The Medieval Marine - Cauldron Simmering
Copyright© 2025 by somethin fishy
Chapter 25: The River Run
“Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and, above all, confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing, at whatever cost, must be attained.” - Marie Curie.
Basel, Holy Roman Empire. June 1079
After leaving the monastery, the group was able to travel about 35 kilometers a day, which, considering all the people in the group, wasn’t bad. Ten of the rescued people stayed with their families, but the rest decided to go with Luke. Some didn’t have families left, while others had been kicked out.
The extra people were helpful for Luke because he had too much loot for two wagons. In the end, Luke ended up with four wagons full of loot. The other ten wagons were full of food and other supplies the group would need.
As the group traveled through what Luke knew as Switzerland, he was able to sell several of the books and some of the other loot. As Luke sold the loot off, he took some of the money made to buy supplies while the extra was hidden.
It took eight days to go from the Reschen Pass to the Bodensee. During the trip, Luke didn’t have to fight off any bandits, which made him think either the bandits had heard of him or the large group made them think twice. Not having to fight off bandits allowed Luke to look at the scenery around him. At this time, there were no large cities in the area, but there were numerous small villages.
The villages they passed through didn’t remind Luke of any Swiss villages he could remember. To him, they were almost identical to most any other medieval village in that they were muddy or dusty and stank. Thankfully, it was the beginning of summer, so the number of diseases in the area was low.
The downside of it being summer in the Alps was the mosquitoes. At times, Luke thought there were so many mosquitoes they could carry off children and small animals. To keep most bugs off, Luke had everyone cover any exposed skin with mud. Another bug that caused problems was the flies attracted by the livestock and stored food.
Luke couldn’t wait to get to the Bodensee so they could travel by boat instead of wagon. As a Marine, Luke couldn’t wait to get back on the water. While they couldn’t travel by water all the way to the North Sea, they could travel most of the way by water.
Finally, the group reached the Bodensee at the settlement of Bregenz, although most of what was there were the ruins of the Roman settlement of Brigantium. What Luke liked and was surprised by was there were enough boats to take the entire group, horses and wagons included, across the lake.
It took almost a day to load everything and balance the boats. The boatmen leasing their services had a powerful incentive to safely transport everyone to the other end of the lake, as Luke would pay them more than they earned in a year, provided everyone arrived safely. To convince the boatmen, Luke showed them what he would pay. If someone was killed, the amount he would pay the boatmen would drastically shrink.
As they finally pulled away from the bank, Morvarid sat between Luke’s legs while the twins bracketed him with him having an arm around each. The widows were split between two other boats. All the group’s money was with Luke, so he could keep an eye on it.
Traveling across the lake was nice as there were no flies and very few mosquitoes to bother anyone. Luke took advantage of having his women on the boat and stripped down for a swim. The fresh alpine water against his skin felt so good that Luke visited all the other boats to check on things. This was made easier because Luke swam like a fish, and his swimming stunned the boatmen as none of them knew how to swim.
Luke stayed in the water for over an hour, but finally, it was time to lift himself back aboard his boat. Once aboard, Tuija gave him a towel and quietly mentioned that the boatman in charge of their boat seemed shifty. Luke nodded to her and finished drying off while carefully observing the man. The man was shifty, but since Luke was aboard and they were approaching the other shore, he didn’t have enough time to do anything.
As the boat drew close to the bank, Luke was near the boatman with his hand resting on the handle of one of his throwing knives. He was determined that if the boatman tried anything at the last moment, the boatman would die. Nothing happened until the boat’s bow touched the sand, then things became interesting.
Feeling the boat touch bottom, the boatman suddenly pushed the tiller over as far as it would go so the boat would swing sideways against the shore. That would make unloading nearly impossible until the boat was straightened out and make Luke’s group a bunch of sitting ducks.
Seeing what was happening, Luke jumped at the boatman, knocking him off the boat and grabbing the tiller. Luke pulled it back and threw the rear anchor over the side to keep the bow pointed in the correct direction. Once that was done, Luke reached down, grabbed the boatman by the collar, and pulled him back on the boat.
Getting right in the man’s face, Luke demanded to know what he was thinking. Luke so badly frightened the man that he pissed his pants and revealed the entire plot. This was a racket they had been doing for several years. When a wealthy group asked for passage, the boatmen would transport them across the lake but pretended to crash at the other side. With the target group immobilized, a second group would arrive on horseback to rob them.
The other boatmen hadn’t seen all of what happened; all they knew was that their plans were in trouble. Unfortunately for them, Luke could swim, and he had firearms with enough range to hit all the boats. Luke ordered all the boatmen to bring their boats to shore without delay. Any boatman that delayed would be shot. With the way the wind was blowing, the boats would eventually make it to shore.
He figured that at least one of the boats would try something, but unfortunately for the boatmen, the one that tried was the one carrying Gemma and Zeva. Gemma saw what was happening and shot the boatman in the chest with her single-shot pistol. The other group members pushed the man overboard while Zeva took the tiller. She had been watching the man for the entire journey and figured she knew enough to steer for the last 30 meters. A few minutes later, the sound of sand rubbing against the bottom of the boat signaled that she was right.
Since it was toward the end of the day, Luke tied the boatmen to a tree at the shore. Before leaving to attend to other things, he put a thin blanket across them to help guard against the cool night air. Thankfully, the boats were small enough to make it down the Rhine to Schaffhausen, where they would have to leave the boats to get around the falls.
With everyone ashore, Luke set them up camp with hidden sentries in the brush. Their orders were not to move unless they were spotted. If they saw something, they had strings back to the camp to pull. The other end of the string was attached to a tube with a metal ball sitting on top of it. Pulling the string would pull the tube over, thus indicating to the people in the camp which sentry had sent the alert.
With the night as dark as it was, Luke didn’t think anyone would attack, but it was better to be safe than sorry. In addition to the sentries, strings were tied up with thin strips of blackened metal hanging from them. If something hit the string, the metal would make noise.
Everything was quiet until the eastern sky began to lighten. It was then that a string to the west of camp sounded. Luke heard the metal and was instantly awake. From the sound, he knew whatever bumped into the string was big. With his rifled musket, knife, and pants, Luke slipped out of the tent he had been sleeping in. Rolling out, Luke cocked his musket.
Making sure to stay as low as possible so as to not silhouette himself against the eastern sky, Luke moved to the south of the sound. He heard cloth rustling in the quiet morning air as several men tried to move silently.
Six men passed Luke, moving toward the camp. After the last passed by, Luke moved in behind them and shot. He was so close that the bullet went through the first man and killed the man in front of him. Having achieved complete surprise, Luke was on the bandits before they could react to what was happening.
Using the rifle butt, Luke cracked the skull of the third man in line. He then used his rifle to block the sword of the fourth. Having the opportunity, Luke dropped the rifle and closed with the man. Inside the swing of the sword, Luke used his knife to gut the man. As that man fell, two gunshots rang out, and the last two men fell. As the smoke cleared, a pregnant Guzal and very pregnant Tuija stood there with still-smoking muskets in hand.
Looking at the twins, Luke gave them a wolf whistle that caused their cheeks to pinken slightly. Both women wore only their birthday suits and had smoking guns in hand; there wasn’t a sight much hotter for Luke as his pants got tighter. It took him a moment before he could turn his attention back to the matters at hand.
Tracking the path back, Luke discovered why the sentry hadn’t raised the alarm; he was dead, his throat having been cut. ‘that explains that,’ Luke thought. Looking around, Luke saw what looked to be a butt print in the dirt against a tree. ‘Ah, f•©king dumbass.’ Luke finished his thought. Sleeping on guard duty is an excellent way to end up dead, as that man learned too late.
Walking back to the campsite, Luke called everyone to him.
“Listen up, folks. We got lucky this morning when the bandits found a trip line. Luck was needed since the man on guard duty fell asleep and was killed.” Several women gasped. “In the future, if you are on guard duty, you cannot fall asleep because if you do, you or your fellow travelers can die. Any questions?” Nobody had any. “Then let us pack and get going.”
The twins had looted the dead bandits. Aside from a few coins, cheap armor, and swords, they didn’t find much on them. The armor and swords were so bad that the twins didn’t bother keeping them. As everyone was packing, Luke tracked the bandits back until he found their horses. Unlike the armor, the horses were of good quality, so Luke took them back and put them aboard a boat. To keep them happy, he removed their saddles and gave each of them a bucket of oats.
Before they left, Luke untied the boatmen and put them back on their boats so they could guide them down the Rhine. Luke planned on returning their boats to them at Schaffhausen.
It was a pleasant trip down the river, and everyone was happy that they were not riding in the wagons. At Schaffhausen, everyone disembarked with the horses and wagons. Luke didn’t pay the boatmen a penny and took back the downpayment, explaining they lost their pay when they tried to ambush the group. Although unhappy, the boatmen headed upriver as messing with Luke’s group wasn’t worth it anymore. Mostly, they were glad to escape with their lives.
In the town, Luke sold more spoils and bought additional food. He still came out ahead and had more room in the wagons. With the wagons lightened, the group was able to make better time as they traveled along the roads to Basel. Luke didn’t feel like hiring riverboats because there were too many waterfalls between Schaffhausen and Basel that it would take twice as long to constantly load and unload the wagons.
It took four days to make the trip to Basel, mainly because the roads were curvy and generally terrible. Once again, any bandits in the area stayed clear of them. They arrived in Basel just before a severe storm that uprooted many trees, blocking the roads out of Basel.
Seeing an opportunity, Luke sold all but four of their wagons and most of the horses to the townspeople to aid in cleanup. Also, three-quarters of the remaining group decided to stay in Basel instead of going further downriver. Before leaving, Luke gave each of them a small bag of coins to aid them in re-establishing their lives, with each bag holding almost three years’ pay.
With only ten people left in the group, buying passage to the North Sea became much easier. They were able to get everything comfortably onto one boat, and the boatman told them it would take approximately ten days to reach the settlement of Rotta at the mouth of the Rhine River. Rotta was the settlement that would one day become Rotterdam in Luke’s universe.
Everything was smooth for the first few days, but a new problem arose when they arrived in Strassburg. This problem took the form of Tuija going into labor. This time, her water broke as she moved a moderately heavy chest out of her way.
Morvarid knew what was happening since she had just gone through the same thing. She rushed to Tuija, beating Zeva by only a few steps. Together, the women had Tuija lying down and covered with a blanket so Zeva could check her while maintaining her modesty. The boatman began to panic, but Luke calmed him down by asking him to stop in Strausburg. The boatman was happy to do this, especially when Luke gave him some money so he could go into town and have fun.
With the boatman gone, the women rearranged the blankets to form a temporary room for Tuija. While the women fussed over Tuija, Luke kept guard. To avoid being seen, he hid in one of the two wagons on the boat where he could watch the pier and have a clean shot if required.
Luke kept an ear on the women throughout the day as he watched the pier. Aside from regular traffic, the dock was quiet, which was how Luke liked it. The quiet ended just after sunset when the drunks came out. While not a pointed threat, they were still a threat.
The women got the drunks’ attention when Tuija screamed during a powerful contraction. Hearing women, several drunks headed toward the boat. Luke moved out of the wagon and stood at the end of the gangplank with his arms crossed and feet at shoulder width apart.
“Get out of our way,” slurred the leading drunk.
“Why don’t you try to make me?”
“Gladly.”
The drunks tried to charge up the gangplank, but with Luke guarding the other end, they didn’t have much chance of getting aboard. The lead drunk was dealt with by one of Luke’s powerful fists and went arse over teakettle off the gangplank into the river. Seeing what happened to the first one up the plank, the remaining drunks pulled their knives.
With the addition of knives, the fight became much more serious, and Luke was forced to resort to deadly force. Instead of a knife, Luke drew his swords. The more sober drunks realized far too late that the fight had just become far deadlier as Luke’s draw revealed he knew what he was doing. When he drew his swords, one came out in a sweeping motion that took one of the drunks’ hands off. The drunk who lost his hand began screaming from the pain, and the others charged.
Luke had no problems with fighting off the drunks, killing all of them within a minute of them trying to climb the gangplank. With no other drunks willing to try his chances, Luke grabbed a bucket and washed off the gangplank. Thankfully, there was enough current to wash the men’s bodies away.
After cleaning up, Luke returned to his guard spot, but not before checking on Tuija. She was covered in sweat, and her hair was a complete mess, but she never looked more beautiful to Luke. He wiped the sweat off her forehead and kissed her on the lips. Luke’s kiss helped Tuija to relax and feel better about herself, while Luke’s calm demeanor stemmed Tuija’s fears.
Luke moved back into his guard post and resumed watch. Within half an hour, Tuija’s labor sped up as it was time to push. As Tuija cursed up a storm, Zeva and the midwife assisted with the birth. With two women between Tuija’s legs, Guzal held one of her hands while Morvarid held the other. Meanwhile, Gemma cradled Tuija’s head while Clara played the gofer. From the wagon, Luke chuckled as he learned some new swear words.
Finally, after a struggle of 14 hours, a baby’s red hair emerged, followed by the rest of its body. It was a redheaded boy that Tuija named Daniel MacDougall. Luke watched Tuija hold the child to her breasts for his first feeding while Luke paused to consider how lucky he was. So far, all his children had survived birth and, to his knowledge, were all still alive, as the only child he lost was his adopted daughter.
With the baby delivered, it was time to renew their journey. For the night, however, everyone settled down to get some sleep. When the sun rose the following morning, Luke noticed their boatman wasn’t back yet, so he went to find him. With the women having firearms, he knew they were more than capable of defending themselves.
Luke checked the entire town, but to his dismay, he couldn’t find their boatman. What he found was that the last time the boatman was seen was in the presence of four other men who were drinking heavily, and the boatman was bragging about the rich women he was transporting. It wasn’t hard to determine what had happened when Luke heard that. The boatman had been among the drunks he had killed the night before.
With no reason to stay and every reason to leave, Luke hurried back to the boat, only to find some of the town watch standing at the foot of the gangplank and his women on the boat end. Being in a hurry, Luke strode up to the men.
“What are you two doing here?” Luke growled.
“The master of this boat is missing, and the mayor is interested in knowing why. He has no desire to annoy the boatmen’s guild.”
“Well, obviously, he isn’t here, so why don’t you go look for him.” Without giving them time to think, Luke banged their heads together, and they fell into a lump. “Hurry up! Get those ropes free.” Luke commanded as he ran up the gangplank and turned to pull it in while the women untied the ropes holding the boat to the dock.
“Luke, what’s wrong?” asked Morvarid.
“Our boatman was one of the drunks I killed last night. It was so damn dark that it was impossible to see their faces. Now the authorities are looking for him as well, and since I’m sure none of us want to be tortured, we need to get out of here.”
The widows grabbed poles to push the boat into the river while Luke used the tiller to help steer. As they moved into mid-river, more soldiers arrived at the dock. Seeing his chance to stop their pursuit before it could begin, Luke took a rifled musket and shot a chicken on the pier. As he figured, that was enough to convince the soldiers that Luke wasn’t worth chasing.
Once they were safe, Luke released the breath he didn’t know he was holding and settled into steering the boat. Although it wasn’t powered, it wasn’t much different for Luke than steering one of his old boats with outboard motors. Thankfully, the town guard didn’t pursue Luke, and they were able to make good time down the river.
The next place Luke stopped was at the village of Mannheim. He hadn’t realized how small the large city he knew in the 21st century was in the 11th. But thankfully, there was enough food in the market for everyone. Luke supplemented their food with fish he caught from the river.
They only spent a few hours in Mannheim before they pushed their boat back into the river and resumed their trip. To make the trip safer, they traveled only during daylight hours and set up a simple camp on the riverbank each night.
The next stop for the group was the corner in the river at Mainz. Unlike Mannheim, Mainz was already a city and had a decent population. It had something for Zeva, too, as the city had a respectable Jewish population. Since Zeva was a beautiful woman, single male Jews flocked to her within minutes of the boat docking in the city. Additionally, the money Luke would give Zeva would provide a substantial dowry to secure almost any husband.
“What should I do, Luke?”
“Only you can answer that. Do you want to stay here or travel to Britain? Britain also has a sizeable Jewish population, but you would need to learn English.” Zeva sighed.
“I don’t know what to do.”
“We can stay for a few days if you want time.”
“No. You need to get back to your family. I don’t have one to get back to.” Luke kissed the top of her head.
“Well, if you change your mind, let me know.” Zeva smiled up at Luke.
“Thank you, Luke.”
Luke and Zeva stuck together as they shopped, helping each other keep an eye out for needed foodstuffs. There was no question that Zeva was a Jew or that Luke wasn’t. As they were finishing their shopping, an old man approached them and began screaming. Luke and Zeva looked at each other in confusion. Since they had already sent most of their purchases back to the boat, all Zeva had was a basket.
The man before them was the leading rabbi in the city and a student of the late Rabbi Gershom ben Judah. In the 30 years since Gershom died, the rabbi had become more radical in his views and proposed keeping Jews and Gentiles completely separate in society. Therefore, it infuriated him to see Zeva with Luke.
Eventually, Zeva figured out what the man was so furious about and determined the best way to get rid of him was to give him a heart attack. To that end, she put the basket down to use both hands to grab Luke’s face and pull him down. As soon as his lips were in range, she planted a profoundly passionate kiss on them.
Luke was stunned but soon picked her up by grabbing her rump, causing her to squeal into his mouth. Their kiss further heated up when Zeva poked her tongue between Luke’s lips. Luke returned the favor after using his tongue to massage hers. All the kissing had a profound effect below Luke’s belt, and Zeva felt his cock pressing against her crotch. ‘Damn, if this is what sex is about, what am I waiting for?’ Zeva thought. She had been raped by the monks before her attempted execution, but feeling Luke’s power and passion, her loins became inflamed.
Eventually, the pair came up for air, and the rabbi exploded. He was so furious that his face was bright red, and spittle flew from his mouth as he tried to talk. Zeva looked at Luke and rolled her eyes before glancing at the furious man. Luke got the idea and turned to the man. He placed his massive left hand on the man’s shoulder to steady him. Then Luke’s massive right fist hit the man in the nose, snapping his head back. His eyes rolled back in his head, and he collapsed.