Greek Fire

by James Boschert

  “Allah protect you and bless you. We go forward. Allah be Praised,” Talon called back.

  At a nod from Talon, Nigel sent the silent Falcon past the first two ships. The only sound from his own ship was the slap of the sea on its bows and the hiss of water flowing along its sides, the occasional splash of an oar and the creak of ship’s timbers, but all around there was the sound of men at work and the clatter of gear being moved about the other ships’ decks. They could hear men calling out as they went about their duties in the night.

  “It is as though we have stumbled across a city on the sea. It is a living thing,” Nigel whispered.

  Talon could even make out the silhouettes of curious men wearing turbans leaning over their sides to peer at them as they went past. The oars were taken in on the vessels but the stench that came out of them told its own story of the slaves chained to the benches.

  Nigel breathed a great sigh as they went past; Talon was sure that the stink of the ship brought back terrible memories, even though he said nothing. Then he sent a messenger running silently to tell Henry to alter course slightly to avoid a dense cluster of shipping that was looming out of the dark. Henry guided them toward a gap between two large galleys.

  Once again they were challenged. This time Talon used the name provided by the men on the first two ships and again there was a long silence as they digested the information. He could even hear a shout as someone called for a senior officer to come and take charge. They were so close he could hear a conversation taking place on the after deck of the ship on their right, although he could only make out the occasional word.

  But then, after what felt like an interminable period during which Talon, now very tense, was sure that enemy archers were being assembled behind their sides waiting for them to come well within range, someone on that ship called over to them in an authoritative voice to pass. Once again they slipped between two large galleys, Talon calling up his thanks and many blessings. He sent a message back to Max to start muttering so that the strained silence on their own ship was broken by what might sound as confident conversation on their afterdeck in Arabic, for all the world as if the steersmen were talking to one another. Nigel again heaved a sigh of relief as he realized that they had passed another hurdle.

  They were challenged twice more by sleepy ships’ crews and each time Talon used a little more of the information gleaned from a previous encounter to substantiate his story. Each time there was a tense moment as crew members pondered the answers and then finally decided to let them pass. As one ship disappeared into the gloom behind them another vessel would loom to their front. One officer in charge of the watch called over to them as they slid by, “You are too far to the west and need to move more easterly. Have you not been told this before?” His voice was querulous, probably because he had been roused out of his warm bed, but he did not follow it up.

  “Yes, you are right of course” Talon called back. “But we need to maneuver and there are many ships. We do not want a collision. We will try for a more open space ahead of us. Allah’s blessing upon you for helping us reach our objective.”

  All this time they had been working the oars when they needed them, but for the most part the sails had taken them through in a rough line from behind the fleet almost to the front. There only remained two ships between them and the open water beyond the fleet. It was a seductive thought that they should make a run for it between the last two ships ahead of them, but caution restrained him. Anything could go wrong at this point and all they needed was a little distance and then Henry could show a clean pair of heels. He steadied his breathing and waited for the next challenge.

  As they approached, men on the ship to their left had been alerted to their arrival by the calls between them and the other ships, for they were clustered on the afterdeck waiting for them. But these men carried torches, which lit up the sea all around the back of the ship. Talon realized with a sinking feeling that they were about to sail right into this bright patch of water where the people on the other deck would have a good look at them.

  “We need to stay clear of those torches and the light. They will see quickly enough who we are if we do not avoid them,” Nigel urged. His two remaining runners were fidgeting with concern.

  Again the questioning call and again Talon called back. Then he remembered something he should have thought of earlier. He wore no turban and neither did anyone else on the ship; it would be noticed.

  “Salaam Aliekom. We carry dispatches for His Excellency Al Fakhouri. Allow us to pass as we come from Cairo on an urgent mission.”

  He could see turbaned men holding torches high and peering across at them over the dark water that glinted in the torchlight, rising and falling in the swell. He had an uneasy feeling that they were suspicious and not about to let them pass without some serious questioning first.

  “Pull in your sail and explain where you are from. You are way off course for the command ship. You must have been told this before.”

  “We have been told, but there are so many ships gathered so closely together I have decided to go to the front and then change course when we are clear of other shipping, Insha Allah it will be safer to do so.”

  There was more shouting and calling and yet more men gathered on the already full afterdeck of the ship with which they were now almost parallel. Curious people were watching from the waist of the ship.

  “What is the name of your ship?” The query was abrupt.

  “Falcon of the South,” Talon called up.

  “I know of no ship with that name, but you may pass. Take care not to get in our way.”

  Talon breathed a sigh of relief and was about to turn to Nigel to pass along the information when there came a great scream from the back of their ship. All eyes swiveled to the entrance of the cabin where the sailor Romanos, who had survived the burning was standing. He was screaming and pointing at the ship across the dark waters and shouting.

  “It is them! They are the killers who burned us. God curse them all!” He was quite naked; the ghastly burns across his face and chest were captured in the flickering light thrown out by the torches. Talon froze; the man was screaming in Greek for all to hear.

  Talon swung his gaze back to the other ship. There was consternation as they began to realize what was happening on the ship passing them by. Several pointed, beckoning their comrades to come and look, and then men began shouting and running about. The alarm was sounded.

  Henry with great presence of mind began to shout orders to Guy to get the sails fully down, and Guy in turn screamed at the rowers to get busy. As their oars were already out there was no delay and the water churned as they dipped and pulled with all their might.

  The ship lurched and surged forward as the wind caught the sails and they began to gain speed as they passed by the last two ships. The crew of the ship on their port side had realized that all was not well and they too had sounded the alarm. Torches began to appear on their deck as men ran to illuminate the water in between the vessels. As Talon raced back to the after deck he noticed Max and Giorgios had seized the burnt sailor and dragged him back inside the cabin, but the damage had been done. They were in a race for their lives.

  Talon cleared the steps to the after deck in three strides and turned to watch as Henry, calm as ever, guided the ship clear of the Arab vessels toward the open sea. They all ducked as arrows whispered overheard and slammed into the wood of the sides and the floor of the deck. Talon drew his own bow and sped an arrow into the cluster of men in the waist of the ship on their starboard side. A man fell with a scream and the rest scattered for cover.

  But other men with bows on the Arab ships were in formation and the hail of arrows increased. Several of their sailors were hit and fell crying, to be dragged into the cover of the ship’s side, the rest of the exposed crew fled for cover. Their own archers began to fire back with good effect. Both crossbows and long bows twanged, and the arrows and bolts began to take men down who made good targets
in the light of the torches. Someone must have realized this as the torches were rapidly extinguished. One man had the idea of throwing his torch across the water at the Falcon. It fell with a hiss into the water not far from the side, and then others began to do the same.

  Talon drew and fired at one man who was about to try. The arrow struck him in the chest and he fell over backwards, dropping his torch on his own deck. There was a brief panic as the crew frantically put out the beginning of a fire, and then the Falcon was moving out of range. Talon drew and fired his arrows until his quiver was empty, inflicting damage where he could. He wondered if fire might be used against them and prayed that it did not occur to the enemy to start shooting fire arrows.

  Then Talon noticed something that made his blood run cold. Men on the starboard Arab ship were running towards a contraption in the waist of their ship and feverishly preparing something. Protruding out from the side was one of the dreadful tubes of the Byzantine weapon. He gripped Nigel by the shoulder and pointed.

  Nigel stared and then breathed. “Dear God! They have the Greek Fire! We must flee!” he yelled. Henry shouted down to Guy and the rowers to pull for their lives and the crew to tighten sail.

  The Falcon leaped forward and began to draw past, but the frantic activity on the Arab ship intensified. Whips were cracking and Talon could see men pumping something up and down, and then others heaved the apparatus so that the tube was pointing directly at their ship. Although they were a good twenty yards from the other ship and gradually increasing the distance Talon feared the worst.

  The next thing he saw was a jet of flame spout from the nozzle of the tube and fly across the water at about deck height towards their ship. He was mesmerized by the spectacle of the liquid flame curling in a deadly arc towards them. All the ships nearby and the faces of the men clustered on their decks were lit up in an eerie glow.

  Somehow, perhaps because of the haste in preparation by the Arab crew, the flame fell just short of their ship and dropped into the sea, but a few gobs of flame landed on the deck where they sizzled fiercely, burning into the wood. Talon looked at the water between the ships. A line of flame burned on the sea, hissing and bubbling before finally disappearing below the surface and going out in a cloud of steam.

  In desperation one of the sailors on the Falcon threw a canvas bucket of sea water over the stinking puddles of flame, but they only flared higher, hissing like a hundred malevolent snakes. The flames reached for the bottom of the sails. Men screamed with fear and cowered away from the intense heat. To Talon it was as though the Devil had thrown his evil fire at them and his stomach lurched. They had no defense against this terrifying weapon. Then Nigel with great presence of mind seized some heavy sailcloth and threw it over the largest puddle of fire and jumped on the cloth, stamping and yelling a stream of curses. He then screamed at the petrified crew to do the same with the other blobs of fire that were igniting the deck.

  They leapt to do his bidding and smothered the other flames in the same manner, realizing that they were doomed if they failed.

  Then Max yelled from the afterdeck and pointed. Another terrible jet of flame was being pumped out of the tube. They all watched in frozen horror as the flaming jet arced out towards them, reaching for their ship like some live tentacle of fire. But this time it fell well short and they drew away ever faster, the light wind in their raised sails taking the Falcon out of harm’s way. Still Guy roared at the rowers to pull for their lives, and the sweating, gasping men heard him and pulled. Their oars churned up the water and the ship fled out into the open sea.

  *****

  After what felt an eternity during which all on the top deck held their breath, they were well free of the two ships and out into what appeared to be clear water. Their sails were taut and the oars were driving up and down as the rowers worked furiously to gain as much distance as they could from what was now a thoroughly agitated enemy.

  “We have a hornets’ nest back there and they are going to come after us, Henry. You should get us as far away as you can,” Talon called.

  Talon knew full well that pursuit was inevitable. He could not make out individual ships anymore but assumed it would be at least the two they had just left behind that would follow, with perhaps more behind them. He saw a red burning flame arch high into the sky. It seemed to pause at its highest point and then plunge back into darkness, swallowed by the sea. Talon could not tell if it had been a signal or a missile meant for them, but it was followed by several others. And yet nothing reached their ship, and their lead steadily increased as wind and the rowers bore them swiftly on.

  There was elation on the Falcon. Henry grinned at Talon and Max. “I did not think we would make it. God help me,” he gasped, “ but I thought we were finished when the fire came. Praise be to God and that crazy bugger Nigel!” The relief in his voice was pronounced.

  Talon found Nigel in the waist standing over several hands’ width of charred deck with some of the crew nearby. He looked up as Talon arrived.

  “This is the Devil’s fire, Talon. Look, it is still hot! Bring water—we can use it now.” He ordered the men nearby. They hastened to obey. He showed Talon the burned rag of the sailcloth. “We were lucky,” he said.

  “How did you know what to do, Nigel?” Talon asked.

  “I did not know, Talon. I just remembered that water thrown on burning fat is a bad thing so I just tried the sailcloth. Thank God it worked, but I did not know for sure that it would. If they had struck us with the whole jet of flame we would not be here now, of that I am sure.”

  Talon wanted to embrace Nigel his relief was so great, but instead he clapped him on the shoulder. “You saved the ship Nigel. We owe our lives to your quick thinking and I shall not forget it.”

  *****

  Henry directed the ship into the night using the fading stars as his guide. He told Talon that he was fairly confident that he could outpace the enemy given their lead.

  “But we have surely stirred them up.” Nigel said, as he stood with the others looking back over the ship’s wake.

  “I did not believe we could get through that mass of shipping, but God protected us,” Max said with relief. “Nigel my friend, you showed great courage back there.”

  “I thank God for it,” Nigel said, embarrassed by the thanks from his friends, “But I thank Talon too. He talked us through the fleet!”

  “You must have done a convincing job back there, or we would all be in chains right now,” Henry said as he slapped Talon on the shoulder.

  “They will come after us with their fastest boats, my friends. Henry, you will have to keep us moving as fast as you can all night and tomorrow too until we arrive at Abydos.”

  “Guy will pace the rowers, but we might all have to take a turn at an oar. I shall keep us on this course until we see land. It will be a race, that is for sure,” Henry told him.

  “I will willingly go to an oar when you ask me,” Max said.

  “I too,” Talon agreed. “But first I need to see how our passenger is doing.”

  He found the man lying on a pallet in the cabin. The smell was noxious, for the corpse of the other man was still there wrapped in a canvas. There had been no time to deal with the body before now, but Talon realized that they would have to bury the man at sea as soon as it was dawn. The sailor was weeping and moaning with the pain of his wounds while Giorgios tried to comfort him.

  “He did not realize what he was doing back there, Sir Talon,” Giorgios said, looking up when Talon entered.

  “We were at the end of our luck in any case, Giorgios. Tell him to live and we will get him to a physician as soon as we arrive in Abydos. I do not know what to give him to ease his pain. We do not even have the gum of a poppy to aid him, nor the mandrake. Keep giving him water when he needs it.”

  “Will we be safe, Sir Talon?” Giorgios looked frightened. Talon looked at him. Despite being a good and confident trader Giorgios was not a warrior and did not know how to deal with the dan
gers they were facing.

  “With God’s help we will make it to Abydos, but they will chase us, Giorgios. Still, Henry is an excellent pilot and we have a good crew. I am sure we will be fine,” he assured the agent. “Pray hard,” he added.

  Talon took his cloak off a hook then went on deck to see how they were progressing. It was quiet except for the rush of water at the bows, a slight keening of the wind in the rigging, the creaks of the ship, and muttered conversations on the afterdeck. Henry had stood down most of the men and allowed the rowers to rest.

  “The wind is well behind us and we’re making good speed, Talon,” Henry explained. “I want to rest them till we really need them, which will be in the morning, I am sure of it.”

  “It seems a pity that we cannot change course to deceive our enemy, but there is only one place to go,” Talon said.

  “We’re fleeing into what seems to me a trap, Talon. We might be lucky and come across a Greek warship, but there is land to east and west, and we are surely the mouse now.”

  Talon thought that if they did run into some Greek warships, the fleet behind them would make short work of them. With their numbers and the new weapon they possessed they could sweep aside a patrol. The first light of dawn was in the east. Talon glanced back to the south but could see no sign of pursuit.

  “We need to get some sleep while we can, Talon, you as well. Guy will stand helm while we sleep,” Henry told him.

  Talon nodded and wrapped his cloak about him, then went to lean against the side of the ship. In spite of the danger he was asleep within moments.

  *****

  He awoke abruptly several hours later, feeling stiff and cold. The day was well advanced and the wind had intensified. He shivered. Even though he lacked nautical prowess, he sensed that the wind might have changed direction and the sea was rougher than before. He clambered to his feet and walked unsteadily across the deck to stand next to Guy, who was still on duty.