“Go away unless you’ve got herbs and medicines for me,” he mumbles.
William answers him rather sprightly.
“Well I just might have what you want. I’ve got gold coins you can use to buy them and I want to buy your ship.”
“Which ship? I’ve got three.”
I’m surprised when William’s eyes light up at the answer.
“Three?” William asks. “Tell me about them.”
“See for yourself. I’ve got the two war galleys tied alongside and this here trading cog I took off an ugly Frenchman south of Sicily last year. Forty four oars to a side my galleys are. Big ones, with two banks of oars each. Very fast and very valuable; but they’re not for sale.” He says it slowly as if he is having trouble getting out the words.
My new Lord is lost in thought. But only for a moment.
“If you had gold bezants you could go ashore and get cured and then buy more ships.”
What follows is rather interesting. The Captain’s eyes lose a bit of their glassy look as he tries to focus them – and My Lord tells the captain he has fifty gold coins from Constantinople, real bezants, he’d be willing to risk if the ships are in good shape.
The poxed Captain laughs rather strangely as if he is very drunk and responds to William’s offer by saying he’ll stay aboard and die before he’d even think about selling one of his ships for that price – but then he suggests that these days more than eight hundred, probably even more than nine hundred gold bezants, would be a fair price for good ships like his if he wanted to sell, which he doesn’t.
My Lord laughs in return. He replies that he’d need to inspect the ships to make sure they are made of silver and precious stones before he could agree to anything close to such an outrageously high price.
So after a lot more talk that’s what we do; inspect the ships, I mean. The ferret faced sailor comes with us as we look them over. And at Father Thomas’s insistence young George comes with us too. William starts to disagree but Father Thomas cuts him off with a curt comment.
“He needs to know about such things and see them for himself.”
@@@@@
It seems that ships like this are called Cogs and they have one or two square sails and a cargo hold below their decks and two tiny little castles at each end of the top deck – one for the Captain in the front and a somewhat larger one in the back for the men who handle its sails.
This cog’s hold is empty and smelly with about two feet of water sloshing about as the ship gently rolls from side to side as the wind and the waves in the harbor rock it. The ferret faced sailor showing us around mumbles something about it being about it being time to bail out the hold again even though the ship “don’t leak as much as many I’ve been on.”
In slightly better shape are the poxed captain’s two galleys. Perhaps because they have slaves who can be unchained and made to throw their shite and garbage over the side or bail out the water and piss when it gets too high.
When we visit the first galley we find its slaves hunched in the dank and chilly space under the upper rowing deck and chained to their positions on the rowing benches for the lower bank of oars. It’s the first time I’ve ever been on a galley and it smells even worse down here than in the captain’s castle, and that’s saying something. Obviously no one has cleaned up their shite for some time.
The rowers, usually slaves for the lower of the two banks of oars, sit under very low decks on rowing benches two men to an oar. That’s where they’re chained when we visit them and that’s where they eat, shit, row, and die. The upper bank is where the fighting men sit and row to give the galley extra speed until the fighting begins.
We climb down the three wooden steps and bend our heads to walk into their foul and shit filled chamber. There isn’t much room between the rowing benches and the deck overhead.
The bent over slaves raise their heads as much as they can when we walk in. They say not a word but they certainly look at us intently as the scraggly greasy haired seaman explains what we already know - that during a chase the slaves stay here while the sailor men and soldiers sit at the upper bank of oars and help row until they can grapple their victim and climb aboard.
William seems quite interested in the slaves.
“Are any of you from Britain,” he thunders in English in a loud and commanding voice. “England or Wales or Scotland or Ireland?”
Little George is wide-eyed and holding his nose; that’s how I feel but I’m trying not to show it.
Four or five men sitting together on the left quickly raise their hands and begin talking and shouting to us all at the same time. It seems they are what’s left of a crew of English sailors taken last summer when their Southampton cog was captured. The others all begin clamoring in various foreign tongues. Two or three seem to be French but there is such a clamor and babble of strange tongues that I can’t tell one from another.
“Is this galley sound and seaworthy?” William asks the Englishmen.
“Aye your lordship, it is. And it could be made much better as well.” That is the loud response in English from a pock faced man with a scar along the side of his face and scraggly long red hair hanging almost to his waist.
William nods thoughtfully at him and then he turns and looks at Father Thomas. Father Thomas nods back and something seems to pass between them. We climb over the railing to get onto the other galley which is tied alongside of the one we’re on. It’s in pretty much the same shape as the first one except it has no English-speaking slaves. Then the sailors help us climb back up on to the cog again.
An hour and much shouting and hand waving later my new lord and the Captain spit on the palms of their hands and shake on three hundred and eighty gold bezant coins for the three ships and all their slaves and stores.
“Go ashore and tell the archers to come to the dock immediately and bring all our stuff. Everything at the same time, mind you. Don’t leave the chests unguarded for even a moment. We’ll bring the cog and galleys to the dock to load our wounded men and the chests. That way we won’t have to risk carrying them in a dinghy. Or have trouble and drop them into the water when we are lifting them up to the deck.
After you bring the archers to the dock and unload the chests and the two wounded archers, I want you to take Randolph and Ralph with you and sell the horse and the wagon and the camel in the livestock market. Ralph knows horses so let him sell them for whatever he can get. Use the money they fetch to buy a stone jug of oil and two amphora of grain for each ship so we can make flatbread. Also buy some big rain skins for George and the rest of us to sleep under in case it gets cold on the water.”
Then William calls after me as I turn to go.
“Oh, and get a couple of big cheese wheels for each ship if you can find them and a couple of dozen laying hens, and some firewood too.
Later I learned that Father Thomas thinks we should feed cheese, eggs and meat to George every day. I don’t know why; my brothers and I grew up fine on bread and porridge until the coughing pox took them. But what a boy should eat is not worth arguing about; besides, maybe the Greek who told Father Thomas to let boys eat all they want was right. It can’t hurt, can it?
William smiles and nods his agreement when I suggest that I should wait on the dock to make sure the chests are guarded until he arrives. Then he gives me two gold bezants from his purse for the food and smiles and nods again when I suggest that I might need more coins to buy so much; and that, in any event, I also suggest, I should buy the food and use the wagon to bring it to the ship before I sell it and the wagon horse.
“Good Thinking,” William tells me with a big smile. And then he truly surprises me.
“While you’re doing all that I’m going to move the ships to the dock and free the slaves.”
“You aren’t going to sell them, My Lord?”
“No. Thomas has convinced me - every man who joins us as a liege man or puts his mark on our contract will be free and rewarded so long as he behaves ho
norably and honors his liege.”
Liegemen like me should be rewarded, of course. But slaves?
“Of course, liege men like me and contract men should be free except for the obligations we accept, my Lord. But slaves?”
William is emphatic.
“There will be no slaves and serfs on our ships and lands. Never.”
Once again I turn to go and once again William calls me back.
“Wait, there’s something else - when you and Randolph and Ralph go to the market I want you to casually walk by the church and look to see if it still seems to be locked up with the bodies in it. If it is, tell the merchants and the people camping around the church that the Bishop is down with the smallpox and the church can’t be used until it is smoked by special incense from Jerusalem and enough prayers are said by the priests in Beirut.”
“If the merchants ask, which they certainly will, tell them that you are helping the sick captain buy food for his ships as part of the payment for the ships carrying the Bishop to Rome when he recovers from his smallpox.”
Chapter Three
“NEW RECRUITS”
My purchases are already being unloaded from the wagon by the cog’s sailors when the archers gather in a little group in front of my new lord and his brother, the priest. It is mid-afternoon and the wind has picked up a bit. The archers look intense and concerned and chilled by the wind as William stands on the dock and addresses us. A very worried Brian is looking on from his place on the litter behind the camel while Athol riding next to him just looks off into space with a vacant stare.
“Okay my friends, here is what we are going to do. I just bought those three ships behind me to carry us back to England. And right...” Before William can continue there is a great shouting and cheering and the men surge forward to shake his hand and pat him on the back.
After a while he raises his hands to quiet the men and continues.
“And right here, before we sail for England, every one of us is going to get the four gold coins each of us has earned.”
There are a lot more cheers and shouts. People on the dock and the nearby rocky beach hear the noise and are looking at us.
“And there are more bezants for those who want to earn more. Father Thomas and I used our four coins, and some additional bezants we found, the men all laugh - the two Bobs and Ralph must have spread the word to buy these ships and the food we’ll need to get us home to England. We’ll use the rest to hire men to help us row and fight off any pirates who might come our way and pay a barber to cut the arrow out of Brian’s leg and bleed Athol. But there is more - on the way home to England I intend to use the ships to earn more money by carrying refugees and their treasure to safety from the Saracens.”
Then William takes a deep breath and continues.
“So here’s the thing – every archer who makes his mark on a new contract to serve with me and Father Thomas for two more years will not only get his four gold coins before we sail from here to England, he’ll also get his food and three more gold bezants at the end of each additional year he serves with us and be a sergeant over the new men we’re going to recruit to fill our ranks.”
“So it’s four gold bezants before we sail no matter what each man decides to do and three more each year thereafter for every man here who joins us and is willing to serve as a sergeant over the new men we are going to recruit. That is enough gold coins, my dear friends, for every man here, including Brian and Athol, to buy his own land and build his own house.” The men cheer again. Particularly Brian, the poor bugger.
William nods to his brother.
“Today is the first payday, right here and right now,” shouts the bewhiskered priest.
“Everyone line up to get his first gold coin – and a real bezant from Constantinople is what it will be. Tomorrow morning every man will get his next three. We’ll anchor in the harbor tonight for safety and be sailing on the outgoing tide three hours after the sun comes up.”
Then my new lord speaks up.
“And while you’re in the taverns and whorehouses tonight I want you to pass the word that tomorrow morning, right here on the beach after you receive your next three gold bezants, Father Thomas and I will talk to any able-bodied sailor or archer or man at arms from England or elsewhere about signing on to join our company. Let it be known that ever man we accept will get their food and drink and one gold bezant at the end of each year they serve. Each of you, every man who walked here with me and Father Thomas, will get three each year and be their sergeants.”
Then William bends over and talks quietly to Brian while Father Thomas and I stand and watch as a dozen or so of the cheerful and excited and newly rich archers rush off to the alehouses and whorehouses to spend their riches and celebrate their promotions. Within minutes only three of the archers and my new lord and his son and the priest remain on the dock along with the two injured men on the camel litter and the two newly recruited Bishop’s guards.
“Will they come back, Lord William,” I ask.
“Oh I should think so. Who’d want to stay here and wait for the Saracens when they can go to England and be rich?”
@@@@@
There is a surprise waiting for us the next morning when the sun comes up, a big surprise. The beach in front of our three ships is covered with people and more are hurrying along the beach to where our ships are moored just offshore. Most of the people on the beach are men but there are a number of women and children among them.
We watch them arrive as we stand on deck and eat a proper breakfast of the bread and cheese I bought yesterday in the local market. There is even a duck egg which Father Thomas breaks open and pours on little George’s bread.
When we finish breakfast one of the sailors rows me to shore in the cog’s dinghy along with Lord William and Father Thomas. Little George comes along with us. They seem to take him everywhere. I wonder why?
All the archers who didn’t spend the night with us on the cog are waiting together in a little group as we slosh ashore from the cog’s dinghy and get our feet wet and cold. All except little George, of course. His father carries him so he wouldn’t get wet.
The archers all look terribly hung over and some of them are obviously still drunk. But their eyes light up and satisfied smiles appear on their faces as William reaches them and immediately begins handing out their promised coins.
Pandemonium breaks out when the crowd sees the archers walk to meet us at the water’s edge and it increases when William begins handing them their gold bezants. People began to jostle each other and crowd around us shouting and waving and imploring us in a number of tongues. Everything becomes clear in a moment - they desperately want to leave with us.
Some of the men in the crowd look familiar. Of course, they’re the slaves who went ashore as soon as they were freed. Yes, I recognize that one. He’s the redheaded Englishman with the scar who was a ship’s captain. I think he told us his name is Harold.
No wonder I didn’t recognize him at first - now his hair is cut and he looks cleaner.
William takes it all in as he hands the archers their coins. Then he gives his son a big hug and keeps his arm around him to hold him to his side as he leans over to me and quietly gives me new instructions.
“Go to the market and buy more food. Get enough to feed one hundred people on each of our three ships for five days. Be sure to get a lot more of those big cheeses and all the additional healthy looking hens you can find for eggs and meat, and enough sacks of grain for each ship to feed them.”
“Also see if you can find a hooded robe or jerkin to keep George warm, preferably made of skins instead of cloth to keep him dry. I don’t think the rain skins you bought yesterday are going to be enough.”
Apparently it can get cold and wet on the ocean even in the summer. How would I know; I’ve never been on a ship, have I?
William gives me four silver coins from his purse to buy the food and clothes and once again cautions me not to pay the merchants
a single penny until they “actually deliver them to us” here on the beach.
“And don’t buy any wine. Not a drop. Oh, and buy some more firewood too, short and thin sticks so we can cook on the ships, and some additional water skins or water barrels if you find any.”
Then he turns towards the rapidly growing crowd around us and raises his hands for silence.
@@@@@
The smiling and newly rich and promoted archer sergeants quickly sober up and organize the crowd into two lines at William’s direction: one for Englishmen and anyone seeking employment on the ships either as a fighting man or sailor; the other for people willing to pay to be taken to Cyprus.
Everyone else is sent away and there is much sobbing and crying out from those without money. Many of them stay on the beach in hopes of a miracle and several of the women stand in the line to pay and offer themselves and their daughters instead of coins.
William selects the fighting men and sailors including Harold and his fellow British slaves, three men who claim to be archers and have their own bows, and a number of others. While William speaks with the men who claim to be soldiers and sailors, Father Thomas speaks with those who want to buy a passage to Cyprus and collects coins from those willing to pay the most.
The people on the beach are all quite desperate to leave and Father Thomas collects a surprisingly large amount of money. I know because I helped him talk to the people and counted the coins after we sailed. We got some jewels as well.
We accept as many of the refugees as we think we can jam into the three ships. The coins and jewels they pay almost fills the smelly leather sack Father Thomas found floating in the water in the cog’s hold. And it isn’t just money the passengers have to provide; every man and woman who pays must agree to take a turn at the oars and wooden bailing buckets with the ex-slaves if they are needed. Those who pay the most will be carried in the cog which only moves under sail and has its two castles and a deck over its hold to keep out the wind and rain.
The Archer: Historical Fiction: exciting novel about Marines and Naval Warfare of medieval England set in feudal times with knights,Templars, and crusaders during Richard the lionhearted's reign Page 3