Chapter I - Otremer - II/11

II/11

Anis was sitting under an ashed beam in the dusk. Alaid's  ruins encircled him. Suddenly he heared horse pounding. He jumped into cover and pulled his hood onto his head. A smaller band of nord horseman appeared in front of the ruined gatehouse.

- Holy shit! What happened here? - asked one of them.

- They are so frightend they burnt themselves. Hahaha!

- Bakris go back to the Huscarls and report them that the city was burnt down and we begin to look around.

- Yes! - Bakris turned back and begun to ride.

- Spread out. Let's check the ruins and the horizon. Meet here within an hour...

Anis hided in a half burnt down house. When the night fell he got out of his cover and sneaked on the streets to reach the southern gate. When he reached the gaet he saw that the horde was to arrive to Alaid. More and more flags and soldiers appeared on the horizon. Some of the rear forces reached the city and begun to make thir camps. Anis could sneak out the city under the dark night.

He passed the southern gate and made his way towards the sand dunes. He jumped behind the first sand hill but unfortunatelly he driven up a nord soldier trying to pee. Anis acted first. He draw his dagger and tossed it into the surprised nord's neck. He fell down without making a single noise. - Huhh, Fortuna favors me! - Anis pulse was pumping heavily. He nearly falsed himself. He fast buried the dead body into the sand. He could win a few hours with this. He knew that he must go with haste before someone discovers the dead soldier.

As he reached the king's main road he saw that nord guards standing on it. He decided to hit the road a bit later when the nords cannot see him. Till he have travelled on the snad dunes next to the road to stay in cover.  

Chapter I - Otremer - II/10

II/10

The road to Akbar took 4 days to a caravan. It took 7 to Nomak with the citizens of Alaid. Many of the unprepared population fell down dead during the trip. They had to survive 2 sand storms. Most of the soldiers did the travel without any harm. Nomak catched up with the crowd within a half day...

Akbar is the last city of the desert. It's the bigest fortress city within the Kingdom. It lies on the border of the desert and the fertile southern pasture. As Nomak leading the refugees of Alaid entering the city saw that it has well built tall and thick walls with hundreds of towers. A lot of soldiers were on the street. At the main square he saw the royal archers of King Korak. - So the king is here - he thought. 

After he gave back the leadership above the king's forces ha sat his orders to their guildies. Than some guards stepped to him and asked him to follow them to the king immediately. They walked through the main square towards the centre of the city, the citadel of Akbar, grand castle of the King. However Akbar wasn't the capital of the seven cities but it was the largest city.

As they stepped into the citadel's great hall the King urged to Nomak and begun to question him.

- What have you done? I did not hire you to destroy my city! You are a fool! You are a damn traitor!!... How many the Duke paid to you? Or the nords? The mamals? ANSWER DOG! - the guards pushed down Nomak to his knees.

- It was a must liege! We had no other option to slow the horde and win some time. - said Nomak with the greatest calm.

- You lie! You must have fight and die if necessary! TRAITOR!

- No sliege! You paid for the Guild services. We are doing our best to win this war for you. It is the time to make hard decisions. Yes, we could fight and die, but if we do so, the horde gets a city to rest and to plunder adn fresh water in the desert to continue it's campaign.

- SHUT UP! You lie! You killed the sick and the weak. You betraied me. You betraied the cause. You get nothing just jail and pain! - the king was nervous as his head gone red - Lock him up! Catch all the members of the Guild in the city and hang them all! Declare that the kingdom do not tolerate any presence from the Guild of Daggers and declaire that we are their enemy! TRAITORS! - the king rushed out from the hall. The guards brought Nomak to the dungeon...

Chapter I - Otremer - II/09

II/09

Nomak, Anis and the officers of the troops had a council of war whole night after the messenger brought the bad news. The king's officers were not so happy after the decision at the morning.

- Anis get the warriors to the main square. We must make haste.

- As you wish sire! - replied Anis.

After an hour the whole army of Nomak stood on Alaid's main square. They were a bit hasty and frightend because the closing nord horde.

- Listen up men! I want you to follow the orders promptly and without any hesitation. In hard times we must make hard decisions. So... First of all gether all the people of Alaid and make 'em move. We must empty the city within 3 hours. Get the whole population move towards Akbar. - The soldiers begun to mour that they will either leave with the citizens or die on the walls. - QUIET! Silentio bastardi! - Shouted Nomak - As you geather the people I want you to bring me the sick and the elders. All of them! Now move! 

The soldiers made the necessary movements to accomplsih the orders. The populace was screamig and tried to hurry towards the south gate to leave the city as soon as possible. Carts, crying children, screaming womans and worrying traders were waving at the streets. The soldiers tried to systematically collect the sick and the elders. The doctor's office were under blockade by the field assassins.

At late afternoon the city became empty. Only the soldiers stood at the main square with the sick and elder citizens. Nomak made his orders:

- Soldiers of the King. You leave immediately to Akbar. Follow and protect the innocents and ensure their arrival.  - The soldiers begun to helop to the sick and old people to get up and some of them got into formation and begun to march.

- No! Stop! The elders and the sick stay here! Leave tham and GET MOVING! - shouted Nomak. - After a couple of minutes when all the soldiers left the city Nomak gathered his assassins. - Listen up members of the Guild! What we do we do for the truth for justice and for the greater good... Encicrle the citizens and kill them all! - The sick begun to struggle and scream while the elders just watched what hapenning. The field assassins gave swift death to all of them. Their blood colored red the main square...

- Drop the bodies into to wells! We must poison all the water source!! - The men took all the bodies and dropped them into the great wells of Alaid. There were no more fresh water within the desert.

As Nomak and his warriors left Alaid they only left poisoned water and ash in their prints... The city burned for 3 days. The Guild had done what had to be done...    

Chapter I - Otremer - II/08

II/08

The days passed but there were no message from Urak. Nomak begun to worry. It was more than 15 days from now when they've splitted.

- You think they got killed? - asked Anis

- I cannot be certain. But one thing is sure...

- What?

- Our eneimes are far closer than we thought...

As Nomak and Anis were standing in one of Alaid's tower they glimpsed a horseman riding towards them.

- HORSEMAN! - a guard shouted.

- Open the gates! I want to hear news - stated Nomak.

The old wooden gates opened slowly as the horseman reached Alaid. The massanger dismounted and hurried to Dahan:

- I bring news sire!

- Let me hear!

- 4 days before massangers came from every direction to Said. They were all brought to the Duke. As I saw he got good news. He ordered his man to prepare. Than a day before ... gulp ... the Horde arrived to Said.

- As I thought... - Nomak let the massenger go - Anis! With me! - They begin to walk back to their headquarters in the small wooden castle next to the marketplace.

- The Horde arrived. We are doomed... The Duke will wait his mercenaries to arrive furthermore the Horde needs to rest. We may have a week or so before they arrive under Alaid. These walls and our tiny force will be no match for them. They could smash us in one attack.

- So what now? - asked Anis

- We either pray for the king to arrive much sooner with a force that is a match for the Horde or we burn down this city and fall back to Akbar to save some time. We have no chance in an open battle. ...

Chapter I - Otremer - II/07

II/07

Urak and his men left the camp to the north. They've reached the mountains in a few hours. They must search for a passage to get through. As they moved higher in the mountains they saw the city of Said and it's lockdown by Nomak.

On the next day they've found a short passage leading throught a mount. At the end of the way they saw a huge valley encircled by high mountains. The valley were full with nord barbarians. Thousands of carts, horses, soldiers and tents. Urak ordered two of his men to stay guard at the passage and he went down with the others to got a closer look on the camp.

As they got closer they noticed some guards. They must wait till night before they could go on. As darkness lied down to the valley thousands of torches lighted up. Urak left two more of his men at their waiting point to watch out. The others sneaked into the camp. They move easily in the forest of tents without being noticed.

They saw huge number of weapons and armors inside the tents and on the carts. Food, live animals and many more kind of goods and stuff to maintain an army. Hundreds and thousands of soldiers. Horseman, shield bierers, pikeman and huscarls. As they closed to the centre of the horde's camp they saw the fancy huge tents of the warlord's surrounded by strange black tents. Black armored soldiers stood guards at every tent. They were the inner guardians. Suddenly some black robed people came across the guards. Witches and Warlocks. Magicians of the nords.

Urak and his companion explored the whole camp. At late night they had the opportunity to sneak out of the camp. They've reached the spot where they waited a day before but the 2 assassins whom Urak left there were nowhere. They must blown out the torches so they saw close ot nothing in the moonlight. They begun to climb back to the passage in the dark. When they arrived they saw that their 2 other comrades are lieing on the ground covered in blood. Suddenly about 50 fully armed huscarls surrounded them...   

Chapter I - Otremer - II/05

II/05

Nomak stepped inside the king's tent with Urak on his right. - My liege, you must decide! Our swords are still in your hands.

- We talked enough Master Nomak. I know your statement. But now I'm courious what your field commander thinks? - said the king while looking to Urak.

- Liege! - begun Urak - I'm not clever in warfare, I'm just a weapon on the field.

- But still I'm courious! - the king replied.

- C'mon Urak! Answer the king! - Nomak ordered Urak.

- Well liege! To be afraid is far more safer than sudden shy. We cannot be certain that we best the city nor to hold it from the nords. I think we should prepare for a long and lasting war as the situation stands now, sire.

- Ahhh... you know more about warfare than you stated young man. I see Nomak taught you much!

-Liege!

- Master Nomak. I see now I have no other possibility. I'm to hire you and all of your Guild's services along in order to fight on my side in this war. I will pay well... And now I want you to lead my standing armies. You mission is to hold our enemies till you can and till I arrive with my gathered armies. Make you move to Alaid. I will rejoin you in about a month.

- As you will sire! - Nomak stated than bowed and backed out from the tent. Urak followed his moves.

- What are your plans Nomak? - Urak asked while they were heading to their soldiers.

- We will not be in such a hurry to return to Alaid. The king's forces stay for 3 more days here surrounding Said. The Duke's forces cannot make an outbrake. Their numbers are low. So you will have three days to scout the region. We need information about the northerns.

- As you wish! - Urak replied - I leave immediately!

- Take a dozen of your best men. In 3 days we fall back to Alaid and wait for the king.

- Your order, my hands! 

Chapter I - Otremer - II/04

II/04

The Duke saw that his lines is breaking up but instead of making a retreat to reorganize the lines he ordered his archers to fire into the front line. He was too confident but less artful in warfare. His bowman fired continously into the lines making more damage to his own comrades than the enemy. The Duke's lines finally broken up and his men begun to flee.

Said's Duke gone mad. He ordered a full scale attack for his elite knights. They've beaten up the archers in front of them making tham scatter and confused. The knights rush could not be effective as they could not speed up for the charge because they reached his fleeing first line. They slowed down to nearly stop as they tried no to trample thier own comrades.

The Guild's assassins with the leading of Urak noticed the confusion and begun to chase the fleeing lines. As they reached the knights crowded with the scattered spearmen Urak made his order - Forget the scalps and take the knights down! CHARGE! - and the assassins jumped onto the horses and dropped the knights down. They scared the horses so the heavy armored men dropped to the ground. It was not a battle anymore. It was pure massacre. 

The king's forces maintained the lines and slowly followed the retreating Duke and his army. The Duke reached Said. He ordered to close the gates immediately. Most of his remaining forces trapped in front of the city gates. The Guild's warriors killed 'em all.

- No mercy to the traitors! Punish 'em!! - screamed Urak.

Korak knew that his remaining forces are far not enough to maintain a sige on Said. The Duke suffered great losses by his wrong decisions but he still got enough men to hold the city walls for weeks or even till the norhtern hordes arrival. The king confered with Nomak. They agreed that they do not have the forces for a siege nor an attack. They had to decide if they are gonna fall back to Alaid and gather the kingdom's army to face the Duke's and the Warlords's armies or try to take Said and hope to defend it. They have no time to think or to prepare.

Korak, king of the seven cities wanted to finish the rebellion and the invasion before it's start hoping that if he takes down the inner ally of the northerns they will rethink their plans. The king did not know however that the nord forces were closer than he ever dreamt. ...

Chapter I - Otremer - II/03

II/03

Monthes later...

The two armies stood on a flat height face to face. Not far from the city of Said. The Duke of Said's army with it's yellow flags were arranged in three rows. The archer stood in the first row. About 400. The second row stood in a loose formation, Spearman and man-at-arms. The man-at-arms were equipped well. Their chainmails and shield were nearly new and their yellow coat of arms were shining in the morning sun. The spearmans were mostly town militia man and some professional mercenary. A bit more than 500 man-at-arms 1 000 spearmen, and on the third row the Duke and his 150 elite knights.

The Duke were to defend but he felt so confident about his victory he marched out of his city to fight a "traditional" battle. The invader was the true king of Said. Korak the king of the seven cities Ulan, Akbar, Acron, Alaid, Kugel, Al'iktel and Said. The Duke raised against his king with the help of the northern Warlords, whom promised him the title of "King of the seven cities" after they conquered the kingdom. With such an ally the Duke were certain in his victory.

But there were a little problem with his plans. That Korak acted swiftly and made a pre-attack to maintain the unity of the realm in facing the northern invade.

Korak's army were however smaller in numbers. He only had two rows standing on the field. In the first line stood the well trained armored spearmen in a thick line, all the 800 soldiers. 150 archers and about 100 field assassins in the second line. The archers stood on the left flank and in the center. The assassins strengthened the right flank.

The field assassins are an elite group of light armed warriors. They were loyal to whom they were payed by. They were more dangerous even in small numbers than 1 000 swordsmans.

Korak had little time to prepare to prevent the warlords armies to arrive so he had to pay large sums of gold for some mercenaries as he had no time to gether his forces. He was happy to accept the services of the Guild but he thought that there will be a bit more than only 100 field assassins beside their renown. 

The Duke was impatient as he wanted to get back to his palace fabricating his future plans so he signald attack. Korak was surprised by his enemy's move but Nomak made him calm down.

-Don't worry lord. They've made a great favor for us.

- Good. So let them come like man!

- Urak! Lead the front. Charge by my signal! - ordered Nomak.

- At once sire! - Urak replied.

The duke's army marched up crying battle. As they got closer the archers begun to fire and the loose form of the second row gone thick as they left the archers. The knights walked slowly and they stopped behind the archers.

The Captain leading the king's army made his orders:

- Hold 'em! HOLD!!

The two army crashed. The shield wall held the duke's men. The forces matched evenly. The king's archers pulled back a little to be able to fire the charging town militia. The spearman held the attack well but they got tired and the man-at-arms of the duke gained space. Nomak than made the signal to Urak. The field assassins did not fought till that point.

Urak saw the signal and made his orders:

- Ready! ... Spearman! OPEN UP! - The right flank splited up in no time. The assassins raided out swarming the duke's left flank. The duke's town militia got scared and begun to flee as their first line fall down in pieces just in a minute. The king's right flank closed back behind the Guild's forces and begun to push to the center to maintain the lines.  ...

Chapter I - Otremer - II/02

II/02

- Where are we sailing Nomak? - asked Urak.

- We are going to the Otremer. I have friends out there.

- What happened? I cannot remember anything? My last memory is that they are bringing me to the gallows at dawn than a huge blow and everything gone black. Than you woke me up on the way.

- The Guild Master ordered to set you free. So we sat you free. We made a raid on the guards that dawn. We killed 'em all. Than we had to escape with haste.

- I do not understand nothing. Why I was even brought to the king? Why was I arrested? What the hell is going on ???

- Slowly boy. Take it easy. ... As the things going on now I can tell you the full story. The story about the truth...

Nomak took a bottle of wine. He poured two glasses and gave one to Urak than he sat down and begun to speak:

- You were a little boy. When the final stage of the 200 years war begun. It was certain that the Ros Empire will fall and the lords started inwars. That's the way the Empire had been splited to several duchies and kingdoms. You and your family were living not far from Ros'Khan's capital. The last few years of the great conflict was the bloodiest. Some wannabe kings hired barbarians from the north to help them gain land and power. But some lords forgot to pay them. So they raided the best part of the Empire in return. They pillaged and looted everything.

He drunked the whole glass out in one turn than he continued:

- They reached the village where you and your parents were living. They burnt down the whole village. We got there with Dahan about 2 days later after we fought down the barbarian bandits. We have found you alive. You were standing beside your murdered parents with a knife in hand. You were covered with blood and two dead barbarians lied next to you. You hacked them several times to death. The anger was still in your eyes. Some strange aura surrounded you. ...

Nomak took the whole bottle of wine and drunk. 

-  As you know Dahan took you and we made you a warrior. We talked about you to our Master, B'aal. He thinks you could be a great member of the Guild. He personally gave the order to save you.

- But why I was arrested? - asked Urak.

- Calm down. Let me finish the story of yours. ... The Guild has it's goals and motivations. So we made steps to make the world a better one. A better one what's fundamentum is truth. So ... As you know Ros'Khan's king, Leistak had a son. Unfortunately the son wasn't that "Kind" as his father. His mind went dark and he begun to pray to the evil. After a while he made things base upon lies. He smithed plans to rebuild the Ros Empire with the help of the Evil. With the help of the Lord of Lies.

-What a scum...

- So about 3 month ago we made a raid. More than a hundred blades cut the prince and his wagon into pieces. ... The Agent Boureau begun an investigation and they arrested and killed most of the people who can handle a damn knife...

- I understand now...

After two days of sailing and silence Urak seemed to be calmed down. He got well and rested. He seemed very tendentious.

- What will we going to do now Nomak?

- We will serve Urak... We will serve truth and gold...

Chapter I - Otremer - II/01

II/01

-Wake up damn it! C'mon! - shouted Nomak while he was shaking Urak. Urak slowly woke up. His face was covered with dirt and blood.

- Where am I? What happenned?

- We are on way to the Otremer. Now drink - he pushed a bottle of water onward Urak. The young man was thirtsty. He was unconscious for more than three days.

The cart they were travelling on moved slowly towards the black clouds of the Otre sea. The sun gone down for a while and the wind become stronger as the air got colder.

They have arrived to the port of Or'Dushan at late night. The city was the biggest port town of the Ros Empire. Now it lies on the territory of Ros'Dushan Kingdom. The city has a huge stone wall with many towers. The main gate is gigantic. Huge water dragon sculptures guarding the frontal gate and ship painting the inner one. As they got through the gates the city opened itself to them. 

Hundreds of close built houses as the way lead from the walls down to the port. The endless Otre sea ahead and huge ships that are being loaded or unloaded at the docks. Crowds of people swarmed in the streets. The air was full with the smell of the sea's salt.

As Nomak and his men reached the docks they got onto a small black cog with no flag at all. The ship picked his anchor and sailed out of the port. The ship disappeared in the dark night. ...