The Medieval Marine - Cauldron Simmering
Copyright© 2025 by somethin fishy
Chapter 22: Bandits
“I expect to pass through life but once. If therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again.” – William Penn.
Brindisi, Italy. March 1079
Guzal looked up at Luke from where she was vomiting. Once again, she swore she would never again let him touch her. It was an empty thought because now that she was pregnant, Guzal couldn’t get enough of Luke or his body. Every time Guzal mounted Luke, Tuija and Morvarid snickered, which caused Guzal to shoot them a look telling them to shut up.
It had been a very close thing as Guzal was almost left behind. As their boat was pulling away, Tuija screamed for her sister, which caused Guzal to react without thinking. She had intended to walk away from Luke and restart her life. When Tuija screamed, Guzal automatically jumped toward the boat. Since Guzal didn’t have a running start, she landed short.
Very few people could swim, and Guzal wasn’t one of the fortunate ones. Without knowing how to swim, wearing heavy winter clothes, and having a pouch full of gold, she began to sink rapidly. As Guzal sank, she looked up and saw the sky darkening above her. The last thing she remembered seeing was a large object land in the water above her.
When Guzal woke, her lungs and throat burned as she coughed up seawater. Guzal finally looked up, and the first thing she saw was Tuija, who had a murderous look on her face. Before Guzal could say anything, Tuija slapped her as hard as she could.
“DON’T YOU EVER DO THAT AGAIN! YOU ALMOST SCARED ME TO DEATH, AND THEN YOU ALMOST COST US LUKE.”
“Luke? Where is he?”
“Morvarid is helping him recover from pulling you out of the sea. He risked everything to save you, so I suggest you appreciate him from now on.” Tuija continued, seeing the look on Guzal’s face. “When you landed in the water and sank, Luke kicked his shoes off and, without thinking, jumped in after your worthless arse. Thankfully for you, Luke can swim like a fish and pulled you out before you could drown. He then pushed on your chest to get the water out of your lungs. All the time he was doing that for you, he was getting colder, and eventually, Morvarid made him go down into the cabin to warm up. I finished forcing the water from your lungs. So, if you try to abandon us again, I will kill you.”
“I am so...”
“Save it.” Tuija snapped. “You can show me how sorry you are with your head between my legs. After you’re done, you can warm up Luke’s tool.”
Guzal’s cheeks burned as she moved her lips down between her pregnant sister’s legs. There was no doubt that Tuija was pregnant as she was beginning to show. After Guzal finished eating her sister to a long series of orgasms, she went down to see Luke. Luke and Morvarid were curled up naked, sleeping under a heavy blanket. Before Guzal could do anything, she had to vomit again. This time, it was seawater mixed with stomach acid that she vomited up.
As Guzal stood up from vomiting and washed her mouth out. She looked at the woman lying in bed next to Luke. Morvarid was very visibly pregnant, as she was now six months along. Tuija began showing at five months along, while Guzal estimated she was about three months along.
After Guzal finished being sick, the group began to pack. They had been staying in Brindisi for the past week while Luke and Guzal recovered from their swim. While they stayed in town, Luke made sure he had time to enjoy the area’s fine wines. When the group arrived in town, Luke had Morvarid exchange some of the Seljuk currency for the new Italian coinage, as having local coinage made buying supplies easier.
There were two other reasons the group decided to stay put. Their horses needed rest, and Luke wanted the alpine passes to clear more. He knew they would either have to wait where they were or wait in northern Italy. With northern Italy being unsettled, he would rather stay where they were.
Through merchants, Luke managed to get only a slightly out-of-date picture of what was happening to the north. Hearing Empress Brunhild had taken over ruling the Holy Roman Empire, he shook his head. Having met her, he knew she didn’t have the temperament to be a ruler; she was more of a troubleshooter, having no sense of tact.
As the group traveled, they were able to move quickly as they traveled the old Roman road of Via Traiana up the eastern coast of Italy. Along some stretches, the new State of Italy was rebuilding the road, and Luke found their work adequate. While the Italian roads didn’t measure up to the British roads, they were better than the old Roman roads or dirt paths.
Luke planned to travel up the eastern coast to Ravenna before cutting northwest to Bologna. From there, they would head north to the Reschen Pass. Once across the pass, they would head to Lake Constance, where Luke hoped they could get a boat to take them down the Rhine to the North Sea. Merchants had informed him that a port was emerging in the Rhine Estuary where getting a boat to Britain was easy. They also told him they thought the British wouldn’t be in the Holy Roman Empire much longer as Empress Brunhild and the British commander didn’t see eye-to-eye.
Luke learned who the British troop commander was and understood why Empress Brunhild didn’t get along with her. General Ó Braonáin didn’t suffer fools or arrogance, and Brunhild had arrogance to spare.
With a plan in place, Luke and the women set out from Brindisi in the second week of March. While the weather was decent, the bouncing played hell with the women, especially Morvarid. After four days, they had only traveled about 200 kilometers, and Morvarid had to stop. Luke was disappointed with their progress as they were still southeast of Rome. Somehow, he had to figure out a way for them to travel faster.
In the small town they stopped in, Luke decided to check the stables to see if any other options were available. It was also getting time to trade in the horses they had been riding almost since their escape and pick up horses used to the colder European climate. That was if he could find an acceptable trade.
To Luke’s surprise, the stable had a familiar wagon for sale. The wagon was one which he had designed years before as the standard British military general-purpose transport wagon. When Luke saw the wagon, he smiled. If the springs were good, he had his answer as to how the women could continue to travel and be somewhat comfortable.
Luke thoroughly inspected the wagon and, after an hour, declared it sound. Then, it was time to dicker. The wainwright selling the wagon wanted seven Italian Florins, and Luke almost choked. There was no way he was going to part with that much gold. Part of him knew that was only worth about 4£, but he had no desire to be taken advantage of, especially since he knew the wagons were only worth about 2£
The wainwright and Luke went back and forth for about ten minutes before they struck a deal. Luke would pay five florins four lira. There were ten lira in one florin. Most people didn’t see many florin coins as they were made of gold. Most people only dealt with liras, which were made of silver.
After buying the wagon, Luke traded four of their horses and saddles for four horses and harnesses for the wagon. The horses for the wagons were heavier than the ones they had been riding, enabling them to pull the wagon better. After all the trades were accomplished, Luke hooked the horses up and drove the wagon to the inn where the women were staying. It had been a while since he had driven a team, and he was rusty.
The women were glad to see the wagon and raided the market for blankets to cushion them. As the women shopped, Luke chuckled as he loaded the wagon. It was nice to be able to take a lot more supplies with them, and while nobody was looking, he quickly installed a hidden strong box for their valuables. He still had the gems he lifted from the sultan as well as gems he picked up from several highwaymen they had met along the way and the Sultanate of Rûm. In fact, with all the money Luke had picked up, they had quadrupled the money with which they set out.
When the women returned, they loaded their purchases in the wagon and admired how much more room they had. Another modification Luke made was installing thick wood planks behind the side walls. These were thick enough to stop crossbow bolts.
Just before they left, Luke was stunned when Guzal took over driving. She had learned to handle a team as a child on the steppe and was forced to handle one just after she had been sold into slavery. With Guzal driving the wagon, Luke mounted his horse. It was still the same horse he had been riding, as the horses in the town didn’t look too good.
With the wagon, the trip was much easier for the women, and they could also keep several crossbows ready to fire in case bandits attacked them. To help deal with the expected bandits, Luke now carried the pistol, his two swords crossed over his back, and a longer one in a saddle scabbard.
Luke noticed they were making better time and had picked up the pace to about 75 kilometers a day. While it would take longer for him to get home, it was safer for the women, and Luke cared more for their safety than he did about making it home a month earlier.
Two days after getting the wagon, the moment Luke had been dreading happened. They had been traveling at a quick pace when Luke saw something shiny where it shouldn’t have been. Knowing what was going to happen, he made it appear as though he was going back to the women to ask about food. His asking about food was the passcode for bandits ahead.
Sure enough, eight bandits stepped out of the brush before them, blocking the road. Luke was thankful that none had firearms, although he knew they were around; he had seen Italian troops with rifled muskets. What did bother him was the two crossbowmen as they were ready to fire.
“Halt, friend.” The leader called out.
“What can we do for you?” Luke asked, even though he knew the answer.
“For your life, we will take your horses, wagon, and supplies. If you do not have enough, then we take the women.”
Luke didn’t have a chance to laugh at them before bolts flew out of the wagon, killing the crossbowmen. As soon as they were dead, Luke pulled his pistol and unloaded all six rounds. When the smoke cleared, one of the bandits was still alive. Luke asked one of the women to build a fire in case the bandit wasn’t willing to cooperate.
“I will make this easy. You are going to die, though how you die is up to you. Answer my questions without lying, and your death will be quick. If I think you are lying, your death will be so painful that you will wish your great-grandfather was not born. So, are we going to do this the easy way or the hard way?” The man spit at Luke. Luke shrugged. “The hard way it is.”
Luke pulled the man over to a couple of trees and tied him up so his left arm and leg were tied to one tree while his right arm and leg were tied to another. With the man tied up, Luke used his knife to cut the man’s clothing off. Luke could tell the man was getting nervous, but he was also determined to be brave.
Cracks appeared in the bandit’s brave façade when Luke kneed him in the groin. Luke’s strike was hard enough that he crushed one of the man’s testicles, which caused him to pass out. Luke threw some water in the bandit’s face to wake him up. Then Luke held a lit torch to the man’s hairy body and burned the hair off. The man cracked by the time Luke took all the hair off his chest. To keep him talking, Morvarid held another torch that could be used to burn off all his pubic hair.
“Are you working for someone?”
“No, we work for ourselves.”
“How long have you been doing this?”
“Three ... three years.” The man panted,
“Was that all of your group?”
“All except the whores at camp.”
“Ah, camp. Where is it?” The bandit regained some of his courage.
“Your mother’s house.” Luke nodded to Morvarid, and she burned the man’s thick pubic hair off. By the time she was done, he was willing to talk again.
“The camp. Where is it?”
“Only a mile away in an abandoned village.” Luke knew the man was referring to a Roman mile or approximately two kilometers.
“Which way to the village?”
“On further up the road to the fork and make a left. The village straddles that road.”
“Is there anything on the road I need to know?”
“No, if there were traps on the road, the authorities would figure out where we were staying.”
“How many buildings are in this village?”
“14.”
“Where is your loot kept?”
“In the old blacksmith house.”
“And the rest of it?” Luke knew they wouldn’t hide all their loot in one place. The man hesitated, so Luke grabbed the man’s remaining testicle and squeezed.
“AAHHH!” He screamed. “Buried in front of the fireplace of the house with a cracked wall.” Luke started to turn but stopped.
“One more thing, how many whores?”
“12. Two of the men liked each other better.”
“Thank you. See, that wasn’t so difficult.” The man began shaking as Luke disappeared behind him and drove his knife into the man’s brain stem. Luke then looked at the women. “Ready to get more loot?”
The women gave Luke predatory grins as Morvarid extinguished the torches. Luke left the man tied where he was. The man wasn’t worth it to Luke to bury. While Luke questioned the prisoner, the twins pulled the other bodies off the road and retrieved the loot. There was a good collection of knives, swords, the two crossbows, and some small coinage. They discussed signaling, and Luke was off.
Before they went 100 meters, Luke found the bandit’s horses. They were in decent shape and had decent tack. Luke tied the horses in two strings and tied the lead horses to the back of the wagon.