Chapter 1
It was a dark, cold, and windswept morning on the fourth day of the eleventh month of the five thousandth year of the Iron era. The ground was frozen after an early snow, with large droves of snow still on the ground.
Wind blew snow into the eyes of the soldiers outside Kalzan Fortress, an effect of the trees nearby being cut down to build siege equipment. The fortress had been under siege for the entire summer and fall as this was the only fort of the Kavyern Empire on the border of the Yamena republic. If this fort fell, the empire would be defenceless against the republic and would easily lose the great farmlands on the plains of the Zamena province which stood behind the fort. That would certainly destroy the empire.
The Empire was not in an incredibly powerful position. In fact, they were reeling from a war against all the world's nations. They had been defeated in the battle of Raqena on the plateau of the Dabena in the Kingdom of Swareka two months prior, in which a coalition of all the world's great powers encircled and mauled the majority of the empire's army. In a few short hours, ninety percent of the empire's army had been destroyed. What was left began to protect the northern border, while all the new levies were sent to the eastern border to protect there. After the peace settlement all forces were moved to the east, with no force sent to the south due to the powerful fortress which protected it. This was a wake up call for the empire as there was no way they could win this war with such a corrupt and malfunctioning military force.
The empire's army had been reduced from a mighty two hundred thousand soldiers to nothing more than twenty thousand after the battle, while the enemy coalition still had many hundreds of thousands under their belt. The empire quickly surrendered after the battle to the northern powers, giving up many of the mineral rich northern provinces in the following peace settlement. The east was a similar situation, with empire forces heavily outnumbered against their enemies. However, due to the incoming winter, the eastern front had fallen to gruelling siege warfare. The south was no different.
The Kazlan fortress was manned by seven hundred soldiers, a skeleton force compared to the five thousand enemy forces besieging the fort. The majority of the southern forces had retired home for the winter, with the nation's northern lords containing the siege. This saved the kingdom's capital as a full army was not fielded, but also kept up with their goals of taking over the fields of the empire. Five thousand soldiers were enough to defeat a mere seven hundred. After the fort was taken, the empire would certainly sue for peace to avoid a defeat that was worse than simply losing the fields of the south.
The fort's garrison was split into two forces. Five hundred were cavalrymen under the leadership of lord Frederich Bakhen, while two hundred infantry were fielded by the Zamena provinces governor, lord Daken Krasne. Frederich’s father, Luker, led most of his Bakhen-Ornhalt Principalities famous heavy armoured cavalrymen in the battle of Raqena, where he and most of those men lost their lives. Lord Krasne escaped with some of his province's men (which included Lukers men as he served under him because he lived in Krasne’s province) back to defend the south. That was when Frederich, barely a twenty four year old, took his fathers mantle and garrisoned the fort with half of his fathers army, the rest defending their estate.
I, Lord Frederich Bakhen-Ornhalt, was stuck in a fort for months. Ever since I came here to defend the entire south, I was in a state of melancholy. My father had died, yet there was no time to spare as I had to defend the lands and people under my family's protection.
The fort was full of veterans, yet, most had lost their courage. After the massacre at Raqena, most men had consigned themselves to death. However, I refused to allow myself to lose this battle. It was humiliating enough that my father did not allow me to die with him in battle and had me stay home to protect our estate, but it was worse that we would now suffer from further humiliation as a nation from the southern dogs. Never would I allow this as long as I was alive. It was death or dishonour. But also impacted my choice was my duty to the people. I must protect them from the disgrace and looting that would occur when the southern forces crossed the border past the fort. Most of all, however, was my desire for revenge. I would kill all who supported the deaths of my father and his men, which meant destroying the entire world until justice was served.
My revenge began today, and it would begin with me lifting the siege I was stuck in. The star fort of brick and stone I was locked in was on our side of the Lahmene river. This meant that the enemy was split between forces on our side and their side of the border. If I were to charge either side I’d be outnumbered five to one. However, the enemy force was not a monolith. Two southern nations had sent their soldiers to combat us as they both shared a border with my nation near this fort. The Yamena republic’s forces were on their side of the river, while the Zavenja republic’s forces were on our side of the river. This meant that my cavalry would not need to cross a bridge and would have an easier time rushing out to defeat the enemy. In addition to this, the Zavenja republics’ forces were invading a nation which did not border their own at this location. If they were defeated, their homeland had little risk of being attacked by this garrison; they would be easier to route this way. On the other hand, the Yamenian forces had their homes directly south of this border. It would be hard to break them without first routing their allies and hence, decreasing their morale.
At the first light of dawn, all five hundred of my cavalry formed in several wedges, multiple ranks forming a thick column of men. I raised my lance, and then a soldier raised my house's banner, a black banner with a white eagle adorning the centre in a blue shield crest. The eagle held a sword, a sign of our military prowess and nature to strike. After the banner rose, my soldiers' lances raised themselves along with the gate of the fort. Once the gate opened, I yelled, “For the fatherland, emperor, and honour, forward!” This caused my forces to charge forth, running at full gallop on their steeds as we were close enough to the enemy and required a strong sense of the element of surprise. My black eyes and long black hair glimmered in the morning sunlight just like our lances, my large body making my lance feel small. The enemy was caught off guard by this reckless sally out which even my own commander was not fond of (although he trusted my plan and vigour, knowing we had little choice but to do or die in this fort). A few seconds before we crashed into the enemy camp, my soldiers lowered their lances and I had lowered my own.
My soldiers and I crashed into the enemy camp, impaling the watchmen who were awake and any men who woke up due to the commotion. My force however was only the first wave. Once we had charged in, another wedge rank crashed into the enemy while my rank escaped the camp to reform near the gates, killing a few stragglers on our way there. From here all I could see were waves of my heavy cavalry men clad in their black plate armour pierce into the unsuspecting enemy. By going in waves we reduced casualties on our side, allowing our shock value to wipe out all forces who we encountered. It would be gruelling to turn this into a melee with swords, and many more of my men would lose their lives. However, the greatest issue would be the rest of the enemy forces on the other side of the river being able to act. With the commotion caused the enemy had by now realised we had committed to an assault. They would soon scramble reinforcements out against us. However, they could do what I believed would be the most logical move: to attack the fort while the majority of the enemy forces were outside. This would mean our forces would quickly lose the fort, making my battle meaningless. All this meant to me was that I must finish this battle with haste and quickly turn my back onto the enemy behind me.
I would have to wait for them to begin their assault however, as that would have them unprepared for a surprise cavalry assault straight out of the main gate. Their troops would be trapped in between the drawbridge connecting the fort (as well as the land nearby it) and the enemy border. The area was quite tight, so they would be massacred by even a small force of my knights quickly. Furthermore, it would leave an opening for my cavalry to charge through into the enemy camp and wipe them out.
I had groups of twenty five men in each wedge so that we could fit into the camp easily. Multiple could be in the camp at once, making our effective strength much higher than a single wedge. We entered from every entrance in the camp to make sure no enemy forces were able to group up anywhere.
Once all my wedges had gone through the enemy camp at least once, the next round would begin. I took one hundred and fifty men and charged in, killing even more of the enemy. As we entered the camp, we threw torches everywhere to set the camp ablaze. These torches were stolen from the enemy as we charged through. Although they were to be blown out, the task was forgotten about when our attack began. It was a stroke of luck I wished to have, and my timing had worked out. The enemy was scrambling to leave the camp. This is when the rest of my cavalry force jumped in to surround the survivors and begin ruthlessly killing them. As the fire raged, the enemy screaming grew and shouts of retreat rang out from their camp. This would certainly discourage the Yamenian forces and make their route much easier to achieve.
I took my one hundred and fifty cavalry and ran to the gates, running through them and organising my force into the same formation as before, however, my flanks had one rank of wedges each on them to wipe out the enemy who were scrambling to climb the wall. My forces in the centre would follow me into the enemy camp and destroy them. This would be a tough battle, however, it must be done. A defeat to us meant our families would die. Hence, we would meet death before letting our kin suffer at the hands of the southern armies.
After yelling the same war cry I had to begin this battle and having my bloody standard raised once more, my cavalry sallied forth out of the gate which had been opened for us. The knights on my flanks quickly smashed into the sieging forces, capturing them completely by surprise. The forces who saw the gate opening and stood in the centre to charge against shattered from our wall of one hundred lances. They immediately cracked, and my forces began to move into the enemy camp, using the same wave technique we had used previously. However, this was still a tougher fight. I threw my lance into an enemies chest and began to use my sword to fight as the fighting began to swamp us. This foe had time to set up their pieces on the chess board in some manner, so we had become locked into a melee. However, some relief came when my cavalry that had been on my flanks before this came to help us, having quickly wiped out the enemy which tried to approach the walls. This caused my troops to begin moving forward once more. The archers on the walls of the fort began to give my force cover fire, although it was not much and only prevented my force from losing the nearest escape route into the fort. After all, the enemy was set up far enough away from the fort to keep most archer fire ineffective.
I was in a melee near the centre of the camp, fighting the enemy commander. The republican forces wore light armour for the most part as they relied on levies much more than standing armies. However, their high command did wear steel plate armour similar to my men’s, although it was much less intricate and not made to strike fear into the hearts of the enemy. The commander was a fierce opponent. I slashed at him with all my might, trying to injure him. He simply stayed on the defensive, only taking shots against me when I left my guard open on purpose to lure him out. I fought out of pure desperation and rage, while he fought with composure. I was young and he was in his prime years. The skill he wielded was not outdone by his body's strength in any way.
The real break in the deadlock came when my force of remaining knights came thundering back from their side of the battle, having won a stunning victory. It was only now that the enemy commander began to panic slightly. That was when I landed my strike and removed his head. As my cavalry force arrived in full, the enemy began to retreat, my soldiers pursuing with jeers of excitement. Although no torches were left to burn this camp, it didn't matter. The enemy was already retreating, there was no need to take such drastic action.
After hours of fighting stretching out till noon, my banner stood high inside and outside the fort. Our victory was great. The battle of Kazlan would go down in history as a great Imperial victory against the odds. As word began to spread of the battle, it shocked the world that the empire still had such strength within its ranks. The southern powers were especially worried, although they knew they had time to prepare due to the set of winter beginning. In the spring they would once more set against the empire and wipe them out.
The battle of Kalzan resulted in four thousand three hundred and fifty seven casualties for the southern republics, while the empire took only one hundred and twenty four. It was a stunning victory which gave the Imperial army hope, even if faint, that the tides would turn.
