Chapter 47

We sailed from Oak Hall five days later, weighing anchor just before dusk.

It had taken that long to unload all the vessels that had participated in the expedition to Indigo and to store the foodstuff for later distribution. Priority was given to the Windrunner and the other vessels earmarked to go with me on the raid on Minos. Once a vessel was unloaded it was provisioned out for the raid and then handed over to Elsa's technicians. This small group of technical experts installed the CB radios and their hardware on the designated vessels, along with their improvised charging systems for the batteries. Fortunately they had found three mountain bikes mounted on the back of a SUV that I'd rescued earlier in the week and with the permission of the former owners, they had cannibalized them to make the needed charging systems.

As for myself, I stayed close to Oak Hall just in case I was needed. It didn't mean that I let up on the other networks during that time, but it did mean that I needed to delegate any rescues to other people. Thankfully there were plenty of volunteers who were willing to take over from me while I focused on preparing for the raids. In those five days we rescued two hundred and ten men, women, and children and added another twenty vehicles to our growing collection. Most of them were personal vehicles which were of limited use to our community but the way I saw it, they were of more use to us than to anyone else and eventually we would find something to do with them all. In addition to the vehicles recovered by my volunteers we also received two more vehicles claimed by Rory and Zahra and their expedition. The first was an ambulance, which had ended up ploughing into a rock outcropping upon its arrival on Game World. The whole front end had been crushed and the vehicles crew had been killed instantly. However we got lucky and the emergency equipment in the back of the vehicle and all the non-perishable medical supplies had survived and they became a welcome addition to our growing medical resources. The other vehicle turned out to be another tractor-trailer combination. This time the tractor was hauling a low bed trailer. On the trailer there was a frontend loader. When Elsa spotted that she just beamed with joy.

My party sailed on the Black Dragon this time. Behind us sailed the Windrunner, the two transport biremes, and the refitted Minoan bireme that I had rechristened 'Revenge'. The vessel now had two bow mounted ballistae and a stern mounted one. More importantly it mounted two rocket launchers similar to the one mounted on the Black Dragon. These were stationed directly in front of its main mast. With us we brought three of the smaller craft to be used as support vessels and landing craft. In total we had just over four hundred men and women on our raid.

Sailing at dusk made no sense to anyone except me. I had a reason for doing so and until we had weighed anchor, I had kept it to myself and a handful of lieutenants who needed to know. For the rest of my force the reason came as a big surprise.

The moment that each vessel had cleared the port, the vessel blinked out of existence. Then a second later it blinked into existence along the south-western coast of Minos. It took the crews of our taskforce and our fighting forces by surprise and I ended up chuckling at everyone's reaction. While I'd been making use of the consortium to transport me and my party about Game World for the last couple of weeks, I had not forewarned anyone except a handful of trusted lieutenants of my intent. Everyone had been under the impression that we were going to sail to Minos and then back again once the raid was completed. Well we weren't and hopefully my little ploy would pay off.

The reason that we had appeared to the south of Minos was that the intelligence provided to me by Mai Woo and the consortium showed that many of the great agricultural plantations of Minos were located on the southern coastal plains. It was my intention to raid these plantations and to liberate the slaves that worked them. The added bonus of this location was that there was only one major city on that coast and it was by far the smallest of the six cities that made up the Kingdom of Minos. The city's name was Kenos.

Thankfully, while the method of our transportation to Minos had been kept a secret, nothing else had been. During the five days back in Oak Hall, I had briefed my various lieutenants on what was expected of them and their forces and we had gone over the intelligence in detail so that everyone knew what to do and when to do it. Unlike my previous raid on Minos, this one was planned beyond an idea in my head and very little was left to chance. Thus once everyone got over the surprise of our arrival, people got to work.

We landed our primary strike teams onto a long sandy beach to the south-east of Kenos. They went ashore in the smaller craft that we'd brought along with us. There were three of them and they were commanded by Talbot, Danvers, and Dork. Each man was in charge of fifty fighting men and women who were fully equipped and ready for battle. Every one of them had armour, swords, knives, shields, bows and arrows, and helmets. They also had packs on their backs that contained enough food and water to last five days if necessary and a bedroll. They even carried improvised field dressings with them that had been assembled by Felicity and every one of them had been trained in how to use them.

Their arrival on shore went unopposed or even noticed. While the first two teams headed inland towards the various plantations, the team commanded by Dork headed towards the principal road that ran through the coastal plain and into the mountains. It was Dork's job to control all access into and out of Kenos and the region until we were ready to depart again.

The unfortunate part of commanding the raid was that I actually had to stay with the taskforce and oversee the operation. It wasn't as much fun as it had been the first time around. While the teams slipped into the night, moving as quickly and quietly towards their objectives, I ended up watching their landing from the poop deck of the Black Dragon and standing a watch through the night while our taskforce rode out the night at sea. It was only when dawn broke the next day that I got to have any fun.

Dawn found the taskforce lying off Kenos. Like most cities that I've seen since coming to Game World, the port was their weak spot. Kenos had a large port for a city its size. It had a quay that ran the length of its waterfront and half a dozen jetties where ships could tie up so they could load and unload as needed. To protect it the port had two rock and rubble moles that arced out from either side of the waterfront effectively enclosing the port and protecting it from rough seas and any possible attack. The two moles did not touch and the gap between them was protected by two stone watch towers that served as lighthouses as well as defensive fortifications. Between the two watch towers the Minoans had draped a heavy iron chain that they raised and lowered to let vessels in and out of their port. While technically a good effort on the Minoans part in attempting to defend themselves from potential raiders, the towers were relatively small and they were undermanned and the Minoans had nothing beyond bows and arrows to repel an attack. Personally, I didn't even think they could hold off a determined attack from a band of pirates similarly armed.

Truthfully though, I knew that the fortifications were only a stop gap in the defence of Kenos. The city itself was walled with stone walls that were twenty feet high and the walls had several towers built into them. Even if a raider captured the port and the warehouses that lay about it, they still needed to either breach the gates of the city or the wall and given the level of technology of Game World it was unlikely that the average raider could do that. Unfortunately I wasn't your average raider.

I took on the tower on the left hand side of the gap and sent Tobias and his men to deal with the right hand tower. We headed in on the smaller craft just before dawn, with me commanding forty Wu Chin warriors and my mates and Tobias commanding a force of fifty men and women from Oak Hall. Our arrival did not go unnoticed.

An alarm rang out before we were half way from the larger vessels in our taskforce and the two moles. The watch in the tower on the left rang a bell alerting the other tower and the port and the city of Kenos. That bell was answered by several other bells and soon, with the aid of my spy glass, I could see men scurrying about on the city walls and in the main square that serviced the port. It was obvious that the locals were getting ready to repel us. I just smiled at that and put my spy glass away and then I pointed out where I wanted to land to the helmsman of the craft that was carrying my strike team in.

When we were within twenty feet of the mole the helmsman ordered the rowers to ship oars. They obeyed quickly and efficiently. As they did, a man in the bow pulled out a strong pike to use to keep us from piling into the rocks and boulders that made up the base of the mole. A few seconds later I heard the sound of wood rubbing against stone and then felt our forward motion come to an abrupt halt. As it did, the helmsman turned his tiller-board over and our stern swung inward so that we came to rest parallel to the mole. At that point a pair of men leapt over the gunnels and onto the rocks. In their hands they held ropes tied to stanchions on the craft. With these men holding the craft to the mole, my strike force quickly disembarked.

We'd landed roughly half way down the mole, well out of bow range from the tower. I immediately stationed a rearguard to protect us from the landward side and then I started forward towards our target. I took with me only my mates and ten men knowing full well that there weren't that many defenders in the tower. As we got closer, the archers in the tower started firing at us. Their first few flights were blown off target by the morning breeze and the couple after that fell short. I just smiled at that and told my mates and men to not reply. Instead I brought up my shield and pressed forward.

Eventually the archers started hitting their mark. Unfortunately for them, my shield easily deflected any arrows targeted at me and my mates. My mates, who were similarly armoured, were impervious to the arrows shot at us as well, so long as they kept their heads down and their shields up. As for the Wu Chin soldiers, their shields worked just as well as mine.

It didn't take us long to get within range of the tower and when we did, things got very interesting. There was a large door on the side of the tower facing the path along the mole. That door was barred to us and I knew from what intelligence that had been given me that it would take more than just my muscle and strength to open it. Fortunately I had come prepared with a special doorknocker in the form of an improvised satchel charge.

While my mates and my men covered me, I lit the fuse of the charge and then tossed the package the last twenty feet that separated us from the tower. Like always my throw was true and the charge dropped down right beside the door. As it did, I ordered everyone back as quickly but as orderly as possible. We did so without any problems and a second or two later the charge went off. The explosion ripped open the door and sent splinters of wood and pieces of rock into the air. The blast also shocked the men in the tower. A moment later we heard a second explosion just a short distance away and I knew then that Tobias had achieved his objective as well. With that knowledge I drew my longsword and led the charge.

The tower had a barracks in the base of it. When the charge had exploded, every man in it had been left stunned and confused. Our arrival resulted in them being cut down with little effort. I slew the first man I came upon as I entered the structure and by the time I was done with him, I found that my mates and my men had dealt with the rest. With that taken care of, I set people to work. Next to the barracks and overlooking the gap between the two moles was the chain house. It was here that the chain was hauled up and stored when the gap was closed. I quickly dispatched a couple of men to drop the chain while I made my way to the upper level of the tower.

This was achieved through a ladder in the ceiling that led up from the barracks. Of course I wasn't a fool. I knew that the first man to pop his head through the trapdoor at the top of the ladder would get a bang on the head with a warhammer or speared through with a pike and I had no intentions of it happening to me or to anyone with me. Instead I sent one of the Wu Chin warriors up the ladder to affix a small charge to the door and to light the wick. While it burnt down we all crouched against the wall and raised our shields to protect ourselves. It proved a very successful tactic.

When the charge went off I leapt for the ladder and pushed upwards. I was pleased to find that the charge had blown not only the trapdoor away, but it had taken part of the ceiling with it. The resulting gap was large enough for me to thrust my shield ahead of me as I scrambled through the opening. To my surprise I quickly found that my caution hadn't been necessary. Of the four men who'd been on top of the tower, one man had been blown clear off the tower when the charge had gone off and the others had been hit by splinters in their legs and arms and they had been dazed by the blast. I dealt with each of them in succession without too much fuss and then had a quick look about.

Tobias had achieved a similar success at the other tower and I saw him standing at top of the structure waving at me with a grin on his face. I returned his wave and then turned my gaze towards the action that was occurring at the shore side of both moles. The defenders of Kenos had not been resting while we'd worked our way to the towers. They had formed up on the square in the port and they had marched as quickly as possible along the shore and onto the mole with the intention of pinning our forces between themselves and the towers. Unfortunately they had not taken into the account the naval taskforce lying off the mole waiting to enter the port. Either the men who'd attacked Izmir and who'd escaped in the few smaller craft that had avoided the wrath of my taskforce had not returned to Minos or their story of how they were defeated had been ignored. Regardless of the why, I just had to shake my head in disbelief. As the first men of Kenos marched onto the mole, the Windrunner opened up with its ballistae. Fire projectiles rained down on the marching men followed by arrows from the men I had left on the mole to defend us from the shore. The same thing happened on the other mole. The Revenge shelled the men of Kenos with as many fire projectiles as they could deliver in a span of five minutes. The result was horrendous. On both sides the locals turned and ran in panic as they were splattered by burning oil. Some ran into their compatriots and bowled them over. Others dove into the clear waters that lay off the mole, and others died screaming in agony as the fire consumed them. Those that survived retreated in disorder back towards the port and the city where their officers tried to rally them against what was to come next.

At that point the Windrunner came about and headed through the now open gap between the two moles. While Tagus took his ship into the inner harbour of the port, I turned and headed back down the ladder into the tower. There I regrouped with my team and together we hurried down the top of the mole to where the remainder of my force stood guard. While we did this, the Black Dragon slipped through the gap into the inner harbour. As the Windrunner turned to port, the Black Dragon turned towards the starboard and both vessels headed towards the waterfront and the jetties. As they did, the crew of the ships began lobbing fire projectiles again, turning their attention on the main square where the fleeing soldiers of Kenos had been gathering. While their first few shots fell short, the threat proved effective. What order that the local officers had restored amongst their men fell apart within seconds of the first projectile landing on the square and bursting into flames. Everyone broke ranks and ran.

It had taken us fifteen minutes to seize the two towers and to open the inner port to the ships of our taskforce. It took another fifteen minutes for my force and that of Tobias to jog down the length of the mole and around the waterfront to meet our arriving taskforce at the quay. While my team secured the jetties, Tobias and his men fanned out and swept the quay and the adjacent warehouses, taverns, and brothels. Any man found alive within the port was put to the sword unless that man was wearing a slave collar. All slaves and women were rounded up and brought to the quay. That took us another hour.

While that went on, the Windrunner and the Black Dragon found themselves berths along two empty jetties and their crews brought them in and tied them up. That gave me more men to play with and I quickly put them to work checking all the other craft that were tied up in the port with us. While that went on, the Revenge and the other craft in our taskforce made their way into the harbour as well.

There were ten jetties in the harbour and six of them were in use by vessels other than from my taskforce. Three of the vessels were large Minoan transports similar to the vessels we had captured off the coast of Izmir. There were also four smaller craft similar to the White Dove tied up, and to my surprise a xebec. The Minoan vessels were abandoned by their crews. We found them in various stages of loading and unloading. Most were laden with foodstuff although one carried copper ore. As for the xebec, my men found its crew huddled in their rowing stations when they boarded it. Naturally I got called to have a look when the section leader leading the boarding party realized that the ship was not Minoan and that the captain of the vessel didn't speak trade talk.

It didn't take long to sort matters out. The vessel, The Red Lotus, was out of the port of Ramos. From the intelligence provided me by Victoria and company I knew that Ramos was a major port on the Nile River. Having no desire to cause any difficulties with another city state or kingdom I made a deal with the vessel's captain. He and his crew could sail immediately if he so desired; all he needed to do was leave behind his money chest. As you'd expect, the man didn't object and half an hour later the xebec was out of port and I was back to dealing with taking Kenos. As for the other vessels tied up at the piers, I claimed them all and as I did, one by one they disappeared, bound for Oak Hall as prizes for the alliance.