“He divined that the pirate ships were probably still in the inlet and went to block it off so that they cannot escape.”
“How many ships were there?” Max was curious.
“Two, we think. There were too many men for just one ship, and you met with more from what I hear.”
“Can Guy deal with them on his own?”
Henry laughed. “Guy has two Scorpions, Max, and his men know how to use them. As long as he can stay away from their Greek Fire he can kill them from a distance, and that is what he will do. I am sure of it. A bigger problem is to salvage anything afterwards, and there will be stragglers in these forest for some time. We will need to flush them out or they will do harm.”
Max nodded soberly. “Then this has been a successful repulse. Tracking down pirates could be an interesting task for Reza’s hounds.” He was not referring to Rav’an’s hounds but to the young trainees who were being schooled in the arts of stealth and murder by Reza, who was one of the best.
“Very well,” he continued, “then I need to get myself and my Franks back up to the castle. I left it closed up with the villagers safe inside, but guardians were a little thin on the ground. If you don’t need me, I shall depart. Can your men and the villagers get the fires under control?”
Henry nodded. He was covered in other people’s blood and filthy from the smoke, his face and beard smeared with dark smudges from the effect of the fires. His chain hauberk was ripped and he looked tired, but he seemed to Max to be very happy with the way events had turned out.
“Go, Max. Report to our Lady that all is under control, and I shall send messengers to inform her of anything untoward should it happen. Wish them well.”
Max saluted, clambered upon his mount, which was being held by a village boy, thanked the boy, then looked over at Palladius. “We march back to the castle, Sergeant. Are the men ready?”
Palladius bellowed a command, and the men formed up on the road. Max then led the way up the long, steep, grassy slopes towards the distant castle. It appeared to him that they had done very well with their limited resources. As they marched past corpses of the pirates they had engaged earlier, they began to see activity on the crest of the hill. Wary and alarmed, Max and Palladius stared upwards, but then the people on the castle walls noticed them and waved. Reassured, they finished the weary climb to encounter an extraordinary sight.
Corpses littered the road that led right up to the castle gates. Dead horses and men were strewn about, their form of dress unmistakably Greek, which could only mean to Max that they were mercenaries from Famagusta. A few of the dead men were more ornamentally clad, with gold adorning their chain armor and shields or persons. Surprised and shocked, Max hurried past them and the work gangs, ignoring the called out greetings, and rushed into the bailey where he found yet another pile of bodies.
“What happened!” he roared up at Gregory, who was supervising the clean up.
Gregory pointed with his thumb at the main hall. “While you were away, Sir Max, we were attacked. All of us have been very busy, but our Lady and her phantoms did the most damage. I swear she is akin to Lord Talon and Master Reza. She, too, is a magician!”
Max dismounted with some care. He was feeling his age sometimes, and now was one of those times. “Dear God, but I hope they are all right,” he whispered to himself, Theodora being foremost in his mind.
He emerged at the top of the steps and clumped his way breathlessly towards the Solarium. He heard soft voices, and his relief was profound when he saw all three women seated on cushions, looking as though nothing had happened.
“Ah, Max, there you are. We were beginning to wonder where you might have been,” Rav’an greeted him with a sweet smile of welcome. “Would you like some tea?”
“I… er… I… er… went to see if Henry needed help,” he rumbled, looking from one of the beautiful women to another as though searching for a clue. They all looked quite calm and composed, but he knew something was up.
“As you can see, Max, we have been enjoying the warm late morning, and I do think you should have asked me if it were wise to gallop off down the hill in your present condition,” Theodora told him with hint of a frown. Jannat gave him a sweet smile. “Max, you have been missed. Will you not tell us all about the port and if all is well?”
Max looked around the room warily. “Is Reza all right, Theo?” he demanded slowly. Then he shook his head. “Very well, Ladies, stop this! What has been going on while I was away?”
The women began to laugh. Then Rav’an said, “Sit down, Max. You look tired, and we will of course tell of what happened. Just after you left to help Henry, we were attacked from an unexpected quarter. Fortunately, we were alerted just in time. We were almost taken by surprise.”
“Dimitri actually sent a warning, but the message arrived right in the middle of the conflict, so it really didn’t make any difference,” Jannat said. “We have dealt with the enemy who came here to do us harm, but there appear to be problems in the palace.”
Max dropped tiredly down onto a cushion next to a smiling Theodora and accepted a little bowl of tea. “Tell me everything, my Lady. I beg of you.”
“First, please, tell me where is my son?” Rav’an demanded with a slight edge to her tone.
“Don’t fret, my Lady. He is in good company. He and his little gang of ‘Assassins are sweeping up the remainder of the pirates. Henry thinks that their ships are in the same inlet that we used ourselves.”
*****
Rostam and his men moved warily through the woodlands, keeping a sharp lookout for anyone who might be preparing an ambush. He was grateful to Max for trusting him with this task and took it seriously. Behind the horsemen, a group of armed villagers were spread out in a manner they employed when beating for game. They had already flushed out three of the pirates, all of them wounded, who had been summarily put to death as they begged for their lives. Rostam had at first almost weakened, but his closest companion, Andreas, a tall boy who was mature for his age, told him, “Rostam, you must think as would Master Reza. These people came to plunder, rape, and murder your people. Reza would show no mercy. They have none. As prisoners they would be a burden on us now and a danger later. You must tell them, the villagers await your order.”
Rostam looked down at the dirty, disheveled and bleeding man kneeling in front of him. The man called out piteously for mercy.
Realizing that Andreas was right, Rostam reluctantly indicated to his companions to carry out the gristly work. For the first time he understood the harshness of battle and its consequences.
At the approaches to the inlet the riders dismounted. Telling the villagers to stay back and watch for straggling pirates, Rostam and his men slipped along the pathway, alert for any trap or attempt to block their way. There was no sound other than the perpetual hiss of the cicadas and a light wind that soughed in the upper branches of the pines; there was no sign of activity.
Nonetheless, they moved silently and very cautiously to emerge onto the cliff overlooking the inlet. It was deserted, as was the beach below, but there were clear signs of much recent activity. There was discarded equipment all over the beach, including mail shirts and helmets. The panicked crews must have been in a great hurry, Rostam thought, staring out towards the sea where he just caught a glimpse of the top of ships’ masts moving slowly down the neck of the inlet.
“They are getting away!” exclaimed Andreas. Then they heard a boom further out to sea and saw a yellowish cloud rising in to the sky. It was quickly disbursed by the freshening wind.
“That way!” Rostam pointed excitedly towards the goat path which led to the promontory near the entrance to the inlet. “We can see from there!” Dismounting hurriedly, the boys and some village lads raced along the path, jumping over and dodging bare roots and rocks and ducking under low branches.
They emerged from the scrub and woods onto a bare patch of grass and rocks that gave them a grandstand view of the entrance to the inlet and a wi
de open view of the sea.
There, ahead of them, about half a league distant, Guy’s ship was just turning around, the oars creating a froth in the sea as the crew went at their labors. Rostam could make out Guy very clearly as the captain gesticulated and bellowed orders. Men in the bows were bent over one of the two Scorpions. Others were running up the rigging to assist with the sails. The slim boat appeared almost to spin on its heels in a flurry of spume and spray.
One pirate ship, the one nearest to Guy’s ship, was on fire at its after end. The crew were desperately trying to put out the flames, which had taken hold on the hull and were now threatening to engulf the rigging and the sails.
“The sea is rising, Rostam,” one of his companions observed as they stood, braced against the wind on the furthermost point of the promontory. He was right; the wind had come up and a heavy swell was developing at sea. Guy’s ship rose and fell to such an extent that Rostam wondered how they might be able to strike the second ship, now making its way out of the inlet. He could see it was a struggle for the depleted crew of the enemy ship to negotiate the exit against a head wind, but they managed, and before long the second pirate ship was nosing into the swells. Spray flew all the way back over its deck as the ship caught the wind from the north quarter and heeled.
There was no doubt that, in skillful hands, this kind of vessel could sail very close to the wind, and Rostam formed a grudging respect for the captain as his men maneuvered the nimble ship past the dark teeth of the rocks on either side and made for open water. The vessel was within reach of a long bow-shot, but the spectators were caught up in the drama unfolding below and had no thought to try to hinder the passage with puny arrows. Rostam gave a start when he recognized the captain of the ship, who, looking up, waved to him in a gesture of bravado that made the young man grin. Abul-Zinad was making his escape, and despite all the setbacks he was still defiant.
Their ordeal was not over, however, for Guy had his ship facing the right way, and even with the growing swell he had the oars out and sails set, and his ship was ploughing a furrow through the waves like some monstrous water bug intent upon its prey. He shortened the distance between him and Abul’s vessel at a rapid pace. It was a fine spectacle to watch as the pirate ship exited the inlet and attempted to head north and away from the menacing approach. Both ships were now under full sail, rising and falling in the waves with spray flying high over their sides and bows.
Guy’s ship was now only a few hundred paces away from the pirate vessel, and from his vantage point on the promontory Rostam could see the activity in its bows as the crew attempted to prepare the Scorpions. He shook his head. Guy would have to get very close in these seas if he wanted to be sure of a hit. The bows of his ship were rising and falling in the green spume-laden swells, which were growing in height. Guy appeared to be determined, however. The distant, regular beat of the drum came to the watchers on the cliff as the chase unfolded almost right under their eyes.
Abul-Zinad had successfully turned his vessel towards the north. His ship heeled as his sails caught the strengthening wind, but the turn delayed him just enough for Guy to come within sixty paces. Guy must have decided to try his luck, because the spectators saw one of the Scorpions jump and a long dark arrow sped towards the pirate ship.
“They shoot!” one of Rostam’s companions shouted excitedly, pointing.
But the rolling waters made aim chancy. The shaft flew over the pirate ship almost at head height and disappeared into the sea with a splash fifty paces beyond. There was a collective groan from those on the hill, and all eyes turned to the pirate vessel.
It appeared that Abul-Zinad had a trick or two in his own arsenal. The watchers on the promontory could just hear the shouted orders, then the vessel turned into the wind and they all heard a thump from the ship’s waist. A small, dark, round object flew into the air towards Guy’s ship, which was ploughing furiously towards it. The object left a thin trail of smoke behind.
“Oh, God protect them!” Rostam gasped. “He has Greek Fire—and a catapult!”
Everyone on the cliff top held their breath as the missile arced across the intervening space and struck Guy’s ship almost at the water line just aft of his bows. It exploded in a silent splatter of blue fire that reached up as high as the hand rail, then sped along the hull at water level as the noxious liquid flared. There was a collective groan as they witnessed the deadly fire, every sailor’s nightmare, take hold of the hull.
Moments before the Greek Fire struck Guy’s ship, his second Scorpion jumped in the bows and another long, black Scorpion strike hurtled across the gap, and this one struck home, even though the fleeing ship had begun to turn away as soon as it had sent its own missile. There was a flash, then the muted blast of an explosion. The ship trembled, and the watchers could all see the rails shredding and men falling, but it continued to turn; and when it was facing north it sped away. The crowd on the cliff could just see a gap in the side on the main deck, but the ship was seaworthy enough to take to its heels.
Apparently Abul-Zinad had no stomach for a closer encounter, for even while Guy was forced to deal with the potentially deadly blow his ship had received, Abdul used his advantage not to attack again but to make his escape. Rostam turned his attention back to Guy, and saw with relief that the fire appeared to be contained. Guy’s crew knew that the only way to stop Greek Fire from spreading was to smother it with sand, which they were now doing with great energy. Their frantic efforts paid off, leaving a huge smoldering black patch, over which men poured water and sand in copious quantities. A pall of stinking black smoke blew back over the spectators on the cliff, but as soon as it passed they could see that Guy and his crew were out of immediate danger, so they cheered.
Rostam glanced northwards to see the pirate ship already two good leagues away, hurrying from this unfriendly coast.
“I hope we meet again. Then we shall see,” he murmured, as he watched the retreating vessel. Once he ascertained that Guy would be able to take his ship safely to port, he led the way back towards the horses.
“Keep looking for stragglers, and capture anyone who makes it to shore from that first ship,” he ordered the villagers. “We want some prisoners for their information.” Rostam wanted to know where the pirate lair was located.
Later that day when the sun was about to set in a blaze of red to the west, the family and the two captains convened in the dim Solarium. Candles were lit, and food and drink for the thirsty captains and warriors were laid out on low tables. Guy and Henry were eating their way through a mound of meat and vegetables, sopping up the gravy in their bowls with bread as though they hadn’t eaten for days.
Reza had been carried in on a pallet by attendants; Junayd and Dar’an placed themselves on either side as though on guard. Jannat seated herself nearby and fussed over her husband. Reza was enjoying the attention, but Theodora was keeping a sharp eye on him for fatigue, having threatened to remove him at the first sign of exhaustion.
Having done her best to see that Reza was going to live through the experience, she sat beside Max, who took her hand in his and rubbed it. “You look tired, my Theo,” he murmured and handed her some warm spiced red wine, which she sipped gratefully.
“I am thankful you have all come back safely,” she said, and gave him a wan smile.
“Well, Mother, you have told us all what happened here, and we have given you our accounts of what happened below in the village. What now?” Rostam chirped up.
Rav’an looked out over her family. Apart from the children, who had been taken away by their nurses, and the conspicuous absence of Talon, they were all together. She was grateful they had survived the several engagements, but there had been a heavy cost, particularly to the villagers.
“We have lost many of our people to the pirates, and you, Guy, were very nearly lost. I give thanks to God for your deliverance, and ours, but it was a close thing.”
“Indeed it was, my Lady.” Guy lifted his cup. “But ev
eryone played their part, and we overcame the scoundrels. What we have to find out is why they attacked. We know Isaac’s men were involved, even though we have an informal truce with the Emperor.”
“You ask why the pirates came?” Reza interjected. “Why, to try and save that cousin of his in our dungeons, of course.”
“There is more to this than a rescue, Reza,” Rav’an stated with a thoughtful frown. “Besides, I don’t think Abul-Zinad tried very hard to regain his cousin. Do you, Max? Why did he not send a messenger with an offer of ransom? That is how these situations are customarily resolved.”
“I am beginning to have my suspicions, my Lady,” Max responded.
“There is something odd that I am seeing here, or rather not seeing,” Jannat spoke up.
“What do you mean, Sister?” Rav’an asked.
“The message from Dimitri says that Diocles is in prison, which might be why we have not heard from him. It is unusual for him not to send a pigeon once a week. Dimitri tried to warn us that something was going to happen. He reports that there have been strange ships in the harbor, and much activity at the palace. The Emperor is away, the most senior person at the palace is now the man called Zenos, and he appears to have brought in people from outside the island.”
“Ah. So we can be sure that the palace indeed had a hand in this attack, and it may be the Emperor knows nothing of it,” Reza said. “Dar’an and Junayd know that Rashid Ed Din is involved, so it seems we were attacked from not just one but three quarters. Tell them, Dar’an,” he said, and leaned back with a sigh of pain.
“My Lady, Sirs,” Dar’an said in his quiet way, “we talked to the assassin who survived.” Rav’an knew it had been more than a talk. The screams had percolated all the way up from the dungeon.
“He was sent with a small group to gain entry, sow panic, and open the gates to the men from the palace, who would then claim it in the name of the Emperor. The pirates were to be a diversion, to be paid with a share of the plunder once they had taken the villages. But while that might have been the initial agreement, Junayd and I found out that the assassins were in fact going to kill all of us and hold the castle for Rashid Ed Din. They had orders to not allow the riders, nor the pirates, access to the keep.”
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