Four days ago, just when they were nearing Dynize, an immense gale had scattered his fleet. Dozens of transports and their heavily armed escorts had been caught up in the storm. When it finally passed, the Seaward had found itself all alone and blown a couple hundred miles north of their rendezvous point on the Dynize shore. Styke had no way of knowing how many of the ships had been lost, or how badly they’d been dispersed. He didn’t know if half of his Lancers had drowned, or been dashed against the shore, or if his entire army of twenty-five hundred cavalry had already landed and was waiting impatiently for him to arrive. Regardless, the Seaward sailed south at speed, hoping to make up for lost time and avoid any Dynize warships along the way.
"Four days ago, just when they were nearing Dynize". After that they have used, "an immense gale had scattered his fleet". Instead of "an immense gale scattered his fleet. And then they have used "had" again and again. Why is that so?
