left three men to hold the horses and they crept slowly towards the convent.

Reaching the edge of the tree line, they saw a dozen men in various stages of undress, clearly drunk and more than a dozen naked young women. The women looked terrified and were sobbing.

Three men were holding a young girl down while another forced her to drink wine from a good sized barrel. The girl was screaming and spitting the wine out. When she did so, one of the men punched her, hard. Another man came over with a large metal funnel, shoved it down her throat, then pinched her nose closed. The girl had no choice but to drink. The men laughed.

"Kate," Castle asked, "Ask Guido if those are all the men?"

Kate whispered to the young man

"He says he doesn't know."

Castle cursed, then apportioned the targets to each of his archers. The men knocked their arrows, drew back their bowstrings and waited for the command.

"Loose!" Castle yelled and nine arrows sped to their targets. Castle had chosen the man who had pushed the funnel into the novice's mouth. It took some seconds for the remaining three men to react to what had happened and by then it was too late for them.

Castle drew his sword and led his men out of the trees.

"Make sure the bastards are all dead. Check the convent and anyplace else to see if there are anymore here. Kate, talk to the women. Reassure them. Ask them how many men are here."

Castle heard the clash of arms and shouts from inside the convent. He ran to the convent and reached the door just as Will Fox and two archers came out.

"Two men in there, Captain. Now dead. Also, an old lady. Probably the Mother Superior. She was too old for them, so they chopped her up."

Castle spun around at the sound of hoofbeats and saw a rider heading straight for Kate.

"Kate, get out of the way?"

But instead, she raised her crossbow and fired. The bolt hit the man in his chest and he slid from the saddle. The horse ran for a dozen yards, then stopped and looked back at its rider.

Rick ran to Kate who was staring down at the rider who had landed right in front of her.

"Are you all right?" Castle demanded.

She nodded. "He's just a boy. Hardly in his teens." Kate turned away and vomited what was left in her stomach.

Rick put his hands on her shoulders. "He was old enough to carry a sword and from the looks of his clothing, old enough to rape an innocent girl."

She nodded again. "I never killed anyone like that. When Demning attacked us, I shot at a mass of men and never saw if I actually hit anyone. But this….."

"We need to get you out of here." He took her hand and began to leaf her to the woods and the

"No." She said, suddenly stopping. "The women are terrified. They think your men will use them and then kill them. I need to reassure them."

Kate walked over and began to talk to the young women, gradually calming them down. Rick's men gathered what clothing there was to cover the women and found the dead soldiers' horses.

"They don't know what to do, Rick. They're no longer virgins and they don't know what the Church will do to them."

Castle cursed. "Tell them that we'll take them back to Pola. One of the churches will find places for them."

"And if the Church doesn't want them?"

Castle grimly put his hand on the hilt of his sword. "They'll take them in. I guarantee that."

The ride back was slow and disorganized. None of the nuns had ever ridden before and had no idea how to control their mounts. The horses, seeming to understand this, took every opportunity to stop and nibble at sweet grasses or just wander off the road. The also ran across peasants heading for the safety of Pola, now that they knew that it was garrisoned by soldiers of Duke Rodrigo. And each batch of peasants seemed to come with problems, everything from a fight between two families over who should have given the warning that de Braquenne's men were coming, to a lost child, thankfully found with another family playing with their children, to a woman who gave birth.

"She's naming her son Ricardo." Kate told Rick.

"After me?"

"Of course."

Castle just shook his head.

It took more than twice as long to get back to Pola as it had to leave. When they got back, Castle found Sam Aylward waiting at the gate.

"God's balls, Richard. Did you become Moses leading the children of Israel to the promised land? We've had half the peasants in Italy come to the city to be protected by Lord Castle."

Castle laughed. "They can be of help to us here, I hope."

"We've had visitors while you were gone. Four galleys came here from Venice. I'm sure the bastards were told by our runaway senators and others that Pola had been sacked by Demming and so they came along to pick over what was left."

"Did they attack?"

Sam shook his head and laughed. "I got a dozen men, put them in all the armor I could find and rode out to the dock to greet them. I told the Venetians that Pola was held by the famous White Company of Sir Richard Castle and that a thousand stout English archers and a thousand men at arms garrisoned the city, with more on the way. I had all of our archers line the walls by the sea gate and all of the townsmen I could drag up there, holding bows, or just long sticks." Sam laughed." They were disappointed and left."

Rick shook his head and headed for the palazzo.

Once inside, he called Father Ryan to him. "Father, we have a dozen novice nuns that were raped by de Braquenne's men. You need to go see the bishop of this town and arrange for them to be cared for. I don't expect you to take no for an answer."