Chapter 21

The scouts informed General Kucuk of a force coming to engage them. It numbered around 2000 men, most likely slightly below their own number of 2158 men. The scouts didn’t find any evidence of ambushes, but that didn’t necessarily mean there wasn’t one when dealing with Mashujaa wa Jua.General Kucuk decided to meet them in the field. Any force of 2000 men from such a small country would most likely be filled with poorly trained constricts, and Suleiman the Magnificent had gifted him the finest men the house of Osman had to offer, as well as one of the finest mercenary companies in the world

The armies were close enough to see each other. About 1000 yards of plains stretched out between them. The Jua warriors were formed up in three blocks. A dense formation of conscripts, equipped with wicker shields, spears, and cloth armor, stood in the center, flanked by two blocks of heavily trained Jua veterans.

General Kucuk’s formation was simple: Three blocks of warriors, Janissaries flanking either side of the Baron’s men, with cavalry on the wings. On the left was all Ottoman Sipahi, armed with kilij and spear, and on the right was a mix of Sipahi and the Baron’s men, with the blunderbuss cavalry at the front and Sipahi at the back. Kucuk wanted to bring the great bombards, but Suleiman had assigned those to different units.

General Kucuk was mounted behind his men. The Baron was in formation with the right flank’s cavalry, and his lieutenants were on foot with his men. General Kucuk gestured to a man near him, who raised a large horn to his mouth and played a sustained medium pitch note. After five seconds of horn, the army began to march forward.

Covering 1000 yards on foot, or slowly trotting to keep in line with the infantry, was agonizingly slow. After a horn was blown off in the distance, the Jua army began to march forward.

The two armies slowly ate up the distance between them. They entered 500 yards, the front row of the Baron’s men fired, while the Janissaries did not. Many of the bullets missed their targets or pierced the wicker shields, but a few were deflected by most likely enchanted wicker, which greatly surprised the Baron.

The Jua warriors loosed their volleys, the arrows falling into the ranks of General Kucuk’s army. Most of the arrows were deflected by armor or weapon, but a few found their marks, sticking into necks and shoulders and chests.

The second row replaced the first in a somewhat less organized fashion than the Baron would like as they tried to keep pace with their Janissary allies. At around 300 yards they fired, felling more men. Some of the Jua warriors at the flanks thrust towards the ground, sending up head sized balls of earth, and launching them at the oncoming enemy.

The boulders ripped through the ranks of the marching men, killing and maiming dozens at a time. Combined with the increasingly accurate archers, the casualties were slowly and steadily increasing. The Baron’s men, now 200 yards away, responded with gunfire, dropping more men. Both armies began to pick up the pace.

At 100 yards the Janissaries come to a stop. The first row kneels, the second row crouches slightly, and the third row stands, all pointing their guns at the enemy. The Baron’s men stop a few seconds after noticing the Janissaries. Arrows landed amongst their ranks, dropping more and more men as the groups got closer.

The Janissaries all fired in a single volley, ripping through the oncoming infantry. The sound of 1000 men firing at once was deafening and shook the very earth they stood upon. The Baron’s third row fired, to much less effect than three rows firing at once.

The Janissaries threw the rifles around their shoulders onto their backs and drew their Yatagans, shouting at the top of their lungs as they charged. The Baron’s swordsmen and spearmen ran through the ranks of the gunners, and the third row of gunners, as the Baron trained them to do, followed alongside the melee troops.

The two sides charged and ate up the remaining distance, crashing into each other with a force only thousands of men at once could produce. A gunner charged forward and thrust at the weak wicker shield of a conscript, and was surprised to find his strike blocked completely by the shield. The conscript returned with a thrust of his own, his poor training and fraying nerves only ending up opening a wound on the gunner’s bicep.

A Janissary blocked the strike of a Jua warrior and swiftly stomped the man’s knee. As he screamed the Janissary swiftly slashed his throat. Just as the Janissary turned to deal with a new threat a Jua warrior slammed into him shoulder first, sending him flying backwards.

The Baron sidestepped a spear strike and chopped off the conscript’s hand at the wrist. Dodged another strike and slashed, catching the conscript’s face with the tip of his saber. He ducked another strike by the same man and slashed at his stomach, his enchanted sword easily slicing through the cloth armor and into the man’s soft stomach.

The cavalry on the right flank charged. The blunderbusses fired, shredding through the enemy with ease. The Baron’s men allowed their blunderbusses to hang by a rope near the horse’s belly and drew their sabers, fanning out to allow their Ottoman allies to charge unimpeded. The Sipahi hit the enemy, their spears piercing riders and their armor deflecting blows. Meanwhile, the Baron’s cavalry circled around and slammed into the enemy’s rear.

The Baron’s gunners spread out to find better angles and to protect themselves from the Jua archers. They fired sporadically, as soon as they were loaded they aimed and fired. The tight formations of the Jua archers and the intense training of the Baron’s men made sure that most shots fired hit their mark.

Fergus shattered a spear with his ax, screaming as he jumped forward and kneed the conscript in the face. A spear tip aimed at Fergus’s neck was deflected by a nearby soldier and another quickly stepped forward and thrust, finding an opening in the conscript’s defense. Fergus rolled to the side and tripped a conscript, plunging his dagger into the man’s heart less than a second later.

Gaius hefted his greatsword through two conscripts at once, trusting that his armor will protect him from the panicked strikes aimed at the massive mound of muscle tearing through their comrades. Udo redirected a strike aimed at Gaius’s neck and ran his sword along the haft of the conscript’s spear, lopping off the man’s head in a show of great dexterity and strength.

The enemy cavalry on the right flank quickly crumbled. The blunderbuss volley, the Spiahi’s charge and skill, and the flanking led to a quick victory. The allied cavalry reformed and charged the archers. Men went flying as hundreds of pounds of flesh slammed into them, and limbs went flying as sabers laid into the unprotected archers.

The left flank was far less certain. The lack of buckshot meant that the two sides were fighting a mostly even battle. The Sipahi and Jua were both extremely well trained, but the Sipahi’s armor was beginning to prove itself against the very lightly armored Jua. The outcome was less than certain, but the Ottomans held a distinct advantage.

The story of the infantry at the left and right flank was about the same. The well trained Janissaries and Jua warriors fought savagely. A Janissary slashed opened the stomach of a Jua warrior and was in turn cut down by another man. A great spike of earth erupted in a particularly dense formation of men, killing and maiming a dozen men at once.

The Baron blew fire into the face of a conscript, swiftly finishing him off as the man threw down his weapons in panic. A spear impacted the Baron’s armor, finding an angle and glancing off of it. A soldier immediately stepped forward and thrust his spear into the conscript who just attacked his leader. The Baron gave the soldier a nod in thanks and punched the ground, causing dozens of spikes to erupt from the ground, impaling dozens of conscripts at once..

The earth spikes were the last straw for the center of the Jua army, and men quickly began to turn and run. The killing sped up as poorly trained men tried to escape and found their comrades blocking them.

The Jua archers knew that they would never be able to stand up to cavalry and routed as soon as the right flank began to regroup and charge them. The blunderbuss cavalry fired, ripping through the lightly armored archers, and fanned out to make way for the Sipahi to charge them down. The blunderbuss cavalry regrouped and reloaded before turning their attention onto the infantry.

The infantry fighting was intense. Both flanks were made up of elite warriors dedicated to hand to hand combat. Though, with the introduction of the Baron’s infantry, both sides crumbled quickly. After another round of buckshot ripped through the right flank, they broke and ran. Caught on both sides by infantry and cavalry, any warrior who didn’t throw down their arms was slaughtered outright.

The left flank was largely the same, the Baron’s men encircling the remaining Jua warriors and ripping through them mercilessly. Jua warriors were known for being tough and stubborn, so many refused to throw down their arms and were cut down.

General Kucuk was concerned that prisoners would slow them down, slow down their momentum, as there were only two large settlements left between him and where he was supposed to meet General Demir. And so, General Kucuk offered the defeated men a deal.

General Kucuk sat atop his horse, larger than most other horses to make up for his stout stature. The captured Jua warriors, numbering around 300, sat in front of him, hands tied and closely watched by Janissaries.

“Men of Mashujaa wa Jua! We do not wish to keep you as prisoners, and therefore I offer you a deal! You must do two things in exchange for freedom: Fight for the House of Osman, and convert to Islam! If you do not do those two things, you will be executed! If you wish to accept my deal, you are to walk over to Imam Hashlan! Note that your conscripts were allowed to leave so long as they threw down their weapons! We have no need for poorly trained farmers in my army! So, what do you say? Will you fight against your countrymen, or be put to death?!”

After taking a few moments to process his words, a Jua warrior stood.

“I will never fight for you!”

Shouts of agreement flooded out of the captured men, though a few men walked over to the aforementioned Imam Hashlan, heads down as their comrades jeered at them. As the 50 or so men who decided to take the deal were cleared from the area, General Kucuk raised his arm. The Janissaries guarding the prisoners aimed their muskets. The Baron frantically ran over to General Kucuk.

“Sir, is this really necessary? Without their weapons they’re harmless!”

Kucuk eyed the Baron with disgust.

“We treat our allies with respect and kindness, we treat our enemies with contempt.”

He dropped his arm and the Janissaries fired, quickly drawing their swords and getting to work. A few Jua warriors managed to fight back, using earth magic to defend and attack, but with their hands tied, there was little they could do. The Baron shook his head and walked back to his men.

The army marched further north. In the middle of their path was a city which Ottoman maps never actually gave a name for. As Kucuk’s army set up camp within sight of the city walls, he sent a rider to the city.

The rider was escorted to the governor’s palace under armed guard. He knew the Jua warriors had too much honor to kill a messenger, but being escorted under armed guard was still nerve wracking.

The palace was beautiful, though of course far less beautiful than Suleiman’s palace. The guards took into the governor’s office. It was a large room with books and maps neatly tucked onto bookshelves stacked ceiling to floor.

The governor was an older black man, with a small gray afro and neatly trimmed beard. He wore a well tailored tunic with a multicolored kente cloth over his shoulders. The governor set down his quil and addressed the rider.

“Tell me, what is it you come to me for? Though I imagine I already know.”

The rider took out a scroll and handed it to a guard who set it on the governor’s desk.

“I am here to request your city’s surrender. We have 2000 of the best trained men the House of Osman has to offer. General Kucuk will accept nothing else b-”

“But unconditional surrender, yes of course. Get out of my office. Return to your camp and tell your general to break his back upon the walls of Kisa!”

The rider nodded solemnly and was escorted out by guards.

The Baron looked at his tools unappreciatively.

“I’m supposed to climb the walls using nothing but an iron spike?”

The Janissary who handed him the equipment responded energetically.

“Yup! You can use the spike to create handholds in the rock!”

The Baron was unsatisfied.

“That sounds dangerous.”

“You’re a gifted one, this will be a breeze for you!”

“I’m also 51 years old.”

“51 years old and still fighting on the frontlines. I saw you out there, blowing fire into people’s faces and summoning great spikes of earth!”

“Touché.”

“What?”

“It’s an elven phrase which means you’ve won the argument.”

“Oh, well, thank you sir!”

The Baron sighed.

“Right.”

The Baron reached the top of the wall with more ease than he wanted to admit. Being a gifted one meant that he was stronger than the average man and could do more exercise with less fatigue than the average man. He closed the eyes of the guard he dispatched and said a small prayer for the dead.

The Baron quickly grabbed his length of rope and tied it to a nearby merlon. After making sure it was secure he sent the rope down. All around him men did the same thing. They were all the most athletic men in General Kucuk’s army, sent to create an area for the general’s men to scale the walls with relative ease. Ladders would be too conspicuous, so the men were given segmented ropes easy to climb with.

Their goal was to open the city gates and create as much chaos as possible. Since the city had not surrendered, it would be razed, a prospect the Baron did not revel in, but recognized the importance of it to the Ottoman’s gameplay. Like Genghis Khan. Thought the Baron. He eyed the corpse on the ground next to him. Just like Genghis Khan.

The Baron met up with eight of the Janissaries who climbed the wall and led them over to a gatehouse. A single guard turned just a little too late, finding the Baron’s saber in his throat before he could even make a sound.

The fight within the gatehouse was more of a one sided slaughter than a real fight. The Baron and his Janissaries flooded into the gatehouse and hacked the guards to pieces with ease. If that was any indicator of how well the city was going to hold out, then their work would be short but bloody.

As the gatehouse’s mechanism worked an explosion rang out in the distance, most likely the Baron’s allies had decided that going loud was better to instill fear. The Baron looked to his Janissaries and shrugged.

“I guess we’re going loud. Don’t rape anybody. I’ll kill you.”

A Janissary saluted him and nodded.

“We do what we must, not what we want.”