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We reach the mouth of the Tiber and we can hear the sighs of relief from the rowers on the benches below us as the order is given to raise the sail and for the rowers to put down their oars.
It's actually quite nice out on the Mediterranean now that the sun is down. Peter remarks about it to me and I tell him he's certainly right. It's a beautiful night.
Not everyone agrees about how nice it is. This is the first sea trip Father Francisco and his guards have ever taken. The weather is modest but that doesn't stop them from immediately becoming violently seasick.
Father Francisco's seasickness explains why it isn't until two days later that Peter and I have a chance to talk to him. That's when we learn why we are in such a hurry to reach the crusaders camped outside of the port city of Zara on the Adriatic coast across from Italy.
What we hear astounds and confuses us.
Father Francisco begins by telling us what everyone already knows - the Pope immediately excommunicated the crusaders as soon as he learned they'd disobeyed his order not to attack any Christian cities. They attacked Zara - which is our destination because the Pope is sending a letter to the crusader army which is still camped there awaiting transportation to the Holy Land.
The letter is being sent because Cardinal Capua, he's the Pope's ambassador to the crusaders, has convinced the Pope that the crusaders are innocent, that they didn't disobey the Pope when they attacked Zara - because they didn't know about the Pope's letter ordering them not to fight with other Christians.
According to Cardinal Capua, the Venetians intercepted the Pope's letter and stopped it from reaching him so he could give it to the crusaders. This prevented him from telling the crusaders about the Pope's threat to excommunicate them.
As a result of discovering the crusaders' innocence and the role of the Venetians, Father Francisco is carrying another letter from the Holy Father to the crusaders. This one informs the crusaders that he is lifting their excommunication and that of everyone else involved - except the Venetians whom the Pope holds solely responsible for the crusaders destruction of Zara.
I am beyond incredulous and getting upset. I know damn well the crusaders received the Pope's letter; it was one of our galleys that carried Cardinal Bertoli to Venice and not only was I there when he delivered the Pope's letter to the crusaders, I'm the one who killed the priest and the two crusaders who tried to prevent him from delivering it.
" You are telling us the crusaders attacked Zara and sacked it because they were not informed about the excommunication threats in the Pope's earlier letter?" That's ox shite.
"Yes, and also because the Venetians lied to them about Venice being owed unpaid taxes and tribute that the crusaders could collect and use to pay for their transportation."
"The Venetians were very smart - they diverted the crusaders from the Holy Land and used them to revenge themselves on Zara and the Byzantine Empire. The Holy Father is furious that they caused Christians to fight with other Christians and not for Jerusalem."
"But why is there a such a big hurry to get the news to the crusaders that their excommunications have been lifted?"
"Because the Pope has received word that the crusaders have been offered great riches and military support if they will once again divert from their crusade - this time to go to Constantinople and threaten its citizens so they restore their deposed emperor to the throne."
"The letter I'm carrying does much more than just respond to Cardinal Capua's request that the Pope lift the crusaders' excommunication, it also gives the crusaders something to lose - by warning them they will be excommunicated again if they attack any more Christian cities - unless, of course, they are actively working against the crusade."
I'm more than a little dubious and I tell Father Francisco as much.
"All this is very hard for me to believe, Father. I was there when Cardinal Bertoli delivered the letter to the crusaders; and I was there when the crusader leadership was informed that they would be excommunicated if they attacked Zara; and I was on one of the galleys that carried away some of the crusaders who refused to go to Zara because they would be excommunicated."
"With all due respect," I tell Father Francisco, "the Holy Father's source of information about the crusaders' innocence and their plans for Constantinople may not be entirely reliable."
The Holy Father's source about the Venetians intercepting the first letter and the crusaders' innocence is probably the very same Cardinal Capua whose assistant I killed when he tried to stop Cardinal Bertoli from delivering the Pope's first letter.
Father Francisco assures us that my concern about the accuracy of the report is not valid.
"The Holy Father has sources at very high levels outside the crusader camp who are telling him the very same thing about the crusaders' plans."
"It seems the son of the deposed emperor spent last Christmas visiting Swabia at the same time as the leader of the crusaders. That's when the offer of a large amount of money from the Byzantine treasury was made to the crusaders - by the deposed emperor's son."
"It's a substantial offer. The crusaders are to get huge amounts of coins and valuable jewels if they help his father regain the Byzantine throne and treasury in Constantinople before they go to the Holy Land."
"Surely the crusaders are not so naive that they believe the people of Constantinople will welcome the old emperor back so he can empty their treasury and give everything in it to the crusaders."
"Of course, not. It's possible, of course, but not likely. What the Holy Father believes is that the leadership of the crusaders hopes they will be paid if they help restore the deposed emperor but, if not, they'll have an excuse to let their men loose to sack the city and loot it instead of going for Jerusalem."
"It's really quite simple. The Pope and Cardinal Capua are once again on the same side - they both want the crusaders to use the loot from Zara to pay for their transportation to Jerusalem, not for their transportation to Constantinople."
Then Father Francisco looked at me very closely. "You still don't understand, do you?"
I shook my head. What the hell is he trying to tell me?
"Don't you see," he finally says. "The Holy Father knows that most of the crusaders are more interested in enriching themselves than freeing Jerusalem. That's why he has to pretend he believes in their innocence and bring them back to the church - so he can regain some power over them."
"If anyone tries to stop us from delivering the letter we're carrying it will mostly like be the Venetians. They want revenge for the massacre of their people and they want the crusaders to defeat whoever is the emperor in Constantinople so Venice can take over both the city and its empire.
"It also means real danger if the Venetians know we're coming - because the Venetians will want the crusaders to think they're still excommunicated so they'll have nothing to lose by going to Constantinople and besieging it until they get its wealth."
I shake my head in dismay at the priest's news and the craftiness and naiveté of the Pope it implies.
Do I believe what Father Francisco told me? Yes, I do. But I've been a crusader and I know how crusaders think and what motivates them. Rome may think that excommunication is a powerful threat but it means nothing to most of the crusaders compared to the prospect of riches and land. Even so, it might work - so the Venetians won't want it delivered.
"It isn't just the Venetians we'll have to worry about when we get to Zara," I finally reply.
"It'll also be the crusaders too. They all know that Constantinople is rich and Jerusalem is poor. That's why most of them will favor going to Constantinople despite the letter you're carrying. But they'll want the letter you're carrying suppressed so the rest of the crusaders will go with them."
"Well Bishop," replied the priest, "let's all pray that the Venetians and the leadership of the crusaders don't find out about the letter I'm carrying until it's already delivered and it's too late for them to stop the crusaders from findin
g out."
While Father Francisco was talking I sniffed a smell of the fresh flat bread that periodically wafts up to us from where the cooks are frying our evening bread on a couple of flattened knights' breastplates. My mouth began to water - isn't fresh bread delicious with olive oil and balsamic vinegar?
Hmm. I need to think about what I just heard and what it all means.
Chapter Nineteen
We have no idea what we'll find as our galleys enter Zara's harbor one right after the other and slowly row towards what's left of the city's dock. We enter first with our sister galley captained by Galen right behind us. All we can see are the damaged walls where the crusaders broke in to the city and the charred and ruined houses inside the city walls.
The harbor itself seems almost normal. There are a dozen or so fishing boats on the beach and five or six at anchor in the harbor along with a Venetian cog and five Venetian galleys.
We are, as you might imagine, taking no chances as we approach the dock. Both galleys are on high alert with only the lower levels of their rowing benches manned. Everyone else is on deck with their longbows and a number of bales of arrows.
Indeed, the deck is so crowded with archers that I'm up here on the roof of the stern castle with Rolf, Thomas, and Father Francisco. We can see better from up here.
Despite the devastation there are quite a few people on the dock and in the open area between the water and the city walls. A number of them walk towards our two galleys as some of our sailors jump on to our galley's deck railing, pull themselves up to the dock, and begin tying up the lines needed to moor us against the dock.
Hopefully we'll find the crusader camp somewhere nearby and let them know about the Pope lifting their excommunication before anything can be done to stop us from informing them.
So far the Venetian galleys don't seem to be stirring as a result of our arrival.
That's good news and probably to be expected. According to William, who'd heard about the siege last autumn and rushed our galleys here to profit from it before it started, the Venetians had not interfered with our evacuation of the refugees.
We'd earned a quite a nice chest of coins and jewels evacuating the merchants, priests, and others who could pay right up until the city fell. The Venetians probably think we're here to pick up more refugees.
Five minutes later Thomas, Father Francisco, and I are standing on the dock and know we have a problem. The crusaders have already broken camp and gone to Constantinople in Venetian ships. They did so in a big hurry almost a week ago.
Hmm. I'm thinking to myself. I wonder why they did that.
I don't have a chance to ask. Suddenly there are loud and anxious shouts of alarm from both galleys. We all spin around to look and I could feel the hair on my arms literally stand up - all five of the Venetian galleys are underway and coming straight at us.
@@@@@
"Cast off." ... "Cast off." Is Rolf's shouted urgent command. I hear it among the shouts and cries but there is no one near our mooring lines. Our sailors went back on board after they tied the galley up to the dock.
I rush to the nearest mooring line and so do two or three sailors who jump up on to the galley's deck railing and pull themselves up onto the dock. In the background I can hear Rolf shouting "Stand by to launch." ... "Stand by to launch" to the archers massed on our deck.
"Back on board," I shout to Thomas and Father Francisco as I pull the loop of the rope off the mooring stump and almost simultaneously jump down onto the galley's deck in one big motion.
"Jump on the ship. Goddamnit. Jump."
@@@@@
The Venetian galleys are coming across the harbor and they're coming fast. We've been ambushed. The reason we saw no activity on the Venetian galleys when we entered the harbor is now clear - their men were already in place and waiting for us to moor to the dock and become vulnerable. How could they have known?
Desperately wielded oars and Swiss pikes push Rolf's galley away from the dock as I jump aboard and scramble to my feet. All around me is chaos as there is a great shout and our archers begin launching arrows fast as they can push them out.
Yes. Yes. Our oars are in we are starting to move. Yes. Yes.
A virtual storm of our arrows begin descending on the closest Venetian. In contrast, few if any seem to be coming at us. That is not surprising. The slave-rowed Venetians are used to coming alongside and boarding their enemies.
I bet they were surprised to see two English galleys instead of just one - and finding that both galleys are full of archers must be a real shock
Here comes a Venetian ... But not at us. The is a tremendous crash and screams behind us as the lead Venetian rams straight into the side of Galen's galley which is still moored against the dock.
It hits Galen's galley so hard that the Venetian's bow slices into its hull and the Venetian's mast crashes down on top of Galen's deck.
"Spin around," I shout to Rolf as I push my way through the archers on the deck to get to the front of Rolf's galley.
"Get up against the side of Galen's galley to take on his men. It's going to sink. Hurry."
"Keep shooting me, keep shooting." That's what I shout constantly as our galley comes about and I push my way across the deck to where our galley will come up against Galen's.
It is total chaos of our deck with everyone shouting and screaming and jostling about, even some of the archers as they aim and shoot.
As I get to the bow I can see several of our men have had the foresight to grab Swiss pikes off the railing racks and are readying them to hook on to Galen's galley and pull the galleys together. Others are using their bows to pick off the Venetians in the galley that did the ramming.
I grab one of the pikes myself and so do others. Seconds later our the galley hulls crash together and Galen's men begin frantically jumping and diving into our galley. Others are desperately trying to climb up on to the dock against which their galley has been pushed.
"Galen's men get below and clear the deck" I shout it over and over again as I strain to hold our galleys together. The sergeants and others take up the refrain until it becomes a chant.
Not everyone listens. I have to slap one hysterical man in the face before he stops screaming and docilely heads down to the rowing benches with a blank look on his face.
And not everyone makes it. As the crowd coming over the railing begins to tail off I can see bodies and injured men on Galen's deck. Others jump and miss and quickly sink into the water and out of sight. A few brave souls from our galley actually go across to Galen's slowly sinking galley to try to retrieve the wounded - I try to mark them in my mind as men to know.
@@@@@
All the time we are retrieving survivors from Galen's galley our archers are grunting and shouting as they throw arrow after arrow towards our attackers. It's a damn good thing we brought up the extra bales of arrows before we entered the harbor.
Finally we push off from the sinking galley. It's obviously taken on a huge amount of water from the great gash in its side and is only still afloat because it is being held up by the Venetian galley stuck in its side. A few seconds later they both go down.
I don't have a chance to look at the other Venetian galleys until ours finally begins to drift apart from Galen's and the last rescuer literally dives head first to get across the widening gap.
It seems like it's lasted forever but, in fact, it's only been a couple of minutes. And then I am relieved, greatly relieved, to hear the sergeants pick up the cry "stop launching." ... "stop launching."
What I see astonishes me when I make my way to the railing - the other four Venetian galleys are already out of arrow range and heading for the harbor entrance.
Our Marines are elated and shaking hands and pounding each other's backs and reaching out to shake mine. A red bearded archer standing nearby summed the situation up rather well as I stood with my mouth open watching them go.
"Them bastards got so many fooking arrows in em they look like fook
ing hedge hogs, don't they?"
Less than a minute later Rolf spins us and we go back to pick up Galen's men who made it on to the dock and are now desperately waving to us - and to take prisoners from the galley that rammed us.
A huge and raucous flock of curious seagulls is circling overhead and a few of local people who had been prowling about in the ruined city are tentatively walking towards the dock. The rest have disappeared as if by magic.
Chapter Twenty
All the rest of the day and that night is spent tending to our wounded, giving last rites and mercies to two of our men who won't make it, and questioning the Venetian sailor we captured from the galley that rammed Galen's and then sank and took its chained slaves down with it.
The Venetian galleys that rushed out of the harbor to avoid our arrows do not return.
According to the Venetian we pulled out of the water the Venetian navy used an old galley rowed by expendable slaves with only three volunteers on board to steer it.
One important thing he tells us is that the Venetians carried the crusaders who had been camped outside the city to Constantinople. Another is that it was more than a week ago, the day before the crusaders left, that he had been offered a large payment to volunteer to be its rudder man.
According to the Venetian sailor he had accepted to get the money because he knew how to swim and because the ramming would occur near to the shore. It was his idea, he said proudly, that the ramming occur at the dock so he could swim to safety.
There is no doubt about it - the Venetians had been warned we were coming and set an ambush. It failed because they hadn't expected two galleys and they had never before confronted ships full of Englishmen armed with longbows.
We've come directly from Rome and made good time - how could the Venetians and crusaders have known a week ago that we'd be coming?
"Father Francisco, how could the Venetians and crusaders known more than a week ago that we would be coming to Zara?"
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The next morning we take on water, retrieve what little we can from Galen's partially submerged galley, turn our prisoner loose to enjoy whatever hospitality the people whose city he'd helped destroy might offer, and set out for Constantinople in a single galley dangerously overloaded with Marines and papal guards.
The Archer's Gold: Medieval Military fiction: A Novel about Wars, Knights, Pirates, and Crusaders in The Years of the Feudal Middle Ages of William Marshall ... (The Company of English Archers Book 7) Page 11
