Legends Never Die (Ahistorical/CKIII Gamer)
- Thread starter Ideas-Guy
- Start date
I know it wont happen but it would neat to see him defect
If he defects his family will be killed and his mother/sisters sold into slavery (Though as fellow Muslims they can't do that when is that going to stop the Caliph without a powerful imam/sheik to criticize him) so no defecting he loves his family too much for that.
Refugee in Audacity
- Location
- USA
Disembarking was a long and time consuming affair. The settlement of Fajr was in good order, as it had been when Hadi left it some months ago. Five thousand men remained in it to secure their foothold, and they welcomed their countrymen with open arms. Hadi found himself rather busy taking stock of the situation -- collecting spy reports that had yet to be sent to him, inspecting the damage that the fire ship had done to their fleet, and steeling himself for everything to come.
The damage done to the fleet was severe, but it could have been worse. A dozen ships were burnt, and they lost around two thousand men. A harsh number, but their forces were more than replenished by the soldiers holding Fajr. The greater issue was the loss of the horses. While their army was not particularly reliant on cavalry, it was still a great inconvenience -- of the twenty-three thousand men, only four thousand were cavalry, with around five hundred of them being scouts. However, they lost a great many horses. Enough so that of the four thousand, only one in eight had a horse.
Food was a similar issue, but less so. An army of over twenty thousand men ate truly staggering amounts of food a day, and while they had brought a significant amount with them -- hard bread, salted meat, oats, barley, and grain -- the loss of a single supply ship was punishing. Crete lacked plentiful foraging, which meant they would have to turn to fishing to help keep the army fed. By Hadi's calculations, they had enough food for about two weeks, a fair amount of time given that it was expected that they would forage.
Once the army was fully disembarked, the ships would return to Acre, filled up with food, and when the army was ready to march, they would then sail into Anatolia. Assuming that everything went to plan, that was.
"What news do you bring us, Lord Hadi?" Prince Harun questioned as they assembled in an upper class house. It wasn't fit to be called a villa or manor, but it was the closest thing they had in the settlement. The war council was fully assembled with the prince seated at the head of the table, Yahya Birkhmid standing to his right while Emir Muhammad was seated at his left. There were other nobility seated between them, but they were of a lesser concern at the moment.
"My prince, Chania has been evacuated -- the inhabitants, the few left, are in Norland. Additionally, a fire ship wasn't all that the Romans saw fit to give them. Norland is reinforced by two thousand levies," Hadi answered, passing the strips of parchment or cloth that the information was written on down. Reinforcements weren't ideal, but it either spoke of the Romans confidence that they sent so few, or their inability to send more. "The walls have been completed, both outer and inner. Furthermore, a ditch has been dug out before the walls. Interestingly, it seems that the slaves taken have been released from their bondage upon completion of the works."
Seigfried didn't trust his slaves, it seemed. A fair concern given that they were former soldiers and their countrymen were here. That being said, Hadi didn't have any expectations for them in battle. Siegfried had given them months of hard labor to build the settlement, and any strength that they had left wouldn't amount to much in battle.
"The reinforcements change nothing. We still outnumber them three to one," Emir Muhammad spoke up, earning some nods. Prince Harun offered nothing in response. "Walls hastily made are flawed. I say that we teach them this -- March our men to this fort, tear down these godless fortifications, while we attack from the sea. The Pagan does not have the numbers to match us." A full assault.
It wasn't a bad plan. It was pretty spot on for what they intended when they first sailed to Norland, but that was before it became a city that was now defended by seven thousand men- Hadi frowned in thought, and to his cursed luck, Prince Harun noticed.
"You disagree?" The prince asked and the Emir looked like he wished he had arms long enough to reach down the table to strangle him.
Hadi didn't particularly care about the war. Win, lose -- it was all the same to him. However, what did concern him rather greatly was the prospect of getting his head ripped off by the Pagan. "My Prince, my lords… Seigfried is a man of action. I have listened closely to the tales, and I have heard second hand accounts of his battles. The information is less ironclad than I would like, but it is enough to establish a pattern… and that pattern is that Siegfried has only twice, fought defensively. The first time, he was but a boy under the command of another, and the second was not of his own volition."
The second time was a worrisome tale -- that he head been trapped by an army several times his size, but he still managed to cut through them to escape.
Emir Muhammad looked at him as if he had grown a second head, "You say he will attack? An army three times his number? When he has walls?" He questioned, playing up his doubts to discredit him. "I can't tell who would be more mad -- the Pagan, or you."
It was incredibly frustrating to admit that he had a point. It was madness to attack an army many times the size of your own when you had a perfectly serviceable defensive position. Only Hadi had studied his enemy, and he had studied him well. Siegfried was an offensive fighter. An aggressive one. He attacked, and when he gave ground, it was to secure a position that would further enable his offensive.
"I do agree with the general sentiment of Emir Muhammad's plan," Hadi said, his tone placating as he swallowed much sharper words. He had an in with the Prince, which was a horrid thought, but if the rest of the lords didn't like him… they could tip the scales against sound advice. Because it didn't matter how sound it was. Prince Harun couldn't alienate most of his supporters as his actions reflected the crown and his family. "We besiege the settlement by land and sea, but we should maintain a reserve in Fajr to secure our food and ships."
The military wasn't all that different from politics, rather unfortunately. It required saying the right things the right way to the right person at the right time. Those out of favor had their voices drowned out, and suffered sabotage when it came to supplies and even orders. So, as much as he would like to scream at the top of his lungs, he had to adapt his approach to the general consensus. He could survive standing out, but he would not survive standing against the will of the nobility.
"However, I would recommend a larger force to remain behind. Say… five thousand men. In addition, I would recommend building up defenses for our camp outside of Norland," he added. The first part was already within expectations, just increasing from two thousand to five. He could make solid arguments for it -- securing more food, greater security for their fodder and their ships. The second part, Hadi knew, would rub them the wrong way. "The Pagan is audacious, and fortune has favored him for it. I would not expect him to leave Norland defenseless, but it would be well within his character to keep… a thousand men outside the settlement. All for the sake of prodding us and making our siege painful."
Hadi almost cried in relief when he saw Prince Harun nod slowly, "Allah smiles upon those who do not invite disaster into their homes. These measures are prudent and cost us nothing," he spoke in favor of them, which meant no one could speak against them. "We shall take ten thousand men to besiege Norland, ten ships will arrange themselves outside of the harbor, and the remainder shall remain here to be called upon as needed." Meaning that the split was roughly what Hadi had sought.
Then the Prince stood, "We shall depart immediately. Ready the men," he instructed and the war council broke up. Prince Harun took further counsel from Yahya, leaving Hadi free of any obligations.
Already, he felt the cold wind coming from the rest of the nobility. Too high, Hadi thought, as he made his way back to the few he could call allies. His father was an ambitious man, but a cautious one. A rise to power must happen over a long period of time. To rise too quickly was to invite disaster -- the high nobility would turn their nose up in disgust at low nobility grasping for a higher station, while the lower nobility would be fiercely jealous of one of their own rising so high. Staggering the rise over the course of generations would be far easier to swallow by both ends of the court.
He found his brother Naeem speaking to Zafir, both men noticing his approach. Alim, however, seemed content drawing… what seemed to be Nordic script in the sand. Hadi paid it little mind as he closed in on his brother, and Naeem seemed to recognize his expression. "What did you do?"
Hadi couldn't even pretend to be offended. "I spoke too freely," he admitted. "The situation is not so terrible that it can't be overturned… but only once we encounter Siegfried. Until then, I find myself with enemies." Hopefully, the Pagan will kill some of them. Not enough to leave Hadi in a position of power, but just enough to make it clear to the others that Hadi was right all along. It may not soothe their ruffled feathers, but it would prevent them from acting.
"I ache to face him in battle," Zafir muttered, grabbing hold of his scimitar by the hilt. "He is a great warrior, this is true, but I must wash out the stain he put upon my honor." That had been the price Hadi negotiated to prevent Zafir from killing himself. It wasn't a promise he had any intentions of fulfilling when he made it -- he just wanted someone who actually understood how a fleet was supposed to function around. Allah did love his jokes.
"We'll be setting out shortly. Ready yourself," Hadi said, turning to his little brother. Who wasn't so little anymore. He wasn't a boy to be protected, but Hadi was loathe to put him in danger. "Naeem. You will ride beside me, but I want you to swear to me that you will not fight him."
Naeem opened his mouth, but Hadi cut him off by grabbing him by the shoulders. "You won't win. Zafir won't win. I don't care if he's going to take my head, or the Prince's -- swear to me that you will not face him in battle." Hadi had barely saw Siegfried fight in truth, but he couldn't forget it regardless. In the span of three breaths, three men were dead.
To Hadi's immense disappointment, Naeem shook his head. "I cannot be seen as a coward, brother. It would cost the family too much." The family. Father's catch all excuse for using his children like pawns.
"It would cost the family more if you die," Hadi argued, his lips thinning. Where was the safest place for Naeem? The settlement? The ships? The Prince's side? All were in danger of being attacked by the Pagan.
"Then I shall not die," Naeem replied with a cheeky smile, which slipped when Hadi didn't return it.
The fool. The only way Hadi could make sure he didn't get killed was if he kept Naeem in his view at all times.
"You won't, little brother. I shall make sure of it."
…
The army set out by noon, marching overland towards the settlement of Norland. Hadi found himself accompanying the Prince and other nobility, but he was thankfully left out of the discussions. Purposely snubbed, Hadi thought, not minding one bit. It left him free to inspect the terrain. The land was arid with sand colored rocks. There was greenery to be found, but a great deal of it was sparse shrubbery.
The army marched slowly, Hadi found. Noon soon gave way to dusk as the terrain began to gently change. The large uneven plains gave way to rolling hills, which in turn gave way to cliffsides. Hadi eyed them with suspicion -- the scouts rode ahead, so an ambush was unlikely, but as the day wore on, Hadi found himself increasingly anxious.
Fears that were proven well founded when one of the scouts rode back with a message, "My Prince! The way is blocked!" The scout reported, making Hadi frown. Blocked? What did that mean? "The heathens have built a wall and earth works."
One of the nobles that accompanied the prince turned to Hadi, "Did your spies not report this?" It was a rebuke, and one that Hadi found worrisome.
"They didn't. I would see this wall with my own eyes. Is it manned?" Hadi questioned, making the scout nod his head. That was…
"We could not get a good count, but there are at least a hundred of them there," he informed and… Hadi felt uneasy. A manned wall… they weren't far away from Norland, but they weren't exactly close. At least a dozen to twenty miles away. With how slowly the army marched, they would need to camp for the night and arrive at noon on the morrow. A wall that far out made little sense tactically, and having a hundred men…
"He wishes to bleed us. He sacrifices his men to us to delay our journey," Emir Muhammad spoke up, but it was Prince Harun that spoke next.
"Or they are bait. Lead the way," he instructed, ushering his palanquin forward. The scout quickly nodded, leading them to the forefront of the army. It was then that Hadi saw the wall in question -- a palisade reinforced with earthworks and a ditch. No gate to speak of. It ran the length between two problematically steep hills. As the scout had informed, Hadi saw around a hundred men armed with bows and javelins upon the wall.
It didn't make sense, Hadi quickly decided, taking in the situation. The fortification wasn't so well situated that it was impossible to assail, it was just… annoying, if Hadi to call it something. They could climb the hill, but it would be bloody. Or…
"They tempt us to go around?" Prince Harun spoke, echoing his thoughts. The wall blocked off a path, but it was hardly the only one that led to Norland. "Have our scouts spread wide -- if the heathen army is waiting in ambush, then I will not be caught unaware." Prince Harun, in large part, struck Hadi as a shy boy. Not particularly outspoken. However, Hadi was starting to see that underneath that shyness was a sharp mind and an iron will.
Emir Muhammad looked to Hadi, "It seems that the Pagan is as mad as you said." He acknowledged, but it was a cold comfort. Hadi didn't like this entire situation. At all. Even if it was an ambush… it wouldn't be enough. They marched with fifteen thousand men. In the right circumstances, Hadi would say defeat was possible, but not these circumstances. A petty fortification, an ambush…
Hadi found himself digging a fingernail underneath the nail of his thumb, the pinching pain helping him focus as they awaited the scout's report. The pagans jeered at them as they remained at a distance, but Hadi couldn't understand a word that they were saying. He could guess, though. He looked out at them, trying to see what their purpose was.
"Is it a delaying tactic?" Hadi muttered, closing his eyes in thought. He didn't know enough about the terrain, Hadi realized. Well, he knew enough about the terrain -- arid, dry, little forging in terms of berries or nuts -- but the shape of the terrain was largely a mystery to him.
"What say you?" Prince Harun questioned, looking at him with sharp eyes.
Hadi chewed on his thoughts for a moment more, "I fear it is a delaying tactic. I know little of the march there, but I do know there aren't many roads that can handle nearly twenty thousand men and our baggage train going down it. The Pagan may wish to force us down this road. Or, if we attack, we are still delayed and bloodied for it. A drop in the bucket, but still bloodied." A win-win situation for them. The roads on the island were narrow, and the rocky soil made for treacherous footing -- it may be fine for the first five thousand men, but on the tenth, it could give way.
Still, it was a question of a delaying tactic for what-
An image flashed in Hadi's mind. Siegfried jumping an impossible distance to attack a ship of warriors on his own. Bold. No, fearless. Siegfried would know the odds. He would know the numbers. He was unflinching from any danger and mighty enough to make the impossible possible.
What was the single most damaging thing that he could do to the army?
Hadi opened his eyes and looked to Prince Harun. Capturing or killing him would freeze the army in its tracks. A prince was a powerful hostage to have. Similarly, killing the majority of the nobility would lead to fracturing. But, they were all well guarded. Siegfried could not reach them without great cost, and the odds were not in his favor.
The second thing was…
"Our ships. Our food. That mad bastard is going to attack Fajr," Hadi breathed as panic shot down his spine. He felt it in his bones, he was right. It would be a killing blow to an army of this size.
Emir Muhammad seemed vaguely concerned, "We left five thousand men in a walled settlement. Even if they left their own settlement empty, they could not hope to destroy our ships or supplies without destroying themselves." He was right. Completely and utterly. That was exactly why he cautioned that they leave more men behind. "What Shiekh Hadi fears is a concern, but it is one that we have already mitigated."
He was right. He was right, but Hadi still felt uncertain as he met Prince Harun's gaze.
And Prince Harun made the decision, "Take our cavalry and return to Fajr with haste, Sheikh Hadi. If nothing else, you can warn them of an impending attack," He ordered and Hadi nodded curtly before breaking off. It was well handled, Hadi thought with some admiration -- he was dismissed without giving slight, while soothing any wounded pride on behalf of the nobility.
Hadi quickly did as he was ordered. The army itself decided to ignore the wall, heading down in a unified march down the other path. Meanwhile, he gathered up five hundred cavalrymen and began to gallop the way that they came.
It was only an odd thirty miles, and he rode the horses hard, yet the horses could not gallop for hours on end. It was just over eight hours later when he saw exactly what he had feared to see.
Smoke rising in the distance.
Hadi dug his heels into his horse's flanks, urging the steed to go faster as he clenched his teeth. His arse was going to be sore, but that was a concern for tomorrow, he thought. Provided that he lived that long. Rising up over the crest of a hill, Hadi saw Fajr and he saw it burning. Houses were set alight, the fire spreading uncontrollably. Worse still, Hadi saw that the ships were burning as well.
His heart sank to his stomach like a stone -- they were already too late. That was…
That was impossible. Hadi wanted to scream the words out, but it clearly wasn't. Five thousand men. Five thousand men. How could five thousand men and walls not be enough to last more than a few hours?
Any trace of moisture in his mouth vanished at the sight, even as they rode on, spurred by the destruction. And it was only as they neared that they saw the culprits leaving the scene -- men that were hidden out of view rushed forward, carrying an extra horse behind them to meet the men fleeing the burning settlement. And Hadi despaired.
A hundred men. A hundred men had burnt the settlement to the ground.
And he understood why.
Hadi caught sight of a blood soaked man with red hair jumping onto a horse. Siegfried the Wolfkissed. The Pagan. His men gathered themselves up, saddling their horses, and started to flee. Hadi knew exactly who was to blame for their current circumstances. And, for a moment, Hadi was struck with indecision. Cold dread gripped his heart and his breathing hitched when Siegfried seemed to sense them.
He was younger than Hadi expected, and of all things, that's what he first noticed. He was an age closer to his brother than Hadi himself. You wouldn't think it seeing as he was a man grown in size, with blood red hair and bright blue eyes. Handsome, but he still had a boyish look with a thin red beard on his cheeks. His epitaph was well earned, Hadi saw, with a large bite wound on his neck.
Then Siegfried smiled a smile that froze Hadi's blood in his veins. Before he had a chance to decide a thing, Siegfried made the choice for them all and wheeled his horsemen around, charging straight for them. His harburk was dyed red, as were the segmented plates on one of his arms. In one hand he carried a large axe that dripped freely of crimson blood.
I'm going to die. The thought was certain as Hadi found himself facing a charge from what he could only describe as a demigod. One who saw he was outnumbered five times over and decided that the odds were in his favor. It ran out in his head again and again and again, even as he numbly unsheathed his scimitar. The only hope, the only chance, was that the remainder in the city was too much of a threat for a long battle. That they would flee instead.
Yet, Siegfried didn't swerve his horse. And Hadi found himself charging straight towards him. He hefted his blade, and Siegfried hefted his axe…
I'm dead.
Instinct took over before Hadi even realized what he was doing, yanking back the reigns to his horse to jerk its head up just as Siegfried swung. To Hadi's immense horror, he was showered in blood as Siegfried beheaded his horse with a single strike, and his horse crumpled forward, saving Hadi's own head. His blade fell from his hand and through the layer of red that now covered his face…
The last thing he saw was the earth racing up to greet him.
...
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The damage done to the fleet was severe, but it could have been worse. A dozen ships were burnt, and they lost around two thousand men. A harsh number, but their forces were more than replenished by the soldiers holding Fajr. The greater issue was the loss of the horses. While their army was not particularly reliant on cavalry, it was still a great inconvenience -- of the twenty-three thousand men, only four thousand were cavalry, with around five hundred of them being scouts. However, they lost a great many horses. Enough so that of the four thousand, only one in eight had a horse.
Food was a similar issue, but less so. An army of over twenty thousand men ate truly staggering amounts of food a day, and while they had brought a significant amount with them -- hard bread, salted meat, oats, barley, and grain -- the loss of a single supply ship was punishing. Crete lacked plentiful foraging, which meant they would have to turn to fishing to help keep the army fed. By Hadi's calculations, they had enough food for about two weeks, a fair amount of time given that it was expected that they would forage.
Once the army was fully disembarked, the ships would return to Acre, filled up with food, and when the army was ready to march, they would then sail into Anatolia. Assuming that everything went to plan, that was.
"What news do you bring us, Lord Hadi?" Prince Harun questioned as they assembled in an upper class house. It wasn't fit to be called a villa or manor, but it was the closest thing they had in the settlement. The war council was fully assembled with the prince seated at the head of the table, Yahya Birkhmid standing to his right while Emir Muhammad was seated at his left. There were other nobility seated between them, but they were of a lesser concern at the moment.
"My prince, Chania has been evacuated -- the inhabitants, the few left, are in Norland. Additionally, a fire ship wasn't all that the Romans saw fit to give them. Norland is reinforced by two thousand levies," Hadi answered, passing the strips of parchment or cloth that the information was written on down. Reinforcements weren't ideal, but it either spoke of the Romans confidence that they sent so few, or their inability to send more. "The walls have been completed, both outer and inner. Furthermore, a ditch has been dug out before the walls. Interestingly, it seems that the slaves taken have been released from their bondage upon completion of the works."
Seigfried didn't trust his slaves, it seemed. A fair concern given that they were former soldiers and their countrymen were here. That being said, Hadi didn't have any expectations for them in battle. Siegfried had given them months of hard labor to build the settlement, and any strength that they had left wouldn't amount to much in battle.
"The reinforcements change nothing. We still outnumber them three to one," Emir Muhammad spoke up, earning some nods. Prince Harun offered nothing in response. "Walls hastily made are flawed. I say that we teach them this -- March our men to this fort, tear down these godless fortifications, while we attack from the sea. The Pagan does not have the numbers to match us." A full assault.
It wasn't a bad plan. It was pretty spot on for what they intended when they first sailed to Norland, but that was before it became a city that was now defended by seven thousand men- Hadi frowned in thought, and to his cursed luck, Prince Harun noticed.
"You disagree?" The prince asked and the Emir looked like he wished he had arms long enough to reach down the table to strangle him.
Hadi didn't particularly care about the war. Win, lose -- it was all the same to him. However, what did concern him rather greatly was the prospect of getting his head ripped off by the Pagan. "My Prince, my lords… Seigfried is a man of action. I have listened closely to the tales, and I have heard second hand accounts of his battles. The information is less ironclad than I would like, but it is enough to establish a pattern… and that pattern is that Siegfried has only twice, fought defensively. The first time, he was but a boy under the command of another, and the second was not of his own volition."
The second time was a worrisome tale -- that he head been trapped by an army several times his size, but he still managed to cut through them to escape.
Emir Muhammad looked at him as if he had grown a second head, "You say he will attack? An army three times his number? When he has walls?" He questioned, playing up his doubts to discredit him. "I can't tell who would be more mad -- the Pagan, or you."
It was incredibly frustrating to admit that he had a point. It was madness to attack an army many times the size of your own when you had a perfectly serviceable defensive position. Only Hadi had studied his enemy, and he had studied him well. Siegfried was an offensive fighter. An aggressive one. He attacked, and when he gave ground, it was to secure a position that would further enable his offensive.
"I do agree with the general sentiment of Emir Muhammad's plan," Hadi said, his tone placating as he swallowed much sharper words. He had an in with the Prince, which was a horrid thought, but if the rest of the lords didn't like him… they could tip the scales against sound advice. Because it didn't matter how sound it was. Prince Harun couldn't alienate most of his supporters as his actions reflected the crown and his family. "We besiege the settlement by land and sea, but we should maintain a reserve in Fajr to secure our food and ships."
The military wasn't all that different from politics, rather unfortunately. It required saying the right things the right way to the right person at the right time. Those out of favor had their voices drowned out, and suffered sabotage when it came to supplies and even orders. So, as much as he would like to scream at the top of his lungs, he had to adapt his approach to the general consensus. He could survive standing out, but he would not survive standing against the will of the nobility.
"However, I would recommend a larger force to remain behind. Say… five thousand men. In addition, I would recommend building up defenses for our camp outside of Norland," he added. The first part was already within expectations, just increasing from two thousand to five. He could make solid arguments for it -- securing more food, greater security for their fodder and their ships. The second part, Hadi knew, would rub them the wrong way. "The Pagan is audacious, and fortune has favored him for it. I would not expect him to leave Norland defenseless, but it would be well within his character to keep… a thousand men outside the settlement. All for the sake of prodding us and making our siege painful."
Hadi almost cried in relief when he saw Prince Harun nod slowly, "Allah smiles upon those who do not invite disaster into their homes. These measures are prudent and cost us nothing," he spoke in favor of them, which meant no one could speak against them. "We shall take ten thousand men to besiege Norland, ten ships will arrange themselves outside of the harbor, and the remainder shall remain here to be called upon as needed." Meaning that the split was roughly what Hadi had sought.
Then the Prince stood, "We shall depart immediately. Ready the men," he instructed and the war council broke up. Prince Harun took further counsel from Yahya, leaving Hadi free of any obligations.
Already, he felt the cold wind coming from the rest of the nobility. Too high, Hadi thought, as he made his way back to the few he could call allies. His father was an ambitious man, but a cautious one. A rise to power must happen over a long period of time. To rise too quickly was to invite disaster -- the high nobility would turn their nose up in disgust at low nobility grasping for a higher station, while the lower nobility would be fiercely jealous of one of their own rising so high. Staggering the rise over the course of generations would be far easier to swallow by both ends of the court.
He found his brother Naeem speaking to Zafir, both men noticing his approach. Alim, however, seemed content drawing… what seemed to be Nordic script in the sand. Hadi paid it little mind as he closed in on his brother, and Naeem seemed to recognize his expression. "What did you do?"
Hadi couldn't even pretend to be offended. "I spoke too freely," he admitted. "The situation is not so terrible that it can't be overturned… but only once we encounter Siegfried. Until then, I find myself with enemies." Hopefully, the Pagan will kill some of them. Not enough to leave Hadi in a position of power, but just enough to make it clear to the others that Hadi was right all along. It may not soothe their ruffled feathers, but it would prevent them from acting.
"I ache to face him in battle," Zafir muttered, grabbing hold of his scimitar by the hilt. "He is a great warrior, this is true, but I must wash out the stain he put upon my honor." That had been the price Hadi negotiated to prevent Zafir from killing himself. It wasn't a promise he had any intentions of fulfilling when he made it -- he just wanted someone who actually understood how a fleet was supposed to function around. Allah did love his jokes.
"We'll be setting out shortly. Ready yourself," Hadi said, turning to his little brother. Who wasn't so little anymore. He wasn't a boy to be protected, but Hadi was loathe to put him in danger. "Naeem. You will ride beside me, but I want you to swear to me that you will not fight him."
Naeem opened his mouth, but Hadi cut him off by grabbing him by the shoulders. "You won't win. Zafir won't win. I don't care if he's going to take my head, or the Prince's -- swear to me that you will not face him in battle." Hadi had barely saw Siegfried fight in truth, but he couldn't forget it regardless. In the span of three breaths, three men were dead.
To Hadi's immense disappointment, Naeem shook his head. "I cannot be seen as a coward, brother. It would cost the family too much." The family. Father's catch all excuse for using his children like pawns.
"It would cost the family more if you die," Hadi argued, his lips thinning. Where was the safest place for Naeem? The settlement? The ships? The Prince's side? All were in danger of being attacked by the Pagan.
"Then I shall not die," Naeem replied with a cheeky smile, which slipped when Hadi didn't return it.
The fool. The only way Hadi could make sure he didn't get killed was if he kept Naeem in his view at all times.
"You won't, little brother. I shall make sure of it."
…
The army set out by noon, marching overland towards the settlement of Norland. Hadi found himself accompanying the Prince and other nobility, but he was thankfully left out of the discussions. Purposely snubbed, Hadi thought, not minding one bit. It left him free to inspect the terrain. The land was arid with sand colored rocks. There was greenery to be found, but a great deal of it was sparse shrubbery.
The army marched slowly, Hadi found. Noon soon gave way to dusk as the terrain began to gently change. The large uneven plains gave way to rolling hills, which in turn gave way to cliffsides. Hadi eyed them with suspicion -- the scouts rode ahead, so an ambush was unlikely, but as the day wore on, Hadi found himself increasingly anxious.
Fears that were proven well founded when one of the scouts rode back with a message, "My Prince! The way is blocked!" The scout reported, making Hadi frown. Blocked? What did that mean? "The heathens have built a wall and earth works."
One of the nobles that accompanied the prince turned to Hadi, "Did your spies not report this?" It was a rebuke, and one that Hadi found worrisome.
"They didn't. I would see this wall with my own eyes. Is it manned?" Hadi questioned, making the scout nod his head. That was…
"We could not get a good count, but there are at least a hundred of them there," he informed and… Hadi felt uneasy. A manned wall… they weren't far away from Norland, but they weren't exactly close. At least a dozen to twenty miles away. With how slowly the army marched, they would need to camp for the night and arrive at noon on the morrow. A wall that far out made little sense tactically, and having a hundred men…
"He wishes to bleed us. He sacrifices his men to us to delay our journey," Emir Muhammad spoke up, but it was Prince Harun that spoke next.
"Or they are bait. Lead the way," he instructed, ushering his palanquin forward. The scout quickly nodded, leading them to the forefront of the army. It was then that Hadi saw the wall in question -- a palisade reinforced with earthworks and a ditch. No gate to speak of. It ran the length between two problematically steep hills. As the scout had informed, Hadi saw around a hundred men armed with bows and javelins upon the wall.
It didn't make sense, Hadi quickly decided, taking in the situation. The fortification wasn't so well situated that it was impossible to assail, it was just… annoying, if Hadi to call it something. They could climb the hill, but it would be bloody. Or…
"They tempt us to go around?" Prince Harun spoke, echoing his thoughts. The wall blocked off a path, but it was hardly the only one that led to Norland. "Have our scouts spread wide -- if the heathen army is waiting in ambush, then I will not be caught unaware." Prince Harun, in large part, struck Hadi as a shy boy. Not particularly outspoken. However, Hadi was starting to see that underneath that shyness was a sharp mind and an iron will.
Emir Muhammad looked to Hadi, "It seems that the Pagan is as mad as you said." He acknowledged, but it was a cold comfort. Hadi didn't like this entire situation. At all. Even if it was an ambush… it wouldn't be enough. They marched with fifteen thousand men. In the right circumstances, Hadi would say defeat was possible, but not these circumstances. A petty fortification, an ambush…
Hadi found himself digging a fingernail underneath the nail of his thumb, the pinching pain helping him focus as they awaited the scout's report. The pagans jeered at them as they remained at a distance, but Hadi couldn't understand a word that they were saying. He could guess, though. He looked out at them, trying to see what their purpose was.
"Is it a delaying tactic?" Hadi muttered, closing his eyes in thought. He didn't know enough about the terrain, Hadi realized. Well, he knew enough about the terrain -- arid, dry, little forging in terms of berries or nuts -- but the shape of the terrain was largely a mystery to him.
"What say you?" Prince Harun questioned, looking at him with sharp eyes.
Hadi chewed on his thoughts for a moment more, "I fear it is a delaying tactic. I know little of the march there, but I do know there aren't many roads that can handle nearly twenty thousand men and our baggage train going down it. The Pagan may wish to force us down this road. Or, if we attack, we are still delayed and bloodied for it. A drop in the bucket, but still bloodied." A win-win situation for them. The roads on the island were narrow, and the rocky soil made for treacherous footing -- it may be fine for the first five thousand men, but on the tenth, it could give way.
Still, it was a question of a delaying tactic for what-
An image flashed in Hadi's mind. Siegfried jumping an impossible distance to attack a ship of warriors on his own. Bold. No, fearless. Siegfried would know the odds. He would know the numbers. He was unflinching from any danger and mighty enough to make the impossible possible.
What was the single most damaging thing that he could do to the army?
Hadi opened his eyes and looked to Prince Harun. Capturing or killing him would freeze the army in its tracks. A prince was a powerful hostage to have. Similarly, killing the majority of the nobility would lead to fracturing. But, they were all well guarded. Siegfried could not reach them without great cost, and the odds were not in his favor.
The second thing was…
"Our ships. Our food. That mad bastard is going to attack Fajr," Hadi breathed as panic shot down his spine. He felt it in his bones, he was right. It would be a killing blow to an army of this size.
Emir Muhammad seemed vaguely concerned, "We left five thousand men in a walled settlement. Even if they left their own settlement empty, they could not hope to destroy our ships or supplies without destroying themselves." He was right. Completely and utterly. That was exactly why he cautioned that they leave more men behind. "What Shiekh Hadi fears is a concern, but it is one that we have already mitigated."
He was right. He was right, but Hadi still felt uncertain as he met Prince Harun's gaze.
And Prince Harun made the decision, "Take our cavalry and return to Fajr with haste, Sheikh Hadi. If nothing else, you can warn them of an impending attack," He ordered and Hadi nodded curtly before breaking off. It was well handled, Hadi thought with some admiration -- he was dismissed without giving slight, while soothing any wounded pride on behalf of the nobility.
Hadi quickly did as he was ordered. The army itself decided to ignore the wall, heading down in a unified march down the other path. Meanwhile, he gathered up five hundred cavalrymen and began to gallop the way that they came.
It was only an odd thirty miles, and he rode the horses hard, yet the horses could not gallop for hours on end. It was just over eight hours later when he saw exactly what he had feared to see.
Smoke rising in the distance.
Hadi dug his heels into his horse's flanks, urging the steed to go faster as he clenched his teeth. His arse was going to be sore, but that was a concern for tomorrow, he thought. Provided that he lived that long. Rising up over the crest of a hill, Hadi saw Fajr and he saw it burning. Houses were set alight, the fire spreading uncontrollably. Worse still, Hadi saw that the ships were burning as well.
His heart sank to his stomach like a stone -- they were already too late. That was…
That was impossible. Hadi wanted to scream the words out, but it clearly wasn't. Five thousand men. Five thousand men. How could five thousand men and walls not be enough to last more than a few hours?
Any trace of moisture in his mouth vanished at the sight, even as they rode on, spurred by the destruction. And it was only as they neared that they saw the culprits leaving the scene -- men that were hidden out of view rushed forward, carrying an extra horse behind them to meet the men fleeing the burning settlement. And Hadi despaired.
A hundred men. A hundred men had burnt the settlement to the ground.
And he understood why.
Hadi caught sight of a blood soaked man with red hair jumping onto a horse. Siegfried the Wolfkissed. The Pagan. His men gathered themselves up, saddling their horses, and started to flee. Hadi knew exactly who was to blame for their current circumstances. And, for a moment, Hadi was struck with indecision. Cold dread gripped his heart and his breathing hitched when Siegfried seemed to sense them.
He was younger than Hadi expected, and of all things, that's what he first noticed. He was an age closer to his brother than Hadi himself. You wouldn't think it seeing as he was a man grown in size, with blood red hair and bright blue eyes. Handsome, but he still had a boyish look with a thin red beard on his cheeks. His epitaph was well earned, Hadi saw, with a large bite wound on his neck.
Then Siegfried smiled a smile that froze Hadi's blood in his veins. Before he had a chance to decide a thing, Siegfried made the choice for them all and wheeled his horsemen around, charging straight for them. His harburk was dyed red, as were the segmented plates on one of his arms. In one hand he carried a large axe that dripped freely of crimson blood.
I'm going to die. The thought was certain as Hadi found himself facing a charge from what he could only describe as a demigod. One who saw he was outnumbered five times over and decided that the odds were in his favor. It ran out in his head again and again and again, even as he numbly unsheathed his scimitar. The only hope, the only chance, was that the remainder in the city was too much of a threat for a long battle. That they would flee instead.
Yet, Siegfried didn't swerve his horse. And Hadi found himself charging straight towards him. He hefted his blade, and Siegfried hefted his axe…
I'm dead.
Instinct took over before Hadi even realized what he was doing, yanking back the reigns to his horse to jerk its head up just as Siegfried swung. To Hadi's immense horror, he was showered in blood as Siegfried beheaded his horse with a single strike, and his horse crumpled forward, saving Hadi's own head. His blade fell from his hand and through the layer of red that now covered his face…
The last thing he saw was the earth racing up to greet him.
...
The next chapter is currently available on my Patreon and Subscribe Star, so if you want to read it a week early, all it takes is a single dollar in the tip jar. Or, for five dollars, you can read the chapter after that two weeks before its public release! I hope you enjoyed!
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
It's actually more: "I promised Thorknell no sieges and you goat-raping whoresons keep trying to make this war a siege. I GAVE MY WORD! FUCK YOU WITH AN AXE!!!"
Plans Within Plans
- Location
- USA
"If I'm dead, then Jahannam has a poor sense of humor," Hadi croaked, laying on a bed in a tent, with Alim seated next to him with a book that probably weighed as much as he did across his lap. Alim looked up at him, blinking owlishly at the sudden address, before he offered a small smile. "The battle? My brother?" Hadi questioned, sitting up, only to find his sword arm bound and in a splint. His face hurt. His arm hurt. But, he seemed to remain whole.
"... your brother is injured. Less so than you. The battle was lost," Alim answered in a low voice just above a whisper. Hadi's lips thinned, it was a relief that Naeem hadn't gotten himself killed.
"We outnumbered him five to one," Hadi whispered, pushing back the covers and throwing his legs out. He started to stand, but his ribs seemed to have taken an injury as well. "How badly did we lose?" He asked, looking around to find that he didn't recognize the tent.
It wasn't Alim that answered, but Zafir, who entered by pushing the flap to the ten back. Hadi's gaze instantly went to the stump that was at the end of one of his arms at the elbow. It wasn't his sword arm, but it was still a missing arm. One that hadn't yet been sealed based on the spots of red on the bandages. "Badly. Two hundred to their thirty -- most were felled by the Pagan, and the rest scattered."
Hadi couldn't be bothered to keep the naked dread off of his face, and Zafir continued. "He recognized me after he took my arm. Your brother and I protected you while you were unconscious, trying to get you out of there. I got lucky. I saw him cut through a man at the collarbone and exit out his ribs on the otherside." That was… insane. Impossible. Hadi had tried so hard to not underestimate Siegfried, he'd researched him, and tried to throw out all his preconceived notions about what a man could feasibly do.
Even still, the news rattled him down to the bone. "He let us go?" He questioned, not entirely sure how to react.
"The forces in Fajr were sallying out -- The Pagan attacked them with a force of three hundred, but they encountered a lot more resistance than they were expecting, it seems. They resorted to setting everything on fire to help mask their presence. The hundred that were left overstayed and if they lingered longer, then they would have been crushed between our calvary and the garrison." It sounded like hopeful thinking to Hadi as he replayed the memory in his mind. He couldn't get it out of his head -- Siegfried saw five hundred horsemen galloping their way, and he had smiled. The same kind of smile Hadi would expect if they had been reinforcements for him instead of them.
Hadi rubbed his eyes, already wishing he could return to his slumber. "When was this?" How long had he been asleep?"
"Three days ago. The situation is… not good," Zafir admitted with a grimace. "Fajr burned, and we lost all of our ships there. The food was the target, however. We lost our fodder and grain." Hadi grimaced, that was a deadly blow. They would still have what they brought with them, but it was crumbs in comparison to a feast. "The food situation is… dire. As I hear it, the men that came with the Pagan prioritized setting fire to the settlement and our ships over their own lives. They did a good job of it too."
Fanatics, Hadi realized. Fanatics dying in the name of their god.
Based on Zafir's expression, there was more bad news incoming. "What else? I'd rather hear it all in one go," he sighed.
"We lost around two thousand at Fajr, mostly to the fire. The biggest loss were the ships that we sent to blockade the harbor at Norland. They were attacked and and some of them were seized. The rest broke off the blockade to avoid capture, so we still have ten ships left," Zafir continued and Hadi dragged a hand over his face, feeling the scrapes underneath bandages. "We've also been enduring small raids -- they attempt to destroy our supplies, and ambush our foraging parties. In total… we've lost about four thousand men."
The losses were the least troubling news, Hadi thought furiously. The ships. Losing the ships made sieging Norland impossible. So much of a siege depended on food and water because a siege, if done right, completely blockaded the defender from both. However, Norland had an open harbor. They had a hundred ships that could outpace their quickest ones, giving the pagans control of the sea. They had fresh food, fresh water, and there wasn't even anything to really stop them from trading for the things they lacked.
That was… "Heh," Hadi chuckled, a humorless and grim sound. "I'll give him this -- he knows how to flip the board. We're the ones under siege now," Hadi quickly understood the situation. They had destroyed the food and hampered them from getting more. Foraging parties gave an opportunity to whittle down their numbers, but Siegfried might not even bother. If they failed to find food they would just be mouths to feed with an ever dwindling amount of supplies. Crete didn't have plentiful foraging as it was.
They would be forced to pick the island clean of every blade of grass before the month was up.
The ships had been crucial to their logistics and now, they only had ten ships in total. If they attempted to fish with them, Hadi had no doubt that they would be attacked. The more ships that they lost, the worse their situation became -- not solely because of their dwindling ability to secure food, but because the ships were their method of escape. Twenty thousand men could not fit on ten ships.
"This whole damn island is a trap. He's besieging us," Hadi said, forcing himself to stand up. He wore only a night shift, but he cared little as he forced his wooden legs to obey his commands. "Where is the Prince?"
"He's in his tent with the other commanders," Zafir said, offering a shoulder for Hadi to lean on. Leaving the tent, Hadi saw that they were in a camp and their walk didn't go unnoticed. Hadi felt eyes on him as he walked, hearing faint whispers under people's breaths. And if Hadi was capable of it at the moment, he would have despaired.
It seemed he had distinguished himself by nearly getting killed by Siegfried. How unfortunate. At least in the long term. In the short term, however, maybe he could finagle this newfound respect and admiration into securing his and Naeem's lives. Maybe even a trip back to Acre in the name of reinforcements or something.
They arrived at the central tent, and Hadi noticed that it was spun from silk. The entire thing. What… a statement of wealth, Hadi thought with a small shake of his head, a servant opening the way for them and it seemed that word of their approach arrived before them.
Prince Harun sat at the end of a table, a map with various tokens marking positions in Crete. The table of nobles was a lot emptier, Hadi quickly noticed. And, rather unfortunately, Emir Muhammad was one of the few that remained. "Sheikh Hadi -- it gladdens us to see you awake. We feared the worst when you did not wake from your slumber. We have prayed for your swift recovery," The Prince greeted him and Hadi half collapsed into an offered seat.
"Thank you for your prayers, my Prince," Hadi replied stiffly. A prince was praying for him. He never should have joined the military. He should have been a merchant.
"They say you fought quite well against the Pagan," Emir Muhammad offered and Hadi resisted the urge to snort. He held off simply because he could use the misconception to his advantage. Warriors respected warriors and, so far, he had survived a clash with one that had been beating them since they arrived.
Still, it would be prudent to be humble. "I survived through the grace of Allah, and the bravery of my brother and friend," Hadi said, gesturing to Zafir. Emir Muhammad nodded to that, and Hadi noticed that the distaste that was always in his gaze was missing. "I have been briefed on our current situation. Do we have a solution?"
To that, Prince Harun openly grimaced. A troubling sign, if Hadi was being perfectly honest. A leader could never show his doubts, his hesitation, or his fears. And if Hadi knew that, then the Prince would undoubtedly know that. "Not in so many words, no," he admitted. "The raids conducted on our encampment have been… targeted."
He said the words with a gesture to the empty seats and Hadi realized only then that the missing nobles weren't securing their position or performing tasks. They were dead. "Were they the goals?"
"Possibly, but if that's the case, then it means that the Pagan has a spy within the camp. A good one," Prince Harun replied, his lips thinning. "All the raids have been led by him. You… did not exaggerate his ability, Sheikh Hadi. I dare say that you underestimated him."
Hadi was inclined to agree. "The raids?"
"Small in number, around a dozen men with the cover of archers. They targeted our horses at first, and once they secured their advantage in mobility, they began to strike deeper into the camp. I'd call their attacks assassinations, but that would imply any degree of stealth. They simply attack, cut their way through, then leave before our numbers can overwhelm them. If we follow, our pursuit is ambushed." Prince Harun explained and there really wasn't much that could be done about that. "Our foraging parties are being hit the hardest -- they seem to know where they are, without fail. The smaller bands are ambushed and routed, any supplies they gathered seized."
The situation wasn't sustainable. They had food for now, and later they could eat the horses and the pack animals, but after that... Water was a concern as well, but one that could be managed. However, from the sounds of it, morale was going to be a huge issue. They had arrived with twenty thousand men, expecting an easy victory before the real fighting got started in Anatolia. The men, the levies who were expecting smooth sailing and easy riches, found themselves hungry, beaten, and suffering a string of defeats. It wouldn't be so dangerous if they had been expecting a hard battle, but they hadn't. Unexpectedly stubbing your toe always hurts more than a punch to the face that you saw coming.
"The Pagan is taking advantage of his mobility," Hadi thought out loud. "Do we know their numbers?"
"As many as two thousand outside the walls," Emir Muhammad answered to some surprise.
Hadi slowly nodded, "Without a blockade, the Pagan can freely move around the coast with his ships. Siegfried himself is too dangerous to fight traditionally."
"You have a plan? A good one?" Prince Harun prompted, and it was Hadi's turn to grimace.
"I have a bad one."
…
The Abbasids were annoying, I decided, looking out at their sea of tents outside of the walls of Norland. The stone walls were completed, and in no small thanks to the hard labor of the now freed thalls. They were hardly the tall walls of Constantinople, but at twenty feet up, secured further with a ditch, Norland was as secure as it could be.
The fireship hadn't burned as many ships as I had hoped. The ambush at sea hadn't worked. They left more men in Fajr than I thought they would, making me incur losses that I hadn't expected. Then they ambushed me outside of the settlement. I still felt comfortable saying that we were getting the better of them, but the victories weren't as clean as they could have been. I had hoped to dwindle their numbers a great deal more at sea, which prompted the attack on their settlement.
"Lord Wolf-Kissed," I heard a man speak to me in Greek, and I looked over at the commander of the Roman forces. Damian. The reinforcements from Empress Dowager Irene were quite unexpected -- a token force, but a useful one. Not in so great a number as to completely change the landscape of the battle, but enough that we could afford to spread our numbers a bit. "Your lady wife requested your presence."
Damian was probably the first Roman that I liked, and it was simply because he was professional and didn't get in my way. I patted him on the shoulder before walking the length of the wall. For a hastily made construction, it wasn't half bad. It was nestled in between two steep cliffs, serving as one of two entry points to Nordland. The narrowness of the location meant that the Abbasids couldn't bring their full weight against the wall, and a thousand men could hold it against a tireless assault with proper rest rotations.
We had to expand rather aggressively for the natural chokepoint. More than I was comfortable with, but we had secured a third hill for future expansion. The space would be left unoccupied for some time, I imagine, but that mattered little.
Leaving the wall behind me, I made my way down the winding path that led to the main settlement of Norland, which was defended with a palisade -- it would have been too time consuming to build the stone wall around it, especially if it meant ripping up our current defenses. There was a standing camp of two hundred men on the walls at all times, with a thousand ready to reinforce them at any moment.
Despite the rather sizable army that was currently outside of our gates, Norland almost seemed the same as usual. There were still ships coming and going from the harbor, bringing back fish and trade goods, or coming back from a patrol along the coast. The people still sold items and food at the market, and further construction of housing continued without pause. The only thing that gave away a change was that the thralls, all previously captive, were enjoying their newfound freedom.
Heading up to the longhouse, passing through another gate, I caught further glimpses of my army that continued to drill and train. The men that Garald brought were eager, and some of them already earned their hauberks and arms. It was something of an interesting development -- the new arrivals were more loyal than those that were here first. The ones that I fought with before were all here for glory, coin, and honor. The new arrivals though…
They were here for me.
The double doors to the longhouse swung open for me and I saw a sea of blue. All warriors that were loyal to me without reservation. Continuing onto the back room, I found the war room and that was where I found Astrid. She stood before a table, hunched over, and only partly because of her rounding belly that started to strain against her red dress. She looked down at a model of Crete.
King Widukind had inspired the idea. I got started on it the moment I realized that I would be forced to fight on this island, and I hadn't anticipated help of any kind. Knowledge of the land I was fighting in had proven to be a huge advantage more than once, and it was something that I was eager to replicate. Though, if I was being perfectly honest, my first rendition of Crete wasn't exactly great. It was good enough, but not accurate down to the last footstep like the maps made by King Widukind could boast.
"They're reacting," Astrid said, not even looking up at me as she adjusted one of the pieces that were on the model that took up a significant chunk of the table. In the end, with the time that we had, I ended up focusing my exploration mostly on one half of the island. There were tokens for Nordland, our armies, our fleets in the surrounding sea, and the armies of the Abbasids, their settlements, and what was left of their fleet. "They're moving in blocks of a thousand, spreading themselves out… Easy reinforcements."
As Astrid spoke, I caught a look in her eye to find that her eyes were glowing faintly.
A Blessing.
Zone of Control (Martial): The user establishes a zone with effigies, and all known enemies within the zone will be marked and their movements revealed to the user.
It wasn't the blessing that I had expected Astrid to receive upon my return from Constantinople with two thousand Romans in tow. But it was one that completely changed my plans once she received it. She described it as looking at the ground from above, down at the armies, and seeing them move around. Naturally, we established the zones with the appropriate effigies, though there did seem to be a limit on their size. So, with the model, we picked out potential battlefields where we would most likely deal with the vast Abbasid army.
"We expected that they would," I said, standing next to her, watching as Astrid moved the pieces. I saw what she meant -- the army of twenty thousand was breaking up into smaller bands of a thousand, likely to forage or fish. However, with the closeness of the groups, I couldn't easily attack them. I still could, certainly, but I would swiftly find myself outnumbered and outflanked, and the longer the battle went on, the more reinforcements would be drawn in.
"Some of them are going to be bait," I ventured, my arm snaking around Astrid's waist and pulling her to me. "They'll be out of position to bait me into attacking them, and the others will spring their trap."
"They want to catch you. Have you committed somewhere," Astrid agreed. I had experience with these kinds of tactics in Francia, but more than that, I had many thoughts and ideas on how I would fight someone like me. Someone like Roland. And, the simplest answer was to make Roland commit to a battle that would bog him down while I fulfilled an objective elsewhere. Roland would win the battle, but I would win the war. "What do you want to do?"
I hummed in thought, a slight smile curling at my lips. "I want to sail to the Abbasid cities. With so much of their military committed in Anatolia, their cities are ripe for the taking." We could use the wealth and trade goods.
Astrid snorted, "Maybe not the best idea when we have twenty thousand men camped at our door." A fair point.
"For now, we let them go hungry. I'll continue to burn out their food supplies," I decided. They had learned their lesson after the first time and spread out their food reserves so I couldn't destroy it all in one go. However, True Sight marked out their locations to me when I saw them. "We weaken them with hunger and thirst, then we take this bait and turn the trap on them," I said, taking the tokens and setting up the battle I wished to fight.
Astrid made a faintly impressed sound as I continued, "We deliver a strong decisive defeat to them, and what's left of the army will flee to their ships. We mop up the stragglers, and then our part in this war is done." Technically, it was already finished. Our task was to prevent the Abbadids from landing in Anatolia, and with most of their fleet scuttled, they couldn't.
From here, we can deliver a crushing blow to the Abbasids with a string of raids to their coastal cities. Take a few important hostages, and then the war would be over.
And I could finally get back to studying.
…
This was the chapter that I started to feel bad for Hadi. Man is doing his best, but Sieg has cheats enabled.
The next chapter is currently available on my Patreon and Subscribe Star, so if you want to read it a week early, all it takes is a single dollar in the tip jar. Or, for five dollars, you can read the chapter after that two weeks before its public release! I hope you enjoyed!
"... your brother is injured. Less so than you. The battle was lost," Alim answered in a low voice just above a whisper. Hadi's lips thinned, it was a relief that Naeem hadn't gotten himself killed.
"We outnumbered him five to one," Hadi whispered, pushing back the covers and throwing his legs out. He started to stand, but his ribs seemed to have taken an injury as well. "How badly did we lose?" He asked, looking around to find that he didn't recognize the tent.
It wasn't Alim that answered, but Zafir, who entered by pushing the flap to the ten back. Hadi's gaze instantly went to the stump that was at the end of one of his arms at the elbow. It wasn't his sword arm, but it was still a missing arm. One that hadn't yet been sealed based on the spots of red on the bandages. "Badly. Two hundred to their thirty -- most were felled by the Pagan, and the rest scattered."
Hadi couldn't be bothered to keep the naked dread off of his face, and Zafir continued. "He recognized me after he took my arm. Your brother and I protected you while you were unconscious, trying to get you out of there. I got lucky. I saw him cut through a man at the collarbone and exit out his ribs on the otherside." That was… insane. Impossible. Hadi had tried so hard to not underestimate Siegfried, he'd researched him, and tried to throw out all his preconceived notions about what a man could feasibly do.
Even still, the news rattled him down to the bone. "He let us go?" He questioned, not entirely sure how to react.
"The forces in Fajr were sallying out -- The Pagan attacked them with a force of three hundred, but they encountered a lot more resistance than they were expecting, it seems. They resorted to setting everything on fire to help mask their presence. The hundred that were left overstayed and if they lingered longer, then they would have been crushed between our calvary and the garrison." It sounded like hopeful thinking to Hadi as he replayed the memory in his mind. He couldn't get it out of his head -- Siegfried saw five hundred horsemen galloping their way, and he had smiled. The same kind of smile Hadi would expect if they had been reinforcements for him instead of them.
Hadi rubbed his eyes, already wishing he could return to his slumber. "When was this?" How long had he been asleep?"
"Three days ago. The situation is… not good," Zafir admitted with a grimace. "Fajr burned, and we lost all of our ships there. The food was the target, however. We lost our fodder and grain." Hadi grimaced, that was a deadly blow. They would still have what they brought with them, but it was crumbs in comparison to a feast. "The food situation is… dire. As I hear it, the men that came with the Pagan prioritized setting fire to the settlement and our ships over their own lives. They did a good job of it too."
Fanatics, Hadi realized. Fanatics dying in the name of their god.
Based on Zafir's expression, there was more bad news incoming. "What else? I'd rather hear it all in one go," he sighed.
"We lost around two thousand at Fajr, mostly to the fire. The biggest loss were the ships that we sent to blockade the harbor at Norland. They were attacked and and some of them were seized. The rest broke off the blockade to avoid capture, so we still have ten ships left," Zafir continued and Hadi dragged a hand over his face, feeling the scrapes underneath bandages. "We've also been enduring small raids -- they attempt to destroy our supplies, and ambush our foraging parties. In total… we've lost about four thousand men."
The losses were the least troubling news, Hadi thought furiously. The ships. Losing the ships made sieging Norland impossible. So much of a siege depended on food and water because a siege, if done right, completely blockaded the defender from both. However, Norland had an open harbor. They had a hundred ships that could outpace their quickest ones, giving the pagans control of the sea. They had fresh food, fresh water, and there wasn't even anything to really stop them from trading for the things they lacked.
That was… "Heh," Hadi chuckled, a humorless and grim sound. "I'll give him this -- he knows how to flip the board. We're the ones under siege now," Hadi quickly understood the situation. They had destroyed the food and hampered them from getting more. Foraging parties gave an opportunity to whittle down their numbers, but Siegfried might not even bother. If they failed to find food they would just be mouths to feed with an ever dwindling amount of supplies. Crete didn't have plentiful foraging as it was.
They would be forced to pick the island clean of every blade of grass before the month was up.
The ships had been crucial to their logistics and now, they only had ten ships in total. If they attempted to fish with them, Hadi had no doubt that they would be attacked. The more ships that they lost, the worse their situation became -- not solely because of their dwindling ability to secure food, but because the ships were their method of escape. Twenty thousand men could not fit on ten ships.
"This whole damn island is a trap. He's besieging us," Hadi said, forcing himself to stand up. He wore only a night shift, but he cared little as he forced his wooden legs to obey his commands. "Where is the Prince?"
"He's in his tent with the other commanders," Zafir said, offering a shoulder for Hadi to lean on. Leaving the tent, Hadi saw that they were in a camp and their walk didn't go unnoticed. Hadi felt eyes on him as he walked, hearing faint whispers under people's breaths. And if Hadi was capable of it at the moment, he would have despaired.
It seemed he had distinguished himself by nearly getting killed by Siegfried. How unfortunate. At least in the long term. In the short term, however, maybe he could finagle this newfound respect and admiration into securing his and Naeem's lives. Maybe even a trip back to Acre in the name of reinforcements or something.
They arrived at the central tent, and Hadi noticed that it was spun from silk. The entire thing. What… a statement of wealth, Hadi thought with a small shake of his head, a servant opening the way for them and it seemed that word of their approach arrived before them.
Prince Harun sat at the end of a table, a map with various tokens marking positions in Crete. The table of nobles was a lot emptier, Hadi quickly noticed. And, rather unfortunately, Emir Muhammad was one of the few that remained. "Sheikh Hadi -- it gladdens us to see you awake. We feared the worst when you did not wake from your slumber. We have prayed for your swift recovery," The Prince greeted him and Hadi half collapsed into an offered seat.
"Thank you for your prayers, my Prince," Hadi replied stiffly. A prince was praying for him. He never should have joined the military. He should have been a merchant.
"They say you fought quite well against the Pagan," Emir Muhammad offered and Hadi resisted the urge to snort. He held off simply because he could use the misconception to his advantage. Warriors respected warriors and, so far, he had survived a clash with one that had been beating them since they arrived.
Still, it would be prudent to be humble. "I survived through the grace of Allah, and the bravery of my brother and friend," Hadi said, gesturing to Zafir. Emir Muhammad nodded to that, and Hadi noticed that the distaste that was always in his gaze was missing. "I have been briefed on our current situation. Do we have a solution?"
To that, Prince Harun openly grimaced. A troubling sign, if Hadi was being perfectly honest. A leader could never show his doubts, his hesitation, or his fears. And if Hadi knew that, then the Prince would undoubtedly know that. "Not in so many words, no," he admitted. "The raids conducted on our encampment have been… targeted."
He said the words with a gesture to the empty seats and Hadi realized only then that the missing nobles weren't securing their position or performing tasks. They were dead. "Were they the goals?"
"Possibly, but if that's the case, then it means that the Pagan has a spy within the camp. A good one," Prince Harun replied, his lips thinning. "All the raids have been led by him. You… did not exaggerate his ability, Sheikh Hadi. I dare say that you underestimated him."
Hadi was inclined to agree. "The raids?"
"Small in number, around a dozen men with the cover of archers. They targeted our horses at first, and once they secured their advantage in mobility, they began to strike deeper into the camp. I'd call their attacks assassinations, but that would imply any degree of stealth. They simply attack, cut their way through, then leave before our numbers can overwhelm them. If we follow, our pursuit is ambushed." Prince Harun explained and there really wasn't much that could be done about that. "Our foraging parties are being hit the hardest -- they seem to know where they are, without fail. The smaller bands are ambushed and routed, any supplies they gathered seized."
The situation wasn't sustainable. They had food for now, and later they could eat the horses and the pack animals, but after that... Water was a concern as well, but one that could be managed. However, from the sounds of it, morale was going to be a huge issue. They had arrived with twenty thousand men, expecting an easy victory before the real fighting got started in Anatolia. The men, the levies who were expecting smooth sailing and easy riches, found themselves hungry, beaten, and suffering a string of defeats. It wouldn't be so dangerous if they had been expecting a hard battle, but they hadn't. Unexpectedly stubbing your toe always hurts more than a punch to the face that you saw coming.
"The Pagan is taking advantage of his mobility," Hadi thought out loud. "Do we know their numbers?"
"As many as two thousand outside the walls," Emir Muhammad answered to some surprise.
Hadi slowly nodded, "Without a blockade, the Pagan can freely move around the coast with his ships. Siegfried himself is too dangerous to fight traditionally."
"You have a plan? A good one?" Prince Harun prompted, and it was Hadi's turn to grimace.
"I have a bad one."
…
The Abbasids were annoying, I decided, looking out at their sea of tents outside of the walls of Norland. The stone walls were completed, and in no small thanks to the hard labor of the now freed thalls. They were hardly the tall walls of Constantinople, but at twenty feet up, secured further with a ditch, Norland was as secure as it could be.
The fireship hadn't burned as many ships as I had hoped. The ambush at sea hadn't worked. They left more men in Fajr than I thought they would, making me incur losses that I hadn't expected. Then they ambushed me outside of the settlement. I still felt comfortable saying that we were getting the better of them, but the victories weren't as clean as they could have been. I had hoped to dwindle their numbers a great deal more at sea, which prompted the attack on their settlement.
"Lord Wolf-Kissed," I heard a man speak to me in Greek, and I looked over at the commander of the Roman forces. Damian. The reinforcements from Empress Dowager Irene were quite unexpected -- a token force, but a useful one. Not in so great a number as to completely change the landscape of the battle, but enough that we could afford to spread our numbers a bit. "Your lady wife requested your presence."
Damian was probably the first Roman that I liked, and it was simply because he was professional and didn't get in my way. I patted him on the shoulder before walking the length of the wall. For a hastily made construction, it wasn't half bad. It was nestled in between two steep cliffs, serving as one of two entry points to Nordland. The narrowness of the location meant that the Abbasids couldn't bring their full weight against the wall, and a thousand men could hold it against a tireless assault with proper rest rotations.
We had to expand rather aggressively for the natural chokepoint. More than I was comfortable with, but we had secured a third hill for future expansion. The space would be left unoccupied for some time, I imagine, but that mattered little.
Leaving the wall behind me, I made my way down the winding path that led to the main settlement of Norland, which was defended with a palisade -- it would have been too time consuming to build the stone wall around it, especially if it meant ripping up our current defenses. There was a standing camp of two hundred men on the walls at all times, with a thousand ready to reinforce them at any moment.
Despite the rather sizable army that was currently outside of our gates, Norland almost seemed the same as usual. There were still ships coming and going from the harbor, bringing back fish and trade goods, or coming back from a patrol along the coast. The people still sold items and food at the market, and further construction of housing continued without pause. The only thing that gave away a change was that the thralls, all previously captive, were enjoying their newfound freedom.
Heading up to the longhouse, passing through another gate, I caught further glimpses of my army that continued to drill and train. The men that Garald brought were eager, and some of them already earned their hauberks and arms. It was something of an interesting development -- the new arrivals were more loyal than those that were here first. The ones that I fought with before were all here for glory, coin, and honor. The new arrivals though…
They were here for me.
The double doors to the longhouse swung open for me and I saw a sea of blue. All warriors that were loyal to me without reservation. Continuing onto the back room, I found the war room and that was where I found Astrid. She stood before a table, hunched over, and only partly because of her rounding belly that started to strain against her red dress. She looked down at a model of Crete.
King Widukind had inspired the idea. I got started on it the moment I realized that I would be forced to fight on this island, and I hadn't anticipated help of any kind. Knowledge of the land I was fighting in had proven to be a huge advantage more than once, and it was something that I was eager to replicate. Though, if I was being perfectly honest, my first rendition of Crete wasn't exactly great. It was good enough, but not accurate down to the last footstep like the maps made by King Widukind could boast.
"They're reacting," Astrid said, not even looking up at me as she adjusted one of the pieces that were on the model that took up a significant chunk of the table. In the end, with the time that we had, I ended up focusing my exploration mostly on one half of the island. There were tokens for Nordland, our armies, our fleets in the surrounding sea, and the armies of the Abbasids, their settlements, and what was left of their fleet. "They're moving in blocks of a thousand, spreading themselves out… Easy reinforcements."
As Astrid spoke, I caught a look in her eye to find that her eyes were glowing faintly.
A Blessing.
Zone of Control (Martial): The user establishes a zone with effigies, and all known enemies within the zone will be marked and their movements revealed to the user.
It wasn't the blessing that I had expected Astrid to receive upon my return from Constantinople with two thousand Romans in tow. But it was one that completely changed my plans once she received it. She described it as looking at the ground from above, down at the armies, and seeing them move around. Naturally, we established the zones with the appropriate effigies, though there did seem to be a limit on their size. So, with the model, we picked out potential battlefields where we would most likely deal with the vast Abbasid army.
"We expected that they would," I said, standing next to her, watching as Astrid moved the pieces. I saw what she meant -- the army of twenty thousand was breaking up into smaller bands of a thousand, likely to forage or fish. However, with the closeness of the groups, I couldn't easily attack them. I still could, certainly, but I would swiftly find myself outnumbered and outflanked, and the longer the battle went on, the more reinforcements would be drawn in.
"Some of them are going to be bait," I ventured, my arm snaking around Astrid's waist and pulling her to me. "They'll be out of position to bait me into attacking them, and the others will spring their trap."
"They want to catch you. Have you committed somewhere," Astrid agreed. I had experience with these kinds of tactics in Francia, but more than that, I had many thoughts and ideas on how I would fight someone like me. Someone like Roland. And, the simplest answer was to make Roland commit to a battle that would bog him down while I fulfilled an objective elsewhere. Roland would win the battle, but I would win the war. "What do you want to do?"
I hummed in thought, a slight smile curling at my lips. "I want to sail to the Abbasid cities. With so much of their military committed in Anatolia, their cities are ripe for the taking." We could use the wealth and trade goods.
Astrid snorted, "Maybe not the best idea when we have twenty thousand men camped at our door." A fair point.
"For now, we let them go hungry. I'll continue to burn out their food supplies," I decided. They had learned their lesson after the first time and spread out their food reserves so I couldn't destroy it all in one go. However, True Sight marked out their locations to me when I saw them. "We weaken them with hunger and thirst, then we take this bait and turn the trap on them," I said, taking the tokens and setting up the battle I wished to fight.
Astrid made a faintly impressed sound as I continued, "We deliver a strong decisive defeat to them, and what's left of the army will flee to their ships. We mop up the stragglers, and then our part in this war is done." Technically, it was already finished. Our task was to prevent the Abbadids from landing in Anatolia, and with most of their fleet scuttled, they couldn't.
From here, we can deliver a crushing blow to the Abbasids with a string of raids to their coastal cities. Take a few important hostages, and then the war would be over.
And I could finally get back to studying.
…
This was the chapter that I started to feel bad for Hadi. Man is doing his best, but Sieg has cheats enabled.
The next chapter is currently available on my Patreon and Subscribe Star, so if you want to read it a week early, all it takes is a single dollar in the tip jar. Or, for five dollars, you can read the chapter after that two weeks before its public release! I hope you enjoyed!
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
The war is not going to go well for the Abbasid Caliphate. Based on the time period, it would be the first Caliphate and if Sieg manages to hit them hard enough and the Dowager Empress manages to handle the Christian zealots better than actual history, they might be absorbed into the Eastern Roman Empire.
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
I have some rough news about most of the wars from human history...
Well, looks like Astrid got the power to see the Crusader Kings map.
In the game it dosen't seem really important, but in a realistic setting such an ability is incredibly powerful.
Neko-tama
[Verified Cat] [Verified Writer]
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Meh. Hadi is sympathetic. Siegfried maybe a little, though at this point it's hard to see him as anything but a complete monster who thrives in death, and suffering. The rulers? Not so much.
Out of interest what would you have him do here? What is it here that he does that makes him a monster in this war?
Neko-tama
[Verified Cat] [Verified Writer]
- Pronouns
- She/Her
In this war specifically? Nothing, other than that he seems to enjoy killing way too much. In general he kills, raids, tortures, and schemes without remorse. Pretty sure at this point his personal body count is approaching five figures. Someone who isn't a monster would be bothered by that to say the least.
He does have moments in wich he seems pretty bothered by it.
Or at least, the last chapters have set up some potential character development in that direction.
But as i have said before, reading a Crusader Kings fanfiction and expecting the protagonist to be a paragon of virtue is pretty irrealistic.
Neko-tama
[Verified Cat] [Verified Writer]
- Pronouns
- She/Her
That character development is why I'm still reading.
I for one find his character entertaining and compeling. It's a breath of fresh air compared to the generic 21century morale protagonist i see so often.
Lessons of History
- Location
- USA
Things were not going particularly well, Hadi acknowledged as he stared at the report written on a scrap of parchment. He felt an exhaustion deep in his bones, as in the three weeks since their landing, he had yet to sleep well. The most he had gotten was when he was unconscious and he was half tempted to ask Zafir to whack him over the head.
"He eludes us," Prince Harun cursed, and it was clear that the situation was no less stressful for the prince. No, it was more so for him. A defeat like this would tarnish his reputation. The only silver lining was that most of the nobility, the leaders of the army, were currently dead. Picked off one by one.
Siegfried seemed to have it out for Hadi because the one noble that Hadi wished for him to kill was currently glaring daggers at Hadi from across the table. "You said he would be baited," Emir Muhammad cursed, thumping a fist on the table.
"He has taken the bait. Many times. He just pulls back faster than we can catch him," Hadi argued tiredly. The situation had only deteriorated with time. His solutions were temporary stopgaps at best.
The change in formation and foraging helped some. It served a dual purpose of tempting Siegfried into giving battle against the smaller bands of a thousand men, while also serving as a way to replenish their dwindling food reserves. One band might get harried, but the other nine thousand men wouldn't. They could fish, hunt, search for berries, roots, and nuts. Efforts that were hampered by Siegfried's ability to cut through men like cloth and burn their supplies.
If they kept them all gathered in one place under a heavy guard, he cut through them. If they scattered the supplies out, he would still burn them. If they scattered them out and put a heavy guard, then a noble was killed. Without fail, Siegfried poked them where it hurt, and after nearly a month, during the time that they should have spent preparing for an invasion of Anatolia, they were hungry, injured, and the beginnings of a sickness were starting to sweep through the camp.
"The longer this goes on, the better it is for him. He knows this. It brings him no advantage to commit so early against an enemy that outnumbers him so greatly," Hadi explained yet again, wishing he could scream into his hands. "The longer this goes on, the weaker we become. The more desperate." They lost another five hundred men to Siegfried's raids, though another two hundred were so injured they could not fight.
Prince Harun fell heavily into his seat, "Then we must offer him a morsel too tantalizing to ignore- I am aware that is likely his plan," Prince Harun stated, seeing Hadi's expression. "But it is a risk we must accept. The situation cannot stand as it is -- we must either defeat him or we must retreat." Upon ships that they no longer had. Though a few still remained, and Siegfried seemed to deliberately avoid damaging them. He was leaving them an escape route to flee with.
And that frightened Hadi. That frightened him more than words could possibly say.
He could not argue with the Prince. "It must appear natural, then," he offered. "A lapse in discipline. A group venturing too far out in search of food. It might take a day, but we could see a reaction to that." The past three weeks could very well have lured Siegfried into a sense of security. He always prodded the furthest one out, spotted by scouts that must have the eyes of an eagle.
It would make sense. Hunger would be affecting their judgment, and they found nothing on already picked cleaned ground. That kind of mistake could very well be the exact situation that Siegfried sought to create.
"We must undercut his mobility," Emir Muhammad stated, and when he wasn't glowering, Hadi could aknowledge he had a decent head for strategy. "Else he will simply flee when we approach as he has done every time before. Coward," he muttered underneath his breath like a curse. Another time, Hadi would have thought it odd to call him such given that Siegfried had taken to the field every battle so far, but he was loath to speak or even think in the man's defense now.
"We stagger our approach," Prince Harun voiced, his lips thinning, looking down at the table as if it were a map. "He will hit the first group quite hard. The second will come… as you said, the Pagan is quite bold. If we tempt him into staying for the second band, we can then march in force directly upon him. We kill his cavalry, surround him… he will try to flee but we will pursue. To the ocean if we must. Siegfried must die."
That was the danger of having an army based around a single man. He was the very tip of the spear. They were united because of him. Should Siegfried perish? Then the pagan army's morale would disintegrate. So far from home, Hadi suspected that most would choose to leave the Mediterranean altogether, sailing home with the wealth they had managed to claim. A few would remain loyal to Princess Astrid and her unborn baby, but it was a rare form of loyalty that could endure the mere prospect of a worthy leader just because of who sired him.
Hadi nodded in agreement, "Siegfried must die."
He just had a feeling that it was going to be easier said than done.
…
Siegfried had made himself a number of enemies within the camp -- he had slain many friends, he had stolen food from their mouths, and burned medicine for their wounds. So, Hadi found little trouble finding volunteers for the duty of being bait. The only true trouble was the fact that he was going to be leading them.
It was a rather unfortunate turn of event, but a predictable one. The noble leaders of the army had been systematically killed off -- there were precious few left. Emir Muhammad would be leading the second wave while Prince Harun would follow up with the rest of the army. If everything went to plan, which it almost certainly wouldn't, they would be bringing down fifteen thousand men upon Siegfried's outstretched thousand. A small force would be left behind to maintain the siege, and there was the force in the settlement to secure the ships.
Which was how Hadi found himself seated upon one of the few remaining horses, keenly aware of his position as his band of a thousand men pretended to forage. In the confines of his own mind, he ran through the battle -- how it would take place. His part in this mess was to take out the horses and tie up Siegfried for around twenty minutes. By that time, Emir Muhammad would close in and reinforce. Once their strength was sapped, they would try to flee, only to be trapped in Prince Harun's net-
An arrow punched through the throat of the man next to Hadi, and Hadi flinched so badly he nearly fell from his horse. He wheeled around, his gaze darting to the source of the arrow to find that his scouts failed him. The terrain was chosen specifically for its rocky hills that would help mask the rest of the armies approach, but Siegfried used it to his own advantage. Hadi only realized they had arrived when he saw hundreds of horsemen galloping right towards his force.
"Naeem, stay close to me," Hadi instructed his brother while the alarm horn blared, a signal for the men to jump into action as much as it was for Emir Muhammad to get going. Hadi recognized the lead horsemen easily, his blood red hair making him easily stand out.
This was the flaw of the plan as far as Hadi was concerned -- he had to survive twenty minutes against… that.
"Spears and shields! Form up! Form up! Archers!" Hadi began to shout out, the men reacting snappish to Siegfried's arrival, even if they didn't have the forewarning that Hadi wished for. The men gathered themselves up, leveling their spears, getting into a rough formation while the archers managed to get off a single sporadic volley of arrows. A few struck home, but most either over shot or struck the mail armor that the pagans wore.
Then they struck Hadi's force like a hammer. The first spearline buckled, the second folded, while the third managed to remain standing. The air became filled with the sounds of steel, bloodletting, and worse of all were the screaming horses as they were upended or felled. Hadi had anticipated the devastating effects of the charge, but anticipating a broken limb didn't make it any less painful. And that was the effect that the charge had upon Hadi's force -- it was the equivalent to having an arm shattered.
Their rough formation crumpled, the pagans carving deep into them while their infantry were racing to keep up as their archers fired off arrow after arrow. So powerful was the charge that Hadi doubted that they would manage to survive five minutes, much less the twenty they needed. And, it was only their hatred for Siegfried that kept his force from crumbling apart in a full rout, letting Hadi regroup.
"Press on! Their horses! Their horses!" Hadi yelled out as the momentum of the charge tapered off and his men began to push back. It wouldn't be enough, Hadi knew. The pagan infantry struck them almost as soon as the charge lost its momentum -- an odd five hundred men, but their effect was almost as devastating as the charge. They marched in formation, round shields and axes, wearing ringmail and helms.
A professional force of fighting men, Hadi knew. Against his unarmored levies. The Pagan himself marched aggressively, turning the spears that his men had to the side until they were in striking range.
Normal battles didn't see that many dead. Hadi had studied the records -- people still died, of course, but with armies of comparable sizes, the losses were always smaller than one would expect. And, in truth, most of the losses came from when one army routed and the victor pursued them. That wasn't what the pagan army did. The charge, Siegfried himself, shattered their formation into pieces and that disruption had the same effect as a route -- unprepared and unarmored men met the sharp axes of the pagans that pushed their formation to the side.
And there was nothing that Hadi could do. There were no clever tactics that could turn the situation around. It wasn't a matter of desire, but it simply wasn't feasible. Hadi felt like he was trying to fight a landslide that simply pushed his men to the side if it didn't overwhelm and trample them underfoot. And worst of all, that landslide had a name, and he was coming right for Hadi.
"Hold! Hold!" Hadi shouted, knowing his role in this mess and he would be damned if he lifted so much as a finger more. The horses were being thinned out, though Siegfried remained horsed, wielding a large axe that he swung with devastating efficiency. His job was to hold them, take out their horses, and everyone else could do the actual work of killing the monster before him. "Hold, damn you!"
It wasn't much use, Hadi could admit, his army being shaved away down to nothing as the minutes went by. To his men's credit, most of them didn't flee. They died bravely, but they still died all the same. And one thing was looking more and more likely, but he didn't dare think it. At least, not until his brother spoke the words out loud.
"We have to unhorse him, brother," Naeem voiced as Siegfried carved through the men that separated them. Killing was hard work. Hadi knew that first hand. His duel had lasted all of three minutes, but in that time, he was rendered breathless and drenched in sweat. Siegfried made it look easy. Simple. Each swing of his axe harvested lives much like a farmer would harvest wheat.
He was right. Even if they slaughtered the odd thousand men that Siegfried had with them, it was pointless unless they killed Siegfried himself. However, as right as he was, Hadi found that fear pooled in his belly at the mere thought of throwing himself in the direction of that beast. Any trace of moisture vanished from his mouth, and the sounds of the slaughter faded away the moment his gaze locked with Siegfried's, and there was no doubt in his mind. Siegfried was coming for him.
The thought was enough to make him quit the field then and there. And he would have if it wasn't for his fool brother having more balls than brains, charging forward without so much as a shadow of a thought of self preservation.
His choice was robbed from him, Hadi cursed, forced to follow to make sure that Naeem didn't get himself killed. Or, rather, so he could have the pleasure of killing him himself if they both managed to survive the battle. They waded through the sea of bodies, and Hadi with his horse was able to usher them to the side with greater ease.
He wasn't here to fight. He was here to kill Seigfried's horse. If he managed that much, then he could play dead, and he could survive this madness. His heart was pounding in his throat as they neared one another, and with another swing of his axe, Hadi felt blood splash over his face.
It'd be a bold face lie to say that he had a plan. There wasn't a single thought going through Hadi's head as he tensed -- nothing but pure fear driving him. And, it was only after he did it that he realized what he did.
At some point he drew his sword, holding it with a white-knuckled grip, and he dove forward. Siegfried anticipated the move, and in a flash, he swung his axe, only for the blade to miss Hadi's head entirely. Hadi wasn't diving towards Siegfried. He dove towards his horse, driving his blade into it, and he hit the ground to find that the dusty dirt was a bloody mud. The horse cried out in pain, bucking up, and Siegfried landed heavily off to the side when the horse collapsed nearly on top of Hadi.
That's it. That was his part done. The rest of the war was up to literally everyone else, because he was done, Hadi decided, finding the bloody mud quite comforting. He didn't even mind getting stepped on -- let everyone think he was dead. For good. Maybe, once the battle was done, he could sail away and start a new life somewhere away from all of this bullshit.
"HAHA!" Hadi heard a terrifying laugh and, despite himself, he dared to look up to see that Siegfried was looking right at him with a wide smile on his face. The absolute bastard looked almost pleased that he had been knocked on his ass. "So it's you that's been such a pain in my ass," he accused and Hadi saw a gruesome death in his near future unless something changed within the next five seconds.
Allah decided to answer his prayers then, because Hadi heard the sound of the horn. Relief turned his bones into jelly, even as Naeem and Zafir managed to reach him, pulling Hadi up. Siegfried, completely unbothered by the conflict that surrounded him, simply looked over everyone's heads…
Confidence.
An army of nine thousand was heading his way, and Siegfried didn't seem bothered in the slightest.
Siegfried glanced his way and Hadi felt his blood turn to ice. And, to his immense horror, Siegfried inclined his head respectfully to Hadi before simply turning around and getting ready to flee with his men. He was glad for both Naeem and Zafir keeping him standing because he would have collapsed without them, but the knot of tension wouldn't leave him. And it took him a minute to figure out why, only when the pagans quit the killing field to reveal the utter massacre that had taken place.
"Their retreat is too orderly," Hadi noted, watching the pagans retreat. They certainly moved hurriedly, but they moved as a cohesive whole. Was that because they weren't feeling the pressure? There was maybe three hundred men left in Hadi's entire force that could still fight, so they weren't really in any position to pursue…
"You're overthinking things, brother. We have him," Naeem said, smiling viciously at the retreating army that swiftly vanished into the hills as Emir Muhammad were closing in to pursue. Neither had cavalry, and theoretically, the pagans should be tired from massacring Hadi's men. With Prince Harun moving to seal the exit from behind, they should have Siegfried completely surrounded and from there, it was merely a question of how many men he would take down with him. Hadi's estimation was a lot. A truly astonishing number of men that would be spun into a legend.
Hadi clenched his jaw, "Remind me to strangle you later." He told his brother, spotting a rider leading a horse behind him. Based on the affronted look, his fool brother didn't even realize what he did to deserve it.
The rider approached, "Is Sheikh Hadi among the living?"
Unfortunately. "I am," Hadi waved at the man, and there was some relief on the messenger's face. "What news do you bring?"
"We're here to collect the wounded with your injuries prioritized, but Prince Harun suspected that you would wish to join him if you were able," the messenger replied. That was an offer he could refuse. He could probably get away with saying that he was injured and brush off the invitation entirely. But…
"I could use a horse, good man," Hadi replied and his brother looked at him like he couldn't recognize him. Hadi's gaze met Naeem's, knowing his thoughts even as he took the offered horse. "Get to Fajr, not the siege camp. Both of you." He needed to see it, Hadi thought. He needed to see Siegfried die with his own eyes or he was going to be seeing him in his nightmares for the rest of his life.
"Brother-"
"That isn't a request, Naeem. Zafir, get my brother there. Drag him kicking and screaming, if you must," Hadi instructed, earning a serious nod from Zafir as Naeem appeared almost betrayed. "Always assume the worst, little brother, and you'll never find yourself surprised again." Despite the aches and the pains, Hadi wheeled his horse around to trail after the messenger that was sent to collect him.
And from horseback, the sight of his dead men churned his guts. He could practically see where the pagans had cut through his lines, leaving piles of bodies and hundreds wounded. Some could recover, but Hadi expected that most would die of their wounds in the coming days.
He clenched his jaw, swallowing back bile, and rode off towards the Prince.
…
The plan hadn't entirely worked as hoped, as the pagans managed to move faster than expected. Yet, a day later, the net was slowly closing in on them. Hadi joined up with Prince Harun, who congratulated him on his bravery and promised him honors. After everything, Hadi didn't even have it in him to despair at the prospect.
But the trap was set. Prince Harun marched to the coast, going wide before going inland. Emir Muhammad continued to doggedly pursue Siegfried, attempting to push him directly into the open arms of Prince Harun. Only Siegfried proved resistant according to the scouts, heading to a battlefield of his choosing.
"A frightful man," Prince Harun acknowledged. "He dictates terms even when outnumbered so fiercely." There was a quiet note of admiration in his voice as they sat on what was two of six horses left in the army.
"He senses the trap," Hadi agreed. Siegfried was looking for a battlefield to limit the effectiveness of Emir Muhammad's numbers while maximizing the effectiveness of his own. To that end, the rocky hills with winding narrow valleys and paths was a good choice. It just wouldn't be enough to save him.
The moment that he committed to a defensive position, or even an offensive one, Prince Harun would close the distance. Wide and from behind -- cutting off all hopes of escape. Hadi didn't feel comfortable letting Siegfried dictate any terms of the battle at all, but now the shoe was on the other foot -- Siegfried was forced into a no-win situation and the most he could hope for was to be a real bastard to kill.
"His men…" Prince Harun started, only to trail off. Hadi glanced at the prince to hee that his lips had thinned as he gaze out at the terrain, waiting for a messenger to confirm that the pagans were committed to battle. "His men are loyal."
They think they're following a god, Hadi wanted to say. And after everything he had seen, they very well might be. "They feel like they can win because he is there," Hadi said instead. "They see him carve the way, and they are inspired. It is why they shall crumble the moment he dies."
Prince Harun said nothing to that as they waited for the message.
And waited.
And waited.
And then Hadi saw him. A man riding one of the few horses left in the army, waving a flag that signaled the advance. Hadi took in a breath as word got out, the army moving as one to close the trap upon the Pagan. It was a true testament to him, Hadi thought as they marched -- a total of twelve thousand men were completely dedicated to taking a single man's head. And Hadi could only pray that it would be enough.
They marched in silence, both he and the Prince taut like a bowstring. Soon, over the sounds of marching feet, Hadi heard the sounds of fighting. It was becoming an all too familiar tune to his ears, he lamented. One that he hopefully would never have to hear again.
Soon, he could go home. He could get fat. He would spend a king's ransom at every brothel he could find. Wine would flow in rivers. From here on, Hadi swine to himself, his life was nothing but smooth sailing and irresponsibility.
"He picked his battlefield well," Prince Harun uttered when they found it. They marched through the valleys of rolling hills, and they swiftly found the battle itself. The prince was correct -- the valleys and steep inclines made the small hill that Siegfried was arranged on difficult to attack. Doubly so considering that Siegfried had been marching in a specific direction, and the hill was prepared with a rough earthworks and palisade.
It was a small fort, barely a fort at all. But one that would turn an already painful battle into a bloody one. The hill that the fort was on had two feasible points of approach. There was a potential third, but Hadi wouldn't trust the ground under the weight of hundreds of men. At the base of the hill was a valley that pooled deeply -- they would have to spread their men out a bit to encompass it, but there should be no issue.
All that was left was to get the killing done.
Emir Muhammad was already leading an assault on the position, and it seemed to be making little in terms of progress. Hadi saw Siegfried on the walls, letting loose arrows in an almost continuous stream that felled men without fail. Prince Harun wasted no time joining the assault, trying to force their way through with nothing but pure numbers.
The progress made was small but steady. Slowly, the earthworks were overcome. The palisade was toppled. The pagans began to get picked off…
And then a horn blew.
"What signal was that?" he questioned, overlooking the battle with Prince Harun, who frowned deeply.
"Was he killed?" Prince Harun asked, looking to his attendants for an answer. There was no question who the he was. However, Yahya shook his head, appearing uncertain.
"My prince… I don't believe that horn was ours," Yahya answered and Hadi closed his eyes, looking to the sky above to see that it was darkening with signs of incoming rain.
Yahya was soon proven to be all too right as six thousand pagans and Romans began to pour into the narrow valley passes. Passes that would let them use their smaller numbers to great effect.
They were trapped in the valley.
Hadi couldn't help it as he realized that they were the ones that had taken the bait -- he laughed, and he laughed and he laughed.
...
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"He eludes us," Prince Harun cursed, and it was clear that the situation was no less stressful for the prince. No, it was more so for him. A defeat like this would tarnish his reputation. The only silver lining was that most of the nobility, the leaders of the army, were currently dead. Picked off one by one.
Siegfried seemed to have it out for Hadi because the one noble that Hadi wished for him to kill was currently glaring daggers at Hadi from across the table. "You said he would be baited," Emir Muhammad cursed, thumping a fist on the table.
"He has taken the bait. Many times. He just pulls back faster than we can catch him," Hadi argued tiredly. The situation had only deteriorated with time. His solutions were temporary stopgaps at best.
The change in formation and foraging helped some. It served a dual purpose of tempting Siegfried into giving battle against the smaller bands of a thousand men, while also serving as a way to replenish their dwindling food reserves. One band might get harried, but the other nine thousand men wouldn't. They could fish, hunt, search for berries, roots, and nuts. Efforts that were hampered by Siegfried's ability to cut through men like cloth and burn their supplies.
If they kept them all gathered in one place under a heavy guard, he cut through them. If they scattered the supplies out, he would still burn them. If they scattered them out and put a heavy guard, then a noble was killed. Without fail, Siegfried poked them where it hurt, and after nearly a month, during the time that they should have spent preparing for an invasion of Anatolia, they were hungry, injured, and the beginnings of a sickness were starting to sweep through the camp.
"The longer this goes on, the better it is for him. He knows this. It brings him no advantage to commit so early against an enemy that outnumbers him so greatly," Hadi explained yet again, wishing he could scream into his hands. "The longer this goes on, the weaker we become. The more desperate." They lost another five hundred men to Siegfried's raids, though another two hundred were so injured they could not fight.
Prince Harun fell heavily into his seat, "Then we must offer him a morsel too tantalizing to ignore- I am aware that is likely his plan," Prince Harun stated, seeing Hadi's expression. "But it is a risk we must accept. The situation cannot stand as it is -- we must either defeat him or we must retreat." Upon ships that they no longer had. Though a few still remained, and Siegfried seemed to deliberately avoid damaging them. He was leaving them an escape route to flee with.
And that frightened Hadi. That frightened him more than words could possibly say.
He could not argue with the Prince. "It must appear natural, then," he offered. "A lapse in discipline. A group venturing too far out in search of food. It might take a day, but we could see a reaction to that." The past three weeks could very well have lured Siegfried into a sense of security. He always prodded the furthest one out, spotted by scouts that must have the eyes of an eagle.
It would make sense. Hunger would be affecting their judgment, and they found nothing on already picked cleaned ground. That kind of mistake could very well be the exact situation that Siegfried sought to create.
"We must undercut his mobility," Emir Muhammad stated, and when he wasn't glowering, Hadi could aknowledge he had a decent head for strategy. "Else he will simply flee when we approach as he has done every time before. Coward," he muttered underneath his breath like a curse. Another time, Hadi would have thought it odd to call him such given that Siegfried had taken to the field every battle so far, but he was loath to speak or even think in the man's defense now.
"We stagger our approach," Prince Harun voiced, his lips thinning, looking down at the table as if it were a map. "He will hit the first group quite hard. The second will come… as you said, the Pagan is quite bold. If we tempt him into staying for the second band, we can then march in force directly upon him. We kill his cavalry, surround him… he will try to flee but we will pursue. To the ocean if we must. Siegfried must die."
That was the danger of having an army based around a single man. He was the very tip of the spear. They were united because of him. Should Siegfried perish? Then the pagan army's morale would disintegrate. So far from home, Hadi suspected that most would choose to leave the Mediterranean altogether, sailing home with the wealth they had managed to claim. A few would remain loyal to Princess Astrid and her unborn baby, but it was a rare form of loyalty that could endure the mere prospect of a worthy leader just because of who sired him.
Hadi nodded in agreement, "Siegfried must die."
He just had a feeling that it was going to be easier said than done.
…
Siegfried had made himself a number of enemies within the camp -- he had slain many friends, he had stolen food from their mouths, and burned medicine for their wounds. So, Hadi found little trouble finding volunteers for the duty of being bait. The only true trouble was the fact that he was going to be leading them.
It was a rather unfortunate turn of event, but a predictable one. The noble leaders of the army had been systematically killed off -- there were precious few left. Emir Muhammad would be leading the second wave while Prince Harun would follow up with the rest of the army. If everything went to plan, which it almost certainly wouldn't, they would be bringing down fifteen thousand men upon Siegfried's outstretched thousand. A small force would be left behind to maintain the siege, and there was the force in the settlement to secure the ships.
Which was how Hadi found himself seated upon one of the few remaining horses, keenly aware of his position as his band of a thousand men pretended to forage. In the confines of his own mind, he ran through the battle -- how it would take place. His part in this mess was to take out the horses and tie up Siegfried for around twenty minutes. By that time, Emir Muhammad would close in and reinforce. Once their strength was sapped, they would try to flee, only to be trapped in Prince Harun's net-
An arrow punched through the throat of the man next to Hadi, and Hadi flinched so badly he nearly fell from his horse. He wheeled around, his gaze darting to the source of the arrow to find that his scouts failed him. The terrain was chosen specifically for its rocky hills that would help mask the rest of the armies approach, but Siegfried used it to his own advantage. Hadi only realized they had arrived when he saw hundreds of horsemen galloping right towards his force.
"Naeem, stay close to me," Hadi instructed his brother while the alarm horn blared, a signal for the men to jump into action as much as it was for Emir Muhammad to get going. Hadi recognized the lead horsemen easily, his blood red hair making him easily stand out.
This was the flaw of the plan as far as Hadi was concerned -- he had to survive twenty minutes against… that.
"Spears and shields! Form up! Form up! Archers!" Hadi began to shout out, the men reacting snappish to Siegfried's arrival, even if they didn't have the forewarning that Hadi wished for. The men gathered themselves up, leveling their spears, getting into a rough formation while the archers managed to get off a single sporadic volley of arrows. A few struck home, but most either over shot or struck the mail armor that the pagans wore.
Then they struck Hadi's force like a hammer. The first spearline buckled, the second folded, while the third managed to remain standing. The air became filled with the sounds of steel, bloodletting, and worse of all were the screaming horses as they were upended or felled. Hadi had anticipated the devastating effects of the charge, but anticipating a broken limb didn't make it any less painful. And that was the effect that the charge had upon Hadi's force -- it was the equivalent to having an arm shattered.
Their rough formation crumpled, the pagans carving deep into them while their infantry were racing to keep up as their archers fired off arrow after arrow. So powerful was the charge that Hadi doubted that they would manage to survive five minutes, much less the twenty they needed. And, it was only their hatred for Siegfried that kept his force from crumbling apart in a full rout, letting Hadi regroup.
"Press on! Their horses! Their horses!" Hadi yelled out as the momentum of the charge tapered off and his men began to push back. It wouldn't be enough, Hadi knew. The pagan infantry struck them almost as soon as the charge lost its momentum -- an odd five hundred men, but their effect was almost as devastating as the charge. They marched in formation, round shields and axes, wearing ringmail and helms.
A professional force of fighting men, Hadi knew. Against his unarmored levies. The Pagan himself marched aggressively, turning the spears that his men had to the side until they were in striking range.
Normal battles didn't see that many dead. Hadi had studied the records -- people still died, of course, but with armies of comparable sizes, the losses were always smaller than one would expect. And, in truth, most of the losses came from when one army routed and the victor pursued them. That wasn't what the pagan army did. The charge, Siegfried himself, shattered their formation into pieces and that disruption had the same effect as a route -- unprepared and unarmored men met the sharp axes of the pagans that pushed their formation to the side.
And there was nothing that Hadi could do. There were no clever tactics that could turn the situation around. It wasn't a matter of desire, but it simply wasn't feasible. Hadi felt like he was trying to fight a landslide that simply pushed his men to the side if it didn't overwhelm and trample them underfoot. And worst of all, that landslide had a name, and he was coming right for Hadi.
"Hold! Hold!" Hadi shouted, knowing his role in this mess and he would be damned if he lifted so much as a finger more. The horses were being thinned out, though Siegfried remained horsed, wielding a large axe that he swung with devastating efficiency. His job was to hold them, take out their horses, and everyone else could do the actual work of killing the monster before him. "Hold, damn you!"
It wasn't much use, Hadi could admit, his army being shaved away down to nothing as the minutes went by. To his men's credit, most of them didn't flee. They died bravely, but they still died all the same. And one thing was looking more and more likely, but he didn't dare think it. At least, not until his brother spoke the words out loud.
"We have to unhorse him, brother," Naeem voiced as Siegfried carved through the men that separated them. Killing was hard work. Hadi knew that first hand. His duel had lasted all of three minutes, but in that time, he was rendered breathless and drenched in sweat. Siegfried made it look easy. Simple. Each swing of his axe harvested lives much like a farmer would harvest wheat.
He was right. Even if they slaughtered the odd thousand men that Siegfried had with them, it was pointless unless they killed Siegfried himself. However, as right as he was, Hadi found that fear pooled in his belly at the mere thought of throwing himself in the direction of that beast. Any trace of moisture vanished from his mouth, and the sounds of the slaughter faded away the moment his gaze locked with Siegfried's, and there was no doubt in his mind. Siegfried was coming for him.
The thought was enough to make him quit the field then and there. And he would have if it wasn't for his fool brother having more balls than brains, charging forward without so much as a shadow of a thought of self preservation.
His choice was robbed from him, Hadi cursed, forced to follow to make sure that Naeem didn't get himself killed. Or, rather, so he could have the pleasure of killing him himself if they both managed to survive the battle. They waded through the sea of bodies, and Hadi with his horse was able to usher them to the side with greater ease.
He wasn't here to fight. He was here to kill Seigfried's horse. If he managed that much, then he could play dead, and he could survive this madness. His heart was pounding in his throat as they neared one another, and with another swing of his axe, Hadi felt blood splash over his face.
It'd be a bold face lie to say that he had a plan. There wasn't a single thought going through Hadi's head as he tensed -- nothing but pure fear driving him. And, it was only after he did it that he realized what he did.
At some point he drew his sword, holding it with a white-knuckled grip, and he dove forward. Siegfried anticipated the move, and in a flash, he swung his axe, only for the blade to miss Hadi's head entirely. Hadi wasn't diving towards Siegfried. He dove towards his horse, driving his blade into it, and he hit the ground to find that the dusty dirt was a bloody mud. The horse cried out in pain, bucking up, and Siegfried landed heavily off to the side when the horse collapsed nearly on top of Hadi.
That's it. That was his part done. The rest of the war was up to literally everyone else, because he was done, Hadi decided, finding the bloody mud quite comforting. He didn't even mind getting stepped on -- let everyone think he was dead. For good. Maybe, once the battle was done, he could sail away and start a new life somewhere away from all of this bullshit.
"HAHA!" Hadi heard a terrifying laugh and, despite himself, he dared to look up to see that Siegfried was looking right at him with a wide smile on his face. The absolute bastard looked almost pleased that he had been knocked on his ass. "So it's you that's been such a pain in my ass," he accused and Hadi saw a gruesome death in his near future unless something changed within the next five seconds.
Allah decided to answer his prayers then, because Hadi heard the sound of the horn. Relief turned his bones into jelly, even as Naeem and Zafir managed to reach him, pulling Hadi up. Siegfried, completely unbothered by the conflict that surrounded him, simply looked over everyone's heads…
Confidence.
An army of nine thousand was heading his way, and Siegfried didn't seem bothered in the slightest.
Siegfried glanced his way and Hadi felt his blood turn to ice. And, to his immense horror, Siegfried inclined his head respectfully to Hadi before simply turning around and getting ready to flee with his men. He was glad for both Naeem and Zafir keeping him standing because he would have collapsed without them, but the knot of tension wouldn't leave him. And it took him a minute to figure out why, only when the pagans quit the killing field to reveal the utter massacre that had taken place.
"Their retreat is too orderly," Hadi noted, watching the pagans retreat. They certainly moved hurriedly, but they moved as a cohesive whole. Was that because they weren't feeling the pressure? There was maybe three hundred men left in Hadi's entire force that could still fight, so they weren't really in any position to pursue…
"You're overthinking things, brother. We have him," Naeem said, smiling viciously at the retreating army that swiftly vanished into the hills as Emir Muhammad were closing in to pursue. Neither had cavalry, and theoretically, the pagans should be tired from massacring Hadi's men. With Prince Harun moving to seal the exit from behind, they should have Siegfried completely surrounded and from there, it was merely a question of how many men he would take down with him. Hadi's estimation was a lot. A truly astonishing number of men that would be spun into a legend.
Hadi clenched his jaw, "Remind me to strangle you later." He told his brother, spotting a rider leading a horse behind him. Based on the affronted look, his fool brother didn't even realize what he did to deserve it.
The rider approached, "Is Sheikh Hadi among the living?"
Unfortunately. "I am," Hadi waved at the man, and there was some relief on the messenger's face. "What news do you bring?"
"We're here to collect the wounded with your injuries prioritized, but Prince Harun suspected that you would wish to join him if you were able," the messenger replied. That was an offer he could refuse. He could probably get away with saying that he was injured and brush off the invitation entirely. But…
"I could use a horse, good man," Hadi replied and his brother looked at him like he couldn't recognize him. Hadi's gaze met Naeem's, knowing his thoughts even as he took the offered horse. "Get to Fajr, not the siege camp. Both of you." He needed to see it, Hadi thought. He needed to see Siegfried die with his own eyes or he was going to be seeing him in his nightmares for the rest of his life.
"Brother-"
"That isn't a request, Naeem. Zafir, get my brother there. Drag him kicking and screaming, if you must," Hadi instructed, earning a serious nod from Zafir as Naeem appeared almost betrayed. "Always assume the worst, little brother, and you'll never find yourself surprised again." Despite the aches and the pains, Hadi wheeled his horse around to trail after the messenger that was sent to collect him.
And from horseback, the sight of his dead men churned his guts. He could practically see where the pagans had cut through his lines, leaving piles of bodies and hundreds wounded. Some could recover, but Hadi expected that most would die of their wounds in the coming days.
He clenched his jaw, swallowing back bile, and rode off towards the Prince.
…
The plan hadn't entirely worked as hoped, as the pagans managed to move faster than expected. Yet, a day later, the net was slowly closing in on them. Hadi joined up with Prince Harun, who congratulated him on his bravery and promised him honors. After everything, Hadi didn't even have it in him to despair at the prospect.
But the trap was set. Prince Harun marched to the coast, going wide before going inland. Emir Muhammad continued to doggedly pursue Siegfried, attempting to push him directly into the open arms of Prince Harun. Only Siegfried proved resistant according to the scouts, heading to a battlefield of his choosing.
"A frightful man," Prince Harun acknowledged. "He dictates terms even when outnumbered so fiercely." There was a quiet note of admiration in his voice as they sat on what was two of six horses left in the army.
"He senses the trap," Hadi agreed. Siegfried was looking for a battlefield to limit the effectiveness of Emir Muhammad's numbers while maximizing the effectiveness of his own. To that end, the rocky hills with winding narrow valleys and paths was a good choice. It just wouldn't be enough to save him.
The moment that he committed to a defensive position, or even an offensive one, Prince Harun would close the distance. Wide and from behind -- cutting off all hopes of escape. Hadi didn't feel comfortable letting Siegfried dictate any terms of the battle at all, but now the shoe was on the other foot -- Siegfried was forced into a no-win situation and the most he could hope for was to be a real bastard to kill.
"His men…" Prince Harun started, only to trail off. Hadi glanced at the prince to hee that his lips had thinned as he gaze out at the terrain, waiting for a messenger to confirm that the pagans were committed to battle. "His men are loyal."
They think they're following a god, Hadi wanted to say. And after everything he had seen, they very well might be. "They feel like they can win because he is there," Hadi said instead. "They see him carve the way, and they are inspired. It is why they shall crumble the moment he dies."
Prince Harun said nothing to that as they waited for the message.
And waited.
And waited.
And then Hadi saw him. A man riding one of the few horses left in the army, waving a flag that signaled the advance. Hadi took in a breath as word got out, the army moving as one to close the trap upon the Pagan. It was a true testament to him, Hadi thought as they marched -- a total of twelve thousand men were completely dedicated to taking a single man's head. And Hadi could only pray that it would be enough.
They marched in silence, both he and the Prince taut like a bowstring. Soon, over the sounds of marching feet, Hadi heard the sounds of fighting. It was becoming an all too familiar tune to his ears, he lamented. One that he hopefully would never have to hear again.
Soon, he could go home. He could get fat. He would spend a king's ransom at every brothel he could find. Wine would flow in rivers. From here on, Hadi swine to himself, his life was nothing but smooth sailing and irresponsibility.
"He picked his battlefield well," Prince Harun uttered when they found it. They marched through the valleys of rolling hills, and they swiftly found the battle itself. The prince was correct -- the valleys and steep inclines made the small hill that Siegfried was arranged on difficult to attack. Doubly so considering that Siegfried had been marching in a specific direction, and the hill was prepared with a rough earthworks and palisade.
It was a small fort, barely a fort at all. But one that would turn an already painful battle into a bloody one. The hill that the fort was on had two feasible points of approach. There was a potential third, but Hadi wouldn't trust the ground under the weight of hundreds of men. At the base of the hill was a valley that pooled deeply -- they would have to spread their men out a bit to encompass it, but there should be no issue.
All that was left was to get the killing done.
Emir Muhammad was already leading an assault on the position, and it seemed to be making little in terms of progress. Hadi saw Siegfried on the walls, letting loose arrows in an almost continuous stream that felled men without fail. Prince Harun wasted no time joining the assault, trying to force their way through with nothing but pure numbers.
The progress made was small but steady. Slowly, the earthworks were overcome. The palisade was toppled. The pagans began to get picked off…
And then a horn blew.
"What signal was that?" he questioned, overlooking the battle with Prince Harun, who frowned deeply.
"Was he killed?" Prince Harun asked, looking to his attendants for an answer. There was no question who the he was. However, Yahya shook his head, appearing uncertain.
"My prince… I don't believe that horn was ours," Yahya answered and Hadi closed his eyes, looking to the sky above to see that it was darkening with signs of incoming rain.
Yahya was soon proven to be all too right as six thousand pagans and Romans began to pour into the narrow valley passes. Passes that would let them use their smaller numbers to great effect.
They were trapped in the valley.
Hadi couldn't help it as he realized that they were the ones that had taken the bait -- he laughed, and he laughed and he laughed.
...
The next chapter is currently available on my Patreon and Subscribe Star, so if you want to read it a week early, all it takes is a single dollar in the tip jar. Or, for five dollars, you can read the chapter after that two weeks before its public release! I hope you enjoyed!
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
Poor Hadi...
All that work and what did it get him?
All that work and what did it get him?
There's a great balance here in making Hadi, the prince, and the emir competent and threatening against Siegfried's literal magic. It does a lot to underline how unfair his advantages are.
I don't doubt they will survive the loss. Maybe the Emir will pass but they are all more valuable alive.
I don't doubt they will survive the loss. Maybe the Emir will pass but they are all more valuable alive.