Elementary by Mercedes Lackey Read Free Book Online Page A

practice of the true Catholic faith to England. And of course, to avenge the bold attack of the previous year, when the Englishman Drake had managed the destruction of some of the first ships of the Armada gathered in the port of Cadiz.
    â€œSurely they are not still in port!” protested another of the sailors. “They must have been out to sea long before this.”
    â€œThe scout ship took up a fisherman, and he said that their ships were still in the harbor, there being no wind to bring them out against the tide.”
    â€œBut are not their ships able to make use of the faintest of winds?”
    The oarsman snorted. “They still need some breeze to fill their sails, however fast their ships may be once they have it.” He gestured to the lower decks of the
San Lorenzo
. “They have not your oars to carry them forward despite a calm.” Those oars were what set the
galleas
apart—with the sails of a galleon and the oars of a galley, the
San Lorenzo
and her three sister ships could use either to close with the enemy’s ships.
    â€œDoes the Duke then expect a sea battle soon? Are we not to go straight up the Channel to Flanders?” asked another decksman.
    â€œPerhaps. If it comes to that, I only hope those prancing soldiers with their fancy clothing and private servants prove their worth when we grapple the heretics,” the oarsman snarled. The decksmen responded in a chorus of embittered agreement, as all of them had suffered the injustice of the preferential treatment given to the soldiers and their officers. Rodrigo let his attention drift away from the complaints of the underfed and underpaid. He wondered, not for the first time, if the English were such heretics as the
capelán
had claimed them to be. Was not Don Ruarte himself engaged in what was said to be heresy? Or was it only heresy to be an opponent of the Spanish crown?
    Â â€¢Â â€¢Â â€¢Â 
    July 31, 1588
    When morning arrived, the sails of the English were clearly seen to the west, following the Armada’s progress into the Channel. The ship’s boy piped “All Hands,” and Rodrigo and the men of his deck watch stayed at their positions, joined by both the men of the next watch and those of the previous, whose bleary eyes revealed their shortened rest. All traces of night hammocks and personal belongings of the sailors and soldiers who slept above-decks were quickly secured below, clearing the decks for whatever battles might come.
    The
galleasses
had been assigned to the center of the
lunula
, the crescent formation the Armada had taken, where their heavy
canone
could protect the slower, more lightly armed cargo ships. From the
San Lorenzo
’s deck, Rodrigo could clearly see the long stretch of the horns of the
lunula
to the north and south.
    He could also see the English fleet ranked to the west. In the night, they must have tacked dangerously close to shore in order to come around behind the Spanish fleet, so that the wind now favored them. One of the smaller English ships advanced toward the center of the crescent, fired a single shot, then brought her sail around and retreated to rejoin the ranks of the English fleet. From the Spanish soldiers on the gundecks below came angry shouts responding to the challenge of that defiant shot, even though the English were far beyond hailing distance. Rodrigo’s stomach turned and tightened as he stood with his deckmates, their hands ready to pull the lines of the sails, ears straining to hear above the sound of wind and wave, waiting, all eyes on the ships slowly approaching the southern vanguard.
    Making every use of the winds behind them, the line of English ships passed behind the trailing curve of the
lunula
, each ship firing in turn as she passed first the southern vanguard, then the northern rearguard. Even from the distance, the roar of the
canone
rang across the seas to thunder in Rodrigo’s bones. At the first volley, he