Chapter 24: Politics

More people had been showing up the whole time. While the two pirate inspectors were reporting to Joshua, a tall and attractive blonde woman pushed to the front, followed by a shorter heavier-set woman. They entered into conference with Joshua. He soon turned and introduced the two as King Tom’s wife Queen Eleanor and her advisor Lady Philipmina, saying that any messages for King Tom, no matter how private, could be given to them and they would be passed on.

“Ladies, does King Tom ever go out looking for particular people who don’t seem to fit in well?”

The tall queen answered. “Yes, King Tom and his friends Sir Tony and Lord Paul often go looking for women from Cassandra. Is that what you mean?”

“Yes, exactly. I have found one such woman, and I would like to turn her over to them before she gets lost again.”

“Can you not take care of her yourself?”

“No, I cannot.”

“Well, we would not want to imprison her, but if she wishes to stay with us she may.”

I turned to Jono. “Go get Donna.”

They returned in just a minute. I could hear the murmurs from the crowd. “A cockburner!”

I pointed at the tall blonde. “That tall lady there claims to be King Tom’s wife. If you want to stay here with them you can.”

“Where is King Tom? Is he here? And, shouldn’t it really be you who gets the credit for rescuing me?”

“Well, perhaps, but I can’t.” I waved my left hand sans ring at her, then turned back to the ladies. “Do we know where King Tom is, or when he will be back?”

“No. He comes and goes. We cannot tell when he will be back.”

To Donna “You would be safe here with them.”

“I don’t think of myself as a shipment to be stored and delivered. I’m here for adventure and a baby. Are you ever going back to Crossroads and Earth?”

“I wasn’t planning on it, but if you stay with me I’ll probably have to.”

“Then I’ll stay with you until we meet another Hero who can bring us both back.”

“But then how do I get back here again?”

“I don’t know. As long as I get my baby I get to say ‘That’s your problem!’”

“Thanks. Thanks a lot! You do know that I have a wife here, and she is expecting a child?”

“Are you supposed to do that? I thought that Heros weren’t supposed to do that with the women here.”

“You’re right, Heros are not supposed to do that, but I’m not a Hero. I’m an edge case. I can if I want to.” I hoped.

Back to the big picture. “Joshua! What are we doing here? Can I release the pirate’s captives here? Can my men walk around and get something to eat and drink? Can we buy supplies here?”

“We’ll need to inspect your cargo as you offload it, and assess your taxes on it.”

“I think we’re back to not communicating again. We have no cargo. This is not a trading ship. It is a warship. All it does is catch pirate ships. We have supplies for our men, but no cargo to sell. If you have a reasonable port charge I’ll pay that, but I’m not unloading anything except some people we’ve released from pirate captivity.”

Joshua went back to his conference with the queen and her advisor, and eventually we got permission for no more than eight of us at a time to leave the ship, in groups no larger than four. We would be shadowed by the town’s guard.

I specifically asked that the good sergeant be assigned to other duties, as I had no doubt that he’d be picking a fight the first chance he got. That, of course, would expand into a full-fledged battle in the streets as crew and guard took sides.

Joshua promised that he would be assigned to the next patrol leaving to ride along the roads, escorting farmers, merchants, and other travelers to the next town. After clarification that he was going inland as we were going to Small Cove next and didn’t want to run into him again, we agreed that someone could come onboard and inspect our non-existent cargo and then we could go ashore.

Jono had the numbers immediately at hand. There were 68 souls onboard. For officers we had me, Jono, and Michael. Donna, Ceecee, Aldo the ship’s boy and Ron the cook were considered staff. Besides us seven ‘idlers’ we had onboard 18 seamen, four shield-men, eight archer/spearmen, ten artillerymen, and almost 30 freed captives. Donna, two of our seamen, and eight or nine others scattered through our ‘fleet’ had also been captives, of course.

About a dozen of our rescuees wanted to leave immediately. I gave each one a pair of shells to tide them over until they found work, or at least room and board, and wished them good luck in their future. And wondered how long any of them would be able to keep their money.

I was invited, along with Donna and my choice of companions, to dine with Joshua, Eleanor, and Philipmina. Politically, it seemed more like an order than an invitation so I agreed immediately.

I told Jono that he could send Michael out with a small crew to get supplies, or he could wait until we returned and then go himself if he thought that better. No one else was to go ashore until we were sure they would be treated as friends, and no more than two locals at a time were to come onboard.

We talked about that some, with the local VIPs listening in. The town ended, and the ship started, at the gangplank. Any attempt by anyone to force their way onto the ship should be warned off, and if the warning was ignored they had my orders to defend the ship.

That did NOT mean kill everyone they could and chase the survivors through the city if someone yelled an insult. It DID mean that, if they were attacked, they should kill everyone bearing weapons within bow range of the ship. Try to use your judgment; if a man throws a rock then have an archer shoot him. If a child throws a rock, don’t shoot the child. Shoot the nearest adult, who should have prevented it.

I had Garth and Jen come over and asked which of them wanted to go see the town’s artillery if it was allowed. Both of them grinned. They looked at each other, and finally Garth said “Take the boy. I’ll be fine here, looking after our launchers.” Sure.

I asked Jono to send a boat out to our other ships, telling them what was going on, and ended up taking Donna, Jen, and one of the shield men with me, just to make it a little bit harder for someone to get away with causing trouble. Yes, it was one who I just happened to know had a wife and children waiting for him, back at Widemouth. Hopefully she was waiting for him like Millie was waiting for me.

There was a walk from the pier where we were berthed up to the town proper. Queen Eleanor and her advisor acted as tour guides, while a dozen or so of the local soldiers surrounded us and kept trouble away. Not that there was any trouble; it was clear that both women were very well regarded by the townspeople.

We did walk past a couple of catapults. Jen understood them very well, as he had helped build them in Widemouth and had served as crew for one of the trebuchets during the pirate battle. We could see a couple trebuchets, too, but we didn’t go near them.

As we walked, the queen asked me “I suspect that you may know more than I do about where my husband goes when he leaves.”

Ah, yes. “That is true, I am from the same place, but I am only a trainee, an apprentice. I am not yet allowed to go out on my own to do our work. I am supposed to be helping my friend Eric, but he finished his task and asked me to stay at Widemouth and help the town fight against the pirates.”