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. ...

Chapter I - Prolgoe - I/10

I/10

They next day Womak and his men brought out Urak from the castle's dungeon, put him on a horse tieded up. Dahan watched the situation from the main gatehouse.

- Maybe we should let the king wash him clean!? - Dahan asked.

- I'll rush back to Khanae and get some information about the questioning. - answered Nomak.

- Let the Gods be with you.

- The weak and the good will be trampled!

- The weak and the good will be trampled! - they shaked hands and than left.

The Royal Guards arrived back to the capital within two days with Urak. Durin the trip they met up with other divisions. They brought 17 prisoners to the king. The Khanae Citadel's dungeon wass full with captives. Most of them were robbers, burglars and thiefes. Urak was dropped in a dark cell with 7 other men. In about 2 hours a couple of guards came and brought 4 prisoners from the cell to questioning. None of them returned... 

Urak had brought to the king after 3 days. He was weak and tired. The prisoners got no food at all. In the main hall there were a lot of guards and the king was sitting on his throne. The huge deep-purple carpet was dirty. The smells were awful. Blood, shit, and sweat. A huge man stood before the king half-naked. His torso was covered with blood. A true colossus he was. He was made by muscles. His head was shaved to bald. A dead body lied before him. The head of the Agent Boureau. He turned around and spotted Urak. The guards pushed him to knees.

- Was it you worm? - the executioner asked.

- Wha.. what? - Urak whispered

- WAS IT YOU!? I can't hear it!!

- What?

- Stop it Root! He do not even know why he was brought here. - said the king.

- Liege.

- Enough of this for today. - the king stood up and walked out on the back door. Root slapped Urak in the face who felt down to the ground.

- Hang him at dawn! - ordered Root. ...

Chapter I - Prologe - I/09

I/09

The Guild. The Guild started to work as any other in the realm. It has it's home, laws and regulations. Standards for members and for activity. The Guild made it's fortune by trading and loaning money. They somehow become a bank of that time. However the Traders Guild  wasn't happy about getting a new competitor but the new guild doesn't mean serious competition for them as they made business mostly inland the newly formed organization made abroad deals. The other strange thing was about the new guild that it has a different name. Most of the guilds has it's name by it's profession such as Tailors Guild, Traders Guild or Smithes Guild etc... But this guild is named Daggers Guild. Furthermore they offered some kind of dark special services. The people talked about assassinations, burglaries and other crime acts. It was however a secret that was known by everyone but not known by the authorities. By the guilds "real" activity, the Guild of Daggers name was truly named about it member's profession too.

The Guild made business all around the territory of the fallen Ros Empire, the Otremer, the northern wastlands, the southern seas and the free cities of the West. Some people said that they even have contacts with the great empires of the far western continents.

They have clients from all kind of people. Peasants, clerics, nobles and from even the royal courts.

The usual people only saw that the guild members wearing a bit strange clothes, they look like light armed traders or clerics but they were gentle, kind, helpful and maning their own business, they ment no harm for anyone. The common people only thought that they wearing arms just because they are doing business on dangerous places.