Evangeline, Nation-Breaker - An AAR (Chapter 37 Posted)
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I AM HOBO OF DOOM
Knight at Arms
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Chapter 36 - Part I
September 10, 1258 - Bardaq Castle
"According to the myriad and detailed plans I have established we are prepared to besiege Bardaq."
These are the last words written by Evangeline in her journal for more than 2 months. It seems that the disaster that befell her at Bardaq Castle allowed her no luxury of spare time and also separated her from her journal so we do not have a direct account from Evangeline of what precisely occurred between September 10, 1259 and November 27, 1259. We do, however, have a few contemporary sources that discuss with both glee and dread some the goings on of that timeframe. Using these sources and Evangeline's later accounts I have once again extrapolated a narrative of the events:
The plan was simple, the logistics were not. After studying the art of siege warfare extensively via participation, Evangeline had been presented with what she thought of as a very dubious plan that could either work brilliantly or fail miserably and disastrously. Baheshtur and Artimenner had been discussing it almost constantly when not asleep or in battle and sometimes they still chattered during the latter. Artimenner had been espousing on a compilation of theoretical and actual aspects of castle design that could lead to one being impenetrable. Jeremus, being a very intelligent man, was his surprisingly adept partner in the discussion. Baheshtur, having been assigned the task of learning superior tactics and Borcha, having a natural inclination for the same subject, overheard and joined in, quite readily poking holes in Artimenner's theory that a maze of stone work could stop anyone. Evangeline, walking her horse close by had pointed out that some commander would come along, see an impossibly treacherous route before his or her troops, and excuse them to batter the mess down and see what lay behind it, decimating years of hard work.
And so the debate had begun. Strong men with large shields and axes to swarm over the defenses? Flanking towers and murder holes dropping pitch and stones could make short work of them so they could not be relied upon in many situations - especially if the defenders employed a number of the same type of men to guard any breach. Then the attackers would be stalled in a precarious and exposed position. Also, in order to carry such an attack off such shock troops would have to be very well trained and equipped, an investment that could be too costly to make considering the likelihood of failure. What about simply starving the enemy out? That could take far too long and risked a relief force attacking from without and a battle on two fronts. Launch diseased animal corpses over the wall to weaken the defenders? Evangeline put a stop to that idea as she first, did not want to cultivate disease in her camp and second, did not wish to kill more of the inhabitants than was necessary. Simultaneous attacks by multiple siege engines to create multiple breaches was similarly discarded as taking too much time and causing too much damage to a location that would likely need to be defended almost immediately afterward. Tunneling to create a passage under the walls was deemed too liable to collapse though Artimenner and Jeremus - without much confidence - imagined ways to theoretically make it work.
In the end the plan settled upon was composed of the only options left after all others had been eliminated: a large number of archers of medium skill to pepper the battlements and whatever breach was created. No defenders could afford to give up their outer wall without a fight. It afforded them their only advantage: the ability to fire missiles at the fully exposed enemy from a less exposed position. Retiring from such a position allowed the enemy to equalize the advantages, an unacceptable option for the astute commander. The weakness of this plan was two-fold: archers were not hardened enough infantry to stand alone on a battlefield marching to and from a siege and, to best assist their ability to remain mobile, could not carry enough ammunition to - in Evangeline's estimation - seriously affect the strength of the defenders of a castle or city.
Unconvinced that they could be used effectively in the field without infantry protection - an unacceptable option that would slow Evangeline's forces too much - and similarly dubious as to their effectiveness whittling defenders off walls, Evangeline had allowed herself to be convinced to give it a try on Bardaq Castle. All of her most learned instinctively intelligent men - Artimenner, Jeremus, Borcha, and Baheshtur - agreed that with a properly large group of archers the plan could work. What was left then was to see that enough men were trained and supplied for the battle, a problem that continued to resurface as the target castle's defending contingent would seem to grow overnight. Finally, the preparations were made and the attack began, Evangeline's first against a fortified target completely unassisted and under no banner but her own.
The assault was a smashing success and Evangeline found herself rapidly becoming more adept at using her siege crossbow. Arrows from her troops rained down on the defenders and punched through armor, flesh, and bone, every ragged volley ending lives - SARRANID lives. Hugging the walls of her enemies, Evangeline grinned furiously at the stupefying success of this simple plan. Her grin, however, faded somewhat when she noticed her men running out of ammunition, their deadly rain easing off and finally stopping altogether while she lurked under the edge of the wall, now alone in her attempt at ranged combat. For a moment she considered signaling her troops to charge up the ladders and engage the defenders in hand to hand but decided to stick to the plan, it was working - even if she was now alone in working it.
Beneath the ladders placed against the walls Evangeline could hear the remaining defenders rallying and shouting, believing the clash of shield and sword about to begin. The towers on either side of the attack point made her very nervous indeed as the occasional head would look over and see her. Luckily, it seemed that most - if not all - the defenders with any skill in ranged combat were dead as the few arrows and javelins launched her way seemed to be safely random. Still, she clambered from one side of the low area under the ladders to the other regularly. Constantly searching the lip of the defenses for a real threat while she loaded her crossbow, she would carefully move out from her protected haunt to find a face on the wall and fire at it, quickly running back into her sheltered space to reload in fear of a competent or even just lucky javelineer. As she bent to the task of reloading the heavy weapon she was well aware of just how exposed her back was, continuously forcing herself not to look up and fumble. Her best defense lay in her quickest complete reloads as this would give her the means to shoot first and prevent injury.
Breathing heavily in her helm but made something like confident by her men cheering wildly as they held their ground and watched her work, alone, beneath the ladders, Evangeline had killed uncounted dozens from close range when she reached into her bolt pouch and found it to be empty. 'Surely they must have spilled' she thought, checking the other two pouches she had brought with her and searching around the ground where she had been working. Her soldiers, seeing this confusion muttered quietly, many of them with a happy tone to see that their commander and inspiration had fired all 99 bolts she had ridiculously run into battle with. The realization was slower to dawn on Evangeline, brain-numbed as she was by the concentration she had devoted to her work. For more than a couple minutes she could not comprehend where all of her bolts had gone. 'Have I really been up there that long?' she thought, the small eternity suddenly seeming like a few fast moments. Supposing this to be true, she frowned and shrugged. The enemy on the wall were still too numerous to tempt in hand-to-hand combat so the only option seemed to be retreat and return with more arrows and bolts.
Evangeline made a show of looking around the area one last time then faced her troops and shrugged again, this time much more obviously. They cheered again, their captain having battled the enemy alone and taken not a scratch while unloading 99 bolts into their bodies. She held her newly-beloved siege crossbow tight, and ran back across the dangerously open area between her and her troops. They roared in triumph even as the enemy did the same, glad to have the greatly-feared steel-clad crossbowman out from under their battlements and thinking that his retreat meant victory. Mere hours later they realized they were terribly wrong. He returned and the rain of death began again. In the lulls men would peek over the walls to see if this terrible and cowardly enemy was finally charging to engage them properly. They never were and all at least one of them saw instead was that same steel crossbowman - often so bold as to stand just out of reach and nonplussed on the ladder - release a bolt into their eye. This calm and then storm happened as second time and on the third assault this army of bowmen seemed determined to stay.
When the defenders became too few to dare peek, the steel soldier came to them. This allowed a brief but only partly successful ambush attempt. They managed to strike their terror once with an axe to the side but the female grunt of pain they heard surprised the men into hesitating. All three men died from their delay, the first with a bolt through the mouth, the second and third on the end of the first's sword. Evangeline had fired her crossbow, batted away the axe that had struck her from behind, swept up the blade before her, slashed one man upwards through his neck, jaw, and face, then spun and run the last man through his guts, ripping the sword back out and stabbing down into his chest just above the collarbone as he stood doubled over before her. In the fury of the moment she had almost lost herself to the Other, her demon but retained control.
As her last victim fell to his face without a sound Evangeline swore quietly from the pain, and considered limping back down the ladder to safety to reload her weapon of choice, her crossbow, but a quick look around showed the last defenders retreating down a stairwell toward the keep. She quickly grabbed up her abandoned weapon, loaded, and fired, taking one of them in the head, a long shot that surprised everyone in the castle. She bellowed a war cry to stop them from locking themselves in somewhere that they would have to be burned out of and the enemy, seeing that they were being so shamed by a woman, regained their confidence and counter-attacked. When she saw this, Evangeline almost regretted her pained anger that had caused her to shout at them.
Quickly judging the distance they would have to travel and their numbers, Evangeline began loading and firing faster than she knew she could, placing her shots carefully, making each one count. Her men, outside the wall but seeing her plight as the enemy ran along the wall to confront her, erupted into concern and some began to run to her aid, the rest following quickly and all of them terrified that they would not make it in time. They did not. With a terrific burst of speed the last defender alive sprinted at Evangeline to strike her down, the blood leaking from inside her armor driving him to make this last all-out effort before inevitably being cut to ribbons by the men charging below. He had heard of the woman that fought him now and knew that Sarranids everywhere would sing songs about how he had bravely killed her.
Evangeline, for her part, kept the rising panic down and did as she knew was needed, sliding the heavy bolt in place, knocking the missile on the string, then raising the powerful weapon while the sound of fast-approaching boots thundered in her ears. She fired point-blank into the man's face. It penetrated with such force that when it emerged out the back of his head and struck the bottom of his helmet, the steel and leather head-covering was knocked off his head. He dropped like a sack of potatoes at Evangeline's feet, his axe clattering harmlessly off her shoulder plate to land on a soft corpse behind her. Meanwhile, the liberated helmet struck the stone of the wall loudly, rolling awkwardly off the battlements and hitting first the wooden roof of the stables below, then a stone door frame next to them, then several stone steps on its way down to a cellar where it stopped with a heavy thud against a closed door.
Evangeline's men had stopped clambering toward the ladders when the leaders among them saw that last man fall at the feet of their captain. They listened in near silence to his helmet crash and rattle on its journey down below, the sounds echoing through the silent castle and then out into the desert heat to their ears. Evangeline stared at the man before her and wondered if she should have some significant thought at this odd experience, this last defender of her first castle killed so dramatically. After a moment wherein nothing came to mind she turned to see her men. They stared up at her, knowing the impossible victory had been won, knowing they had done it, stolen a castle for the home of Evangeline's revolution but refusing to believe in their own accomplishment until she herself raised her arm in triumph, bloody upon her conquered battlements.
Stepping up onto the wall, her crossbow in hand and despite her sudden exhaustion and her injuries, Evangeline began to do exactly that when she saw a dust storm blowing up behind the nearest hill. Thinking that she should call her men into the castle to shelter but knowing this was a grand moment that probably even deserved a speech, even one as short and full of curses as any of hers would inevitably be, she hesitated. In that hesitation she realized that the dust storm she was watching seemed strangely localized.
As she stood on the wall and looked over her men to the hill behind them they too were drawn to wonder what she was seeing in this glorious moment and turned to look. Dumbfounded at the sight before her, Evangeline left it up to one of her men to be the one to shout the desperate warning: "Khergits!! Lancers!! Run!!"
And the men did. Bolting for the ladders and the safety of their new home, they climbed desperately but the 50 riders of the heavy Khergit vanguard bore swiftly down upon them. Evangeline was dumb with disbelief, confusion, and blood loss, knowing only that she had battled a whole castle down and it was time to celebrate and rest. How dare these invaders cause a ruckus now? Half of her lightly armored archers were chewed up by the charge almost immediately, another 20 enemy riders pouring over the hill and whooping in victory as the archers fled for safety in a mob before them. One of the lead lancers plowed into the fleeing troops and bellowed Evangeline's name.
She looked stupidly at him and recognized Rachek just as he released the arrow that struck her upper chest and knocked her backwards so that she fell onto the corpse of the man she had killed only a moment ago, the last defender of her first castle. The arrow penetrated only shallowly but the bolt protruding from the back of her last victim's head stabbed cleanly through a chink in her armor to rip through the flesh of her left arm, high on the inside. Broken ribs and bleeding on one side, stabbed by her own bolt on the other, and shot in the chest by a traitor's arrow, Evangeline suddenly became aware of her surroundings and the terrible plight she was in, an all too familiar and blinding fury suddenly surging through her to take control.
Lurching upright and knocking concerned friends and soldiers away, she ripped the short sword one man was carrying out of his hands, charged through her troops fleeing up the ladders, and stepped back onto the battlements, flipping the blade end for end as she did. Gripping the sword by the blade through steel gauntlets she roared Rachek's name with such fury as to make him smile, nearly unintelligible as that frothing bellow was. Impressed by her strength, he was satisfied to see that she was truly worth the effort of hunting.
However, his smile was wiped away and replaced by a panicked grimace as Rachek saw her suddenly throw the sword with uncanny accuracy right at him. It did not arc upward lazily as such a long throw should require but instead flew directly toward him with startling speed, so narrow in profile that if he hadn't seen it leave her hand he would not have known it was coming.
With no shield but his bow and unable to move his horse fast enough, he desperately attempted to bail off his horse backwards but his feet were caught in the stirrups. Struggling frantically to clear the saddle, Rachek's hand was struck and shattered by the hilt of the spinning sword as the blade stabbed clean through the top of his leg, his prize saddle, and lodged in the lung and against the spine of his recently gifted horse. The animal to reared with a gurgling whiney and fell over onto its side, crushing the Khergits warrior's other leg beneath it, a wavering short sword pinning him to the dying beast.
Numb with pain, and shocked stupid at the sudden turn of events, Rachek wondered how he'd gotten there. He'd gone from having successfully tracked and led a devastating charge against Evangeline's rogue forces - even shooting her with an arrow to the chest himself! - to now lying on the ground with both legs ruined and his horse destroyed in what seemed like the same swift moment. He vaguely heard Evangeline roar something else, an insult he'd never heard, and watched in wonder as she threw a large axe off the battlements at his men now packed around the bottom of the ladders. He heard a sickening 'thuck!' as it struck something fleshy with its blade. With another furious roar and a rude hand gesture, his prey - in full plate mail with an arrow placed by his own hand still jutting from the center of her chest - leapt lightly down from the wall and ran out of sight, seeming to give orders as she did.
September 10, 1258 - Bardaq Castle
"According to the myriad and detailed plans I have established we are prepared to besiege Bardaq."
These are the last words written by Evangeline in her journal for more than 2 months. It seems that the disaster that befell her at Bardaq Castle allowed her no luxury of spare time and also separated her from her journal so we do not have a direct account from Evangeline of what precisely occurred between September 10, 1259 and November 27, 1259. We do, however, have a few contemporary sources that discuss with both glee and dread some the goings on of that timeframe. Using these sources and Evangeline's later accounts I have once again extrapolated a narrative of the events:
The plan was simple, the logistics were not. After studying the art of siege warfare extensively via participation, Evangeline had been presented with what she thought of as a very dubious plan that could either work brilliantly or fail miserably and disastrously. Baheshtur and Artimenner had been discussing it almost constantly when not asleep or in battle and sometimes they still chattered during the latter. Artimenner had been espousing on a compilation of theoretical and actual aspects of castle design that could lead to one being impenetrable. Jeremus, being a very intelligent man, was his surprisingly adept partner in the discussion. Baheshtur, having been assigned the task of learning superior tactics and Borcha, having a natural inclination for the same subject, overheard and joined in, quite readily poking holes in Artimenner's theory that a maze of stone work could stop anyone. Evangeline, walking her horse close by had pointed out that some commander would come along, see an impossibly treacherous route before his or her troops, and excuse them to batter the mess down and see what lay behind it, decimating years of hard work.
And so the debate had begun. Strong men with large shields and axes to swarm over the defenses? Flanking towers and murder holes dropping pitch and stones could make short work of them so they could not be relied upon in many situations - especially if the defenders employed a number of the same type of men to guard any breach. Then the attackers would be stalled in a precarious and exposed position. Also, in order to carry such an attack off such shock troops would have to be very well trained and equipped, an investment that could be too costly to make considering the likelihood of failure. What about simply starving the enemy out? That could take far too long and risked a relief force attacking from without and a battle on two fronts. Launch diseased animal corpses over the wall to weaken the defenders? Evangeline put a stop to that idea as she first, did not want to cultivate disease in her camp and second, did not wish to kill more of the inhabitants than was necessary. Simultaneous attacks by multiple siege engines to create multiple breaches was similarly discarded as taking too much time and causing too much damage to a location that would likely need to be defended almost immediately afterward. Tunneling to create a passage under the walls was deemed too liable to collapse though Artimenner and Jeremus - without much confidence - imagined ways to theoretically make it work.
In the end the plan settled upon was composed of the only options left after all others had been eliminated: a large number of archers of medium skill to pepper the battlements and whatever breach was created. No defenders could afford to give up their outer wall without a fight. It afforded them their only advantage: the ability to fire missiles at the fully exposed enemy from a less exposed position. Retiring from such a position allowed the enemy to equalize the advantages, an unacceptable option for the astute commander. The weakness of this plan was two-fold: archers were not hardened enough infantry to stand alone on a battlefield marching to and from a siege and, to best assist their ability to remain mobile, could not carry enough ammunition to - in Evangeline's estimation - seriously affect the strength of the defenders of a castle or city.
Unconvinced that they could be used effectively in the field without infantry protection - an unacceptable option that would slow Evangeline's forces too much - and similarly dubious as to their effectiveness whittling defenders off walls, Evangeline had allowed herself to be convinced to give it a try on Bardaq Castle. All of her most learned instinctively intelligent men - Artimenner, Jeremus, Borcha, and Baheshtur - agreed that with a properly large group of archers the plan could work. What was left then was to see that enough men were trained and supplied for the battle, a problem that continued to resurface as the target castle's defending contingent would seem to grow overnight. Finally, the preparations were made and the attack began, Evangeline's first against a fortified target completely unassisted and under no banner but her own.
The assault was a smashing success and Evangeline found herself rapidly becoming more adept at using her siege crossbow. Arrows from her troops rained down on the defenders and punched through armor, flesh, and bone, every ragged volley ending lives - SARRANID lives. Hugging the walls of her enemies, Evangeline grinned furiously at the stupefying success of this simple plan. Her grin, however, faded somewhat when she noticed her men running out of ammunition, their deadly rain easing off and finally stopping altogether while she lurked under the edge of the wall, now alone in her attempt at ranged combat. For a moment she considered signaling her troops to charge up the ladders and engage the defenders in hand to hand but decided to stick to the plan, it was working - even if she was now alone in working it.
Beneath the ladders placed against the walls Evangeline could hear the remaining defenders rallying and shouting, believing the clash of shield and sword about to begin. The towers on either side of the attack point made her very nervous indeed as the occasional head would look over and see her. Luckily, it seemed that most - if not all - the defenders with any skill in ranged combat were dead as the few arrows and javelins launched her way seemed to be safely random. Still, she clambered from one side of the low area under the ladders to the other regularly. Constantly searching the lip of the defenses for a real threat while she loaded her crossbow, she would carefully move out from her protected haunt to find a face on the wall and fire at it, quickly running back into her sheltered space to reload in fear of a competent or even just lucky javelineer. As she bent to the task of reloading the heavy weapon she was well aware of just how exposed her back was, continuously forcing herself not to look up and fumble. Her best defense lay in her quickest complete reloads as this would give her the means to shoot first and prevent injury.
Breathing heavily in her helm but made something like confident by her men cheering wildly as they held their ground and watched her work, alone, beneath the ladders, Evangeline had killed uncounted dozens from close range when she reached into her bolt pouch and found it to be empty. 'Surely they must have spilled' she thought, checking the other two pouches she had brought with her and searching around the ground where she had been working. Her soldiers, seeing this confusion muttered quietly, many of them with a happy tone to see that their commander and inspiration had fired all 99 bolts she had ridiculously run into battle with. The realization was slower to dawn on Evangeline, brain-numbed as she was by the concentration she had devoted to her work. For more than a couple minutes she could not comprehend where all of her bolts had gone. 'Have I really been up there that long?' she thought, the small eternity suddenly seeming like a few fast moments. Supposing this to be true, she frowned and shrugged. The enemy on the wall were still too numerous to tempt in hand-to-hand combat so the only option seemed to be retreat and return with more arrows and bolts.
Evangeline made a show of looking around the area one last time then faced her troops and shrugged again, this time much more obviously. They cheered again, their captain having battled the enemy alone and taken not a scratch while unloading 99 bolts into their bodies. She held her newly-beloved siege crossbow tight, and ran back across the dangerously open area between her and her troops. They roared in triumph even as the enemy did the same, glad to have the greatly-feared steel-clad crossbowman out from under their battlements and thinking that his retreat meant victory. Mere hours later they realized they were terribly wrong. He returned and the rain of death began again. In the lulls men would peek over the walls to see if this terrible and cowardly enemy was finally charging to engage them properly. They never were and all at least one of them saw instead was that same steel crossbowman - often so bold as to stand just out of reach and nonplussed on the ladder - release a bolt into their eye. This calm and then storm happened as second time and on the third assault this army of bowmen seemed determined to stay.
When the defenders became too few to dare peek, the steel soldier came to them. This allowed a brief but only partly successful ambush attempt. They managed to strike their terror once with an axe to the side but the female grunt of pain they heard surprised the men into hesitating. All three men died from their delay, the first with a bolt through the mouth, the second and third on the end of the first's sword. Evangeline had fired her crossbow, batted away the axe that had struck her from behind, swept up the blade before her, slashed one man upwards through his neck, jaw, and face, then spun and run the last man through his guts, ripping the sword back out and stabbing down into his chest just above the collarbone as he stood doubled over before her. In the fury of the moment she had almost lost herself to the Other, her demon but retained control.
As her last victim fell to his face without a sound Evangeline swore quietly from the pain, and considered limping back down the ladder to safety to reload her weapon of choice, her crossbow, but a quick look around showed the last defenders retreating down a stairwell toward the keep. She quickly grabbed up her abandoned weapon, loaded, and fired, taking one of them in the head, a long shot that surprised everyone in the castle. She bellowed a war cry to stop them from locking themselves in somewhere that they would have to be burned out of and the enemy, seeing that they were being so shamed by a woman, regained their confidence and counter-attacked. When she saw this, Evangeline almost regretted her pained anger that had caused her to shout at them.
Quickly judging the distance they would have to travel and their numbers, Evangeline began loading and firing faster than she knew she could, placing her shots carefully, making each one count. Her men, outside the wall but seeing her plight as the enemy ran along the wall to confront her, erupted into concern and some began to run to her aid, the rest following quickly and all of them terrified that they would not make it in time. They did not. With a terrific burst of speed the last defender alive sprinted at Evangeline to strike her down, the blood leaking from inside her armor driving him to make this last all-out effort before inevitably being cut to ribbons by the men charging below. He had heard of the woman that fought him now and knew that Sarranids everywhere would sing songs about how he had bravely killed her.
Evangeline, for her part, kept the rising panic down and did as she knew was needed, sliding the heavy bolt in place, knocking the missile on the string, then raising the powerful weapon while the sound of fast-approaching boots thundered in her ears. She fired point-blank into the man's face. It penetrated with such force that when it emerged out the back of his head and struck the bottom of his helmet, the steel and leather head-covering was knocked off his head. He dropped like a sack of potatoes at Evangeline's feet, his axe clattering harmlessly off her shoulder plate to land on a soft corpse behind her. Meanwhile, the liberated helmet struck the stone of the wall loudly, rolling awkwardly off the battlements and hitting first the wooden roof of the stables below, then a stone door frame next to them, then several stone steps on its way down to a cellar where it stopped with a heavy thud against a closed door.
Evangeline's men had stopped clambering toward the ladders when the leaders among them saw that last man fall at the feet of their captain. They listened in near silence to his helmet crash and rattle on its journey down below, the sounds echoing through the silent castle and then out into the desert heat to their ears. Evangeline stared at the man before her and wondered if she should have some significant thought at this odd experience, this last defender of her first castle killed so dramatically. After a moment wherein nothing came to mind she turned to see her men. They stared up at her, knowing the impossible victory had been won, knowing they had done it, stolen a castle for the home of Evangeline's revolution but refusing to believe in their own accomplishment until she herself raised her arm in triumph, bloody upon her conquered battlements.
Stepping up onto the wall, her crossbow in hand and despite her sudden exhaustion and her injuries, Evangeline began to do exactly that when she saw a dust storm blowing up behind the nearest hill. Thinking that she should call her men into the castle to shelter but knowing this was a grand moment that probably even deserved a speech, even one as short and full of curses as any of hers would inevitably be, she hesitated. In that hesitation she realized that the dust storm she was watching seemed strangely localized.
As she stood on the wall and looked over her men to the hill behind them they too were drawn to wonder what she was seeing in this glorious moment and turned to look. Dumbfounded at the sight before her, Evangeline left it up to one of her men to be the one to shout the desperate warning: "Khergits!! Lancers!! Run!!"
And the men did. Bolting for the ladders and the safety of their new home, they climbed desperately but the 50 riders of the heavy Khergit vanguard bore swiftly down upon them. Evangeline was dumb with disbelief, confusion, and blood loss, knowing only that she had battled a whole castle down and it was time to celebrate and rest. How dare these invaders cause a ruckus now? Half of her lightly armored archers were chewed up by the charge almost immediately, another 20 enemy riders pouring over the hill and whooping in victory as the archers fled for safety in a mob before them. One of the lead lancers plowed into the fleeing troops and bellowed Evangeline's name.
She looked stupidly at him and recognized Rachek just as he released the arrow that struck her upper chest and knocked her backwards so that she fell onto the corpse of the man she had killed only a moment ago, the last defender of her first castle. The arrow penetrated only shallowly but the bolt protruding from the back of her last victim's head stabbed cleanly through a chink in her armor to rip through the flesh of her left arm, high on the inside. Broken ribs and bleeding on one side, stabbed by her own bolt on the other, and shot in the chest by a traitor's arrow, Evangeline suddenly became aware of her surroundings and the terrible plight she was in, an all too familiar and blinding fury suddenly surging through her to take control.
Lurching upright and knocking concerned friends and soldiers away, she ripped the short sword one man was carrying out of his hands, charged through her troops fleeing up the ladders, and stepped back onto the battlements, flipping the blade end for end as she did. Gripping the sword by the blade through steel gauntlets she roared Rachek's name with such fury as to make him smile, nearly unintelligible as that frothing bellow was. Impressed by her strength, he was satisfied to see that she was truly worth the effort of hunting.
However, his smile was wiped away and replaced by a panicked grimace as Rachek saw her suddenly throw the sword with uncanny accuracy right at him. It did not arc upward lazily as such a long throw should require but instead flew directly toward him with startling speed, so narrow in profile that if he hadn't seen it leave her hand he would not have known it was coming.
With no shield but his bow and unable to move his horse fast enough, he desperately attempted to bail off his horse backwards but his feet were caught in the stirrups. Struggling frantically to clear the saddle, Rachek's hand was struck and shattered by the hilt of the spinning sword as the blade stabbed clean through the top of his leg, his prize saddle, and lodged in the lung and against the spine of his recently gifted horse. The animal to reared with a gurgling whiney and fell over onto its side, crushing the Khergits warrior's other leg beneath it, a wavering short sword pinning him to the dying beast.
Numb with pain, and shocked stupid at the sudden turn of events, Rachek wondered how he'd gotten there. He'd gone from having successfully tracked and led a devastating charge against Evangeline's rogue forces - even shooting her with an arrow to the chest himself! - to now lying on the ground with both legs ruined and his horse destroyed in what seemed like the same swift moment. He vaguely heard Evangeline roar something else, an insult he'd never heard, and watched in wonder as she threw a large axe off the battlements at his men now packed around the bottom of the ladders. He heard a sickening 'thuck!' as it struck something fleshy with its blade. With another furious roar and a rude hand gesture, his prey - in full plate mail with an arrow placed by his own hand still jutting from the center of her chest - leapt lightly down from the wall and ran out of sight, seeming to give orders as she did.
Awesome stuff! The image of the "liberated helmet" lingers still.
I AM HOBO OF DOOM
Knight at Arms
Great chapter
Evangeline's up to something, something sinister.
I AM HOBO OF DOOM
Knight at Arms
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Chapter 36 - Part II
September 10, 1258 - Bardaq Castle
Rachek dropped his head back into the sand and began to feel the pain he had been too shocked to notice before. He'd schemed and negotiated well to get here, abilities that were highly esteemed amongst the Khergit nobility. He chuckled wryly, remembering how completely he had severed his ties to that group in a gamble to forge himself a stronger foundation amongst them on the quality of his own work instead of his father or brothers. He had overcome many obstacles and ridden long and hard to catch up to Evangeline, he had been clever and vicious in so many instances that more than once he had wondered if she were really worth it. The moment that he sank an arrow into her chest he KNEW he had to do it but feared an anticlimax if she died from merely that. The moment when she stepped back onto the battlements with that arrow still jutting out of her chest and roared his name he felt like everything he had done he would do again and even more just to face such an exciting challenge as she. Unfortunately, as he lay in the sand with a gurgling horse atop one ruined leg and a short blade pinning his other ruined leg to that same suffocating animal, it seemed he had more than met his match. She couldn't be killed and yet dished out terminal violence to all she met who opposed her.
Trapped as he was he found that if he lay on his side his head was supported by a comfortable pile of warm sand and that he was basically positioned as if riding the horse that was dying. Enjoying that thought, Rachek did as he often did in the saddle and let his mind wander... Perhaps he should not have hunted her... But if he had not done that then he wouldn't have had to kill his father either. The man, Korman, would have had her recaptured in Dhirim instead so when Rachek left her in the butcher's shop under the command of Urumuda Noyan's youngest son, Bataar, and went to prepare her escape his first action had been to murder the garrison commander, his father. Getting Korman to accompany him to the site of Bataar's own betrayal of another clan's soldiers, those who had been escorting her briefly, had been easy enough but the older man had insisted upon bringing his body guards to assist in her recapture.
Of course, by the time they got there the bodies had already been discovered by a small patrol that had sent half its number to alert Korman and missed him on the way. These extra men and the body guards complicated things somewhat but a simple and inspired lie had smoothed everything over after Rachek suddenly severed his father's head in front of them all. Abruptly and forcefully stating that he was now the garrison commander as the rightful heir to his father had caused them to hesitate. When asked how it was he was the heir with two older brothers still alive Rachek answered with a contemptuous question of his own: "Do you think I would murder my father in front of you without first ensuring I would rightfully take his place?" This seemed to imply that he had killed his brothers already as well and for the moment at least, was indeed heir to his father's station.
His father's body guards believed that they depended upon him to be paid so accepted his ascendance, their senior member quickly falling into his role by asking with a head tilt about the fate of the three remaining men from the patrol. One small hand motion and a short battle later five more names were off Rachek's list of witnesses to his patricide - a crime his still-very-much-alive older brothers would surely wish to avenge. Two bodyguards died fighting the three common soldiers. Well, to be fair, only one died fighting them; the other died by Rachek's hand as he pulled the stunned guard back from the fight, presumably to safety. What had actually been the flat of a blade against the side of his head now, thanks to Rachek's small knife that was quickly sheathed, appeared to be that flat blow but also a slash across the jugular vein as the blade slid free. When his remaining three bodyguards turned from the fight they saw Rachek valiantly stuffing the gushing would to stop the bleeding. The effort even seemed successful but the poison from the little blade would - and did - have its way regardless.
With Korman dead, Rachek, his second-to-youngest son, had sent his bodyguards to gather Evangeline's things and bring them to the gate, sending with them word that he was the new commander of the garrison. His stolen authority had bought her freedom and his scheming in the court of Sanjar Khan where he blamed his father's death upon her as she escaped allowed him the men and means to joyfully hunt her. His brothers had bought the story of their father's death at her hands, especially when Rachek furiously cut down their father's last three remaining bodyguards and recounted how he had stumbled upon them taking their pleasure from a willing Evangeline who had bewitched them into helping her escape, using them to beat Korman down so that she herself could attempt to turn him with her lewd promises. He had refused her spells and she had killed him for it with her own hands.
As his two older brothers wrestled for control of their father's position and authority both in the field and at home, Rachek and his younger brother had been given the means and authority to hunt her down in the name of Sanjar Khan and their murdered father. Outfitted with crack troops from the Khan, a new horse from his eldest brother, and a conscience free of the pressing need to silence any more who knew of his misdeeds, Rachek had set out to find the Western Seductress Puppet on March 5th, 1258. Now, so many weeks of wrangling at court and with his kinfolk, of tracking, and guessing later, he had rushed victoriously upon Evangeline, her forces vulnerable and depleted, and somehow been laid low, likely to die or at least never fight again from his injuries.
As chaos reigned around him Rachek wondered if this was his punishment for his devious dishonor. The thought made him laugh and he imagined the brother or some other kinsman of one of the men he'd killed to get here having disguised himself among his party and walking up to take this moment of helplessness for brutal revenge. That man would have to kill his youngest brother too to prevent a possible witness and blood feud but then again, Rachek was quite sure he saw that brother charging up a ladder to lead an attack against Evangeline inside the castle. Rachek grunted with the pain of laughter, knowing that that brother was dead then to go against Evangeline so. There would be no need for any avenger to finish him then, she would do it for him. Rachek simply had not brought enough men to do the job, it seemed and never should have exposed himself to her directly until half a dozen strong arrows had been planted in her hide. The cowardly thought made him laugh again.
As he considered these musings and wondered when someone could be spared to help him up or finish him off, a wandering horse stamped on his head, crushing right through it. Mere moments later his youngest brother led the men in a victorious whoop, having taken the walls of Bardaq and broken the back of Evangeline's army with very few casualties, the enemy fleeing into the keep where Evangeline was undoubtedly hiding. As that brother considered the defenses of the keep so as to have intelligent suggestions for his commander and kin, a senior warrior informed him that another of his relations was dead, pointing to the bloody sand around Rachek's head. Shocked for a moment but quickly becoming honestly furious that she had taken another of his family's men, young Chuluun set his jaw and ordered Evangeline burned out of the keep and dismembered on sight, those pieces then to be burned and the ashes soaked with oil to be burned again. This ***** was going to be dead.
Mere minutes earlier that ***** had stood where he stood and issued a simple order. "GUARD HERE!" Evangeline had roared when she leapt off the wall after downing Rachek, biting the words off like two separate sentences. Most of her men and fallen to the task of hopelessly holding the ladders against their attackers immediately, sure that she was intent on a plan that would save them, somehow pull a second and more unbelievable victory out this day. Instead Evangeline ordered her companions to follow her, retreated into the keep, shucked off her armor with their help as they followed suit, and leapt out a lower window. There was no way in this world that she was going to be trapped and killed here, just like there was no way that her force was going to succeed against that enemy. They had destroyed half of her force and annihilated their morale. There would be no standing against so many enemies that were so powerful. To escape with her life she left her men as an unwitting rearguard and abandoned them.
The histories of this time tell that the sacrifice of Evangeline's men was one they agreed to readily, that they willingly fought a doomed battle to delay the Khan's task force against her but the journals of her personal companions speak of it differently - by speaking of it little or not at all. They merely mention that most of the men were left behind. It has been assumed that Evangeline asked them to stay but I feel sure Artimenner or Jeremus would have mentioned such a request and they did not. Instead they say she left them and gave those companions no choice but to follow her.
"MY goddamned forces!" She finally yelled, incensed because she had been forced to sacrifice them. Ever since she had issued her last order to them Evangeline had been muttering furiously and hatefully about the Khergit attackers and now that she was away from her abandoned men she could finally let out why she was so mad. "Those lousy sons of *****es come to CRUSH ME?! On the day of my first real victory and I WILL NOT RUTTING DIE HERE! They'll crush my army and I'LL MURDER THEM IN THE GODDAMNED EYE! SONS of *****ES! And RACHEEEEKKKK!!" She bellowed with all her might and breath, bending at the waist while her face turned read with fury. She continued yelling as her companions continued to leap out the window behind her, still unsure what it was they were doing to help the men still battling. With 4 of her companions on the ground behind her and 5 more to come Evangeline began loping away from the castle toward the low dunes to the southeast muttering angrily throughout.
As her closest warriors and advisors followed at some point it became clear that Evangeline had more or less tricked them into following her in this cowardly escape. They had believed she was leading them to in some sort of flanking attack but by the time they realized this was not true they were too far away to be of any use at all; Evangeline's deed was done, her men had been betrayed and deserted and those still alive largely felt wretched about it. Despair struck like a blow but none stopped to die with the men. Instead they ran on, some shedding tears in the sand for what they had been forced to do.
They had felt so strongly that she were nobly leading them to a principled and honorable future where they would either prevail against their enemies or die trying. She had valiantly and bravely battled to take that castle, going over the walls first and alone to spare her soldiers' lives. Bloodied but unbroken she emerged victorious and everyone under her command BELIEVED that she was worth following until death. But for some betrayal is worse than death, both to be betrayed and to do it, even unwittingly. Evangeline's companions were largely unprepared to follow her past the death of their bodies to begin the death of their souls first. Given no chance to make the choice, however, they followed her into the desert, feeling more like fugitives than persecuted idealists or legitimate mercenaries as the first night fell; their first night in this new understanding of Evangeline, now with a new nickname none ever dared speak aloud: Coward.
September 10, 1258 - Bardaq Castle
Rachek dropped his head back into the sand and began to feel the pain he had been too shocked to notice before. He'd schemed and negotiated well to get here, abilities that were highly esteemed amongst the Khergit nobility. He chuckled wryly, remembering how completely he had severed his ties to that group in a gamble to forge himself a stronger foundation amongst them on the quality of his own work instead of his father or brothers. He had overcome many obstacles and ridden long and hard to catch up to Evangeline, he had been clever and vicious in so many instances that more than once he had wondered if she were really worth it. The moment that he sank an arrow into her chest he KNEW he had to do it but feared an anticlimax if she died from merely that. The moment when she stepped back onto the battlements with that arrow still jutting out of her chest and roared his name he felt like everything he had done he would do again and even more just to face such an exciting challenge as she. Unfortunately, as he lay in the sand with a gurgling horse atop one ruined leg and a short blade pinning his other ruined leg to that same suffocating animal, it seemed he had more than met his match. She couldn't be killed and yet dished out terminal violence to all she met who opposed her.
Trapped as he was he found that if he lay on his side his head was supported by a comfortable pile of warm sand and that he was basically positioned as if riding the horse that was dying. Enjoying that thought, Rachek did as he often did in the saddle and let his mind wander... Perhaps he should not have hunted her... But if he had not done that then he wouldn't have had to kill his father either. The man, Korman, would have had her recaptured in Dhirim instead so when Rachek left her in the butcher's shop under the command of Urumuda Noyan's youngest son, Bataar, and went to prepare her escape his first action had been to murder the garrison commander, his father. Getting Korman to accompany him to the site of Bataar's own betrayal of another clan's soldiers, those who had been escorting her briefly, had been easy enough but the older man had insisted upon bringing his body guards to assist in her recapture.
Of course, by the time they got there the bodies had already been discovered by a small patrol that had sent half its number to alert Korman and missed him on the way. These extra men and the body guards complicated things somewhat but a simple and inspired lie had smoothed everything over after Rachek suddenly severed his father's head in front of them all. Abruptly and forcefully stating that he was now the garrison commander as the rightful heir to his father had caused them to hesitate. When asked how it was he was the heir with two older brothers still alive Rachek answered with a contemptuous question of his own: "Do you think I would murder my father in front of you without first ensuring I would rightfully take his place?" This seemed to imply that he had killed his brothers already as well and for the moment at least, was indeed heir to his father's station.
His father's body guards believed that they depended upon him to be paid so accepted his ascendance, their senior member quickly falling into his role by asking with a head tilt about the fate of the three remaining men from the patrol. One small hand motion and a short battle later five more names were off Rachek's list of witnesses to his patricide - a crime his still-very-much-alive older brothers would surely wish to avenge. Two bodyguards died fighting the three common soldiers. Well, to be fair, only one died fighting them; the other died by Rachek's hand as he pulled the stunned guard back from the fight, presumably to safety. What had actually been the flat of a blade against the side of his head now, thanks to Rachek's small knife that was quickly sheathed, appeared to be that flat blow but also a slash across the jugular vein as the blade slid free. When his remaining three bodyguards turned from the fight they saw Rachek valiantly stuffing the gushing would to stop the bleeding. The effort even seemed successful but the poison from the little blade would - and did - have its way regardless.
With Korman dead, Rachek, his second-to-youngest son, had sent his bodyguards to gather Evangeline's things and bring them to the gate, sending with them word that he was the new commander of the garrison. His stolen authority had bought her freedom and his scheming in the court of Sanjar Khan where he blamed his father's death upon her as she escaped allowed him the men and means to joyfully hunt her. His brothers had bought the story of their father's death at her hands, especially when Rachek furiously cut down their father's last three remaining bodyguards and recounted how he had stumbled upon them taking their pleasure from a willing Evangeline who had bewitched them into helping her escape, using them to beat Korman down so that she herself could attempt to turn him with her lewd promises. He had refused her spells and she had killed him for it with her own hands.
As his two older brothers wrestled for control of their father's position and authority both in the field and at home, Rachek and his younger brother had been given the means and authority to hunt her down in the name of Sanjar Khan and their murdered father. Outfitted with crack troops from the Khan, a new horse from his eldest brother, and a conscience free of the pressing need to silence any more who knew of his misdeeds, Rachek had set out to find the Western Seductress Puppet on March 5th, 1258. Now, so many weeks of wrangling at court and with his kinfolk, of tracking, and guessing later, he had rushed victoriously upon Evangeline, her forces vulnerable and depleted, and somehow been laid low, likely to die or at least never fight again from his injuries.
As chaos reigned around him Rachek wondered if this was his punishment for his devious dishonor. The thought made him laugh and he imagined the brother or some other kinsman of one of the men he'd killed to get here having disguised himself among his party and walking up to take this moment of helplessness for brutal revenge. That man would have to kill his youngest brother too to prevent a possible witness and blood feud but then again, Rachek was quite sure he saw that brother charging up a ladder to lead an attack against Evangeline inside the castle. Rachek grunted with the pain of laughter, knowing that that brother was dead then to go against Evangeline so. There would be no need for any avenger to finish him then, she would do it for him. Rachek simply had not brought enough men to do the job, it seemed and never should have exposed himself to her directly until half a dozen strong arrows had been planted in her hide. The cowardly thought made him laugh again.
As he considered these musings and wondered when someone could be spared to help him up or finish him off, a wandering horse stamped on his head, crushing right through it. Mere moments later his youngest brother led the men in a victorious whoop, having taken the walls of Bardaq and broken the back of Evangeline's army with very few casualties, the enemy fleeing into the keep where Evangeline was undoubtedly hiding. As that brother considered the defenses of the keep so as to have intelligent suggestions for his commander and kin, a senior warrior informed him that another of his relations was dead, pointing to the bloody sand around Rachek's head. Shocked for a moment but quickly becoming honestly furious that she had taken another of his family's men, young Chuluun set his jaw and ordered Evangeline burned out of the keep and dismembered on sight, those pieces then to be burned and the ashes soaked with oil to be burned again. This ***** was going to be dead.
Mere minutes earlier that ***** had stood where he stood and issued a simple order. "GUARD HERE!" Evangeline had roared when she leapt off the wall after downing Rachek, biting the words off like two separate sentences. Most of her men and fallen to the task of hopelessly holding the ladders against their attackers immediately, sure that she was intent on a plan that would save them, somehow pull a second and more unbelievable victory out this day. Instead Evangeline ordered her companions to follow her, retreated into the keep, shucked off her armor with their help as they followed suit, and leapt out a lower window. There was no way in this world that she was going to be trapped and killed here, just like there was no way that her force was going to succeed against that enemy. They had destroyed half of her force and annihilated their morale. There would be no standing against so many enemies that were so powerful. To escape with her life she left her men as an unwitting rearguard and abandoned them.
The histories of this time tell that the sacrifice of Evangeline's men was one they agreed to readily, that they willingly fought a doomed battle to delay the Khan's task force against her but the journals of her personal companions speak of it differently - by speaking of it little or not at all. They merely mention that most of the men were left behind. It has been assumed that Evangeline asked them to stay but I feel sure Artimenner or Jeremus would have mentioned such a request and they did not. Instead they say she left them and gave those companions no choice but to follow her.
"MY goddamned forces!" She finally yelled, incensed because she had been forced to sacrifice them. Ever since she had issued her last order to them Evangeline had been muttering furiously and hatefully about the Khergit attackers and now that she was away from her abandoned men she could finally let out why she was so mad. "Those lousy sons of *****es come to CRUSH ME?! On the day of my first real victory and I WILL NOT RUTTING DIE HERE! They'll crush my army and I'LL MURDER THEM IN THE GODDAMNED EYE! SONS of *****ES! And RACHEEEEKKKK!!" She bellowed with all her might and breath, bending at the waist while her face turned read with fury. She continued yelling as her companions continued to leap out the window behind her, still unsure what it was they were doing to help the men still battling. With 4 of her companions on the ground behind her and 5 more to come Evangeline began loping away from the castle toward the low dunes to the southeast muttering angrily throughout.
As her closest warriors and advisors followed at some point it became clear that Evangeline had more or less tricked them into following her in this cowardly escape. They had believed she was leading them to in some sort of flanking attack but by the time they realized this was not true they were too far away to be of any use at all; Evangeline's deed was done, her men had been betrayed and deserted and those still alive largely felt wretched about it. Despair struck like a blow but none stopped to die with the men. Instead they ran on, some shedding tears in the sand for what they had been forced to do.
They had felt so strongly that she were nobly leading them to a principled and honorable future where they would either prevail against their enemies or die trying. She had valiantly and bravely battled to take that castle, going over the walls first and alone to spare her soldiers' lives. Bloodied but unbroken she emerged victorious and everyone under her command BELIEVED that she was worth following until death. But for some betrayal is worse than death, both to be betrayed and to do it, even unwittingly. Evangeline's companions were largely unprepared to follow her past the death of their bodies to begin the death of their souls first. Given no chance to make the choice, however, they followed her into the desert, feeling more like fugitives than persecuted idealists or legitimate mercenaries as the first night fell; their first night in this new understanding of Evangeline, now with a new nickname none ever dared speak aloud: Coward.
I knew she was up to something sinister, hopefully something will arise to quell the talk of cowardice.
I AM HOBO OF DOOM
Knight at Arms
great new chapter 
Lord Brutus 说:
Thank you kindly!I AM HOBO OF DOOM 说:great new chapter
As an aside, I'm curious about something: I posted the newest chapter 1 week ago and have gotten half the views I usually do in that time. The forum also seems to be moving slower. Did something happen? Where did everybody go?
I have not abandoned Evangeline.
