Archers and Crusaders: Historical fiction: Novel of Medieval Warfare by Marines, Navy sailors, and Templar knights in the Middle Ages during England's ... (The English Archers Saga Book 6) (9 page)

       To a man the Venetians I question express their surprise at finding so many well-armed fighting men on our galley.  They thought our galleys would be like theirs – three or four dozen sailors and soldiers who are barely trained to fight and a lot of chained slaves to do the rowing. 

       With five galleys and some additional soldiers from the city they expected to outnumber us by five to one and for us to surrender and be killed without much of a fight.  It never dawned on them, at least not until it was too late, that we would be doing our own rowing and be better armed and trained to fight than the pirates they sometimes face.

                      Chapter Eight

       It is starting to get dark and the sea even more choppy by the time Jeffrey appoints five very small prize crews for the Venetian prizes and their slaves are told they’ll be freed as soon as they reach Cyprus.  While that is happening working parties of our sailors and Marines are offloading most of our supplies to top up the supplies and water the prizes already have on board - so they can make it all the way to Cyprus without having to make port calls.  At least that’s the plan.  The only Venetian galley slaves who will not sail for Cyprus in chains are four overjoyed Englishmen.  They are released immediately so they can come with us when we return to England. 

       In a few minutes we’ll cast off the last two prizes, put up the sail on our galley, and begin rowing into Pula with our wounded for sewing and bleeding.  We should be in Pula in the morning if the weather holds and our pilot is right about where we are in relation to the port.  We are going to Pula because the Pope’s legate is thought to be there trying to convince the city to pay Venice’s taxes so the crusaders can use the tax coins to pay for their transportation to Egypt. 

       We need to hurry because the Venetians and the crusaders obviously know of the Pope’s order and will attempt to collect as much money as possible before the Christian cities find out about it.  Once the Christian cities learn of the Pope’s order, the threat of a crusader attack if they don’t pay will be gone and they’ll never be willing to pay. 

      
Cardinal Capua is almost certainly traveling on a Venetian galley but that no longer worries us because we know the Venetians’ fighting ability.  What does worry us is that until the contents of the letter are made public the Venetians will try to stop it from being delivered even if it means killing the two cardinals and the rest of us. 

      
There is no question about it – we and Cardinal Capua will be in great danger from the Venetians until the letter is delivered and the crusaders informed that they cannot attack the Christian cities to get the coins for their transportation.  It’s clear to me and Cardinal Bertoli that we need to reach Cardinal Capua quickly so he can tell the crusaders about the Pope’s excommunication threat, and that we need to do so before the Venetians find out that their initial effort to prevent the letter’s delivery has failed and they make another attempt.

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       We reach Pula’s little harbor about three hours after the sun comes up.  The tents of the crusaders’ large camp are clearly visible to the south as we drop our sail and row into the harbor.

        Cardinal Capua is undoubtedly at local bishop’s residence and so, with an idler from the dock trotting alongside to guide us, Cardinal Bertoli and I hurry there to deliver the Pope’s letter to his legate - the sooner Cardinal Capua informs the crusaders they will be excommunicated if they attack a Christian city, the better.  Until the Crusaders are informed we are all in great danger from the Venetians.  They are obviously willing to kill even a cardinal to prevent the crusaders from learning of the Pope’s message.

       Tomas of Perugia is the local bishop and his residence is a fine house next to the Church of Saint Mary Formosa. Cardinal Capua, the Pope’s personal representative to the crusaders is indeed staying with him and, as one might well imagine, they are absolutely astonished to see us and receive the Pope’s letter.  They both read the Pope’s letter while the bishop’s servants rush to bring us bread, cheese, and breakfast wine.  They both understand the letter’s significance and why the Venetians are willing to go to such an extreme to stop the Crusaders from finding out about its contents.

       Bishop Tomas and the Pope’s legate share good news and bad news with us as we eat.  The good news is that Pula has already given in the crusader’s demands for Venice’s taxes without a fight; the bad news is that the much larger and more prosperous port of Zara is not willing to pay them.  The Pope’s letter has arrived just in time.

       Cardinal Capua professes to be taken aback by contents of the Pope’s letter. He is concerned that the crusaders will not believe the letter is from the Pope.  He wants us with him when he meets with the Crusader leadership to help convince them that the letter is from the Pope and that the Pope is serious about his threat to excommunicate them.  We agree and he immediately sends one of the bishop’s men to the crusader camp with a message asking its leaders to drop whatever they’re doing and come to the bishop’s private room in the Church of Saint Mary Formosa on a matter of great importance.

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       We meet with the crusader leadership several hours later in Bishop Tomas’ little office which opens into church near the altar.  Surprisingly the bishop is there but Cardinal Capua is not.  According to the bishop, the cardinal been called away on urgent business and will be represented by a priest from his staff, Father Antonio.  Also surprisingly, there are only two crusaders, Robert Thibaut of Champagne and Henri of St. Dizier.  Both are French knights and both are armed and wearing armor.  I immediately get the feeling that something is wrong, very wrong.

       The door is quickly barred to keep us from being disturbed - and the six of us don’t even have a chance to sit down at the bishop’s table before Cardinal Capua’s priest reveals just how wrong things are.

       “You two are quite foolish you know.  And now it’s going to be the death of you both.”

       “What are you saying, Father Antonio?” demands the usually cheerful Cardinal Bertoli with more than a little surprise in his voice.”

       “Do you really think we weren’t warned about the letter you’re carrying from the Pope and that we’re going to tell our crusaders to call off the crusade and go home because of it?”

       “The Pope is not ordering you to end your crusade; he is only telling you not to attack innocent Christians in order to get the money needed to pay for your transportation.  In the name of God, Antonio, it’s the Pope who called for the crusade.  He hasn’t changed his mind; he doesn’t want it stopped.  His letter doesn’t stop it.”

       “Yes, it does because without the money the cities owe Venice we can’t get to Jerusalem.  Now we finally have a way to get the coins we need for our transportation and we’re not going to give them up – Jerusalem and the Holy Land are much more important than a few small port cities on the Adriatic.”

       “The crusaders here and in Venice are good men,” Cardinal Bertoli exclaims indignantly.  “I know many of them.  They will never attack Zara if the Pope tells them not to do so.”

       “Unfortunately you are right, of course.  They won’t attack Zara or even threaten it if the Pope says they should not.  That’s why we can’t allow you to tell them about the Pope’s letter.”

       I step closer to the knights and plead with them.

       “Good Knights, brave men.  Surely you will not harm high officials of the church in order to keep the Pope’s letter a secret.”

       The amused sneers on of the faces of the two knights tells us all we need to know.  They certainly will.  There is no doubt about it.

       “And you, Bishop?  I ask as I turn towards him and back even closer to the knights while I wave my hands in despair.  I’m so overwhelmed and distraught that I’m staggering about. 

       “Are you to be killed with us or have you joined with these three who would defy the Pope and murder us to keep his letter secret?”

       “Bishop Tomas is with us,” the priest answers for him. “And with his share of the coins and treasure from here and Zara he’ll be a cardinal in Rome for certain.”  …  “Perhaps he’ll even take Cardinal Bertoli’s place when he unfortunately disappears.”  He smiles and nods to Bishop Tomas who nods his agreement and returns his smile.

       “Perhaps it is God’s Will that Cardinal Bertoli and I should die here,” I say with pleading resignation in my voice as I lift my arms in supplication towards the knights and heaven - and the arms of my robe slide back and my wrist knives come out.

       My move to bring out my wrist knives catches the knights totally by surprise -as it should since they don’t expect it from a bishop and William and I have practiced doing it almost every day for twenty years.  The two crusaders don’t even have time to blink before I jam the one in my right hand deep into Count Thibaut’s eye and thrust the one in my left through Sir Henri’s beard and into his throat.

       Count Thibaut instinctively jerks back as I knife his eye so I make a fast step towards him and jam it in all the way in.  I can feel it hit the bone in the back of his skull and stick.  He drops straight down and his legs begin shaking and trembling.  That’s a good sign, of course, his trembling is, but unfortunately he takes my blade down with him.

       Sir Henri just stands there with his hands clutching his throat and looking at me with disbelief in his eyes - until I pull out my knife with a sideways pull that cuts his throat even more.  Then he steps forward and desperately tries to grab at me and then, when quickly I step back with the knife in my hand, he staggers to the bishop’s table and holds his neck with one hand while using the other to hold himself up, all the time staring at me in disbelief as great surges of blood pump out over his hand.

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       Everything stands still and no one moves or says a word until Sir Henri sinks to his knees on the floor.  Then both the bishop and the priest scream and run for the barred door.  They don’t make it.

       Cardinal Capua’s priest goes first.  He screams a high pitched scream as I shove my knife deep into his liver and rip it upward with both hands as he fumbles with the bar holding the door closed. Then I knock him to the ground with my elbow and go after dear old overly ambitious Bishop Tomas - after I stomp on the priest’s neck so hard that I can feel the bones break. 
I wasn’t always a priest, was I?

       “Please no.  Please.  I didn’t mean it.  For the love of God I am innocent.  Please don’t. .. No. .. Help. .. Murder… Help. .. Please don’t kill me. .. I’ll tell you everything. .. I’ll pay you. …  I’ll ..”

       For a few seconds I have to chase the bishop around the table while he screams for help.  But I soon catch him.  He flails wildly about and even tries to scratch me in the face as I grab him by the front of his robe and pull him to me.

       “You’ve already told us everything we need to know about you - you’re a murderer and a false priest.” 

       That’s what I say in a snarling whisper as I hold the bishop firmly in front of me and slowly push my knife into stomach and up into his heart - and twist it as he arches his back and sucks in his stomach in a futile effort to get off it while he screams and screams. For a little while he gives a high pitched squeal like pigs squeal when they are being slaughtered - but then it stops as he sinks to his knees on the dirt floor and begins sobbing and trying to talk and whimper and beg and scream all at the same time. After a while that fades away as well.  

       There is a lot of shouting and furious pounding on the door as I let loose of the bishop’s robe and give him a little push so he falls to the floor in a rapidly widening pool of blood.  His feet begin their death trembles and he begins to piss and shit as I lean over to pull my knife out, wipe it off on my robe, and put it back into the leather holder on my left wrist.  Finally I turn my attention to Cardinal Bertoli.

       “Are you all right?” 

       That’s what I ask a very white faced and shaking Cardinal Bertoli as I try to pull my knife out of Sir Robert’s eye.  It’s stuck.  Finally I put my foot on his head and use both hands to pull my knife out with a great tug and a grunt.  Cardinal Bertoli doesn’t answer.  He’s leaning against the wall and looks like he’s about to have a great seizure and fall down.

                                 Chapter Nine

       We wait to open the door to the bishop’s priests and servants until everyone has finished their dying and taken their final piss and shite.  While we wait for them to finish we work out the story we’ll tell to explain what happened.

      
People who die always seem to piss and shite at the very end.  The priests say it’s so their bodies will be clean as possible when they meet God and are judged. But I wonder if it isn’t something else since even the greatest of sinners like these four seem to do it.

       There is a great crowd of anxious people in the church when I finally unbar the door between the bishop’s private room and the church.  Then, without letting the rapidly growing crowd in, the cardinal and I stand in the doorway of the bishop’s room and briefly explain in Latin and French the sad details of what has happened.  Cardinal Bertoli stands next to me and makes speechless nods of agreement and crosses himself after each point I make.