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) (2 page)

       "The threats in the pope's letter mean nothing."

       The repression of the Pope's letter is successful.  The rank and file crusaders are never informed of its existence - not that it would make much difference since these are feudal times and they are obligated to follow their lords. 

       In any event, the rank and file crusader ranks support their leaders when they demand that Zara and the other port cities pay what the Venetians claim they are owed.  If they don't pay, the money will be collected by force.

        Some of the cities take the threat seriously and pay the crusaders; Zara and some of the other port cities refuse.  When the ports refuse to pay Venetian ships and galleys carry the crusaders from Venice to Zara to collect the money by force. On 24 November 1202, the crusaders storm into Zara and sack and loot it.

       The leader of the crusaders, Boniface, is not with his crusaders when they take the city. He leaves to visit his cousin in Swabia before the crusaders get to Zara and he stays there until after it is sacked. 

       Boniface wasn't there at Zara to lead his men because he's an Italian and somewhat of a believer - he was worried that the papal nuncio might be wrong and that he will indeed rot in hell if he is excommunicated by the Pope.  It's better, he decides, that his men do it when he is not around to take the blame.

                             Chapter One

       Boniface and the crusaders are not the only ones sailing and fighting and moving about in 1202.  William, the former serf and now the captain of the archers, returns to Cornwall for his annual six month visit and then he and two of his lieutenants, Peter and Harold, sail back to their Cyprus headquarters along with Tori who is sent by her two older sisters to care for him.

       William's priestly brother Thomas remains behind to defend Cornwall along with Henry, another one of the original archers and William's lieutenant who is in charge of training the archers to fight on land. 

       William stops only briefly in Cyprus after a raid on Cadiz to drop off Harold and pick up a couple of the local merchants who have contacts in Beirut and his lieutenant who is permanently stationed on Cyprus.  They head straight for the Christian port of Beirut because the lieutenant, Yoram of Damascus, has gotten word that some of the miraculous pain ending flower paste might be available on a continuing basis. 

       The Marines have run out of paste they took off the Moors and they need it for their wounded and to sell in England and to crusaders and other buyers in the Christian ports.  It's valuable and they know it.

       William and Yoram are in Beirut arranging to buy chests of the flower paste on an ongoing basis when they hear of the impending attack on Zara by the crusaders.  They are, of course, very pleased at the news - wars and sieges inevitably mean desperate refugees willing to pay the archers large amounts of coins and treasure to carry them to safety in the archers' galleys. 

       William immediately orders all of his available galleys and Marine archers to Zara to evacuate refugees and he goes there himself to negotiate with the crusaders. 

       The crusade's leaders  agree to allow people to leave the city on the condition that the refugees pay a tax in the form of a fee for each refugee the crusaders carry to safety. 

       The result right up until the city falls is the almost unbelievable scene of a long line of the city's wealthiest merchants and priests passing unhindered through the heavy fighting and being rapidly loaded on to English galleys for transport to Constantinople and various ports along the Adriatic.

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       Several things happen in April of 1203. 

       One is that William returns to Cornwall from Cyprus and Zara with the chests of coins from yet another successful season of using their galleys to carry refugees and other passengers such as pilgrims and merchants. 

       Another is that the crusaders camped outside of what's left of Zara and elsewhere begin to assemble to move to threaten another city on their way to the Holy Land.  And once again it is the Venetians who will carry them. 

      This time the crusaders decide to go to Constantinople even though they now have enough money to pay the Venetians to carry them all the way to Egypt and on to the Holy Land. The opportunity in Constantinople, the leaders of the crusade decide, is just too good to pass up. Jerusalem can wait. 

      It all came about because the son of the deposed emperor was visiting Boniface's cousin in Swabia at the same time the leader of the crusade was visiting him.  Alexios, the son of the deposed emperor, regaled Boniface with stories of all the gold and coins in Constantinople's rich treasury - and promised the crusaders huge amounts of it if they will go there and help him restore his father to the throne before they go on to Acre and the Holy Land. 

       Getting the money will be easy, Alexios assured the crusaders, because the people love his father and were very upset when his uncle replaced him in a palace coup.  The presence of a strong crusader army outside the city walls, he convinces Boniface, will quickly result in a reverse coup that puts his father back on the throne and in control of the great hoard of gold and coins in the treasury.

       "It's a huge treasure and you'll get it all," Alexios promises them.  He even signs a contract guaranteeing that the crusaders will get it as soon as his father is back on the throne.

       The Crusaders are naive and believe the people will welcome the unfairly deposed old emperor back.  Besides that, they assure each other privately, Constantinople is rich and Jerusalem is poor.  It's a better place to make our fortunes.

       The Pope hears of the plan and once again decides to send the crusaders a message not to do it.  This time, of course, the message will have to be carried to Zara instead of Venice - because the crusaders are still camped there after sacking the city.

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       Another thing that happens early in the spring of 1203 is that William, the captain of the archers, returns to Cornwall from his annual six months visit to inspect his ships and men at their stations in Cyprus and various other Middle Eastern ports.  He’ll spend the next six months or so in Cornwall with his priestly brother Thomas, his son George and George's two little sisters, and with Helen and her sister Ann.

       While William's in Cornwall and away from Cyprus two of his lieutenants, Yoram the scribe from Damascus and Harold the ship captain and former galley slave from Lewes, will be in charge.  In the autumn William will once again return to Cyprus and the Holy Land to spend the winter.

       William makes the trip every autumn to take the archer company's latest crop of newly trained Marine archers out to the Holy Land from the archers' permanent quarters and training camp in Cornwall.  He then returns months later in the Spring to bring home to Cornwall the chests of coins the English archers and their galleys have collected carrying passengers and parchment money orders and such to and from the Holy Land and other ports. 

       This spring, at Helen and Ann’s request, he also bought their sister and brought her to Cornwall with him - after spending the winter getting to know her while she learned how to please him.

       As usual while William is back in England for the summer to look after his son George and the sisters who have become George's stepmothers, his priestly brother will make his annual trip to Rome. 

       Thomas goes to Rome early every summer to buy another year of the Pope’s protection for William and his ever-growing company of Marine archers and prize galleys.  He does this by directly delivering into the Pope’s own hand a pouch containing some of the offerings of coins and jewels the pilgrims and other passengers on the archers' galleys have made for the Pope’s special prayers for their safety. 

       Actually, of course, Thomas only delivers some of the donated ‘prayer coins’ to the Pope – as few as he and William think they can get away with handing to the Pope and still keep him soothed and supportive. They keep the rest.

       As one might imagine, the prayer offerings of the travelers are a splendid source of revenues for both the English archers and the Pope - the passengers in the archers’ galleys don’t complain if they reach their destinations safely and, of course, they aren’t around to complain if they die or are taken by the Moors as slaves.

       The important thing, however, one that is well known to merchants and pilgrims throughout the Holy Land, is that the galley captains and Marine archers of William's Company of English Archers really do try to carry their passengers and cargos safely to their destinations - even if it means serious fighting to get them there, which it often does. 

       Their willingness to fight for their passengers makes the English archers very different from the other ship owners serving the Mediterranean and Holy Land ports - who are just as likely to rob and kill their passengers or sell them to the Moors as slaves.

       The archers' integrity and willingness to fight to defend their cargos is a valuable asset - it lets them charge their passengers very high prices for their services.  It explains the chests of coins and bars of gold and silver that are accumulating in ever greater amounts in Cornwall at Restormel Castle - to help pay for William and Thomas's plans for young George’s future. 

       William and Thomas have come a long way for former serfs and they're determined that William's son will go even further.

                          Chapter Two

       “I know you’ll be back before the babies come but will George and the boys be safe if you take them overland to London?”

       That’s the question an anxious and once again pregnant Helen asks me about my son and my brother Thomas’s students when I announce my decision at the dinner on a chilly evening early in May.  Helen's equally pregnant sister Anne and their newly arrived sister Tori listen intently as the logs in the great fireplace pop and snap in the background.

       George’s stepmothers are genuinely concerned so I pretend to think carefully and look inquiringly across the table at my priestly brother Thomas and my other lieutenants, Peter, and Henry before I answer.  They nod their agreement with knowing smiles and I smile back.

       It's little wonder that I smile back - Helen's question is the very same question I’d asked each of my lieutenants earlier in the day and had been thinking about myself for more than a week. 

       “Oh I should think so, my love.  It’s time for George and the older boys in Thomas's school to start seeing England for themselves - and we’ll be taking two full ships’ companies of Marines and Raymond’s entire company of Horse Marines.”

       “Will you be taking Tori to care for you?  She really wants to go with you, you know.”

       “I know and I’ll miss her and you and Ann too, I truly will.  But we’ll be practicing war fighting and such every day both coming and going so there won’t be much time to enjoy her company.  Besides you and Ann will need her here in case the babies come early.” 

      
And between the three of you you’re wearing me out even if I love you all so dearly.  How do the Moors do it?

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       Four mornings later we wave our farewells to our wives, form into our ranks as Captain William and his lieutenants watch closely, and start marching for London.  It looks to be a slow march because the word from the Captain and Lieutenant Henry is that, as usual, we’ll be marching as if we really are in a war.  That means we’ll be constantly practicing just as if we are on a real campaign and confronting real enemies. 

       The men in my special company of Horse Marines and I are very excited.  Most of us came straight to the archers from our villages.  We’ve never seen much of England and, except for one or two of us, we’ve never been to London.  Those who have say it’s quite large and the women easy to know if you have enough coins in your purse. 

       We form up on the field next to the castle in the early dawn.  A surprisingly large number of people are on hand to see us off when we leave including my own dear wife.  The signal horn sounds and the two drummers, one for each of two ships' companies of walking Marines, begin their beat just after the sun comes up on a morning that is still cool and crisp with dew on the grass and weeds. 

       It's a normal day here in Cornwall - there are great huge clouds in the sky and it looks as though it might soon rain and blow such that, as usual, we'll get wet through and through even if we put on our rain skins.

       We’ll be moving in a column that most knights and soldiers wouldn’t recognize.  We don’t straggle and William and Henry, Henry being one of William's five lieutenants and the one in charge of training us to fight on land, don’t allow no friends and servants and women to march with us.  No merchant wagons and no whores neither.  And, of course, the walking Marines march in step to the beat of their drum carrying their longbows and a quiver of arrows
. 

       I know how disorganized knights and their men are when they’s moving about or fighting.  Didn’t my own eyes see Cornell’s men and all them gentry of his and their baggage and such come down the road when I was over the river with Peter Sergeant, him what is a lieutenant now?  All mixed up together they was when we started killing them.