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) by Archer Martin

Author:Archer, Martin [Archer, Martin]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Published: 2015-06-05T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

It is the second day June in the year of our lord 1202 when William takes leave of the sisters and sets off with two galleys full of sailors to meet the King John and William Marshal at Dover Castle.

The channel was unusually calm and the two galleys made good time from Cornwall. They follow one right behind the other as their crews row them into the crowded Dover harbor on a bright and sunny Thursday afternoon.

What is instantly obvious to William and his men as they enter the harbor is that something big is underway - there is no room at the dock and the harbor is packed with all kinds of ships from little fishing boats to big cargo cogs.

Sailors idling on the ships in the harbor watch as Edward from Portsmouth, the snaggly toothed four stripe sergeant captaining William's galley, finally finds a place to his liking and orders an anchor heaved over the side to take it.

The other galley comes in behind them, throws out its own anchor, and then pays out its anchor line until it is positioned next to Edward's. Sailors quickly lash the two galleys together.

William came ashore in the galley's dinghy after eating some bread and cold chicken. Water parties from both galleys are already on the beach with water skins.

All of the men, including William, are in identical brown tunics with long sleeves. The only difference is that sailors have brown stripes sewn on the front and back of their tunics to designate their rank and the Marines have black stripes. It's hard to tell them apart unless you know what to look for.

William's men are ashore to fetch water from the little fresh water stream that runs into the harbor. They know they're supposed to carry the skins upstream until they come to where there is no one is further upstream to piss or shite into it. And he's going with them to be sure they do.

But before I do anything else I need to report in to the King or William Marshall. That's what William is thinking to himself as he vaults over the very front of the dinghy to keep his leather sandals from getting wet.

A very nervous pair of three stripe sailor sergeants are waiting for him at the water's edge - obviously the men commanding their galley's water fetching party.

"Captain, me and John here have a problem," the older and probably more senior sergeant says even before my feet hit the beach.

"Some lords and such with colored clothes and feathers in their caps, young'uns they was, came over and asked us what we were doing. When we told them we was going upstream to get clear water they told us not to leave the beach."

"They said if the water here was good enough for them it was good enough for us."

"They say why?"

"No Captain, they didn't, just that we shouldn't leave the beach. I think they was just idlers trying to act important, impress each other and such like that.

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