Chiara – Revenge and Triumph (76 page)

The crowd broke into cheers.

"The fight with Sanguanero is not over yet. We must still take the keep, where the steward and five of his men have taken refuge. And when the Santa Caterina returns from piracy, we have to take that ship too, including their master. And for that I need your full cooperation."

A low murmur swept through the crowd.

"There are twenty-four experienced fighters on that ship, in addition to the coward Sanguanero. We will only have one chance. We must not fail. Nor can we expect to get help from the Governor of Elba. We must do it by ourselves. Therefore, everything needs careful planning as well as complete secrecy. It must not become known outside Nisporto that I have retaken the castle. If the crew of the Santa Caterina gets wind of it, we lose the advantage of surprise. And a plan can only be successful if everybody follows my orders strictly and without questions or else it may put everything in jeopardy. You may think how can a young woman be in charge of a fight where some men may die?" She paused for effect. "Battles are not won by physical strength, or big muscles, but by having a good leader with a good plan, by cunning, by surprising the enemy, and by courage. I have all of that.

"For the next ten days, I expect every able-bodied man, and I hope many courageous young women to practice for that battle."

These last words were met by renewed cheers of "Lady Chiara".

"And now, I ask all of you, except all men willing and able to fight to return to your homes. Do the urgent work you planned to do over the next few days right away. You may not find time later on. Also, as you might know, unfortunately the castle kitchen has been destroyed by fire. There is no food for the servants. So organize to feed them. And remember, secrecy is of utter importance!"

Some people heeded her call, others lingered on. Luca’s men were congregating next to the castle entrance. She went to them.

"Luca, will you point out to the people that cooperation means following orders and requests, even simple ones like going home."

He hurried to the center of the courtyard. "People, Lady Chiara asked for your cooperation. She asked you to go home and do your urgent work. Why are you still staying around here?"

That seemed to have the desired effect. The stragglers hurried away, leaving only about four dozen men, a few in their mid-teens and a dozen with grey hair.

She now addressed them. "Men, as you have heard, this fight isn’t over yet. We still have to take the men in the keep, and as long as Sanguanero and the crew of the Santa Caterina have not been captured, Nisporto is not safe. I have a plan to take each, but for that plan to succeed I must rely on your absolute obedience. Last night, one of the men went against my strict orders and that’s why we now have the steward and his men holed up in the keep, that’s why part of the inside of the castle has been badly damaged by the fire they lit." Again she paused. "Nothing of this sort must ever happen again. If you’re not willing to follow my orders, then I don’t want you with me. You’ll be of no help. You’ll only endanger the rest. You may go back to your farms and tend to your things."

She let her gaze slowly sweep around, trying to meet the eyes with each man. Most of them looked at the ground.

"Look me in the eyes so I can see that you are with me."

She let her gaze again roam from man to man. Some averted their eyes after briefly meeting hers, other held hers, except for one young man who kept his head lowered. She took two steps toward him.

"What’s your name?"

He briefly looked up and replied: "Carlo."

"Carlo, why do you avoid looking at me? Would you rather not be here? Nobody will force you, nor will I hold it against you."

Another young man cheered: "He is afraid of girls."

She locked eyes with the interjector, a hard expression on her face. After a second or two, he lowered his head, turning red.

"Please, my Lady, I want to help!" Carlo said softly.

"Good." She again addressed all of them. "Over the coming weeks or two I will call on all of you to prepare for the tasks ahead. Right now I only want the twelve that Luca has assigned for duty today. The others now go home and also do all urgent work. You will not find much time later on." She turned to Luca. "Luca, you and the eight of this night are now ordered to eat and sleep and to be back by the hour of dusk."

* * * 

While four stood guard, the others were put to work for the coming night’s assault. Their task, to search for straight green rods and shape them into arrows. She planned to smoke the fellows in the keep out, even if it meant to burn the wooden platforms of the four levels.

Then she placed herself in full view of the keep and called the steward’s name. He responded after the third call, not showing his face.

"Get lost before Signor Sanguanero and his crew crack your heads."

"Ser Molina, I’m Chiara da Narni, the owner of Castello Nisporto —"

"Casa Sanguanero owns Nisporto. You injured one of my men—"

"I did more than that. I caught the two found down by Rio Marina trying to rape the daughter of one of my tenants and killed them on the spot." He shouted again, but she continued. "Do not interrupt me. What I have to say, I will say once only. I have the documents to prove that I’m the master of Nisporto, whereas your master is only a common criminal, accused of attempted murder. I have nothing against you. I offer you your life. If you and your men surrender, I will guarantee to hand you over unharmed to the Governor of Elba. If you don’t, I decline any responsibility for what will happen to you and your men. I know all the secrets of this castle. You’ve already seen how easily I got armed men into the grounds. If you haven’t discovered yet, I’ve cut your water supply. I could simply let you die of thirst, but I’m an impatient woman. So I’ll give you until tonight to come out voluntarily. Mark my words, it will be hell after that for you and your men."

"Go to hell, you whore! You’ll never get us," came his angry reply.

She retreated away from the firing slits. Angela was just riding over the drawbridge with a second horse in tow. She slid off the horse, bashfully adjusted her skirt, and again unsuccessfully curtsied. Holding a bundle, she said: "Lady Chiara, here are your things."

"Thank you, Angela," she answered smiling, taking the bag from the girl. "You don’t have to curtsy to me; you can show respect even without that. And how are you?"

"Fine, my Lady. Thank you."

"Could you sleep last night?"

"I could have, but I was so worried about father … and I didn’t want anything happening to you. I prayed much of the night." A little smile lit up her face. "That is, until I fell asleep."

Chiara chuckled.

"Lady Chiara, I want to help. You said you needed help. Please, let me help. My father said it was fine with him."

"Thank you, Angela. You were the first to help me and have helped me again by bringing the horses, and I’ll think of some other ways. In fact, you could take the horses down to the stables and let the stable hands look after them, and I’ll be looking for you tomorrow morning."

After eating some of the food left in her bag, she told her men that she was going to rest for a few hours and that she wanted to be woken if anything happened. She started going into the castle and then stopped in disgust. She would not be able to sleep there until everything had been thoroughly cleaned. Instead, she withdrew into a safe corner of the garden, spread out the cassock and lay down on it. The two dogs immediately joined her, keeping her warm.

* * * 

At sundown, Chiara was again in the garden, hailing the steward.

"Ser Molina, the time has come. What’s your answer?"

"Go to hell." This time he showed his head. "You’ll never get us and when the Santa Caterina returns, Signor Sanguanero will make short shrift of you and your rabble."

"Have a good night, Ser Molina, if you can."

She assigned Luca and five men to be ready at the keep entrance.

"Luca, you’re in charge here. None are to get away alive, but if they surrender, don’t harm them. Put them into irons. There should be a dozen or so in the armory."

In a corner of the castle hidden from the keep, the others set up four dozen arrows, each with a thick woollen piece of cloth securely attached to its tip, half of them soaking in a jar of lamp oil. Each knew exactly his task. When the moon illuminated the upper part of the keep, she brought out glowing pieces of small peat squares from the kitchen. Then she started her attack. She whistled sharply. This was her signal for Luca’s men to bang kitchen cauldrons to the keep entrance, the racket intended to hide any noise her arrows would make when they landed at her targets.

She sent five arrows with the soaked cloth into the second level firing slit in quick succession. One missed. The sixth had a glowing peat square on its tip. It ignited the oil, as she fired the arrow. A second later she saw yellow flames flare up inside. She followed this up with another half dozen arrows with soaked cloth. She whistled again, the signal for Luca to stop the noise, replaced now by the screams and swearing from the keep. Her next set of arrows were aimed at the top window, but this time all of them were ablaze. Somebody tried to throw a burning flare from the window and was hit by her next arrow. She saw his hair catch fire, followed by bloodcurdling screams. She sent another half dozen unlit arrows up. Both the top and the second level were now fully ablaze.

She halted her assault and shouted in her loudest voice: "Come out, or I’ll set the bottom level on fire and you’ll all burn to death."

"Halt it, please, halt it, we’re coming out." It was not the steward’s voice.

"Then open up," she replied and ran to the keep entrance.

A moment later the thick granite slab of the hole moved slowly aside. Several heads appeared.

"Lady, you promised not to kill us," one of them said.

"I promised to hand you over safely to the Governor of Elba to answer for any crimes you’ve committed. Now, lower the ladder and come down, one at a time. And don’t try anything silly. I can kill a man at ten paces with a knife and I’ve got four of them ready."

The ladder slid down and the first man scrambled down. When the second wanted to follow right away, she called out: "Wait until I say."

The first man was already in leg and hand irons. Four more came down, each one received by Luca’s men. The last one had a bloody bandaged, covering half his face.

"Where is Ser Molina?"

"Dead, burned dead," the one who had spoken before muttered and then pleaded: "Lady, you’ll protect us from the tenants. We only did what Molina ordered us to do."

"And did he order you to rape girls and women?"

The fellow lowered his head muttering: "He didn’t forbid it either."

"Then, if you did, you may have to answer for that." She turned to Luca. "Luca, go and restore the water supply. Maybe we can save at least part of the keep."

An hour later, the fires were out. She inspected the four levels. While the damage on the second was small, the floor of the top level was beyond repair. It needed to be replaced.

9

Castello Nisporto, February 1351

A week after the tribunal’s verdict, I was back in charge of my castle and my lands, although parts of the house, the kitchen, the two rooms above it, and the keep, were badly damaged by fire, and all because one overeager tenant wanted to be brave. Looking back, I am glad that Niccolo Sanguanero decided to go on one of his pirating sallies, leaving only a handful of guards with the steward. Taking both the castle and the Santa Caterina with the undisciplined tenants at the same time could have turned out badly. But with most of his men gone, the castle fell quickly to my stealth and cunning.

We had about eight days to prepare for the next battle. I drilled my men mercilessly, some to become top marksmen with the crossbow, all proficient with the pike, heavy poles and the axe. We practiced setting a trap for Niccolo on his return to the castle and taking the ship by stealth. Each man knew exactly what his role was. And foremost of all, I made sure that all accepted me as their leader and followed my orders without question. I could not afford another mishap. Fortunately, there were still a few tenants who had been trained by my father and who helped drilling the others.

With all these activities, the restoration of the castle had to wait. However, the servants and four tenant girls and women, thoroughly cleaned every room, all walls, floors, windows, doors, furniture, and washed all bed linen, curtains, and the few wall hangings left. They cleaned and aired out all the horsehair mattresses of the second level bedrooms. Niccolo’s belongings, those of his steward and his men, except for weapons, I gave to Luca, the faithful tenant who had been one of my father’s most trusted, for distribution to those who suffered worst under the steward’s harsh rule.

They also started putting order back into the garden, removing weeds and nursing along neglected plants.

I almost moved back into my old room, and then decided to use my father’s. It asserted that I was now the master of Castello Nisporto.

* * * 

"Aldo, give me that pole," Chiara said to the youth who was practicing with Cola, the man who had ruined her plan that first night.

He passed her the pole rather reluctantly.

"Now watch…. Cola, I want no quarters given, neither will I."

He rushed her, brandishing his pole. She stepped aside at the last moment, brought the end of her pole down between his legs and he crashed heavily into the grass. At Aldo’s exclamation "Madonna!", the other fourteen pairs stopped and watched, coming closer.

"Now, Cola, be more careful."

This time he engaged her in the traditional way, thrust, block, blow, block. She had done this sort of play fight many times on stage. Rather than remain on the defensive, she now increased the tempo, going faster and faster. Cola began to breathe hard, barely able to keep up. His blows and thrusts lacked power. She feigned a thrust from the left, and when he committed himself, switched to the right, hit the pole out of his right hand, and followed her manoeuver up with a blow to the head, softening its impact as much as she could, but she was certain that it hurt badly nonetheless. She could not help feeling satisfaction, like punishing him for his disobedience.