Chapter 8: A New Queen

“Forget about what you are escaping from. Reserve your anxiety for what you are escaping to.” – Michael Chabon.

Bianjing, Capital of Song Dynasty China. November 1070

The weather wasn’t the only thing turning cooler for Captain Morwenna. She had been anchored in front of Bianjing for a month. During that time, her Chinese host had grown resentful of the British and the prices they charged for their trade goods. It had gotten to a point where the Chinese merchants were actively trying to have the Emperor impound the British ship and remove all the remaining cargo.

Zongshi had warned this would happen sooner or later. Many Chinese merchants hated being undercut, and the British had massively undercut several. Some of the angriest merchants were salt merchants since Morwenna had replenished her salt supplies during their voyage. The British took the concentrate from their condensers and put it in large shallow trays on the deck. Between the constant wind and tropical sun, the remaining water evaporated quickly, leaving the salt behind to be put into barrels for trade.

What infuriated the Chinese merchants worse was that the British measured the precious metal content of their coins and used that to set the price of the goods. When the merchants complained, the British explained the measuring process to the court mathematician. He couldn’t find any fault with the British procedure; in fact, he carefully wrote it down to use for his transactions.

At the beginning of November, Zongshi saw what was happening and asked Morwenna for help smuggling his family aboard. By this time, no British sailor or Marine liked the Chinese merchants or officials and were eager to help. Zongshi’s family was held in a riverside tavern by a corrupt Chinese official who also enjoyed using Zongshi’s wife and daughters.

Zongshi knew where his family was because he had slipped ashore during a storm during the first week they had been in port. When he went to his old home, he learned what had happened from his neighbor. The neighbor went on to tell where Zongshi’s family had been taken. After getting all the facts, Zongshi slipped back aboard the Explorer.

Instead of trying to negotiate, a squad of marines dressed in black slipped ashore during a new moon. Their mission was to free Zongshi’s family and return them to the Explorer unseen. Morwenna chose the new moon because the ship was under heavy observation and didn’t want her troops to be seen.

The marines exited the ship using a blackened rope to slide down the ship’s side and into the water. Because they had been trained for this maneuver, they performed it flawlessly and without a sound. Every Marine carried their K-Bar knife and a pair of throwing knives; the last thing they wanted was a gunshot.

It only took the squad ten minutes to swim ashore and regroup. Once regrouped, they headed toward the tavern. In the briefing, Zongshi drew a detailed map of the city streets and what to expect when they got to the tavern. Although the group had to hide from some city guards patrolling the streets, it only took the squad twenty minutes to reach their objective.

Looking into the building, they could see the few remaining patrons were dead drunk, and the tavern keeper was cleaning up. Not wanting to be noticed, the squad circled behind the building to find the balcony Zongshi had told them about. The room behind the balcony was where his family was being held; usually, there weren’t any guards.

The marines didn’t see any guards, so using a grappling hook, they got a line on the balcony and pulled themselves up. Since this tactic wasn’t widely used, the Chinese officials didn’t think to guard against it. Stealthily, the marines scaled the rope and secured the balcony. With knives out, they slipped through the shadows as they carefully broke in.

As the last of the entry team came through the door, a guard entered the hallway they were in, and they didn’t have anywhere to hide. Thankfully, the hallway was dark, and the marines flattened themselves against the walls. When the guard passed the first Marine, she stepped behind him and smashed the back of his head with the pommel of her knife. The Marine didn’t want to use the blade because of the blood that would result. Blood that could be used to help identify the marines if any of them stepped in the pool. By utilizing the pommel, the guard was dead without a sound or a mess.

The sergeant carefully opened the door to where Zongshi’s family was being held and slipped into the room, where he quickly found Zongshi’s wife. He carefully put his hand across her mouth, and when her eyes opened, he showed her Zongshi’s ring. Zongshi gave the sergeant his ring so his wife would know that Zongshi had sent the marines and she should obey them.

Zongshi’s wife saw the ring and carefully nodded. Looking at the Marine, she saw he was European, so she was sure of her decision to follow the soldier. It also helped that Zongshi had taught the Marine some basic phrases. She quickly helped wake the rest of the family and organized them for their escape. Many younger children were terrified, while the older ones considered the escape a great adventure.

Silently with the grandparents first, Zongshi’s family made their escape. The grandparents went first to help the soldiers keep the children calm. A rope was tied around their bodies under their arms, and four marines would lower the rope to the ground. One by one, the family escaped, with Zongshi’s wife insisting on going last as she needed to do one thing.

As her family escaped, Zongshi’s wife crept silently to the room of the man who had been raping her. With no guards at his door, she entered silently and found him passed out with another whore. It was almost too easy as Zongshi’s wife used a marine’s knife to slit her rapist’s throat.

The movement woke the whore, but before she could scream, Zongshi’s wife used the knife on her. On her way out, she thought about the most frequent complaint the official had: a sore throat. ‘Yeah, sore throat indeed,’ she thought as she returned to where her family was being evacuated.

Once the family and most of the marines were down, the marine sergeant removed the grappling hook and looped a rope around the balcony railing. Using that rope, he slid to the ground before pulling the rest from the balcony, thus removing any traces of their entry point. With everyone on the ground, the sergeant took point and led the way to a pier where they spied some unguarded boats.

On the way to the pier, one of the marines tripped, and the noise alerted a city guard. When the guard came to investigate the noise, he saw no trace of anything unusual. The Marine who tripped rolled under a nearby table and stayed perfectly still. Finally, after what seemed like hours but was only a few minutes, the guard decided he had heard an animal and walked away.

After the guard left, the group continued their trip to the pier, where they found the boat they sought. Four marines climbed into the boat with all the children for the first of three trips. While the remaining marines formed a defensive perimeter, the boat was rowed out to the Explorer, where some crewmembers helped unload the children. The four marines were replaced with fresh sailors to help speed the escape. Zongshi met each of his family members as they came aboard and had them gather nearby so they didn’t become lost.

Back ashore, things were heating up as more guards were moving around. The British had the bad luck of being on the waterfront during a shift change. One of the marines sent the hold signal to the rowboat using a small flint to create a short shower of sparks. Once the signal was sent, the rest of the escapees and marines hid.

It took almost 45 minutes for the new guards to calm down and slack off. Finally, it was safe for the rowboat to make its way to shore and pick up the next batch. This batch contained the rest of the family, as the remaining marines would be the last batch.

While the remaining marines waited, a guard came up and sat on the pier they were using. To make matters worse for the British, it would start getting light within an hour. Seeing the situation, the sergeant nodded to his quietest Marine, knowing she would know what to do, and she was silent as a cat.

She slipped off her boots to keep the noise down and crept up behind the guard. Just as she would strike, he turned and saw her at the last second. It was the Brit’s luck that this guard was trained in hand-to-hand combat and deflected the blow meant to kill him. Seeing what was happening, the sergeant took one of his throwing knives and let it fly. It hit the guard in the chest, embedding itself deeply in a rib. This was the opportunity the female Marine needed, and she gutted the guard like a fish.

With the guard dead, the other marines ran out onto the dock and prepared to leave. They would have to swim for it as more guards were coming. To avoid detection, the dead guard would be coming with them until they could figure out what to do with the body. As they swam, the sergeant managed to get his knife free of the guard’s chest, and they released the body after slitting the lungs open so the gasses could escape, allowing the body to sink.

Once aboard, the wet marines were sent below for whiskey and fresh clothes before turning in. In the meantime, Zongshi’s family was hidden aboard the vessel, so the Chinese officials couldn’t find them if they searched.

Sure enough, the Chinese officials demanded to search the Explorer the next day. Morwenna was all too happy to allow them to search the ship since she knew they wouldn’t find the family they were hiding or the classified navigation equipment. The Chinese officials searched the ship for over three hours and found nothing. Finally, they left, but relations between the Chinese and the British were chillier afterward. The Chinese suspected the British had aided Zongshi’s family’s escape but couldn’t prove it, and there were enough people who hated the corrupt official to create doubt.

The family and classified equipment were hidden in the coal bunkers. The family was covered with a black cloth and coal dust to camouflage them further. With the presence of coal dust, the British refused to allow the Chinese officials entrance into the bunkers with open flames.

Morwenna decided to raise anchors and steam to leave the week after the rescue. Some of her female sailors reported receiving lewd gestures from the guards, and the merchants refused to trade. Morwenna had the guns uncovered as they raised anchor in case someone thought of trying to stop them.

As they were raising anchor, a Chinese official appeared at the dock and was rowed out to the Explorer after a short argument with a boat crew. Morwenna looked at Zongshi and shrugged. Since they hadn’t weighed anchor yet, they had a few minutes to receive their latest visitor. It was a complete surprise to everyone on board when the official was discovered to be none other than the empress consort.

“Commander Morwenna, I would like to travel to Britain with you. Would this be acceptable to you?” Empress Xiang asked.

Morwenna and Zongshi looked at each other with wide eyes. This was something that far exceeded the letter of their orders but was allowed by the spirit of the orders. Officially, they were only allowed to rescue Zongshi’s family, but the way the orders were written permitted Morwenna to rescue people at her discretion.

“What about your husband, the Emperor?” asked Zongshi.

“He does not care what I do since I have already given him an heir to the throne. I am tired of competing with his other wives and concubines.”

Morwenna nodded, “In that case, welcome aboard.” Seeing the empress had some luggage, she looked into the woman’s eyes, “Please help take your luggage below. I don’t have the spare personnel to aid since we are weighing anchor.”

The empress looked at her luggage and moved to help. Zongshi had to lift his jaw back as he moved to stand next to Morwenna. “You too, Zongshi. I don’t want anything slowing us down.” He nodded and moved to help.

During the trip up the river, Morwenna worked out how to escape quickly, and she put that plan into motion. She ordered the ship to go full speed as she maneuvered to the middle of the river channel to give herself the most room. As the ship sped up, numerous junks fled from the path of the river dragon, and within four hours, they exited the river.

As the ship left the river, Xiang stood beside Morwenna, “So, where did you end up hiding Zongshi’s family?”

“Who said we are hiding them?”

“Don’t play dumb with me. This is the only place that makes sense for them to be. The official who was known to be raping her was found murdered, but there was no trace of the family. Also, a soldier who was on duty guarding the docks disappeared. It’s too convenient.” Seeing the look on Morwenna’s face. “Don’t worry about me; I never plan on returning to China.” Morwenna nodded.

“We hid them in a coal bunker and put a black cloth between them and the hatch. Since open flames are prohibited, the officials searching couldn’t see back far enough to notice the fabric.”

At that time, Zongshi and his wife came onto the bridge and nodded at Morwenna. Zongshi stood with his wife as they watched their homeland fade into the distance, but his job wasn’t done because Morwenna wanted to visit Korea and Japan before stopping by India on their return trip. Xiang looked at the fugitive and laughed.

Rome, Papal States. December 1070

Pope Alexander was furious. The British got away and left no trace of where they went. As punishment for their failure, Alexander ordered the commander of the 50 men to be castrated and enslaved. This was done to drive home the cost of failure to the Papal soldiers. Alexander found one silver lining: the loot gathered from the dead Byzantines could be used to help rebuild the city and the Papal Army. He had no intentions of returning the recovered loot to the families from which it was taken.

South of Rome, the Papal Army swept through the remaining Byzantine forces. Two months to the day of the Byzantine Army’s entrance into Rome, the Papal Army looked over the last Byzantine city in Italy. The civilians of Bari were busy preparing for the inevitable attack, and everyone knew what would happen to them if the Papists got into the city. While the city’s women helped build the defenses, the remaining able-bodied men were rushed through basic training.

One area where the Byzantines had the edge was at sea. The Byzantine Navy reigned supreme at sea with centuries of experience and Greek fire. The Papal forces didn’t have much of a navy, and what they had was concentrated on the West Coast, where it was needed to keep the Sicilian Muslims from raiding Rome.

Looking up at the Byzantine walls, the Papal commander was furious. He didn’t have the forces to besiege the city effectively, but he couldn’t retreat because of Papal orders to expel all Byzantines from Italy. Turning from the walls, the commander shrugged and turned his attention to the construction of proper siegeworks. When the army retreated from Sicily, they were forced to leave all their cannons behind, so the army besieging Bari had no way of breaching the walls. It would be three months before new cannons could arrive.

Back in Rome, Alexander prepared for Christmas services, and everyone knew they had plenty to be thankful for. What the poor knew that Alexander didn’t want them to know was the small number of British soldiers was the only thing that drove the Byzantines off. If it had been left to Alexander’s forces, Rome would have been a Byzantine city, and most inhabitants would have been enslaved. This knowledge made Alexander’s Christmas message much less effective than it might have been.

The poor of Rome had other concerns besides “the glory of conquest.” When the Byzantine forces retreated from Rome, they destroyed the grain stockpiles, and now the price of bread was increasing rapidly. Pope Alexander refused to help because he was more concerned with rebuilding the damaged Vatican and waging war on the Byzantines; helping the poor was far down on his list.

After Christmas, Rome was a powder keg; all it needed was a spark, and the city would erupt in violence. Unfortunately for Alexander, there were plenty of sparks that could set the masses off, and on 1 January 1071, a spark caught.

As with most sparks, on its own, it was harmless, but once in a while, a spark finds something explosive. The spark that set Rome off was when a poor woman tried to get water from one of the city fountains. The fountains were the primary water source for many of the city’s poor.

The woman was at a fountain, drawing water for her sick husband and children, when a Papal cavalry officer used his horse to push the woman away so his horse could drink. In pushing the woman from the fountain, she lost her balance, and when she fell, her pitcher broke. It was the only vessel she had to gather water; now it lay on the pavement, shattered. The woman knelt over the pieces and sobbed. With her pitcher broken, she couldn’t get water for her family.

Hearing the horse snort, the woman’s temper boiled over, and she attacked the officer, who she blamed for breaking her pitcher. Her attack was so furious that she knocked the officer off his horse. Now the officer was pissed and drew his sword. With a single swipe, he took the woman’s head off and ignited Rome.

Several people in a nearby crowd heard the woman screech and watched long enough to see the officer murder the woman. After observing the woman’s head bounce off the pavement, the mob rushed the officer, and although several were killed, they seized the officer and tore him to pieces. His death only whetted the mob’s appetite for blood, and they headed toward the wealthy areas of Rome.

The wealthy areas of Rome that had been raided only a couple of months before were hit again, but this time, the wealthy didn’t have time to escape. While parts of the mob took everything that wasn’t attached, others had warmer targets in mind. Any daughters or wives found were brutally raped, often in front of their husbands and fathers. If the men protested, which many did, they were killed. Sometimes, they were beheaded; others were beaten, while others were burned to death.

Many of the mob had their fill after destroying the wealthier neighborhoods, but some were still unsatisfied. There was one man they held responsible above all others and was nearby. The Pope, they reasoned, had been saved by the soldiers of a ruler who cared for the people. However, the Pope refused even to thank her. Even though he didn’t save the city, he could have spent some money to help the poor instead of rebuilding his palace grander than before.

Now, the remaining mob rushed the Vatican, determined to force the Pope to listen to them. However, Alexander saw what happened to the wealthy neighborhoods and was determined not to let the mob in.

When the Papal Army retook Rome, Alexander increased the size of the guard in the Vatican; he now had 500 loyal men standing guard. Seeing the mob coming, Alexander ordered the guards to their posts with orders to shoot anyone who attempted to get in. It wasn’t an hour after giving the order that the first gunshots rang out. Soon, gunfire was heard all around the Vatican as the mob tried to storm the Vatican walls.

All through the night, the battle between the mob and guards continued. Alexander, safe inside, ate a large dinner and attended his nightly prayers. His only thought of the rioters was that they were sinners, so they got what they deserved. Eventually, he headed to bed, where one of his favorite whores awaited him.

As the sun rose the following day, the death toll from the night before became apparent. Around the Vatican walls, there were clusters of dead bodies. In some areas, the piles of dead were three meters tall, and the streets ran red with blood. During the night, the rioters had finally dispersed, and after 02:00, everything was quiet besides the moans of the dying.

After breaking his fast, Pope Alexander walked the Vatican grounds to view the carnage from the night before. The piles of dead civilians didn’t bother him in the slightest since dead people don’t require food, drink, or jobs. Two guards died during the riot, so Alexander gave them the last rites. It took most of the day to dispose of the dead, but Alexander knew the death toll by late afternoon.

Almost 500 Romans had been killed by his guards, and a further 300 were imprisoned. For those rioters who were detained, Alexander would use them as an example by working them to death.

Niðaróss, Norway. November 1070

Olaf Haraldsson was preparing to head to Oslo for the final showdown with his father. The church in Norway supported Olaf, going so far as to grant him money to drive the remaining pagans out. Unsurprisingly, many chose to flee rather than convert, but Olaf didn’t care; the result was the same religious uniformity across the Norwegian Empire. Many who fled headed to Britain, where they knew religious toleration existed, or east to Prussia, Novgorod, or Finland.

While preparing to leave, Olaf wondered what his next move would be as king. He could continue to attack east, take his seasoned army south, or head west to retake the land stolen by Queen Marion. He knew his father was trapped in Oslo since there were no boats, the Norwegian Navy sided with Olaf, and troops loyal to Olaf were closing in on Oslo. Once it was confirmed his father was trapped, Olaf would go to Oslo for the final battle.

His thoughts were interrupted by a servant who seemed excited. It had been a very foggy morning, and Olaf’s first thought was a boat had wrecked.

“Your Highness, the British are coming!!”

“What do you mean the British are coming?”

“LOOK!” The servant pointed at a window overlooking the fjord.

Olaf sighed and walked to the window. After looking, he would have the servant’s head for interrupting him. Those thoughts disappeared when Olaf looked out the window. Before him was the British invasion force, and he could see rowboats packed to the gunnels with soldiers headed toward shore. Olaf stared at the sight before him; his brain refused to process what he saw.

As Olaf stared, the local military commander rushed in, wanting to know what to do. Almost all of Olaf’s troops faced his father; nobody expected the British to choose sides. Now, the British soldiers were landing, and the rebels had no defenses. It wasn’t until the commander shook Olaf that his brain started working again.

“What are we going to do, Your Highness?”

“What can we do? Our army is besieging Oslo, and we only have a small force here to keep the population under control.” Olaf sighed. “Order all the guards into the field. If we attack while they are landing, we may be able to drive them back into the sea.”