The Alchemist's Revenge

by Martin Archer

  Whatever the cause, the immediate result of the Orthodox priests delivering the Patriarch’s “message from God” was scattered looting and the rapid spreading of all sorts of rumours on every street corner and in the markets. We knew it would be much worse that night when the sun finished passing overhead and darkness fell.

  My decision to ride out to see the on-coming Greek army for myself was immediately placed on hold, both because of the troubles and because the Empress summoned her advisors, including me, my father, Richard, Eric, her hand-wringing chancellor, and Archbishop Colonna to an emergency meeting. It was mercifully brief, probably because the insufferable Latin archbishop arrived after it ended.

  The questions the Empress put to us when we were assembled in her private chamber was “what should we do? And what will happen tomorrow? Will the people of the city turn out to work on the walls?”

  Richard and I immediately understood that we would have to send our men into the city to help Eric and his Varangian axe-men maintain order. But neither of us said a word. I just looked over at Eric and nodded. He understood and nodded back.

  The answers and suggestions raised by the Empress’s questions ranged all over the place from doing nothing and waiting to see what happens to killing them all. The Empress just listened for about thirty minutes. In the end, it was the Empress herself who made the decision and gave the orders.

  “Deploy your men as you think best to protect the city, particularly the Latin Quarter and the markets and churches wherever loyal refugees might gather. Also the public baths and the city’s underground water reservoir. Eric, I want you to bring me the Orthodox bishops in chains, but leave the priests alone so they can continue to supervise their parishioners on the work gangs.

  “First and foremost, however, you and your men are to put down the rioting tonight and for so long thereafter as it continues—and leave the bodies of the rioters in the streets where they fall to encourage the others to go home.

  “Oh yes. And turn out the people and their priests in the morning to work on the walls. Immediately cut down anyone who refuses to work, even the priests.”

  She was a harder woman than many knew; like a mother bear protecting her cubs.

  ******

  Richard, Eric, and I met together as soon as the Empress’s blessedly short meeting ended. We were in full accord with the Empress’s orders and turned to the task of carrying them out with enthusiasm and determination. Of course we were with her; it was a matter of principle, the principle being that we had a lucrative coin-earning contract with her. Besides, we would lose our privileges and a major source of the Company’s coins if she was overthrown by the Greeks.

  My senior aide, Major Captain Michael Oremus, and our apprentices listened intently as Eric suggested, and Richard and I immediately agreed, that the archers would guard each of the city’s four markets and each of the city’s churches and synagogues, as well as the entrances to the Latin Quarter and several other areas where Eric thought refugees might gather such as the city baths and the water reservoir. He would provide one of his Varangian guards and a translator for each of our galley companies.

  It was also decided that the men of the Company’s galley companies not detached to serve in the city would continue to guard the city walls and the Commandery, supervise the people working to strengthen the walls, and be our reserves.

  The Latin Quarter would function as a general refuge with a few of the Empress’s guards patrolling the quarter’s streets even though it was expected to remain quiet. Refugees and their Latin-gobbling priests and merchants would be allowed in and Orthodox rioters would be kept out.

  Eric was grim-faced as he said he and all the rest of his axe-men would patrol the Latin Quarter and the streets of the other quarters just as they did every night.

  “Every available man, including me, will be patrolling the streets of the city tonight. I fear it will not be enough. The priests’ calls and the heat will bring the trouble-makers out into the streets for sure. Wherever possible we will send those who are trying to flee from the trouble-makers to either the Latin Quarter for my men to guard or to their churches and markets for your men to guard, whichever are closer.”

  Things moved quickly after the meeting. Messengers were soon rushing in every direction and some of Eric’s men were immediately dispatched to collect the city’s Orthodox bishops and their priestly assistants, and bring them in for questioning. According to Eric, the head bishop was called the Metropolitan and he had gone to ground in Patriarch’s palace where he now lived.

  “The other bishops my men and I can quietly catch and bring in. The Metropolitan we cannot capture without fighting our way into the Patriarch’s residence. It is not worth it.”

  Eric did not go with his men to collect the bishops. He rode with Richard and me to the twenty-seven walled enclosures that totally filled the space between the city’s outer and inner defensive walls all the way across the peninsula on which Constantinople sat—and, in so-doing, formed a line of fortified enclosures that totally separated the city of Constantinople at the end of the peninsula from any invader who attempted to reach the city by land.

  The archers from one of the Company’s galleys were camped in each enclosure and charged with guarding the section of the city’s outer defensive wall that was their enclosure’s northern wall. The other three walls of each enclosure being the city’s inner defensive wall and the somewhat lower interior walls that ran from the inner wall to the outer wall and, in so doing, divided all the land between the city’s outer and inner walls into fortified enclosures.

  Thirty or so of Eric’s axe-men jogged along behind us as we galloped from one galley’s fortified enclosure to the next. We stopped only a minute or so at each company to give its captain his instructions and for Eric to assign one of his Varangian axe-men to be the captain’s guide.

  As you might imagine, we accepted Eric’s suggestions as to where each of the galley companies was to be placed. Of course we accepted them; he knew the city and its potential trouble spots far better than we ever would.

  Less than an hour later the Company’s archers and their auxiliaries, guided by Eric’s axe-men, began flooding into the city carrying their longbows, pikes, and extra arrows. They had very simple orders—protect their assigned market, church, or public facility where people seeking refuge were likely to assemble, cut down everyone who was looting or part of a street mob, and in the morning turn everyone out to work on strengthening the city’s walls no later than thirty minutes after the sun arrived on its daily trip around the world.

  It sounded simple. But it would not be an easy assignment to carry out once the sun finished passing overhead and darkness covered the city. That was particularly true since it would be a night when the moon would be very small and we only had a few hours to get everything organized.

  In other words, we were facing a situation in our rear that we should have prepared for many weeks ago.

  Chapter Five

  Unrest in the city.

  Every galley captain realized that time was of the essence and quick-marched his archers and auxiliaries to their assigned positions—and everywhere the people of the city saw and heard the archers coming and scurried to get out of their way. It was a powerful message to the people of the city.

  ****** Captain Jack White of Galley 29

  My men were practicing with their longbows and I was napping in my tent when my number two, Harry Evans, rushed in shouting that the Commander and some riders were coming this way and coming fast. They were, he shouted, just now coming through the narrow entrance in the wall between our enclosure and the enclosure to our north with a great mob of men running behind them.

  Harry seemed quite excited. He was not normally very excitable, so I immediately understood that something important might be occurring and rushed out of the tent to greet our visitors.

  It was Commander Courtenay himself with a number of riders and men coming one at a time through th
e narrow wall opening behind him. The running men looked to be some of the city’s axe-carrying guardsmen, the ones we had been told were our good friends.

  The Commander did not dismount; he merely pointed at one of the axe-men who was on foot and began giving me my orders. The axe-men were carrying shields and battle axes and had obviously been running hard to keep up with the horses.

  “Jack, you are to take your company at the double to one of the city’s markets and guard it. That man will lead you there and find a translator for you from amongst the merchants. You and your company are to protect the market and everyone sheltering in it against possible looters and rioters. You and your men are to stay there until you are ordered to return. It might be several days or even longer. Leave a steady sergeant and a couple of men here as lookouts on the wall and to guard your company’s tents and supplies.

  “Every morning you are to send everyone out to work on the walls thirty minutes after the sun returns in the morning. Take your pikes and swords and all the arrows you can carry.”

  As was expected of me when receiving such a direct order, I immediately repeated it back so George would know I understood it.

  “Aye Commander. My men and I are to follow the axe-man to a market and guard it and the people sheltering in it against looters. We are to take our weapons and all the arrows we can carry, and we are to send the people of the city out to work on the walls no later than thirty minutes after the sun comes back each morning. We are to stay there until we are ordered to return which might be several days. A steady sergeant and a couple of men are to remain here as lookouts and guards.”

  “Exactly so; you have a good memory. And good luck to you, Jack.”

  And with that the Commander ducked his head low and leaned down so he and his party could ride one at a time through the narrow opening in the nearby interior wall. He was heading towards Dan Tenn’s company which was camped in the next enclosure over from mine.

  The Commander and his followers were able to pass directly through to Dan’s camp because we had left a single very narrow opening in each of the new interior walls, and then covered them over with bridges of loose boards so our men could walk out all along the top of the new interior walls and shoot their arrows down at anyone who got into the enclosures that resulted when the new interior walls went up.

  The narrow openings in the new interior walls were as close as possible to the city’s much higher inner defensive wall so an archer standing on the much higher city wall would have an easy target of any enemy who tried to use the opening to get out of the enclosure and into the one next to it. Moreover, each such opening was so narrow that only one rider or foot soldier could go through it at a time to get into the next enclosure—and would be at the mercy of archers standing on the nearby city wall when he did.

  Because of the narrowness of the openings, each new interior wall was given two temporary wooden plank bridges for the archers stationed on the wall to use. One went over the narrow opening in the wall, the other, a much longer wooden plank, ran from the interior wall, over the moat, and on to the top of the city’s inner defensive wall.

  In other words, a man could walk from the top of the city’s outer defensive wall all the way to the city’s inner defensive wall without ever setting foot on the ground. It turned every enclosure into a “killing ground” for the archers on the walls around each enclosure if an attacker was ever able to break into it—which was exactly the purpose of the interior walls.

  ****** Captain Jack White

  Harry and I instantly understood that time was of the essence and that we needed to get our men to the market as fast as possible. That was clear from both the Commander’s orders and the clipped and anxious way he gave them.

  “COMPANY, ATTENTION, I barked in my loudest captain’s voice. FORM UP IN A COLUMN OF THREES WITH PIKES, SWORDS, AND SHIELDS AND EVERY MAN CARRYING FOUR FULL QUIVERS.”

  I roared out my orders even as the Commander began wheeling his horse around and began heading for the opening in the wall to visit Dan Tenn and his men in the enclosure next to ours. I did not have to order the men to carry their longbows and extra bowstrings; that was understood.

  Our camp erupted into chaos as the sergeants repeated my order and everyone ran to get their weapons and extra quivers. It was very exciting.

  We were formed up and on our way in less time than it would take for one of our galley’s sailors to dance a jig.

  There were only two ways for us to get out of the enclosure. One was to use the single narrow opening in each interior wall and go from enclosure to enclosure until the enclosure was reached that had the only road that was open into the city.

  The enclosure with the road through it had the only bridge still standing that went over the moat in front of the city’s outer defensive wall. And then, after coming in over the outer moat and passing through the gate in the city’s outer wall, the road continued for several miles all the way to a bridge over a moat and the gate that took the road into the city through the city’s inner defensive wall.

  That one road was now the only road into the city—all the other roads were closed by having their bridges over the moats in front of the city’s outer and inner walls torn down and their gates blocked with great piles of rocks and dirt. It would be easier to break through, or climb over, the city’s outer and inner defensive walls themselves than try to break through the wall gates on the landward side of the city.

  The only other way into the city on its landward side, the one my company and our wall workers always used, was to climb up the long and rickety wooden ladders that stretched from the ground in each enclosure to the top of the city’s inner defensive wall. There were two such ladders in our enclosure and they were quite long because they had to cross over the moat that ran along the front of the city’s inner wall and reach all the way up to the top of the wall.

  What it meant, of course, was that a man like me could get into the city by climbing up a ladder to the top of the city wall and then walking down the stone steps on the other side. It always gave me a bit of a chill when I went into the city to visit the Commandery or drink because the ladders were quite rickety and I could look down and see the foul waters of the moat below me. Coming back when I was tipsy was even worse. It was well known that a man in another company fell off a ladder and drowned.

  In any event, the men of my company and the other companies used the ladders constantly because they were the only way we could get out of our enclosures without spending a lot of time going through enough of the narrow openings and enclosures to reach the one road into the city that was still open.

  As a result of the moats and gate blockages, the Greek invaders would have to use similar ladders to get over the city’s inner defensive wall and into the city itself—unless, of course, they were willing to stand in line to go through the narrow openings whilst our archers were pushing arrows at them from the top of the inner defensive wall which was only a short distance away. More importantly, they would only be able to do one or the other if they were able get through the city’s outer defensive wall and into the enclosures where we were camped.

  It would not be easy for the Greeks even if they successfully breached the outer wall and got into one of our enclosures—they would have to bring their own ladders and be able to climb up them to get into the adjoining enclosure or into the city. And they would have to do so despite our arrows coming down on them from close range and the pike men waiting to poke them with their pike points and chop them down with their pike blades when they got near the top of whatever walls they were trying to climb over.

  Moreover, to even get to the city’s inner defensive wall and erect their ladders, the Greek soldiers would not only have to fight their way over or through the city’s outer defensive wall, they would also have to run the length of the enclosure whilst our men were pushing arrows at them from the newly constructed interior walls on either side of them.

  It was as fine a set of killi
ng grounds as we had ever established. The only questions, at least so far as my men and I were concerned, was whether we would run out of arrows before the Greeks ran out of men for us to shoot down—and if the Greeks and their supporters had the bottom to keep coming and taking terrible casualties long enough for that to occur.

  It did not turn out that way, of course, but that was what we were thinking at the time.

  ****** Lieutenant Harry Evans

  We got into the city by scrambling up the ladders from our camp to the top of the city’s inner defensive wall and then climbing down the stairs on the other side of the wall. It was something we were used to doing and it did not take long before we were on the ground in the city, and once again formed up and ready to march.

  It was a very warm day and we could feel the heat from the street stones through our open-toed sandals. As you might imagine, the men were already hot and sweating profusely by the time Captain White gave the word and we set out to follow the axe-man to wherever he was leading us.

  Our marching drum was beating loudly as we marched and sweated our way through the city’s streets. No one had a clue as to where exactly we were being led, not even the captain.

  All we knew was that we were marching in the hot sun and what the captain briefly told us when we first assembled—that we would be spending a night or two protecting a market and some refugees from rioters. I myself was hopefully the rioters would come so I would have a chance to distinguish myself. I suspect many of the men felt the same way.

  It took us quite some time to reach the market we were assigned to protect. It was, or so it seemed by the time we got there, some distance away on the other side of the city. We initially moved at a quick march, but the captain soon slowed the drum to a normal marching pace because of the heat. It was not so bad when we were marching in the shade of the buildings that lined the city’s narrow streets, but it was damn hot and uncomfortable when we had to march in the sun.