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'The Battle of Tinos'
Chapter 2b of 4.
"Well, if there was ever a time for a great plan, that time is now. Any offers?"
Gabrielle's request met with a stony silence as everyone continued watching the ominous bulk of the distant trireme, with its dark sail. It was left, finally, to another spring of knowledge to suggest a scheme worthy of its author.
"Your light pentekontor is shallow-bottomed, ain't it Barrius?" The King of Thieves, living up to his reputation, had materialised at their side without warning. "Tros's trireme must have at least twice the draught. You gotta get past him into the shallow water nearer the shore-line of Tinos—where he can't follow you. Then all that's needed is a swift dash along the coast and out into the Strait an' you'll have a clear run from there. Whad'ya say?"
"That might not be a bad idea—maybe." Xena nodded gravely as she stared across the choppy whitecaps. "Looks like it wasn't such a bad idea after all—bringing you along for the ride."
"Yes, it could work." Barrius suddenly came to life and directed his gaze to the dark mass on the horizon that showed the outline of Tinos. "It's a relatively straight coast-line. There's no real major bays or capes. And the bottom shallows quite far out, overall—lots of sand-banks and bars. He'd definitely run aground, if we can just brace-up and somehow pass under his stern."
"That should be easy enough." Xena had now brought her experience to bear, as she brushed a stray strand of hair from her eyes. "Tack up towards him, as if we're seeking to parley; then drop the wind from your sail, fall behind him before he can react, then out oars and row directly into the wind towards the shore. That'll get him."
"You gotta stay outta range of his fancy weapons, of course." Autolycus, having shed all pretence of his earlier incarnation, adopted a knowing expression; as of an experienced soldier. "He'll no doubt try to use them, given the chance. But I have every confidence in you, captain."
Ignoring this tribute Barrius beckoned his quarter-master across, and within a few moments the lower deck was awash with rushing forms as the mass of rowers jumped to their places. On the open upper-deck Xena Gabrielle and Autolycus were somewhat out of the throng, which allowed them to concentrate on the manoeuvrings of the trireme in the distance.
"So, what's the next step?" Gabrielle looked at Xena enquiringly, but with a calm determination. "We gotta—what? Get close to the trireme—ain't that really sorta dangerous, though? Just what that crackpot Tros wants?"
Xena, on her part, had continued gazing intently across the intervening stretch of sea. Her attention flicking between the dark outline of the distant ship and the coastline behind it.
"We need to cross behind his stern. His bigger heavier trireme should take ages to come about." She spoke coldly, but with assurance. "He'll have the devil of a job veering landwards into the wind and using his big oars in shallow water. He'd be faster in open water, but not so close to land. We can't pass ahead of him because he has the weather-gauge, so will always be able to head us off if we try. But if we get near enough, like Barrius says, we can slip behind him—cross over his course, so to speak—and head into the shallow water where he can't reach us."
"Sounds crazy t'me." Gabrielle shook her head glumly. "A better plan would be good."
"Sounds like madness t'me too." Autolycus snorted his own disagreement as he stood on the women's left, holding a stray halyard. "Why can't we just turn seawards and head for the horizon, leaving him in our wake?"
"Idiot, haven't you been listening at all?" Xena gave the tall man a shove that nearly knocked him down onto the rowing deck. "His sail is far larger; he has many more rowers; and still has the weather-gauge. That means we can steer directly away from him for a time—till he catches us! But if we veer, say, either to port or starboard he can easily head us off. The wind gives him that advantage."
"You mean to say there's—there's oceans of—of ocean out there—here—and we can't lose that ship in it?" Autolycus's tone amply expressed his disgust.
"Now ya got it, Auto." Xena sneered somewhat absently. "Knew you'd get it in the end. Must be all that fish you eat."
Their conversation was interrupted as a group of sailors jumped up onto the open deck beside them to haul on the ropes which controlled the sail on its tall central mast. Barrius didn't make an abrupt change of course directly for the coastline; but instead merely edged towards the distant trireme as if approaching it purposely. Xena and Gabrielle moved further forward nearer the bow, with Autolycus joining them.
"What about night, Xena?" Gabrielle suddenly grabbed the warrior's waistbelt and looked up into her eyes. "He'll never be able to tell which way we're headed in the dark."
"It's only a coupla hours after noon, as it is." Xena shook her head. "There's still about eight hours of daylight left, even with this overcast heavy cloud. Whichever way we go he'll catch us before night. Our only hope is tacking in towards the shore and evading him that way."
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They were closer now—much closer. Gabrielle could see the wine-dark purple of the vast sail that curved out from the trireme's mast; the high side of the vessel; and the three rows of oars, one above the other, lining the whole length of the ship. It was obvious that it also possessed a ram. The Amazon knew this by the curious wave that seemed to precede the trireme's bow by several yards. At this range she could also clearly see the numerous crew on the deck above the highest level of rowers. Also apparent was a heavy square shape towards the foredeck which could only denote a catapult. Gabrielle then looked past the trireme to the coast of Tinos, which seemed now to be remarkably close at hand. There were, perhaps, less than 20 stadia between Tros's warship and the low cliffs and short sandy beaches which now took up the whole view across the northern horizon. She also realised they themselves were rapidly coming into range of the warship's weapons; in fact they would be within two cable-length's in just a few seconds.*
"What's the weapon he has with the longest range, Xena?" Gabrielle tore her eyes from the distant vessel to stare at those on the deck beside her. "Gods, there's hardly more than us three and a few sailors here on deck. Tros must outnumber us by hundreds."
"Maybe a coupla hundred, yeah." Xena had been watching Barrius as he expertly manoeuvred closer still. "The scorpio's will have the longest range, I think. They fire arrows, and can be re-loaded faster than you'd believe. Maybe half a cable-length's range. I hope Barrius has the sense not t'get that close."
"We ain't exactly protected, up here in full view, Xena." Autolycus scratched his chin musingly. "Not that I'm complaining, y'know, it's just that I worry about these things."
Ignoring this remark Xena walked a few paces down the deck, nearer where Barrius stood beside the two men holding firm to the long arm of the rudder. As if understanding her unspoken question the master shouted across the deck.
"I'll make as if I'm going to haul my wind and come-to." He cast another quick glance over the water, estimating distances. "I won't approach closer than another hundred feet—then I'll bring her head round, haul the sail onto the opposite tack; and heave out all my oars. From then on it'll be a race to see if we can avoid his weapons long enough to cut across his stern and make way landwards. My men'll have to row as if a raging Ares is on our tail, though."
"That's just about what'll really be the case!" Xena smiled her cold smile, and looked quickly at Gabrielle. "When Tros realises what's happening he'll be angrier than Ares ever was, believe me."
Barrius waited doggedly while the expanse of whitecaps between the now almost parallel vessels gradually decreased. Decreased, in Gabrielle's view, alarmingly fast. Then he gave a sudden nod to Xena, who immediately walked to the edge of the high deck and, grasping a halyard, raised an arm to wave slowly and confidently towards the other ship.
Gabrielle wasn't sure if she could actually see Tros, standing near the stern of his trireme, across the choppy sea; but in an instant her attention was taken up with a series of unfolding events, all of which appeared to happen at once.
Barrius yelled something incomprehensible; sailors on the deck near Gabrielle hauled on ropes and the great sail ceased billowing with the wind and hung lifeless for a moment before the sailors ran across the deck, hauling on their ropes. With a groan almost of human pain the sail slid round the mast on its angled yardarm; whipped and cracked ineffectively for a moment which seemed an eternity; then caught the wind from the opposite quarter and billowed taut once more. At the same time a single line of oars appeared as if by magic on each side, sliding out almost thirty feet before their scoops met the choppy waves. Then the women and Autolycus felt a jerk and vibration, almost of a living creature leaping forward, as the rowers groaned with effort in a frantic desire to set a fast pace; the oars rising and falling with astonishing regularity, as if the vessel had suddenly come to life and bounded across the waves of its own accord.
Tros already had his oars out, rowing steadily but slowly; enough so to give the trireme a small but significant extra pace to add to the vast purple sail's power as its rounded expanse curved tautly with the energy of the wind behind it. So the trireme was moving unhurriedly, but at a determined steady rate; which, when the small pentekontor unexpectedly hauled its wind and tacked landwards, was the bigger ship's undoing. While the trireme carried on its unwavering way the pentekontor, instead of paralleling it, fell quickly to its rear. Within seconds Xena and Gabrielle found themselves looking across at the other vessel's stern with its rudder, like a giant oar, curving down into the waves behind. Then abruptly the whole bulk of the larger vessel was clearly and considerably in front of the pentekontor's bow.
Barrius shouted again; there was a slight change in their sail's angle; the rowers sped up their stroke-rate; and Xena and Gabrielle held tightly onto each other as the low vessel's bow came sharply round, leaving the trireme now on their starboard side. Its high stern was for an instant directly opposite them with the trireme foreshortened and its rows of oars sharply focussed as they angled far out from the sides of the vessel. Gabrielle thought she caught a glimpse of a tall dark man at the stern waving an arm and shouting soundlessly; then she looked forward and was astonished, and scared, to see the coast of Tinos apparently racing towards them with unbelievable speed.
Something hit the deck beside Gabrielle's foot, then she felt a heavy thump against her side and was dragged bodily down. As she lay breathlessly on the smooth planks she turned her head and saw Autolycus already prone himself, a little way off. Then she glanced the other way and saw Xena lying full-length by her side, with a slight gap between them. As she stared into Xena's anxious eyes an arrow appeared from nowhere and stuck in the plank separating them, while Gabrielle felt the thud and vibration as several others hit the deck around them.
"He managed to fire one of his scorpio's, damn him!" Xena grunted, a moment later, as she gripped the Amazon more tightly still. "I think we're OK now. Outta range again, I hope. Auto's OK, too. Gods, that was close. He don't hang around. Well, at least we know he means business!"
Standing again, Gabrielle saw the deck was littered with what appeared to be a dozen or so arrows, while across the whitecapped sea the trireme was momentarily at a standstill. Its sail hung limp; the oars on the side they could see nearest them were immobile; and the bow had only come round slightly in their direction. As they watched the trireme's port oars once more dug into the waves; at first inconsistently then, gaining their timing once more, with controlled efficiency. In the interim Barrius himself had made all speed to head even nearer the low-lying coast of Tinos. They were now unquestionably between the coast and the trireme, which had become the vessel furthest out to sea. Their relative positions had been reversed, though what the gain would turn out to be was still unknown.
"He's in irons! Ha! Ha!" Barrius laughed deeply and waved his arms happily in the direction of the obviously struggling trireme. "Tried to come about too quickly and lost the wind. He'll need to haul round with his port-side oars, like you see him doing now. Then, when he gets his sail back into some sort of angle with the wind he can sheet-to and catch the wind again. Ha! Ha! The sorta thing an untrained lad'd do who only had a few days at sea. He must have been in a terrible temper to let that happen."*
As he spoke Xena Gabrielle and Autolycus dusted themselves down and looking seawards were just in time to catch some movement near the bow of the distant trireme. Then Gabrielle watched transfixed as a dark circular object curved high into the air from the ship, heading in their direction. Within a second it was lost to view against the whitecaps of the choppy sea then Gabrielle saw the splash and high spray as the missile hit the surface, thankfully some distance behind the pentekontor. The trireme had now brought its head round and caught the wind in its sail again but had lost, and apparently was continuing to lose, pace towards the smaller pentekontor.
"And there, my friends, is a classic example of why a pentekontor can often outrun a trireme." Barrius was certainly well-pleased with the outcome of his exercise in naval manoeuvring. "His impetus was slow, but damned difficult to bring to a stop. Then regaining his forward motion is a damn sight harder than you might think. He's lost so much distance there's no hope of him catching us. Anyway's, we're in shallow water now. He'll have to stay out in deep water to shadow us."
"Is that going to help us in the long run, then?" Gabrielle stared at the captain with a new respect. "I mean, over the next few hours."
"We can run comfortably through these shallows and over the sand-bars without any trouble at all, ma'am." Barrius looked around him with a sparkle in his eye. "Tros can heave as many of those catapult shots at us as he pleases; none o' them'll come close. He'll have no choice but to stay out in deep water, and that means we can shave the shore-line and so cut off the longer route. In about half an hour you'll see the trireme heading out to sea. That's because these shallows and sand-spits run much further out from the coast as we near the angle of the island and entrance to the Strait."
As they spoke another thumping crash was heard over the rapidly increasing space between the ships. Again a small dark object cut through the sky towards them, to be followed by a mighty splash; this time significantly further away than the first. Tros had turned to parallel their course again, instead of trying to head directly towards them. A shadow appeared against the sky over the mid-part of the trireme and Xena and Gabrielle watched as the sea erupted in a seething cauldron of disturbed water somewhat under half a cable-length away.
"Are we going to be able to reach the Strait and escape into open water before he can catch us again?" Gabrielle spoke with some anxiety as she looked at this evidence of Tros's continued anger.
"No doubt of it, ma'am." Barrius's tone was determined as he nodded confidently. "Tros can throw those rocks as much as he wants, we're well out of range. And those scorpio arrows are just as much a waste of his time."
"Tros will have to take the sea route into the Strait." Xena put her arm round Gabrielle's shoulder. "That means sailing a parasang or more out into deep water, and staying there for several more parasangs.* These shallows all along the coast here necessitate that for any deep-draughted ship. We can hug the coastline and cut off a huge amount of distance. We'll be through the Strait before Tros has even brought it into view. You should see him heading out to sea pretty much about now; unless he wants to run aground anytime soon. Look!"
Xena led Gabrielle to the deck's edge, where they could gaze down at the row of oars still digging into the waves with easy power. Gabrielle saw the circles of white as they each hit the surface then, under the rippling water, she glimpsed the cool yellow sand of the bottom running under their keel; apparently so close she might almost have touched it if she had merely put a hand into the water.
"We have a three foot draught, and there's still about two feet more water under us right now. A little less than a fathom in total.* But it'll vary, gettin' considerably shallower in parts as we progress." Xena laughed happily. "Tros has a seven foot draught, and his oars need to dig at least three feet into the water to gain drag; they won't work efficiently in shallow water, like ours can. He ain't going t'get anywhere near us for the next five parasangs or so. Like Barrius says, we'll have reached the Strait and be through it and so far away he'll have no chance to catch us. Then we alter our course slightly when night comes and tomorrow'll see us well over his horizon out of sight, giving him no chance of finding us again; with only the wide blue sea between us and Lesbos! Lesbos, Gabrielle, think of that! Lesbos."
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Notes:—
1. Stadia. 10 stadia = 1 mile approx. (1.609 km).
2. Cable-length. The definition varied, but the British Admiralty took it as 608 ft (185.32 m).
3. "He's in irons!". When a sailing ship finds its bow headed directly into the wind with sails unable to catch the force of the wind, and the ship has technically stalled and is momentarily, or for several minutes, unable to manoeuvre.
4. Parasang. 1 parasang = 3 miles approx. (4.827 km).
5. fathom. A British fathom varied between 5½ & 7 feet.
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