The Medieval Marine - Cauldron Simmering
Copyright© 2025 by somethin fishy
Chapter 24: The Alps
“A traveler amid the scenery of the Alps, surrounded by the sublimest demonstration of God’s power, had the hardihood to write against his name, in an album kept for visitors, “An atheist.” Another who followed, shocked and indignant at the inscription, wrote beneath it, If an atheist, a fool; if not, a liar!” – George Barrell Cheever.
Reschen Pass, Holy Roman Empire. May 1079
Luke stared up at the Alps; they were just as beautiful and stunning as the first time he saw them, although these Alps had very little of their natural beauty degraded by humans yet. Morvarid caught Luke staring at the majestic mountains before them, and she wondered. She wondered what was going through her lover’s mind. What did these mountains look like the last time he saw them? From his reaction, Morvarid was sure Luke had seen them before. She did have to admit that the mountain range before them was majestic, although she wasn’t thrilled with the idea of crossing them.
“So, how much have they changed?” Morvarid asked Luke softly.
“There’s far less human activity now than there was. The mountains seem more majestic when there aren’t roads and railroads running through them.”
“I can see that.” Morvarid agreed, although she had yet to see a railroad.
Luke’s description of them was good enough that she could imagine what they looked like. Morvarid put her arm around Luke’s waist, and he put his around her shoulders. The twins came up behind them, and Tuija took Luke’s other side while Guzal took Morvarid’s. Together, they looked at the sight before them for a few minutes.
At least it was May, so the weather was warming, although Morvarid was glad Luke had insisted they keep their winter gear from Thrace. Slowly, they entered the foothills, and Luke warned everyone to be on the lookout for ambushes. The forest was too close to the road for Luke’s comfort, and he knew life in the region was hard.
The fear was well-founded since, within an hour of setting out, they came across an ambush site that Luke estimated to be less than two days old. With the chilly weather, the dead travelers hadn’t begun to stink yet. Much to the widow’s dismay, Luke didn’t bother to bury the dead; he only led the group on. Morvarid and the twins were more realistic in their view of life and knew if they stopped, they would increase the likelihood of becoming the next victims.
As they approached the entrance to the pass, Luke was more alert, his head constantly on a swivel, looking for immediate threats. To him, danger was all around, and it was bad enough that he began to have flashbacks of Iraq. At least where they were, Luke didn’t have to assume that everyone they met wanted them dead. He only needed to assume that everyone they met wanted to steal everything they had.
To Luke’s surprise, no bandits attacked them as they climbed the pass. He didn’t know why and didn’t really care as he was tired of fighting, and while he knew, eventually, he would have to go to war again, if he never did, it wouldn’t bother him in the slightest. Thoughts of peace for the rest of his life were pleasant but short-lived. When they arrived at a monastery, Luke’s temper exploded before he could contain it.
Approaching the monastery, they hoped to get something to eat and drink, directions, and an idea of what lay ahead. However, as they approached, Luke’s attention was on a large group of people in a field near the monastery walls. The closer they got, the clearer it became what was happening. Finally, Luke couldn’t restrain his temper. What broke his will was hearing the young woman scream for mercy as a monk held a torch to the pile of firewood at the woman’s feet.
Luke moved so quickly that it looked as if his musket suddenly appeared. With his shot, Luke shot the torch from the monk’s hand before pulling his pistol and shooting several guards.
“None of you move unless you want to meet Satan early.”
“We worship the Lord our Savior.” The friar whose hand Luke shot the torch from replied as he rubbed his hand.
“And you think burning a young woman at the stake is what your Lord wants? Who are you to judge?” The monks all began yelling at Luke. “SILENCE!” He boomed, his voice echoing through the trees. Turning his attention to the woman. “What has she done?”
“The woman is a heretic. A Jew!”
Luke climbed off his horse and grabbed his axe. By this time, the women had arrived and dismounted the wagon, their muskets ready to fire. Seeing the armed women, the monks and guards didn’t move. Luke went to the woman and cut her bindings. He had to catch her, for she collapsed.
With a quick movement, Luke threw the woman over his shoulder and carried her to the wagon, where he laid her inside. With the woman safe, he turned his attention back to the “holy men.” Seeing the disgust on their faces, Luke suddenly had an idea of how to make the church fear him for the rest of his life.
As he passed, Luke had the twins join him and marched up to the fat monk.
“Are you in charge here?”
“And what if I am? Why do you want to know?”
“I want to know who runs this God-forsaken hell hole when I write to the pope about it.” The monks gasped, hearing Luke’s blasphemy.
“Then I am the abbot.”
“Good, then you are the man I want.”
Before the abbot could ask, Luke grabbed him and forced him to follow. The twins used their twin swords to keep the others back. They didn’t know what Luke was doing, but they trusted him. Luke surprised everyone when he forced the abbot to the stake and tied him to it. Having figured out what was happening, the abbot began crying and praying. Luke grabbed the silver crucifix from his neck and, with a yank, ripped it loose. He also lightened the abbot of his heavy purse. There was no need to burn money.
“You won’t need those anymore since they’ll do you no good where you are going,” Luke whispered in the abbot’s ear.
With the twins and the threat of the other three women’s firepower, the other monks and guards stayed back. Luke walked over and picked up the torch.
“When you report this, tell them that British Field Marshal Luke MacDougall was responsible, and if I see any more activities such as this, the results will be the same.”
As Luke finished speaking, he lowered the torch to the firewood, which caught quickly. Luke noticed it had been treated with an accelerant while climbing on it. Walking around the pile, Luke lit it on fire. Through the noise of the wood crackling, everyone could hear the abbot’s screams. With the abbot burning, Luke looked down the road at a small farmhouse, then at the other men.
“The rest of you drop your weapons and purses in front of the wagon. Then, walk down the trail to the small brown farmhouse. You are to stay there until sunset. Once the sun sets, you may leave. Anyone leaves while it is still light, I will kill all of you.” The other men, suitably cowed by Luke’s domineering presence, did what they were told. The most interesting part was how much gold and silver the holy men had on them. Once the men were far enough away, Luke asked the Jewess. “Are there any other prisoners in there?” She only stared at him but nodded. Luke nodded at the woman. “Clara, bring the wagon into the monastery; we have work to do.”
Once everyone was in, Luke closed the door behind them and barred it so it couldn’t be opened from the outside. Once they were inside, he began giving directions.
“Gemma and Clara, begin removing all the gold and silver you can find. Tuija and Guzal guard the wagon and help load the loot. Be careful because I bet at least one other monk will be around. If you find anyone else, order them out. If they do not comply, kill them. Morvarid come with me and,” looking at the Jew. “I’m sorry, what is your name?”
“I am called Zeva.”
“Come with Zeva and me to rescue the rest of the prisoners held here. I think having a pregnant woman with me will help with any women we find.”
Gemma and Clara took off with two muskets and a short sword each to find loot. Meanwhile, Zeva led Luke and Morvarid into the main building and down a flight of steep steps. Luke could see dried blood on the walls where prisoners had been shoved down them.
As they reached the bottom, they could hear the prisoner’s pitiful wails and, over the noise, one gunshot. When Luke looked at the conditions the prisoners were held in, he vomited. He had thought he knew how depraved the human mind is, but it was proven yet again that the dark recesses of the human mind knew no bounds.
There were dozens of people in chains, and the smell was horrendous. It seemed that every person Luke saw was suffering from malnutrition and infections. Several people were still alive but had maggots crawling in open wounds. Luke began picking locks to let people out. As he let people out, he directed them up the stairs and into the first room they came to.
Before they came down, Luke noticed that the room had a fountain. Now, the fountain would come into good use. It took Luke almost an hour to unlock everyone. When he reached the end of the hall, he heard more screaming around a corner. Rounding the corner, Luke found a torture chamber, and several men were working on someone.
Luke burst into the room with swords in hand. The two torturers had their backs turned so they didn’t see Luke, although they heard him. When they began to turn, it was too late as Luke’s sword decapitated one of them. The other was quicker and used the whip in his hand on Luke.
The whip wrapped itself around one of Luke’s swords, but when the torturer pulled, trying to disarm Luke, Luke overpowered him and pulled the torturer to him. Once the man was close enough, Luke cut the man’s hand off with his other sword. As the man pulled back and grasped the stump of his forearm, Luke used his sword in an upward swing to cut the man partly in half from the bottom up. While Luke might not have cut him in half in one swing, the man was rapidly losing blood and had to deal with the pain of his genitals being cut in half.
With both torturers out of the way, Luke freed the nude woman they had been working on. She was a mess with so many whip marks there was little skin left on her back. It was a real shame because she had been a beautiful woman, from what Luke could see.
The woman had to be carried up the stairs as she was too weak to walk. As Luke cleared the top step, he saw his widows helping the injured. Luke sat the woman down and grabbed a nearby clean rag to clean her back. Thankfully, his widows had already prepared a weak vinegar solution, and he used that to wash the dirt and blood from the poor woman’s back.
Once Luke had the woman clean, he grew even more furious. He estimated her age at no more than 15, and from the other injuries, he was sure she had been brutally raped. Now that he had light, Luke looked around and noticed that almost all the prisoners were women, young, and if they had been healthy, they were quite beautiful.
“Clara?” Luke asked, remembering something. “What was the gunshot I heard earlier?”
“Gemma had to get rid of some garbage.” Luke chuckled.
In the time the widows spent with Luke, they gained a healthy dislike for the church and the existing power structure. The nobles were supposed to protect the lower classes in exchange for goods and services. Instead, the Italian nobles and the church had done nothing when pirates killed Gemma’s husband and children, they had done nothing when Clara and Gemma were starving, and they had done nothing when a noble son was terrorizing the community.
The giant Brit had done something. He gave them food, money, and protection, and all he asked for in return was for them to help drive the wagons. He hadn’t even made any advances on the widows until they made it known that they were interested in him. Luke had even killed the noble son, then his father, who didn’t do his job.
Now, Luke was doing it again. He was protecting those who couldn’t defend themselves. In Clara’s mind, Luke was the true noble, and she would follow him to the ends of the Earth. Clara knew that Gemma felt the same way, so when Luke told them to sweep the monastery for gold and silver, they did it without hesitation. Gemma had even shot and killed a monk they came across who protested what they were doing.
“Did Gemma have any problems?”
“Nope, fat bastard never knew what hit him. Seeing the condition of these poor women, he should have been made to suffer much longer.” Luke smiled wider.
“So, you stopped believing bad people will suffer forever in the afterlife?”
“Yes, and don’t look so surprised. You don’t believe it either.”
“I know I don’t, but I wasn’t aware you had gained the same views.”
“The church preaches to the peasants that we shouldn’t do this or can’t do that, or we will burn in eternal hell. Yet, look at what these monks were doing. Look at what all those nobles regularly do. They obviously don’t believe what they preach, or they wouldn’t be acting like that. Of course, the nobles can “buy” their pardons for any sins they committed, like God can be swayed for a few gold coins when, according to the church, he created all of Earth’s gold. Why would someone who could create all the gold they want bother with a few shiny coins?”
Luke was doubled over in laughter.
“When we get to York, remind me to introduce you to the Archbishop of York. You and he will have some very interesting discussions.” Seeing the look on Clara’s face, he continued. “The Archbishop of York’s beliefs are much the same as yours. He asked the pope to his face what a grand cathedral was really built for, the glory of God or the glory of man. I couldn’t help but wonder about the sudden halt in construction of most of the larger churches after the pope visited Britain. That’s a good thing because the resources sunk into building one of those “magnificent” cathedrals could be used to build many solid homes for the poor.”
Clara smiled back at Luke as they returned to what they were doing. Then, another thought crossed her mind.
“Luke, what are we going to do with these people? They will need aid for months, and many cannot walk any distance.”
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