Such a high level of activity so early on this particular day was not a surprise. It was likely the state’s forces would be launching a sally in an hour or two, or so they thought and hoped. Indeed, I had already decided to allow the sally if it seemed likely to succeed—and perhaps even if it did not.
My decision would depend on the readiness of the Greek army outside the gate or, perhaps it would be more accurate to say, the lack of its readiness. I probably would not allow the sally, no matter how much the states’ forces wanted to sally out and fight for the Greek weapons, if the companies of the Greek army had gotten the word and were waiting with such an overwhelming force that success of the states’ men would be a forlorn hope.
It would be a difficult decision if the Greek army was ready and waiting. It was one thing to send men into a battle in which they had a chance to live through it with a chance to enjoy the prestige and loot of a victory; it was something else to send them to their certain deaths.
On the other hand, Henry was right; the states’ forces would take some of the Greeks with them even if they were annihilated—and that would reduce the number of Greek soldiers trying to kill my archers and our auxiliaries in the days ahead.
How best to use the states’ forces, and whether or not to commit them to a sally, was a decision I would make in a few minutes, when dawn’s early light arrived when I could see what was happening outside the sally gate.
******
It was still dark when I climbed the stone steps to reach the top the wall where it stood over the city gate. Prince Ivan, Henry, and almost all of my lieutenant Commanders were already there and waiting. Only my father was missing from those who were expected to be there.
Word of my father’s affliction had spread through the ranks and I received the expected quiet good wishes and muttered encouragements. My lieutenants received a very brief report from me in return.
“He has a chest pain pox from spending too much time standing in the moat’s waters. But the Empress’s personal physician is attending him and he looks likely to make a full recovery.”
Astute readers will no doubt note that I was now saying standing too long in the moat’s foul waters instead of smelling them. The men would be manning the wall near the moat in the days ahead and I did not want to spook them about being near its foul smell any more than I had already done by ordering some of them to wash wherever the moat water had touched them and burn the tunics that had gotten wet.
We talked whilst we waited. Henry was both anxious and in great good cheer despite not getting much of a night’s sleep under one of the heavily guarded coin wagons. He took me aside and chuckled as he whispered to me that Prince Ivan was almost smart enough to be an English moneylender. The prince, Henry explained with more chuckles, had spread the word among his men and the other states’ forces that the newly arrived Greek column had brought five wagon loads of additional swords and spears for the men who were already here.
According to Henry, Prince Ivan had whispered to his men that the commander of the Greek army had the wagons carrying the weapons parked near his tent on the other side of the camp. In other words, Henry whispered with more than a little delight in his voice, if the men of the states’ armies want the weapons and the coins they would fetch, they would have to fight their way through the entire Greek camp to reach them.
And that, Henry said with another chuckle, was exactly what some of the states’ forces were apparently going to try to do.
“Do the wagons full of weapons actually exist?” I asked.
“Probably not. But it is a very good story and the states’ men seem to want to believe it is true. It gives them an excuse for fighting their way all the way through the Greek camp to get to them. And then, at the very least, they will have to fight their way all the way back to save themselves.”
According to Henry, Prince Ivan said his knights and some of the others were so excited about the possibility of getting enough prize coins to buy lands of their own to lord over that some of them had taken extraordinary steps to insure their success. They were bringing wagons with them so they could carry back enough captured weapons to be forever rich and landed.
How they would get their wagons all the way through the closely packed tents and wagons of the Greek camp, and then all the way back, he did not know.
Henry also confessed that he had heard disquieting rumours that there would be an effort to gull us out of the coins we had promised to pay for captured weapons.
Some of the states’ men, Henry said, apparently intend to carry two weapons out the gate so they can return with them and claim one was captured. Others were reported to be planning to hand their weapon to a mate, return without it, and then split the coins their mate collected for showing it. Neither action would have any risk since it was proclaimed that anyone who returned with captured weapons would both be paid and could keep them.
Even the camp wives were getting involved. Some of them were trying to borrow weapons belonging to the men who were not going out for one reason or another—with the idea of carrying them out in the sally so they could hand them to their men so they could be claimed as captured weapons when their men returned.
As a result of hearing the rumours and schemes, Henry and Prince Ivan wanted the sally temporarily delayed so they would have enough time walk through the sally force to make sure no one was carrying more than one weapon into the Greek camp. As they did, Henry said, they would pass the word that women would not be allowed on the sally and any unwounded man who returned without his weapon would be severely punished.
He and the prince, Henry assured me, would start walking through the salliers as soon as the sun arrived so I could see enough to give the order for the sally to proceed—“assuming you give it, of course.”
What none of us realized at the time was that something else would be the main source of false weapons claims—and there was nothing we could do about them except smile and pay.
******
The early light of dawn came up a few minutes later and we saw what there was for us to see. In front of us, and starting just outside the city wall, was the huge and tightly-packed Greek camp. Everywhere it seemed to come right up to the edge of the moat, even in front of the sally gate bridge.
The Greek campers apparently still thought the moat would protect them, especially after yesterday’s sally almost ended in a massacre of the archers. Or perhaps those now camping near the gate on the other side of the moat were new arrivals and not aware of what had happened to those who had been camping there yesterday when we launched our first sally.
In the end, it did not matter who the campers were or why they were camping within the range of our arrows and near the sally gate; they were there, and that meant some of them would likely die for their mistake.
On the other hand, coming off their march and going straight into an attack on the trapped archers without first setting up their camp and getting organized had apparently confused and scattered the Greek soldiers. Many of them had appeared to still be wandering around seeking their lords and mates when the sun went down.
But had their commanders learned of the states forces’ coming sally and spent the night pulling their companies together to oppose them? That was the question on everyone’s mind as we waited in the moonlit darkness on the wall above the gate tower that stood over the road in which the state forces were forming up for their second sally in as many days.
We were waiting for the sun to arrive so we could see whether or not the greatly enlarged Greek army was prepared and waiting for our sally. Not that it would have made much difference, mind you; I had long ago decided to send out the sally. The argument that every enemy soldier killed or wounded meant one less for the archers to have to fight was very persuasive.
Finally, the sun arrived on its daily trip around the world and we could see the enemy encampment.
“Yes,” Exclaimed Henry as he pounded his fist into his hand.
In fro
nt of us the close-packed camp of the Orthodox army seemed to stretch all the way to the horizon. Its tents and wagons and men sleeping rough were everywhere and seemed to take up every inch of available space.
What was significant was that there was not a single Greek force in sight that was arrayed for battle. To the contrary, everything appeared to be peaceful and totally disorganized. It was as if everyone had just flopped down on the ground wherever they happened to be standing when darkness fell.
In any event, the camp was just beginning to wake up with people coming out of their tents and from under their wagons to find water and to piss and shite wherever they could find an open space. Indeed, many of those who had been sleeping rough began picking up their packs and seemed to be setting off to find their mates and captains.
At first there was no dust hanging over the Greek camp. What we saw was the beginning of another clear and hot summer sky that was marred only by the smoke of a few cooking fires, those which had already been started while it was still dark.
That, of course, would change as more cooking fires were lit and the men and their camp followers and animals started moving about. And it would really change, particularly for the Greeks nearest to the gate, if I allowed the sally to go forwards and thousands of states’ soldiers suddenly rushed out of the gate and fell upon them.
Behind us on the roadway was a totally different scene; it was bustling with noise and activity. The two hundred or so knights and horsemen of the states’ armies were lined up on the road nearest to the gate just as they had been yesterday. They and their wagons would lead the charge.
Immediately behind the riders, the roadway was packed with the five thousand or so foot soldiers of the states’ forces. Almost all of them were untrained and poorly equipped village levies. They had been brought in by their kings and princes to help defend the city.
The states’ foot had several wagons in amongst them as well. Indeed, the road was packed with the states’ foot all the way to where the road curved around and the men on it disappeared from view due to the interior wall that ran along. How many men were beyond the curve? I did not have a clue.
It might have been my imagination, but there seemed to me to be more horsemen and more foot soldiers waiting to charge out the gate than were present in yesterday’s sally. They also somehow seemed more eager, or perhaps that was just my imagination telling me that I was seeing what I wanted to see.
They really wanted to go out and fight? Well, that certainly worked for me.
“Yes, they can go. Raise the gate as soon as you are ready.”
With those words I announced my decision. I made it in the hope that another sally by the states’ forces would cause enemy losses and desertions that would, in turn, end up reducing the casualties suffered by my archers.
Henry and Prince Ivan dashed down the stone stairs to the roadway as soon as I announced that the sally could proceed. They and several of their sergeants began walking through the ranks of the salliers in an effort to make sure no one received coins by carrying more than one weapon out the gate, and then returning with the second weapon claiming it had been captured from the Greeks.
Coins we were willing to pay for weapons; but we wanted the coins to be paid for the weapons they actually took from the Greeks, not for weapons they temporarily borrowed from their friends. We thought the warnings and inspection would be sufficient to eliminate fraudulent claims; we were wrong, very wrong.
The gate holding back the sally would be raised as soon as Henry and Prince Ivan finished their last-minute weapons inspection. They estimated it would take them less than thirty minutes. All along the roadway men were already trying to move forward to get closer to the sally gate. Their enthusiasm about once again fighting their way into the Greek camp surprised everyone including me.
Chapter Twenty-five
The second sally.
It was a stirring scene. I looked down from atop the gate tower and watched as Henry walked swiftly to gate and Prince Ivan swung himself aboard his horse which was at the very front of the column, lowered his helmet visor, and then drew his sword and held it high over his head. Henry must have shouted something to the two archers manning the windlass that was used to roll up the rusty chains that raised the gate—because the gate slowly began rising even before he reached them.
The slow upward movement of the gate coupled with Prince Ivan simultaneous boarding his horse and drawing his sword had a noticeable effect on the long column of men waiting for him to lead them into the Greek encampment.
Not everyone waiting to sally could see Prince Ivan as he made his final preparations for fighting, but those who could see him immediately dropped their helmet visors and drew their swords; and the men behind them who saw them do that, in turn, dropped their visors and drew their swords. It was as if a great wave of last second preparations washed down the column of men.
At the same time, the level of noise caused by men talking overly loud in an effort to keep up their courage changed. It suddenly became so quiet that we could make out individual voices.
Going into harm’s way seems to do that to a man for some reason.
******
At some point, as the gate was going up, I realized that a red-faced and puffing Henry had come up the stone stairs to join me and Nicholas on the wall above the gate.
A few moments later we looked down and watched as Prince Ivan came charging through the gate below us waving his sword over his head. He rode over the moat bridge at a hard gallop and charged straight ahead into the unsuspecting Greek camp. The states’ riders were right behind him.
From where we were standing we could clearly see the surprise that the sudden appearance of the prince and his riders caused amongst the Greek campers nearest to the sally gate. They stopped whatever they were doing for the briefest of moments and gaped in absolute disbelief—and then most of them ran for their lives, and a few for their weapons. There was much more of the former so far as I could see.
Dust rose from the galloping horses’ hooves and the sun caused the swords of the riders to flash as they reached out to cut down the fleeing men and women. We could hear their screams over all the shouting and the thundering noise of the horses’ hooves. Several times I saw riders lean far out of their saddles to pick up something on the ground. They were almost certainly picking up weapons.
And it was not all one-sided, even in the first few seconds when the Greeks soldiers and their camp followers were totally surprised. We saw a lone rider slashing about with his sword as he rode into a large group of fleeing Greeks, both men and women, and then watched as his horse suddenly stumbled to its knees and went down. The poor sod came flying out of his saddle and landed on the ground ahead of his horse.
The fleeing people kept running and we did not see the fallen rider get up. What was more than somewhat surprising, at least to the archers watching from the wall, was that none of the other riders stopped to help the man who had been unhorsed. Either he was a friendless and hated man or his mates were too excited and did not see him go down.
And to my surprise, and Henry’s too, not all of the riders followed the prince and the handful of knights riding with him. Some individuals and small groups of riders immediately began going off in different directions. It was as if every man had his own ideas as to where he might find weapons to capture.
A moment later we looked down from the wall and watched as the last of the hard-charging riders were followed by an absolute horde of men on foot shouting their battle cries and waving their spears. These were the men we were counting on to sack the Greek encampment.
What was strange was that men on foot moved so slowly and quietly as they came forward on the road that ran through their camp. They were almost shuffling until they reached the gate. But then they burst out of the gate running and shouting. I would have thought they all would have started running at the same time.
We began to hear the plaintive screams and cries of the wounded and
other nearby Greeks who were still alive once the states’ men on foot moved further into the Greek camp. The dust was drifting towards us which made it difficult to see. Some of the states’ foot could be seen poking into tents and wagons looking for weapons. In the distance we could hear shouting and the unmistakable scream of a horse, which suddenly stopped.
It was going to be a long, hot, and dusty day, especially for the Greeks.
******
A wounded and helmetless knight on horseback, or perhaps he was still a squire since he appeared to be so young, was the first man to return for coins. His sword was sheathed and he was holding tight to a couple of spears with one hand and trying to hold a nasty gash in his side closed with the other.
We watched from the wall above the gate as he passed under us and rode directly to the coin wagon on the south side of the gate and gestured towards the sword and held out one of the spears. We could not hear him from where we were standing, but he was obviously asking for a silver coin for the sword and ten coppers for the second spear.
Henry, to my surprise, started cursing and began moving to the stairs. He obviously intended to walk down and confront the man for some reason. I decided to follow him down since the fighting had raised such a cloud of dust that all I could see was the nearest small area of the Greek camp with its dead bodies scattered all about and some of the states’ foot soldiers searching amongst the tents and wagons for weapons. There were also a few wounded men and women staggering around looking for help.
We reached the coin wagon on the south side of the gate in time to listen to part of the friendly exchange in crusader French between my brother John and the young rider.
“But I brought in a sword and a spear. I am to be paid one silver coin for the sword and ten coppers for the captured spear, yes?”
“Those are the prices we pay, Sir Knight,” my young brother said apologetically. “But you are a rider and every rider went out with a sword or axe. Not a single rider carried a spear. Only the foot of the states’ levies carried them.”
The Alchemist's Revenge Page 18