Greek Fire

by James Boschert

  Henry ordered the men to the oars and the sails half furled so that he could come down upon the wreckage with care.

  “I do not want to spear our hull upon some spar floating loose in the sea,” he told Talon.

  As the rowers pulled the ship closer Nigel shouted to them to back, as the ship was almost upon the floating debris. Then he exclaimed with surprise.

  “Sir Talon, there are two men! They are hurt and will not be able to come aboard on their own!” Nigel shouted from the bows.

  Henry directed Guy to lower the boat over the side and bring the survivors back.

  They hauled the dripping men out of the water and assisted them onto the deck. Both of them fell onto the planks and stayed there, too exhausted to speak. Talon descended to the waist of the ship and stared down at them. Guy was kneeling, the head of one of the survivors in his lap. Both men were burned black across their faces, heads and shoulders. The flesh was peeling from the one who was barely conscious, while the other was waving his hands about in feeble gestures.

  “How could they survive this?” someone muttered. “They’re burnt like charcoal!”

  “Look at the wood floating in the water, it is burnt all over! God preserve us, what has happened here?” someone else asked in a hushed tone.

  “Here, take this,” Nigel thrust a leather cup full of clean water into Guy’s hand. “He will be thirsty.”

  Indeed the man gulped the water down and gasped for more, and then he tried to sit up.

  “Where am I?” he asked in Greek.

  “You are aboard a Frank ship and safe now,” Dmitri said, kneeling beside him. “What happened to you? Who are you?”

  “God be praised, and may He bless you all for your kindness. My name is Romanos. I am an officer from a Byzantine dromon. Our two ships were attacked at night, and all who lived were captured and locked up below. But then we broke out and fought back. We almost recovered the ship, until something happened to the fire apparatus.”

  “Bring the man below at once,” Talon ordered. He motioned for Giorgios and Dmitri to come with him and Max. “Guy, Nigel, go and tell Henry there is danger about. Everyone be alert, especially the lookouts. I shall tell you all when we know more, but for now look to the ship.”

  The two men nodded and immediately jogged off to alert Henry and prepare the ship for any eventuality. Very soon Talon felt the ship heel slightly as the sails caught the wind and they moved forward, heading north again.

  The two survivors were carried very carefully into the cabin then laid gently on the floor and covered. But their wounds and burns were clearly agonizing. One man’s flesh was so badly burned it fell off in swathes. He screamed and writhed, then fell back moaning, throwing his head from side to side. What remained of his eyelids were gummed shut.

  “This one will not live for very long, Talon,” Max said in a low voice.

  “Neither will the other with burns like that, Max, unless we can help him to a doctor. But we must know more, even if there is little enough we can do. Dmitri, Giorgios, I charge you to find out all you can before they die. We must comfort them as much as we are able, but I am sure their information is important.”

  He left Dmitri and Giorgios to patiently ease the story out of the one man who could still talk coherently.

  *****

  They returned to the deck looking shaken, and Giorgios went immediately to Talon and told him what they had learned.

  The commander of the two dromons had lead the ships on a slow patrol, as there were rumors of pirates, and the two ships had anchored for the night in the harbor of the nearby island.

  Before they had left Rodos a Genoese merchant had asked if he could come with them, as he was fearful of sailing on his own. He departed with them when they left Rodos and kept them company for most of the day. According to Romanos, he stayed well over to the east, which he thought was somewhat strange, because that was where the enemy pirates would come from, if they were there at all. It would have been more like a cringing merchantman to be on their seaward side where they could best protect him.

  “Did he see the man who came aboard from the Genoese ship?” Talon demanded.

  “He told us that he was portly, with a beard and swagger. Typical Latin, just like a Venetian.He came with a very large man as bodyguard,” Dimitri said, then Giorgios continued.

  “He told us they were Arab ships, and there were many of them—a fleet! Quietly they came in the dark: they sent assassins to board the ships and it was all over before they could do anything.”

  Privately Talon wondered at the lax sentry-keeping that could have allowed this to happen.

  Giorgios clutched Talon by the shoulders. “They have captured the Liquid Fire,” he said, anguish in his voice.

  “How would they know how to use it?” Talon asked.

  “Romanos told us that the Arabs began to cut throats until some men stepped forward. These were beaten to show how to make the equipment work, then they tested it.”

  “So what happened to his ship? Why would the Arabs sink it?” Nigel asked.

  “They didn’t. The crew of his ship tried to take it back and nearly succeeded, but then there was an accident with the apparatus on board. It caught fire and then exploded. While the survivors were trying to put the flames out the Arabs jumped overboard and swam to another ship that took them aboard, leaving these people to die.”

  “Come, we will have another look at these men to see what we can do to ease their pain,” Talon said.

  They trooped below.

  Talon looked down at the groaning men and thought for a moment. “Ask him if he knew which direction the ships might be sailing?”

  Dmitri asked the man called Romanos, who shook his head. “I do not know, but here is something strange. There was only one of the fire launchers in the waist of our ship when we came back on deck, I remember that. I do not know where the others went. They might have taken them off during the night, I do not know. There was a lot of noise and movement before we left the bay and many of the crews were taken away.”

  The other man woke up at this point and shouted something.

  “What was that?” Max asked. He looked at the grim expressions around him.

  “He said something about treachery. He said…he said they knew where to find them. He is blaming the Genoese.” Talon said slowly.

  Giorgios shook his head, as though to say this might just be the man’s raving.

  Talon glanced at Max. “I wonder…”

  “We have lost two ships to the Arabs and both had four of our fire devices on them. That means eight of them were stolen! No, only seven, as one went to the bottom with his ship, but this is a catastrophe!” Giorgios wrung his hands in agitation.

  “They could wreak havoc with seven different ships each carrying one of the Greek Fire devices. If those naval people had been paying more attention to their business they might not have had this disaster,” Talon told Max in French.

  “Well it is done now, God help us. What do you want to do, Talon?”

  “I want to take our gold and our salt and flee for the Hellespont and get to Constantinople. I fear the worst, but we are not about to pursue an Arab fleet. However we owe it to the Byzantines to inform them that there is indeed a fleet of corsairs abroad and that they now possess the Greek Fire. That should get someone’s attention. I pray to God that we can sail undisturbed the rest of the way without running into them.”

  He turned to Giorgios and resumed in Greek, “Make them as comfortable as you can, Giorgios.” He put his hand on the weeping man’s thin shoulder. “Stay with him for a while, Dmitri, but come on deck soon, as I want to talk to the crew.” Dmitri nodded acknowledgement.

  Talon and Max went back on deck and told their companions what they had heard. All three were grim-faced and agreed with Talon that they should put on full sail. Henry set a course due north. He reckoned that if they did not tarry in island harbors he could get them to the entrance of the Hellespont within a
matter of days rather than a week.

  They sailed north all that day, and because it was a clear night with bright stars and a moon to illuminate the sea, Henry continued to sail through the night.

  During the night the more badly burnt of the two men died. The other man held on, but Talon told Max that he did not give much for his chances. His limited knowledge of wounds and a few diseases had not prepared him for this kind of horror.

  It was on the fourth day just before sunset that the Falcon sailed past the dark line of a large island on their port bow, which Dmitri called Lemnos. Henry, before handing off the ship to Nigel and going below to get some rest, ordered a change of course slightly towards the northeast. Several hours later one of the lookouts called down softly that he saw many lights ahead. Nigel immediately had the sails furled and sent one of the crew to wake Talon, Max and Henry.

  As he came onto the deck, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and followed by Max, Talon realized that there was something wrong. Everyone was very quiet and the tension was palpable. The sails were furled and the ship was wallowing in the water. He made his way onto the top deck where he found Nigel, Guy and Henry having a muttered conversation.

  “Why are we stopped, Nigel?” he asked.

  “There are lights ahead, Talon,” Nigel said in a low voice. “We are not due to sight land for another day at least. I thought to call all of you, as this is very strange.” He sounded nervous.

  “What do the lookouts say?” Talon asked.

  “The lookout thinks it might be a lot of ships clustered together. Many ships, Sir Talon.”

  “Are you sure?” Talon asked. He felt the apprehension in the air. “Are you thinking that perhaps it might be the Arabs?”

  “Yes we do, Talon,” Guy said from nearby, “unless the Greeks have sent out a fleet to chase their ships away. But we do not know as yet, if they’re coming our way or not.”

  “We should try to go around them, Talon,” Nigel said.

  “Have you not seen how many lights there are over there?” Guy said. “Come daylight they will move faster and then we will be seen hanging about on their wing. We cannot out-sail them by going all the way around and then get ahead of them during the night. God help us,” he finished.

  “How many do you three estimate?” Talon asked.

  “Near to fifty I would say,” Nigel said.

  “I think there are more. I guess at sixty to seventy ships with all those lights. It would take us a day just to sail to the side of that fleet,” Guy said.

  “I agree with Guy, there are more than fifty ships out there. We need to know who it is and which direction they’re sailing,” Henry said.

  Talon did not like the idea of running into the middle of the corsair fleet, if that was what it was. But it sounded as though it might not even be possible to get around that many ships.

  “They are not sailing fast at all despite a good wind. I think they are keeping station for the night, and my guess is that they are going the same way as we,” Guy offered.

  “They have lamps lit on every mast. That is what we see, but I can also now see lights nearer to the water, which means we’re gaining upon them,” Henry said.

  He was right. Peering forward Talon could now see lights bobbing about near to the surface of the sea. They were quite close. He instinctively checked to see that they had no lights showing. Nigel must have had them put out the moment he saw the other ships.

  After a low called discussion with the lookout, Henry established that the ships ahead of them must be sailing northward. And that was indeed the same direction as the Falcon.

  “If we try to sail through them we will surely be challenged and that will be the end. I for one do not speak Arabic well enough to talk my way past them,” Guy said.

  “But Talon does, and I do too. Although Talon speaks like an Egyptian,” Max said.

  That gave Talon an idea. “Max is right, my friends. If this is an Arab fleet bent upon mischief then we have to at least do our best to provide warning. What is the closest port to the entrance of the Hellespont, Henry?”

  Dmitri, who had joined them on deck, answered that question immediately. “The city of Abydos is the nearest port to the neck of the Hellespont and to the Greek fleet, if it is on station, Sir Talon. Abydos is on the east side of the divide and very well fortified.”

  Talon nodded his thanks. “Thanks, Dmitri, that helps. Let us hope it is a Greek fleet, but I fear not. Perhaps we can bluff our way through. We will surely be challenged, but I do speak Egyptian Arabic, and in the dark we may seem to be just another ship of the fleet. It is when we are pulling ahead of the others that we will have the most trouble. This is a fast ship…” He left the rest unsaid and waited for Henry to speak. Henry nodded in the dark but he sounded uncertain.

  “It will be a race for our lives if we do make it to the other side of that fleet. It is now only a few hours before first light. There is also the real risk of collision in the dark, and if that happens we will be finished. If we are going to do this thing we must decide now, Sir Talon.” His formal address made it clear that Talon had to make the decision for them all. The others all murmured their agreement. There was a silence while he pondered what had to be done. He did not see much of an alternative.

  “We could always turn tail and run from sight over the horizon in the opposite direction. We would be safe, but I do not like that idea, as this group of ships might well be trying to surprise the city of Abydos.”

  “We also know that they now possess the potent weapon of fire, so they can burn any shipping that is not fast enough to escape or seek shelter behind walls,” Max pointed out.

  “We cannot let that happen.” Henry sounded adamant, and Nigel and Guy muttered agreement.

  Talon shifted his weight on his feet. He was full of unease but everyone was looking at him; they were trusting to his judgment alone. For the first time he felt the full weight of command and the responsibility for the lives of his companions and the crew on his shoulders. It was not a comforting feeling. He took a deep breath.

  “God help us my friends, but I see little choice. We are not cowards and we owe much to our Greek friends. We cannot run away, so we will go forward. Our fate now lies in the hands of God.”

  There was a collective sigh of acceptance and all of them crossed themselves at this, but to a man they nodded assent. Nigel stated what was on all their minds. “We will do as you say, Sir Talon. I think we are all mad, but I pray that God will be with us. You have led us out of danger before.”

  Talon warmed to him for saying it. They embraced each other hard with the sober thought of the danger and risk they were about to face; none of them knew if they would survive this ordeal.

  “Henry to stay at the helm and guide us; Nigel, you come with me to the bows with runners; and Guy, you stay in the waist with the rowers and the sail crew. Max, you remain with Henry. I will be the only one to respond to any challenge, but Max, if I send a message, you talk in Arabic in a low voice as though issuing commands. Pass the word that no one is to speak at all other than Max and myself, other than in whispers. All of you are to be armed in case of discovery.”

  “We should put our lights on. They will become suspicious if we have none at all. See to it, Guy,” Henry said.

  As he went down the steps to collect his bow, Talon thanked Henry silently for attending to this detail. Henry also ordered Guy to take the sails in so that they were moving at a speed that would bring them up to the other ships just fast enough to overtake them, but not going at so great a speed as to incur suspicion or risk collision. Nigel and Guy got into a discussion as to how orders would be passed to the rowers without giving away the fact that they were Franks.

  By now the shipping ahead had become well defined silhouettes against the starlit sky. The word was passed to the crew, who cast incredulous looks at their officers but did not argue. The rowers were sent running to their seats and the men manning the sails stood by for orders. Men who would
take the first line in a fight prepared themselves for battle and the crossbow men looked to their weapons. Everyone was taut with the knowledge of danger to come.

  Talon retrieved his bow and a quiver full of arrows from the cabin and joined Nigel to make their way forward to the forecastle. As they walked by they saw men with bows, pikes and crossbows crouching against the high walls of the ship’s sides where Guy had placed them in case they were needed. Nigel was worried the ships ahead might be lashed together, as was sometimes the case with fleets trying to stay close. The first ships loomed up as the distance between them closed. In the darkness Talon could see they were galleys that looked just like the ones he had seen with the Byzantine navy, and for a split second he hoped that they were Greek, but this was quickly dashed as someone noticed them approaching and called out a challenge.

  There was no mistaking the language. At least it was now clear that this was a corsair fleet bent upon mischief.

  “Ship that is approaching. Where are you from and what are you doing?”

  Talon cupped his hands on either side of his mouth. “Salaam Aliekom! We are from Dalmatia and seek the commander. We carry urgent dispatches from the Sultan. Where is the Admiral’s ship?”

  He was guessing that the inherent obedience to command would inhibit an officer on the ship ahead from taking the initiative and making sure they were who they said they were. He prayed too that the men on the ships would not know where the Sultan might be and challenge his story. There was a long silence during which he could feel himself sweating. The Falcon drove ever closer to the other craft.

  “Aliekom Salaam. What ship are you?”

  “We are the Falcon of the South. Our mission is urgent.” Again there was a silence as though the men on the ship might be discussing their appearance. He felt the tension building up all round him as the men of his crew, not comprehending the words, prepared for the worst.

  “You need to move north and then some east, as his Excellency Al Fakhouri’s command ship is in that direction. Move carefully! There are many of us and we are close together.”