Hosker, G [Sword of Cartimandua 10] Roman Hawk (24 page)

The grinning boy said, “Absolutely and the Greek Fire?”

Rufius shook his head.  “That is the last resort.  Let us hope that they have never seen a bolt thrower before and it terrifies them into running away.”

The pirates were confident and Rufius could see why.  Already two more sails could be seen to the west.  Gurt had brought his whole fleet and no doubt every warrior he could. An early season gift like
The Swan
was not to be ignored. The pirates were heading quickly for
The Swan,
the five ships converging to close the distance between them and their prey. They would swarm around  it mobbing like birds dowhen a predator threatened, but the dragon ships were the predators. Hercules was holding the trader back, the sails had a couple of reefs in them, and this made the pirates’ speed seem even greater..

Furax’s voice sounded shrill in the cold winter air as he peered over the bows.  “Three hundred paces.”

“Stand by.  Archers be ready on my command.  Furax, you judge the distance.” Furax did not turn but nodded his concentration on the target total.

They could make out the faces of the enemy now and, at the prow, were helmeted figures, the assault party no doubt, who would leap aboard once they had closed. Perhaps they thought that
The Swan’s
captain was panicking by heading straight for them but they were supremely confident that, once they made contact, they could clear the decks of the tubby trader in moments with their superior numbers.  They could not see the ex-soldiers crouching in the thwarts of
The Swan
. The story of the Trojan Horse had not made it as far as Uiteland and they would learn that not all traders were harmless; this one had teeth.

When Furax released the catch the bolt flew straight and true; the crack resounding like thunder.  Already reloading he did not have time to watch but Rufius did and he laughed out loud as the assault party dropped like stones to avoid the deadly and unexpected missile.  Some of the rowers took evasive action which resulted in the boat changing direction slightly. The bolt missed the mainmast but, as it sped past the mighty timber, it sliced through a rope and thudded into the chest of the spare steersman, hurling him overboard. The steersman was already compensating for the loss of power down one side and the bolt next to him made him over compensate and the long ship lurched towards the next boat in the line.  The cut rope made the sail ruffle and lose power. Rufius and the crew cheered when the next bolt thudded into the hull below the waterline. The next boat was Gurt’s and he watched in horror as the second ship in the line lurched towards him.  His converging course meant he was heading over towards the stricken boat anyway and he too had to turn to starboard.  Before the third bolt had struck home Hercules and the First Mate were pushing the tiller for all they were worth to make the turn.  Even as he pushed, his crew unfurled the sails and the old tub leapt forward as though it was a greyhound released from a trap. 

The last boat in the line, whose captain had been expecting to board the starboard side of
The Swan
, saw to his horror, the trader heading for his bows. 
The Swan
was a bigger heavier boat than the nimble dragon boat, although he knew the trader would be damaged, his own boat would be sunk and he yelled, “Back oars!” in an attempt to avoid a collision.

Before the captain could give another command fifteen arrows flew high into the air to be followed a heartbeat later by another fifteen and, before the first had struck, a third flight was launched. There was carnage amongst the unprotected rowers; their shields lay protecting the side of their ship and they wore neither helmets nor armour. At point blank range Furax fired a bolt which went through the steersman and shattered the tiller.  The dragon boat lurched, out of control, towards the other stricken and sinking ship.
The Swan
was suddenly in clear water and rapidly heading north towards safety.

Gurt looked at his fleet which was in complete disarray.  There was only the last ship in the line which had any control and Gurt yelled to the captain.  “Follow him.  We will join you.”

The captain of the last ship,
The Crow
, was not convinced that the pirate leader was correct. He could see one boat, the first attacked, slowly sinking and the other boat which had been attacked was dead in the water. This Roman ship was not a sheep; it had sharp teeth and could use them. He obeyed his orders and slowly the ship turned to starboard to follow the white sailed ship which was disappearing to the north west. Gurt and the other undamaged boat rowed slowly around to pick up the survivors of the wreck. When he saw the dead on the last boat he knew that he could only pursue with three ships, there would be barely enough men to row the damaged ship back to port. His lieutenant must have been reading his mind.  “Is it worth it? It is one boat?”

Part of the pirate leader’s mind knew that he was right but his pride demanded that he continue. His men respected a strong leader and one who let a fat little merchantman get away would not last long. “No we go on.  We will catch him fear not and his little surprise is at the front of his ship.  Not the stern.”

They had just transferred some rowers to help the stricken ship return to port when they heard the cry from the lookout.  “Dragon ship.”

“Where away?” Gurt looked north wondering if his ship had returned and why.

The lookout shouted. “South!”

They turned and looked at Stormbringer, Trygg Tryggvassons’ boat which was powering towards them.  Gurt knew of Trygg’s reputation as a sailor, a pirate and a raider.  They did not come into contact with each other as Gurt had not yet had the courage to sail across to Britannia. He would have been wary had it not been the single ship.  He looked at his men.  He had more than enough men left to defeat the Tencteri if this was a warlike act and if not it would do no harm to talk with the chief.

Trygg hove to close to the stern of Gurt’s ship so that the two captains were barely ten paces apart. “Have you seen a trader, filled with Brigante or Romans?”

Gurt waved a remorseful hand at the wreckage bobbing up and down on the icy black waters.  “One of my ships is following her.  She is heading north west.”

Trygg nodded.  “She is heading for Britannia. What do you intend chief?”

Gurt was still in two minds but having sent one of his men after her he would have to follow eventually. “I am going to follow her.”

“Good.” Trygg always saw the bigger picture.  He did not like Gurt and he knew that one day, if he was going to rule Uiteland he would have to fight and destroy him but the most important matter was to recover what had been stolen.  “I propose we join forces and follow this Roman to Britannia.  My ships will soon catch us up.”

Gurt looked suspicious.  “And how do we share the proceeds?”

“All I want is the Roman slave who escaped, Drugi the hunter and the sword. You can have all the rest.”

“In that case we have a partnership.” Gurt paused for he did not totally trust this Trygg.  “But this is temporary?”

“Of course.”

The three ships headed north west.  The men were largely rested and the three long ships were soon ploughing purposefully through the water, hot on the trail of
The Swan
.

******

“Captain.  Dragon ship two miles astern of us.”

“I had hoped that a bloody nose would discourage him but obviously not.” Rufius looked at the sun slipping down in the west. “Two hours until sunset.”

Hercules shook his head.  “By then she will have closed up and this time she will be wary.  The others will be close behind.”

Rufius slapped his hand on the guardrail; he turned to Gnaeus and Marcus.  “Move the bolt thrower to the stern and bring up the Greek Fire from below.  Captain, slow us down.  I want her to catch us before dark.”

“Before dark! Are you mad?”

“No I want to sink her and sink her quickly.  You are right.  She knows about our weapon in the bow so she will keep astern of us. We won’t be lucky enough to hit the tiller a second time and she can keep us at bay until her consorts come.  No, we must knock her out, with fire.  The others will head for the burning wreck and that will give us the chance to head due west and escape.” Rufius was not a gambler but he knew that the night and the dark was their ally.  They need a head start and a fire aboard the dragon ship could be all that they needed.

Hercules wasn’t certain but the troopers were. Buoyed by their success against the other ships the ex-soldiers felt that they had a good chance of hitting the dragon ship. The captain shrugged. It was as good a plan as any.

Chapter 14

The Captain of
The Crow
could not believe his luck.  The trader had slowed dramatically; he still could not see Gurt and the others but he knew they would be just over the horizon.  He had had a lantern hung from the stern to guide them.  He would just follow this wallowing  tub and then, when the others arrived they could pick at her from the rear; he would have no difficulty in maintaining contact with her and his rowers were not even using their full power.  Then they would get their revenge for their lost comrades. “Get us under their stern and get some archers here.  Let’s see if we can get the old man on the tiller.” 

The men grinned as the boat powered through the water; the low dragon boat seemed to fly through the water.  When they were about one hundred paces from the stern of the slow moving trader, the captain ordered his archers to aim at the stern. Their bows were only short ones and he needed for them to be closer than eighty paces to stand a chance of hitting the target. The lookout at the front shouted, “Captain that is a strange looking tiller.” Suddenly everyone on the ship saw a light at the stern.  Was there captain giving them a light to follow too?

They had seen neither a bolt thrower nor Greek Fire before but that night they saw and heard them both. With a terrifying crack the fiery bolt flew, straight and true for
The Crow
.  At such close range there was not time between the sighting of the bolt and the striking of the fire. The Captain had no time for any command as the bolt struck first the sail and then embedded itself in the mast.  One of the sailors threw a bucket of water on to the flames but, to their horror, the flames spread.  A second fiery bolt struck the ship towards the bow and that too began to burn with a fierce white heat.  When a third set fire to the prow the Captain knew that his Crow would never fly again and every man threw himself overboard as the flames quickly ripped through the wood ship devouring every part of her like a hungry beast gorges on a helpless prey.

On board
The Swan
none of them could quite believe the devastation created by this magical substance. None of them, Rufius included, had ever seen the weapon used before. It seemed such a terrible weapon and yet it had saved their lives and bought them valuable time. Already the wind, which had fanned the flames and helped the conflagration to spread quickly, was pushing them northwards into the increasing darkness.  Rufius turned to Hercules, “I think we can head west now captain and you can say a prayer to your god Neptune that we can evade observation until we reach Britannia.

******

Gurt’s ship was in the lead and the lookout shouted, “I can see a light to the north.”

Gurt nodded.  Good.  He has lit a lantern.”

As they closed the steersman said, “I don’t think that is a lantern captain.  Look it is spread across the waters.

Suddenly a body bumped into the bow of the ship and Gurt shouted, “Stop rowing.” The wind drifted them up to the wreckage which was strewn across the sea.  There were burnt and damaged bodies amongst the still burning timbers of the ship. The other ships came up to join them and they trawled for survivors.  There were but three.

One of the warriors was so badly burned that Gurt nodded to the warrior cradling his head to slit his throat.  The other two would survive but the shocked expressions on their faces told the others that they would never forget the experience they had endured. “It spat fire captain. And they must have used witchcraft for when we poured water on the fire it burned brighter and harder.  The ship caught fire in a heartbeat and then the ship just disappeared.”

Gurt glanced around at the white, frightened faces of his crew.  He too was shaken.  What could have destroyed one of their ships so quickly?  Was the apparently harmless trader a dragon in disguise, sent to punish them for their piracy? The ship rolled a little as Trygg’s ship nudged alongside. Gurt looked over at the Tencteri warrior.  “The Roman ship spat fire and
The Crow
sank.  There are but two survivors.  It is witchcraft.”

Chief Trygg laughed but it was a cold hard laugh which echoed and rolled across the silent sea of death.  “No it is the Roman war machine.  My ships and your ships were struck with giant arrows from a Roman war machine.  This fire is also a Roman trick. I do not know how they made it spit fire but they did.”

One of the survivors shook his head.  “But the water would not put out the fire! It was magic.”

“No it is just another Roman trick we do not understand.” Chief Trygg looked impatiently at Gurt. “Well Captain, do we pursue or do I continue alone with my boats?”

Gurt looked astern of the Tencteri ship and saw another three of Trygg’s ships. He had lost three of his own ships already and many warriors.  If he continued he could lose it all and, for what? It was but one ship. “It is but one ship…”

“No it is not just one ship which we seek, for I intend to punish the Romans.  They have dared to come into our waters and they will pay a heavy price for that. Join with me Chief Gurt and we will raid the coast of Britannia and your ships will have so much booty that you will be throwing valuable items over the side just to sail home safely.”

Gurt knew of the success of his neighbour.  It was well known that his visits to Britannia brought him much plunder. If he did not join him then he would have a poor season and one of his warriors might seize control of the band. “You know the waters and the land, we will follow you.” Gurt was ensuring that, if they ran into the fiery trader again it would be one of the Tencteri ships which was lost.  He intended to lose no more ships.