“Everyone is to address me as “Pierre,” never as “Commander.” It is an important Company secret that I am with you and so is everything we do and see tonight. Tell not a word or even a hint to anyone about what you hear or see tonight until this war is over.”
People were on the streets going about their normal business and the voices we heard were not excited. Our pulling of the handcart seemed somehow to reassure the people we came upon even though they mostly heard us since the light was so poor. Having a handful of men accompanying a handcart clattering through the city’s dark streets at night when it was cooler seemed like a reasonable thing to do.
The tavern where we were going to visit was called The Black Swan. It was in a poorer part of the Latin Quarter so there few candles and lanterns being carried by people in the street or flickering in the hovels along it. Even so, we could see the dim outlines of people in the moonlight as we passed them, and we could heard them talking around us and in the wall openings above us. We passed a number of small fires with women huddled around them cooking their family’s bread and soup in the street. They had their children with them.
It had been a hot day, but the sun had been down for several hours and it was actually quite comfortable to walk in coolness of the night. The city even smelled better since the recent rain had washed away the piles of shite that inevitably accumulate each day in the streets and alleys of such a closely packed city. Several times we heard the scurrying sound of one of the city’s many feral cats, and once we heard sounds of a couple of angry cats growling at each other and a short-lived cat fight.
Everything was so normal that it was hard to believe that only one day earlier we were fighting for our lives and our Company’s future was in doubt. In fact, the entire city seemed quiet for the first time in several weeks. At least it seemed that way to me. Yesterday’s defeat of the Greek and Venetian attacks must have taken some of the fire out of the protesters’ bellies. I certainly hoped that was the case.
The tavern where Adam and his mates were to meet the Greeks’ representative was in the Latin Quarter and on a street corner as was common in those days. The black swan painted over its door could not be clearly seen in the moonlight, but I had ridden past it several times and remembered it.
The wooden shutters of the tavern’s street-level wall openings were thrown open and we could see and hear that the “Swan” was packed with boisterous people as we approached it. Seeing and hearing them after passing through the quiet streets was an unexpected event.
When we reached the end of the street we could see the outline of the Black Swan’s door opening from the two candle lanterns hanging from the tavern’s low ceiling. We walked past the window openings, ducked our heads and entered through the narrow doorway.
I was not taking any chances. Nicholas stayed with the cart; the two swordsmen came in with me and Adam. I murmured orders to them as we did.
“Stay calm, lads, and keep your swords sheathed unless we need them. Be casual as if we only stopped in for a bowl. But stay alert for a surprise attack.”
There was no door that had to be opened for us to enter the tavern, just a hole in the wall through which a man could walk. A portable door would be brought in from the alley when the tavern needed to be closed or it was too cold outside such that a fire was needed in its fireplace. The Black Swan was, in other words, very much like all the other taverns that might be found in such a neighbourhood. From the looks and smell of the place, its dirt floor had soaked up many a spilled drink over the years.
The tavern seemed particularly boisterous and crowded that night, so crowded in fact that we immediately understood that there would be no chance of finding a place to sit. The Black Swan’s being crowded was not surprising, however; the danger and rioting of the last few weeks, and the presence of refugees from the other quarters, had undoubtedly kept many people sitting in their hovels with their doors barred. That night was likely the first in some days that some people felt safe enough to venture out after dark.
Adam led us in and, because he had been coming in every night for some weeks, was immediately recognized by one of the tavern girls who were delivering bowls of ale to the men sitting at one on the tables. No one else paid any attention to us.
“There was someone asking about you earlier, Luv; a nob for sure. He seemed most anxious to see you. He gave me a piece of a copper and said to tell you if you came in that he would be back shortly.”
Whoever it was that we were meeting must have been outside waiting and watched us enter. We had not even time for our bowls to arrive before a young street boy slipped into the tavern and approached Adam. He tugged on the sleeve of Adam’s tunic to get his attention.
“Be your name Adam?”
“Aye, that it be.”
“A man outside gave me a copper to tell you to meet him where he met you the first time.”
*******
Adam went out the tavern door first and sighted the Greek’s representative before I did. He was standing a few paces down the street at the entrance to the alley that ran alongside the tavern.
I was going out the door behind Adam and saw his reaction when he spotted the man standing off to the side of us. I knew exactly what it meant and turned to see the unknown bribemaster for myself.
When I got closer I could see in the moonlight that the man we had come to meet had grey in his neatly trimmed beard and was wearing nice clothes, but carrying no weapon, at least not so far as I could see. He was definitely not a working man or a sailor. The barmaid was right; he was a nob for sure. He was middle-aged and carried himself with the sureness of a successful man used to getting his way.
The man made a somewhat arrogant little “follow me” motion with his hand and head, and promptly turned and walked into the darkened alley next to the tavern. He clearly did not want to be seen. We cautiously followed him; this is where we would be attacked if this was a trap. Adam would have to come back later and pay for the bowls of ale we had ordered.
Nicholas had seen us come out of the tavern and started forward to join us. I motioned for him to stay where he was and continue guarding the cart. He drew his sword as soon as he saw me draw mine.
******
Adam’s would-be co-conspirator disappeared around the corner into the alley that ran along the other side of the tavern. Adam drew his sword as he walked, and followed him into the alley without hesitation. We were right behind Adam with our swords drawn and our shields held at the ready in case it was an ambush. My heart was pounding.
The alley smelled liked piss despite the recent rain. No doubt it was where the tavern drinkers and the locals living nearby came to relieve themselves. It was even darker than the moonlit street. I could barely make out the shape of the man once he walked into it.
It bothered me to follow the unknown man into the dark alley, both because I was wearing open-toed sandals, and because I did not know what to expect. But I drew my sword, hefted my shield too make sure I had a good grip on it, and followed them in. As I did, I nodded my approval at our two swordsmen. In the moonlight I could see that they had drawn their blades when Adam did without being told.
Nicholas stayed with the handcart. He was holding his sword by his side so it could not be seen in the moonlight.
“Can you and your friends really open both gates for the Greeks?” the dim figure asked Adam in crusader French.
“Aye. Nothing has changed. We can do it, but only if you have the coins and they are as agreed, and the second half of the coins are waiting for us at the inner gate thirty minutes before early light on Saturday and all of the coins are there. Today’s coins buy you the nobbling of both of the moat bridges and the opening of the outer gate at dawn. The inner gate stays shut until we have the second half of the coins safely away.
“And here is another idea for you, for enough additional coins, another hundred pounds of silvers, me and my mates will also make an effort the night before you enter the city to cause an evacu
ation of some of the states’ forces on the roadway. If we do that, your men will face fewer of them and will be able to reach the inner gate faster.”
“And how could you accomplish that?”
“By telling some of the truth—around sundown on the coming Friday night we will walk through the states’ camp and spread the word to everyone that the archers are pulling back to the inner wall because an attack is coming and the outer wall’s drawbridge and its gate have been nobbled and cannot be immediately repaired.
“The nobbling of the drawbridges and the outer gate will be done a day or two earlier so that everyone will believe what we are telling them is true. Some of them will surely panic and run when they hear the archers are pulling back. Indeed, the people desperately fleeing with their possessions out of the states’ camp Friday evening and early Saturday morning is how you will know we have already finished doing most of what we were paid to do.
“But as I warned you the first time we met, the inner gate will not be nobbled to prevent it from being closed until we have the second half of the coins in our hands and are safely away. And, as I also warned you earlier, there will be archers camped near the inner gate and charged with guarding it, perhaps several companies of them. Your men will have to fight them when they come through the gate and enter the city.
“The archers are not likely to be pushovers who will turn and run when they see your men coming. They will fight. I hope you know that. It means your best men will have to come through the inner gate in great numbers and be ready to fight. My mates and I will make it possible for your men to get through the two gates; but we will not fight for you. That you must do for yourselves.”
I could not see the briber’s response because the alley was so dark, but I heard it.
“We understand that you and your friends are only getting the Greeks through the gates and that they will have to fight.
“So rest assured that the other half of the coins to pay for doing that will be waiting where we agreed. And so will all the additional coins for frightening the states’ men into running. It is a good idea and quite helpful.
Suddenly it hit me. He had just referred to the Greeks are they? I listened carefully as the briber continued to gobble. Something did not make sense but I was not sure what it was.
“I have the first half of coins here with me,” the unknown man said with a gesture towards the dark alley. They are in there against the alley wall in three chests. Did you bring a cart to carry them?”
“Aye, that we did,” Adam answered.
“Well then, I will leave you to carry them off and I expect to see you again in five days, just before dawn Saturday morning in the alley three hundred paces or so south of the inner gate. The coins will be waiting there for you to inspect, but they will only be released to you after my friends and I know the inner gate is open.”
“Aye. That is agreeable,” Adam said cautiously. And then he issued his own warnings just as he had been instructed.
“But please remember that my mates and I will be bringing a lantern to inspect the second payment of coins and a hand cart to carry them. We will only proceed to nobble the inner gate if all the coins are there shipshape and proper and my mates and I are away and safe.
“I hope you believe what I am telling you, because I will run back to signal the men waiting to nobble the gate to proceed only if we find every coin and our safety to be as you and I have agreed.
“Also please remember that we will have men watching both your payment of the coins to us and the secret place where we will be taking them—and they will know how to quickly un-nobble the gate and the drawbridge if the coins do not safely arrive at our secret place. So please keep that in mind. No tricks, eh?”
“Of course not,” the man said indignantly and rather threateningly. “But that applies to you as well. You need to remember that we will be sending someone with you to make sure the gate is truly nobbled before we release the coins to you,” the man warned.
“Aye. That is what we agreed,” Adam said. “And I will bring an archer’s tunic for him to slip on so he does not draw attention.”
“So be it,” said the increasingly nervous briber as he began moving to leave. “I will be there with the second batch of coins an hour before dawn in the alley south of the inner gate.”
“Wait,” Adam said a bit too anxiously. “Where can I reach you if there is a problem?”
“You cannot. My friends and I will know if there is a problem and will do whatever has to be done.”
Aron’s asking what he should do in the event of an unexpected problem was only the first of the two important questions I told Adam he must ask. There was another question that was even more important than the first.
We walked out of the alley with the man until he reached the street and the moonlight revealed him once again. And then, before the man could disappear, Adam asked the second question.
“Would you bless me and say a prayer for our success, father?”
“How do you know I am a priest? Did you have someone follow me after we first met? The anger in the man’s voice was clear.
“Of course, I did not follow you. But you talk like a priest and walk like a priest so I thought you must be one. And I want your blessing and for you to swear in the name of Jesus that my mates and I will be protected if we stay in the city with our coins.”
The priest, for that was what he was, reluctantly agreed. He murmured a few words at Alan and crossed himself automatically as he did—and from the way he crossed himself I knew he was a Latin.
But whose priest was he? And why was a Latin-gobbling priest doing this to help the Greeks? My thinking was running fast behind my eyes and going nowhere.
Chapter Forty-four
Preparations are made.
The long days that followed passed quickly, and so did the short nights with Elizabeth which were quite enjoyable. There was much to prepare and only a few days to get everything done. It was the best of times.
Thankfully, and of overwhelming importance, the sun returned and our bowstrings dried and became usable. We were once again a fully equipped fighting force of almost three thousand archers. It was by far the biggest force of the Company’s men ever assembled in one place. In other words, most of our eggs had been placed in one nest and we were about to try to begin hatching them by gulling the Greeks into doing something stupid.
One of our most important preparations began immediately—organising the last minute movement of our archers and their bales of additional arrows to where they would be most useful during the crucial first few hours after the Greeks came through the outer gate early Saturday morning. What made it difficult was that our men could not be moved until darkness fell without the Greeks seeing them move and being forewarned.
Making sure the archers were quietly moved into their new fighting positions in the dark of the Friday night preceding the Greek attack became Henry’s responsibility, and he relished his role once he understood the plan and how we were trying to gull the Greek army into entering the enclosed roadway that was now occupied by the states’ forces—and trapping them there for our archers to kill.
Henry spent an entire day personally showing every company commander where his company’s men and all of its arrow bales were to be initially placed on one of the two interior walls that ran on either side of the road where the states’ forces were camped. He himself would command the galley companies assigned to positions on the interior wall running along the east side of the road.
Richard would be Henry’s counterpart to the west. He would command of both the galley companies on the interior wall running along the west side of the road and the men who remained on watch along the outer city’s adjacent and higher and stronger outer wall.
I would be in overall command and in direct command of the ribaldis, the two wall gates, and the galley company that would begin moving through the camp prior to the sun going down Friday night to sound the alarm. It would then p
ass through the inner gate and join the two companies that would already be there to help them defend it. My senior aide, Michael Oremus, would be my number two at the inner gate and remain there at all times.
The “secret” explanation our galley captains were given was that the position they were being shown was their company’s assigned position if the states’ forces mutinied—which was feared because of their recent losses. The captains were ordered to keep the possibility of a mutiny secret, even from their own men. The captains of the galley companies nearest to the inner gate were additionally shown a second position further from the inner gate, but not told why they might be required to temporarily move there on very short notice.
Because each company would have to find its initial position in the dark if the states’ forces mutinied in the middle of the night, as was expected, each captain was required to take three of his company’s men, including a steady sergeant, and post them until further notice at his company’s “mutiny” position. They would remain there as “place holders” to mark his company’s initial position and help him and his men find it in the dark.
Each captain was told that if the call came to take up their new positions to put down mutineers, the order would be passed from man to man along the wall as “all companies to quietly take up position number five.” The captains of the companies closest to the inner gate were also told that a subsequent order coming along the wall to “move to position nine” required them to double-time their men to their company’s secondary position. Those moving to their secondary position were also told to leave their arrow bales and supplies behind as they would soon be ordered to return to their initial positon.
When the initial order to move arrived, every company was then to immediately pick up its arrow bales and full water skins and very quietly double time along the top of the wall from their old positions to their new positions. No talking was to be allowed and only the seven men of the company’s most dependable file were to be left to man their company’s original position on the city’s outer wall.
The Alchemist's Revenge Page 31