The Lord and Lady in the White Tower
By
UCSBdad
Disclaimer: I own none of this. No, really. Rating: K Time: This is a sequel to the Lady in the White Tower and begins some months after that story ended.
After months of work, the fleet, the army and the settlers of the Golden Coast were at last ready to sail. More than three hundred ships comprised the fleet. Most of those carrying people, horses and supplies were cogs. These were ships with a single mast and sail of about five to six hundred tons.
The warships were known as carracks. These were larger ships with two and sometimes three masts. One mast usually carried a triangular lateen sail. The warships had wooden castles built above their decks, known as the forecastle and the sterncastle. Battles between ships were fought much as battles on land. Soldiers in the ship's castles shot arrows and javelins onto the deck of an opposing ship and then boarded, if possible.
Also sent were smaller ships called caravels. These were smaller, usually two masted ships with lateen sails. They were faster than other types of ships and more maneuverable. They would be useful in exploring further down the coast of Auracania.
Rick and Kate, as well as her five ladies sailed on the fleet flagship, the Emperor Paulus, a ship of some one thousand tons. They were joined by Princess Arran and Sir Karl. Admiral Deese was also aboard as were Duchess Ann, Sandrall, young Ranald, and Ranald's very good friend, the pretty kitty cat.
"You seem to be enjoying being with Ranald." Kate whispered to Lotus one night.
"He's a very bright and curious young boy. I only wish I could talk to him. I could teach him so much. Why already I've taught him to scratch me behind my ears."
Kate just laughed and went off to bed with Rick.
Their first stop would be the Islands of Pelicans, which had been colonized some forty years before. They needed to pick up food and fresh water there. The ships managed to squeeze into the harbor of New Port, the capitol of the islands. Rick and his officers and an escort went ashore to meet with the governor.
"No one seems to be about." Sandrall said, looking down the deserted street towards the governor's mansion.
"Were entering the tropics." Rick said. "Many people take a nap in the hottest part of the day."
"Perhaps. But I never knew of a place where everyone took a nap. Some should be at an inn, drinking cooling drinks." Sandrall made sure his sword was loose in its scabbard.
When they got to the governor's mansion, they found someone asleep. However, by his looks and dress, he was a soldier and a sentry. They woke him up.
"Where is the governor?" Castle demanded.
"Inside. Where do you think he'd be." Was the slurred response.
"Drunk." Castle said. "I hope the governor's in better shape." He said as the drunken sentry fell asleep again.
They walked inside to find no one in the outer office. Entering what they took to be the governor's office, hey found man slumped over a desk, passed out from drink. There was a wine bottle on the desk. Castle picked it up and smelled it.
"Awful wine." He said.
Then he slammed his fist down on the desk, waking the man up.
"Where's the governor?" Castle shouted.
"I'm right here. Who the hell are you? No, don't bother, just get the hell out of my office. Can't you see I'm busy."
"To answer your question, I'm Lord Richard Castle, His Imperial Majesty's Viceroy for all lands in Auracania bordering the World Ocean. That means I'm your boss. And who the hell are you?"
"Etan Slaughter, Acting Governor of the Islands of Pelicans."
"What happened to Governor Doud?" Castle demanded.
"Dead. Fucking pirates."
Castle shook his head angrily.
"Do you have the supplies I need?"
"What supplies?"
"You were sent orders to have food and water prepared for my fleet."
Slaughter looked confused.
"Elben!" He yelled. "Get your useless ass in here."
After a minute a tall, very thin man with a scraggly beard appeared.
"Yes, sir?"
"Did we get some sort of order to have supplies ready for…someone?"
"Oh, yes, sir. We got the order some months ago."
"Where are the supplies?" Castle demanded.
Elben looked at Castle and then at Slaughter and then back to Castle,
"They're not here."
"Where are they?" Castle said coldly. He was really losing his patience.
"On the Island of Xocho, sir. It's the largest and most populous island here."
"Xocho?"
"They found the name on an old map. Some kind of foreign name, we think."
"How soon can the supplies be gotten here?"
Again, Elben looked at both Rick and Slaughter. But this time Slaughter answered.
"It'll be a while. The lazy peasants and fisherfolk are refusing to hand over the food. I sent soldiers to let the bastards know who's in charge here, but the gutless bastards deserted."
"So, I'll have to go to Xocho to get my supplies?" Castle demanded.
"Probably won't." Slaughter said. "Pirates are there now. They'll steal everything."
"How many pirates are there?"
Slaughter shook his head.
Elben did speak.
"There are about forty shiploads, sir. I don't know how many actual pirates that would add up to."
Slaughter smiled.
"You'll just have to forget about getting your supplies here, won't you?"
"I have a fleet of over three hundred ships." Castle replied. "Forty shiploads of pirates will be no problem. When I get back, I'll be investigation your stewardship of the Islands of Pelicans, acting governor."
Castle turned on his heel and left.
Once back aboard the flagship, Castle gathered his officers and Admiral Deese.
"Do you know where this Xocho is, Admiral?"
"Oh, yes, Lord Castle. It is the largest and most populous of the islands, but it has only one awful harbor. The pirates will be lucky to get forty ships inside it, and any kind of wind from the south could blow them out to sea. There's really no other place to land on the island. Nothing but cliffs running right down to the sea."
"We'll put as many soldiers as we can in the caravels since they're the fastest ships." Castle decided. "Half archers and half spearmen. The only armor worn will be iron helmets. If a man falls overboard in armor, he'll drown. The rest of the fleet will follow along behind us. Once we've destroyed the pirate ships, we can land our horses and armor and fight anyone else who needs fighting."
Castle had trouble choosing who would go in the caravels. Every officer wanted his troops to be a part of the attack force. Finally, Castle decided that his regiment would go, along with his Companions and a small contingent of Sir Karl's soldiers. Sir Karl would have to stay behind, which suited Princess Arran just fine, even if it did upset Karl.
"You're too important to the future of the Golden Coast, my love." She said. "Your death would destroy not just my kingdom, but myself as well."
The caravels came alongside the larger cogs and soldiers, led by Lord Castle, scrambled down into the smaller ships. Castle noticed a familiar figure with an iron helmet over her chestnut curls. Alongside her was Lotus.
"Kate, this is no place for you." He said gently.
"My place, as always, is by your side." She said. "I will be careful."
"Being careful is not enough. You could be…" Castle stopped. The caravel was moving away from the flagship.
"Too late now." Kate said with a smile.
Of all the caravels, the Island Queen was the fastest. Accordingly, she led the fleet of caravels as they headed for Xocho. The best eyes in the fleet belonged to young Aldon of Benford. He was placed on the very top of the mainmast so he would have the best view. It took no more than an hour for Aldon to spy the Island of Xocho. He called down to the deck that he had spotted it. He told his captain that the harbor seemed to be slightly to the starboard.
The captain used signal flags to inform Lord Castle and the rest of the fleet.
As they approached the small harbor, two ships raised their sails and tried to get away. Seeing this, Lord Castle ordered the Island Queen and another fast caravel, the Pride of Doughan, to intercept and destroy them.
One pirate ship was quite slow and was easily overtaken by the Pride. Hundreds of arrows sleeted onto the pirate ship, killing anyone on deck. When the Pride closed with its prey, spearmen and archers swarmed over the ship. In minutes, there were no living pirates aboard.
"Ensign Esposito." Called an archer. "I've checked the hold. We've captured sacks of grain and barrels of salt pork. The hold is filled with supplies."
"Any wine?" Asked Old Janos, the oldest man in the regiment, with a sly smile on his face.
"Not a drop, I fear."
Janos just sighed.
Meanwhile, the Queen was only slowly gaining on its enemy.
"There's a bloody rain squall ahead." The captain said, adding a few curses. "If the bastard makes it to the rain, we could lose him."
"Can we catch him before then?" The captain of archers, in command of the soldiers, asked.
The ship's captain glanced at the sails, the state of the sea and the wind.
"Not at this rate."
"How close can you get?"
"Two hundred yards. A bit more, perhaps."
"Have your cook start a fire in the galley. We'll make fire arrows. We'll open fire when we get within three hundred yards. Or a bit more."
Hundreds of fire arrows were loosed at the pirate ship, but most were extinguished by the crew before doing any substantial damage. Then an arrow hit a tarred rope high on the pirate's main mast. The fire spread and flaming pieces of rope and sail began to fall on the deck, starting more fires. The ship was soon engulfed in flames. The pirates jumped overboard as their only small boat was already on fire. They were left in the sea by the Queen.
Meanwhile, Lord Castle's men overran the pirate ships that remained in the harbor. Almost all of the pirates jumped overboard and swam for shore. This provided a bit of target practice for the archers, but a few made it to shore.
Admiral Deese sent his men to examine the pirate ships and report back to him. When they had done so, he reported to Lord Castle.
"Lord Castle, there are forty-one ships here, plus one being brought in by the Island Queen. It appears the other ship has been sunk. The ships are filled to the gunnels with supplies. There are sacks of flour, all kinds of grains, barrels of salt pork and salt beef as well as smoked hams, barrels of hard tack and barrels of wine and beer."
"Excellent." Castle said. "How soon can they be transferred to our ships?"
"I'd suggest we leave them where they are and take the former pirate ships with us. This will give us enough food to last the remainder of our journey and to keep us fed until the crops come in next year. We'll also have more ships at Aurum."
"Are the pirate ships in good shape? Do we have crews enough?" Castle asked.
"They may need a few days being repaired and I have enough seamen and officers to man them."
Castle looked towards Xocho.
"We'll have to chase down the pirates who are ashore."
Prince Polito spoke. Although he was a prince, he was not high in the counsels of Hangar. Each child of a king was a prince or princess. When those children had children, they too were princes or princesses. And so on down through the generations. Polito was a prince because his great-great-great-great grandfather had been a king.
"Lord Castle. The horses have been aboard for too long. We've already lost some on the voyage. We should allow them to land and use the cavalry to chase down any remaining pirates."
At once, the cavalry commanders approved his idea.
The infantry commanders were not slow in saying that their men had been long aboard ship and could use some time ashore. They also said that if there was any rough country inland, infantry would be more useful that cavalry.
They were so insistent that Castle decided to land his entire army.
Author's note: The old Spanish word for pelicans is alcatraz.
TBC