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

by Martin Archer

  We’ve already decided they can take whomever they want - except the English archers who will remain here as sergeants over the men who don’t go. They’re the only dependable men we can trust to help us to protect George and the coins.

  Finding the right people is a bigger problem than I ever realized; that was the thought that ran through my mind as I stood on the pooping plank and squatted over our newly dug shite hole. It’s out beyond the wall of dirt and logs that is slowly surrounding our present compound to enlarge its size and increase our defenses.

  It’s a walk out here to the shite hole and the men don’t like having to use it, but Thomas insisted on it being here and requiring everyone to use it. He said the Greek physician tending to Brian and Athol said sickness comes when people spent too much time close to piss and shite or it gets into the water, and that he’d heard the same thing from the Greek physician who’d passed through the Bekka last year. And most important of all for Thomas – he’d read something about it in the monastery’s Roman scrolls.

  Whether it’s true or not doesn’t matter; Thomas believes it and so we compromise – everyone has to come out here to shite in the hole and we have an earthen jar in the yard for the men to piss in instead of where ever they are when they feel the urge; it will get carried out to the shite hole and emptied into it every day until we can find a leather tanner who wants it. They’re always on the lookout for piss, you know. Hmm. Maybe there is a tanner in Limassol.

  Our most valuable men, of course, are our English archers. They are the most loyal and dependable of all our men, to say nothing of the fact that they are seasoned veterans and fierce fighters. Beyond the English archers our most valuable men are the sailors who also know how to use weapons and the newly recruited archers with long bows and cross bows who also know how to use swords.

  What we need most of all in addition to longbow archers, and don’t have any at all, are sailor sergeants and pilots who can also captain a voyage – which requires that they can lead men in battle and also know how to read and do sums so they can negotiate with merchants and officials. We don’t have a single one.

  Randolph and Yoram are good examples of our problem. Randolph is a very able leader of fighting men and seems to be learning to be a sailor – but he cannot read or write which means he cannot write contracts or send or receive written orders and messages without sharing them with others; Yoram is a good scrivener and can do his sums but he is neither an experienced sailor nor a leader of fighting men.

  “Well,” I say to my brother Thomas with a sigh, “let’s hope that they understand their chain of command and can work as a team.”

  Chapter Twelve

  “YORAM’S TALE”

  Randolph and I quickly board our men and that very afternoon I watch Bishop Thomas and Lord William standing with little George on the dock listening to the beat of the rowers’ drum and watching the oars on my galley flash in the setting sun as we row out of the harbor. The town’s idlers and some of our men who had just finished their work are with them on the dock watching us go. And so is little Aria and her mother.

  They all raise their hands in acknowledgement when I wave farewell as my galley turned to point its bow towards the harbor exit.

  This is the first time I’ve ever been the captain of anything. I’m very excited and trying not to show it. But Lena is distressed at my leaving so soon after my last voyage and, truth be told, so am I.

  We’re sailing somewhat shorthanded with only sixty men but they’re all strong fighting men, except me of course, and we’re going out with a favorable breeze filling our short sails. All in all it looks as though we might make good time to Acre. And we do. We reach Acre’s wet and windy harbor in the early evening of the second day and immediately tie up at its great dock.

  And joy of joys, I have no new blisters because, as I am the captain of the voyage, Randolph says that means I don’t have to row just as William doesn’t when he’s on board.

  The trip is uneventful except for the cogs and fishing boats that flee when they catch sight of us. And this time Harold’s piloting is more successful - we sight the Holy Land at the mouth of the Litani River which is fairly close to Acre.

  Even better, there are no delays at the harbor dock when we reach Acre. To the contrary, there is plenty of dock space available and a knight from the great fortress quickly appears to welcome us. Randolph and I and a small working party from our crew are immediately taken to what remains of the captured Saracen weapons in the cellars of the great fortress.

  We would have brought more men in to help retrieve them but apparently the knightly order in charge of the fortress has a rule limiting how many non-members can be in the fortress at the same time.

  “We’re taking no chances,” explains the affable English knight who meets us. His name is Alfred and he seems a rather simple soul. His father is a minor lord with a manor somewhere on the River Cam.

  “Unfortunately,” Sir Alfred says ruefully as we walk towards the entrance of the great fortress, “I have three elder brothers so here I be fighting the heathens for Jesus. They cut off Christian heads you know and eat their own children. Horrible they are, aren’t they?” Can that be true? I’ve never heard that.

  @@@@@

  It may be daylight outside but it’s black as pitch and a bit scary down here in the dungeons of the great fort so that we have to work by light of lanterns and candles. But our men work with a will and the knights even send some of their religious brothers and servants down to help us.

  By the time the sun comes up the next morning all the old Saracen armor and weapons we can carry are on the galley and we are able to turn our attention to the rapidly gathering crowd of people who want to enlist in our company or buy passage to Cyprus.

  Some of the people who gather are so anxious to leave Acre that they pull on our sleeves and call out to volunteer their services as we pass by carrying the old weapons. Many of them wait all night for us to finish loading the weapons so they can be first in line to talk to us in the morning.

  Once again there are numerous refugees who want to buy or work their passage and sailors and numerous men who claim to be experienced soldiers fighting who want to join our company. We do pretty much what William and I did when we were here last – but not exactly. This time we have them form up into three groups before we interview them.

  All the English speakers are in the first group even if they aren’t fighting men and have no coins to buy passage. I don’t know why, but William thinks he’s been making a mistake by leaving poor English folk behind because they can’t pay enough and feels guilty about it. He told me to give them priority.

  Fortunately there aren’t but a few of them seeking passage, just a handful of women whose husbands died crusading with King Richard and a couple of elderly servants who’ve been brought out on the crusade by their lords. They want to go home to die since they no longer can be buried in Jerusalem. We board them all.

  In the second group are about a dozen experienced men at arms willing to contract with us as mercenaries including a couple of Genovese crossbowmen with very fine bows and quivers full of good metal darts. But we only sign seven of them who claim to be swordsmen - the others turn away when they find out they’ll have to make their marks for two years and be expected to learn English and become apprentice archers. Happily, the two Genovese are among those who are willing to make their marks on our contract.

  And once again there are many penniless refugees begging to be taken so they can escape the Saracens. Even so, their desperation is nowhere near the hysteria I’d seen at Latika when the Saracens were expected to arrive at any minute - perhaps because the Acre Fortress and the Knights of Saint John defending it look so formidable and they think they’ll be able to find refuge in it if the Saracens come; and perhaps because there are rumors of a Crusader victory a couple of weeks ago that has caused the Saracens to turn back.

  In any event, all is well and I’m greatly relieved - i
n addition to the Saracen weapons and the eighteen newly recruited sailors and fighting men approved by Randolph and Harold, we row out of the harbor with about seventy paying passengers and four Knights of Saint John. The four knights are the only ones who are allowed to retain their shields and swords.

  I wonder why the Knights of Saint John always travel in pairs? I must ask someone.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “RAPPROACHMENT”

  Thomas and I get back to work as soon as Yoram’s galley boards the last of its men and clears the Limassol harbor bound for Acre. Thomas returns to schooling George and the first thing I do is check on the progress of our apprentice archers and get myself up to date on our various construction projects.

  All of our men, both the new apprentice and our experienced fighting men, train with weapons part of every day and work on improving our keep and compound the rest of the time. And, of course, every apprentice spends part of his training time learning to be an archer. They can’t spend all of it practicing archery even if we wanted them to – they don’t yet have the muscles needed to fully draw a long bow and we don’t have enough bows, particularly long bows and crossbows.

  The lack of good longbows is the biggest gap in our weapons supply. There are a number of old Saracen bows in the Acre shipment but most of them are short and look to be warped and unusable from the years they spent in the Fortress’ damp dungeons. Brian and his fletchers are trying to repair them but he doesn’t hold out much hope for salvaging very many.

  In a nutshell, we need more longbows. And when we finally get enough of them I’m going to have the experienced men at arms and sailors learn to use them too. Why? Because it makes no sense to have our men stand around on a ship’s deck until they can use their swords. Kill’em before they get to you is the archers’ motto - and from what I’ve seen it certainly applies to battles at sea.

  Arrows are less of a problem. We get some from Acre that look like they might be re-fletched with new feathers and made usable. Brian has set up an arrow works in a corner of the sleeping area. He has been teaching the refugee women how to shape and fletch arrows from tree branches and goose feathers and tip them with the Saracen heads.

  Some of the women, Brian reports with a nod of satisfaction, are turning out to be unexpectedly good fletchers. They do it in exchange for food and shelter just as their men do.

  Until the galleys returned with the old Saracen arrows and their rusty arrowheads Brian and his fletchers had been hampered by the lack of arrowheads and the absence of a smith to make them and fix them. Now we’ve got so many arrowheads that Brian wants me to buy more wood for them to whittle and more feathers for them to fletch.

  Brian and Athol stay in the arrow works all the time so the women fletchers can tend to them; they’re the only English archers who don’t sleep inside our little fortress when they’re not on the ships.

  One of the first things Thomas and I do after our two galleys return is relocate the fletchers, the kitchen, the men’s barracks, and the makeshift huts of the refugees and the freed slaves. It has to be done because the compound inside the inner wall has become too small to properly accommodate all our men and activities.

  Today our archers and men at arms are barracked on the other side of the inner wall and the refugees and freed slaves are out beyond the outer wall we are building to improve our defenses and increase the amount of space we’ll have inside our walls. Except for young George and Yoram’s family, only the English archers and a handful of our most dependable sergeants such as Harold are allowed to stay inside the inner wall when night falls. The wall gate and door into our citadel are barred to everyone else.

  And if it’s not one thing it’s something else. What’s missing, now that we have so much old Saracen metal, is a forge to heat it and smiths to beat it into shape.

  On the way back from Acre I inquired among the new men for a smith and found no one. But, wonder of wonders, a couple of days ago one of the archers ran across a smith among the French men at arms we’d recruited at Acre. He’d been on the other galley and hadn’t understood my version of French when I asked if anyone is a smith.

  In any event, our new smith hails from Calais and his name is Alan. According to Alan Smith, he’d left his forge and gone off on the crusade with King Guy and wishes he hadn’t; he said he’d be more than a little pleased to return to his trade.

  Now if only we can find a forge and some smith’s tools so we can find out if Alan Smith really knows how to use them. And where should we put it?

  When we convoy the cogs to Alexandria, the English archers and the rest of our most dependable men will once again stay behind in Limassol to protect George and our rapidly expanding quarters. Most of our men, however, will sail with me to Alexandria - all three galleys and both cogs will sail with a full complement of sailors and fighting men; and thanks to the Saracen weapons, many of them will have both bows to shoot pirates at a distance and newly cleaned and sharpened swords and shields for when they close and fight them man to man. Some of the new recruits have become good enough archers that they’ve been allowed to sign our contract. They’ll come too.

  I spend the days that follow watching the sergeants test the fighting abilities of each of our new men, making sure that some minor but necessary modifications are made to the galleys and cogs, and training our sergeants as to how we want their men respond in the event the cogs are attacked by pirates.

  @@@@@

  One morning, a couple of days after I get back, Thomas and a small party of our men climb up the hill to the castle behind the city to visit the Governor. We need more men at arms so he going up to the castle to inquire about contracting to use some of the governor’s men for our voyage to Alexandria.

  I don’t go with him. We talk about it and decide it is much too risky for both of us to be in his castle at the same time – he might grab us for ransom or worse.

  Thomas returns that evening in time for supper with a smile on his face. He tells me all about it as I bounce George on my knee and get some suet pudding spilled on me for my trouble.

  It seems the governor received Thomas in his rather filthy great hall and listened intently as Thomas explained that he is there to talk about temporarily contracting to use some of the governor’s knights and men at arms for our coming voyage to Alexandria. The presence of the governor’s men, and particularly his knights, Thomas explains to him, will help us discourage pirates from attacking and help us defeat them if they do.

  If there is any fighting the governor’s knights and men at arms will join our men in fighting against the lightly armed pirates. They will all do so under the orders of whoever is the captain of their ship. Similarly, they will all join our men in rowing, even the knights, when the captain orders that rowing be done.

  The governor likes the idea of earning gold bezants and silver coins without risking his life or position. So after a lot of hemming and hawing he makes his mark to provide us with the services of all five of his knights and twenty of his most experienced men at arms for a voyage to Egypt. The price is eight gold bezants.

  Including the governor’s men means we will be sailing to Alexandria with more than five hundred fighting men on board the cogs and galleys. We will be a fearsome force.

  And best of all, if his best fighting men are with us the governor can’t use them to attack our headquarters while we are gone.

  The governor’s intentions are a worry despite the agreement. He’s too arrogant and we don’t know if that is because he is weak and insecure and trying to put up a good front or because he’s a great warrior.

  I would bet the former but it would be a bad surprise to fight him and find out I’m wrong.

  In any event, just before Thomas leaves to visit the governor, I quietly take him aside and make much of suggesting that while he is explaining and negotiating he might also want to look around to see how we might take the governor’s castle if it ever comes to a fight or we need to rescue someone the governor
is holding.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “OPPORTUNITY AND DANGER”

  Yoram returned this morning with more of the Saracen weapons and a galley full of new fighting men and paying passengers. But we don’t immediately rush off to Alexandria. To the contrary, we spend a number of days waiting while the merchants finish loading the captured cog we’d sold them - and then several more waiting for the weather to clear. We want good weather and fair winds because we intend to get there as quickly and safely as possible. We’ll use the galleys to tow the cogs if the wind turns bad after we are underway.

  It is a fine day and the winds are right when I order the sails be raised and our little fleet heads out of the harbor bound for Alexandria. Thomas and my son are on the dock waving to me as I stand on the deck of the captured cog and wave back. Yoram and Randolph are together once again on the other cog; and I’m on this one with Harold from Lewes as our pilot and sergeant of the sailors. Aaron is sailing with me as the representative of the merchants.

  @@@@@

  We’re three days out of Cyprus and, damn it all, we might be in trouble - the lookout perched on the front mast of Yoram’s cog across the way just shouted over to us that he sees five or six galleys in the distance. And they can certainly see us if we can see them. We’re outnumbered if they’re pirates.

  Ten minutes later and we know we’re either in trouble or in luck - the six galleys heading towards us are almost certainly pirates and they’re coming for our cogs and their cargos. It looks like we’re almost certainly going to be in a fight. Hopefully it will go as we’ve planned.

  The governor’s knights and I and some of our men at arms, particularly all us wearing chain mail and carrying regular shields, quickly hide ourselves in the castles at the front and back of each cog’s deck. The rest of our fighting men rush to hide in the cogs’ holds and crawl into their assigned positions under the sails we’ve placed next to the railings all along edge of the decks of both our cogs. From a distance the bulges created by our men hiding under the sails should, we hope, look like deck cargos that are covered to protect them from the sun and rain.