The Archer's Gold: Medieval Military fiction: A Novel about Wars, Knights, Pirates, and Crusaders in The Years of the Feudal Middle Ages of William Marshall ... (The Company of English Archers Book 7) (19 page)
"Now here's the thing," I tell the captains. "Listen carefully."
"There are strong surface currents flowing past Constantinople that will carry us down to the crusader's camp without rowing. We know that because every night for the past week Gerard, Peter and I have gone out in Rolf's galley and drifted down past the crusader camp and the Venetian galleys beached next to it - and every night we've shown a couple of clear candle lanterns the way the local fishermen do to attract fish."
"Tonight we're all going to follow Rolf and all of us do it together. When we leave here we're going to board our galleys and row together up to the same place beyond the Venetian camp. Then, when I give the signal, we'll quietly drift down to their camp."
"I'll be on Rolf's galley and we'll be flying the same couple of white candle lanterns we've been flying every night for the past week. You'll use Rolf's lights to follow his galley out to our assembly point. Then, when Rolf's galley starts drifting down towards the crusaders, you just hold your place around Rolf's lanterns and drift with him."
"Now here's the important thing - when Rolf's white lanterns come down and he puts up red lanterns you'll know we're right off the crusader camp where the Venetian galleys are beached."
"That's your signal to row in very quietly and go for prizes - and tell your men not to be greedy and over reach themselves; getting just one prize off the beach is a great success."
"Also I want you to tell whoever is in charge of your small boats to watch carefully to make sure that every member of his landing party is either on a galley that has been pushed out into the water or has returned to his boat. It will go very hard on anyone who leaves a man behind."
It certainly will; I'll hang him.
My initial presentation of the plan is followed by many questions and rightly so. Among other things, the captains are particularly concerned about the Venetian galleys that are anchored off the camp. They're more than likely to have rowers and sailors aboard or they wouldn't be out there.
"Yes, that's true, Edward, and good on you for bringing it up."
"Gerard's galley and Rolf's with me on board will not be going in to the beach with you. We'll be the guard dogs and engage any of the Venetian galleys that get underway and look threatening. That's why Rolf and Gerard and their crews will get a full share the prize money based on the total number of prizes we take."
"And each of you, of course, will have to be ready to fight off anyone who tries to stop you, meaning you'll have your weapons laid out and your best archers on your deck with all your arrow bales open. There's no galley crew in the world that can stand up to the sustained shooting of a deck full of English archers wielding longbows."
And that's a fact if there ever was one.
Two hours later our excited captains leave with one final repeated order ringing in their ears - not to talk about what we're going to do as they walk back to their galleys and not to inform their men until they've rowed well away from the dock and no one else is about. Not one damn word.
We don't want to get there and find the crusaders and Venetians waiting for us.
Chapter Twenty Four
Peter and Rolf and I are standing on the roof of the stern castle of Rolf's galley. Everyone is tense and everything is quiet except for the periodic sound of oars as Rolf's galley and those clustered around us row against the current to hold their positions.
The dark shapes of the galleys around us are barely visible in the faint moonlight.
"Is it my imagination, Captain, or is it a bit lighter to the east?"
"Aye. It's lighter. You're right Lieutenant. That means it's time to go. Are the red lanterns ready, Senior Sergeant Rolf?"
"Aye Captain, I lit all three of them myself ten minutes ago and I've got my two most dependable men standing by to go up and hang them and take down the whites."
"All right. It's time to begin. Dip the whites to signal the other galleys, if you please, Senior Sergeant Rolf, and let's start drifting."
"Dipping the whites is your order, Captain William. I'll be supervising it myself to make sure it's done right and proper."
I suddenly feel the urge to go back to the shite board and pee. After I pee I'm going to go forward and climb part way up the mast to be my own lookout. It would be terribly embarrassing if the current is running so fast we drift past the crusader camp and I launch an attack on an empty parcel of ground.
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Everything is quiet as our fleet slowly drifts on the current until we come abreast of the crusader camp. In the dawn's early light I can see outlines of the Venetian galleys on the beach and those of my drifting fleet and the Venetian ships at anchor around us.
I even hear the solid "thunk" and a string of curses and shouts in Italian as the current takes one of our drifting galleys up against an anchored Venetian.
It's time. So I cup my hands around my mouth and shout down to the deck in as quiet a voice as I think will be heard by the men standing below me.
"Raise the red lanterns and bring down the whites,"
My command is obviously heard for Rolf himself and two of his sailors instantly come scurrying up the mast and go past me. They're each carrying a red lantern, three in all, in case one goes out.
Good for Rolf; I should have thought of that myself.
Time seems to stand still as all around me I can dimly see and barely hear the Marines in our landing parties as they climb into their small boats and pull for the shore.
I know when a galley's small boats are safely away because that's when the galley's oars immediately begin rowing to swing it around to row it into shore stern first. The galley captains do that so their crewmen standing in their galley's stern can throw their grappling irons to put tow lines on to the prizes they'll try to pull off the beach.
Warning shouts begin long before the first of our landing parties reach the beach. They initially come from the anchored ships into whose midst we've drifted and then from shore.
That's to be expected and so far so good - it doesn't look like anyone's waiting on the beach to fight our landing parties; we've surprised them for sure.
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The morning sun is well up and the men on Rolf's galley are happy. A couple of them are literally dancing on the deck as we row up to the dock and throw our mooring lines to the dock workers.
It's time to tally up our prizes, get the butcher's bill, and provision the prizes that are to head for Cyprus. So far everything looks good, very good.
Most of the day is spent naming off prize crews and consoling the dejected captains of the galleys that are just now arriving and missed the prize money. By nightfall fourteen more of our galleys are in from Cyprus.
We're getting stronger. We now have a total of thirty three galleys here in addition to the nine prizes we pulled off the beach that did not have slaves on board to row them to Cyprus.
Some of the sergeant captains of the new arrivals reported seeing some or all of our seven prizes with galley slaves going by in the other direction bound for Cyprus with cheering crewmen on deck and the flag of England flying over that of Venice. They are green with envy.
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Late that afternoon I told Rolf to give his entire crew a two hour liberty and pass the word to everyone that all of our galleys including the new arrivals will be sailing for Cyprus as soon as they can take on enough water.
Then I called an "all captains" muster for the deck of Rolf's ship with Marine sentries from Martin's squad of guards keeping everyone else well away.
With the newly arrived sergeant captains listening intently I asked each of the captains who'd been on the raid what worked and what had not.
"What had been the problems and what are your suggestions for improvement - we all want to know what you think while everything is still fresh in your mind?"
It took a while and there were some good and helpful suggestions for improvement that had everyone nodding in agreement. It was a good meeting even if the late arrivals are morose about having to turn around and go straight back to Cyprus. Then I dropped my rock on their toes.
"This morning's raid took the Venetians and crusaders by surprise. In fact, it worked so well that we're going to do what they'll never expect - we're going to hit them again tomorrow morning and this time go after both the remaining beached galleys and the ships at anchor."
At least I hope they don't expect us to come right back for a second bite.
The sergeant captains are over the moon; they're stunned - and then they begin cheering and carrying on like little boys who've been promised they can dip a finger in a bowl of honey.
When everyone settles down I tell them that as soon as our meeting breaks up he is to put on a long and unhappy face and immediately announce to his crew that we'll be sailing later tonight as a fleet so we can protect each other while we escape the wrath of the Venetians.
"If anyone asks, tell them that our goal is to go through the Dardanelles at first light tomorrow morning en route back to Cyprus. That will explain why we'll be sailing tonight. But under no circumstances is anyone to even so much as hint to his crew that we're going after more prizes, not until he casts off and is well away from shore."
"If anyone asks, and your seconds should if he's any good, tell him you'll be stopping for more supplies and water after you get clear of the strait. Indeed, you might rush around and pretend to hurry to load food and water just to further convince everyone that we'll be leaving these waters in a few hours."
"Actually, that's a good idea and everyone should do it."
My description of what they are to do brought smiles to the faces around me. I can see from their enthusiastic responses that every man understands and will do it.
Then we got down to planning the raid - whose ships will go for the beached galleys and whose for the Venetians at anchor and such like that.
It is hours later and late in the afternoon when we finally break up and I gave the sergeant captains my final order - which is a repeat of what I had explained earlier.
"Now everyone is to put on a most serious and pissed off face and rush back to your galleys complaining to each other. Everyone must do that - there are spies everywhere and we want everyone to think we'll be leaving for Cyprus tonight to escape from the Venetians we've pissed off."
"Going back to Cyprus in a few hours means you'll have to hurry to roust your men out of the taverns and whore houses and load as much water and food as you can. We'll be leaving six hours after dark while the tide is still going out."
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Our second raid is a great success. The Venetians and crusaders couldn't believe we would hit them again so quickly so they were once again not ready.
We came away with nine more galleys, eleven cogs, and six badly constructed horse transports that look to be more useful for firewood than anything else. Unfortunately the horses had already been unloaded.
We also lost thirty two men killed and mercied and numerous wounded badly enough to be give some of the flower paste we bought in Beirut. We took our wounded back to the dock and quickly converted two of the prize cogs into hospitals, one for our wounded and one into a hospital and prison ship for the far more numerous Venetians.
Reuben rushed into the city to get bonesetters and barbers to sew up and bleed our wounded.
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Two very good things happened the afternoon of our second raid. I was on the deck of cog with our wounded when there is a great shout and much cheering from our men. A very battered and bedraggled Thomas suddenly walks out of the city gate accompanied by several of the emperor's courtiers and a smiling young orthodox priest.
"Don't let the Byzantines take credit for freeing me," Thomas whispered into my ear in English as we fell into each other's arms.
"They didn't have anything to do with setting me free. It was the papal nuncio who grabbed me. And it was the Venetians and crusaders who forced him to let me go - you terrified them with your promise to destroy the Venetian fleet and starve them into slavery."
"The crusaders laughed when they got your first letter and even had a priest read it to me; they weren't laughing and didn't read your second letter to me. They didn't have to because everyone was talking about it."
"They were even more upset this morning, much more upset, but wouldn't tell me anything except that they decided to be merciful and let me go since I was a priest. But I heard them talking - did you really destroy their fleet and strand them here?"