Chapter 5: King's Play: Part V

V

The professor stopped, read everything again, after that he decided to continue to write. Maybe, it's time to change the wrongs he made in the first edition.

My background as a historian the Irith University is truly shown here, I think. I always liked sieges; ever since I was a small boy, I would always sit and listen to stories that the retired soldiers told. Recently, I started writing my book the Great Sieges. While I was gathering material for my book, I found out that I didn't anything about the Revendir battle, or as someone likes to call the Battle of Revendir. I only knew that the battle was fought sometime in the early years of the Gurtal Age; that was all I knew. In the royal court things have changed, I became the royal historian. My first thing on this new position was to find something about this battle. At that time I never knew that King Arthar gave reinforcement to the Wolf clan. I was so pleased. I showed my finding to the King, he in return founded my book. Later, I found out that the battle of Revendir was only one in a series of large battles between two clans. What could I do? I needed to change the mistake I made. So, I decided to go for a second edition of my book.

He stopped for a moment; he always had the feeling that the notes are large and that he should reedit them. The part, he always didn't like. He turned to the paper.  

While searching the Revendir battle, I found two more battles. I decided to add them to this edition.

1. Battle of Revendir-the first in the series of great battles between two clans, over a single piece of land or as the others say between the borders. History has long forgotten what the starting point for the battles was. Helmult, lord of house Cardin, died in the battle. His son Dehnard became lord Cardin. There are several accounts of the battle; the only thing that they all agree on is that a much smaller army defeated a large one. Some say that the scale was five-to-one while others say that the scale was ten-to-one. After this devastating defeat, the lands of the Wolf clan became vassals to the Damman clan.

The second battle started with the rebellion of the Wolf clan.

2. Battle of Sarhaema- was fought between Bathaar I of the Wolf clanand Certin I of the Damman clan(later known as Certin Hirt).The small Wolf army led by Bathaar, formed of cavalry and foot archers, as well as local peasants, managed to ambush and defeat the 30,000-strong Damman army, in a mountainous region near the border between Olthian and Siergata.

The battle resulted in a major Wolf victory and disaster for Certin Hirt, becoming a turning point in the politics of the Damman clan, which had to abandon its hopes of extending the kingdom to the Fergian Sea. For the Wolf clan, the victory meant an increase in morale and the further evolution of the independent state.

The victory represented the survival of the Wolf clan, as well as the beginning of a period of tense relations between Bathaar and the Damman clan, which lasted until 44, when Bathaar sent his son Aloreth in order to re-establish a relationship between the two clans.

Because of its large financial power, the Damman clan quickly rebuilt its army and found itself in conflict with the Reiadan Empire in 37.

However, the Damman king maintained a de jure

suzerainty over the Wolf clan until the diplomatic disputes had been resolved.

The third one, I think, is my favorite one.

3. Battle of Midărtăn or Battle of Mirtisanó- took place on September 18, 50 near Mirtianó (Gelic: Midărtăn), the northern parts of Nevrast, between the Wolf troops led by Mirzan the Brave supported by ethnic Damman Seekers and the troops of Reiadan general Vergio Bista supported by the Dammanian nobility of Nevrast.

In 49, Mirzan took control of Nevrast after the Battle of Şhrimnă. In autumn 49, Mirzan was elected prince of Nevrast by the Estates of the country. Although the Emperor Jargend II wanted Mirzan and his general Bista to govern Nevrast together, Mirzan, the de facto ruler, despised Bista from their initial meetings. Therefore, at a certain point in 50, Mirzan became disgraced at the Hasberian emperor.

In 50, Dammanian noblemen from Nevrast rebelled against Mirzan and gathered an army near Gyrthérvár (southern part of Nevrast). The troops of Bista joined the Dammanian noblemen rebelling against Mirzan. The ethnic Dammanian Seekers, however, kept supporting Mirzan as he had confirmed the Seekers privileges disputed by the Dammanian nobility.

Bista marched against the Wolf army which Mirzan had gathered in the small village of Mirtianó, a few kilometers north of the river Mureth. The Wolf army numbered approximately 22,000, consisting mainly of mercenaries of different nationalities, including Dammanian Seekers, Corrasaack, and Erithians. 

Barba Nortac led the cavalry at the center of the army. Bista's army of 30,000 consisted of troops of the Dammanian nobility, Reiadan and Saxeren troops, mostly mercenaries.

Mirzan's forces began the battle with a well-positioned cannonade from a hillside, while his main troops were protected in the town by 2,000 Seekers gunmen. In this first stage, many Dammanian noblemen were killed by cannonballs, and the battle appeared to be setting itself as an easy victory for Mirzan. The cannons continue to fire; the battle lasted for two more hours. The Principality of Nevrast and the Wolf clan were finally freed from the suzerain power of the Dammanian clan.

Now, I am going to talk about my favorite subject, sieges. Throughout history, there were a lot of sieges, and there will be even more. In this segment I only choose one, because, to me, it was the most interesting.

 There have been at least eight sieges of Starling Castle, a strategically important fortification in Starling, Scetlar. Starling is located at the crossing of the River Hertia, making it a key location for access to the north of Scetlar and once was a home wizards, witches, warlocks, etc.

The castle changed hands several times between Kertian's and Scetlar's control during the Wars of Scetlar's Independence (96–137). In 99, the castle was in Kertian's hands, when the constable, Jortin Salpter, was besieged by the Scetlars. In 104, Egwaren I of Kertian besieged the Scetlars, deploying siege engines to force the garrison to surrender. In 137, a siege by Sir Andred Murtain failed to retake the castle. Between 151 and 155, the castle was besieged three times by Scetlars factions during the reign of Xert VI. In 161, Jirtin Lentar captured the castle during his invasion of Scetlar. The final siege took place in 176, when Verian Kirt Yert besieged the castle during the final Zertubian rising.

He stopped. In his head he heard the words of his publisher. He continued to write.

I'll add this part here. The shortened version of the siege of 104.

After the defeat of Yargand Vertin's Scetlar army at the Battle of Fardala in 98, it took Egwaren I six years to gain full control of Scetlar. The last stronghold of resistance to Kertian's rule was Starling Castle. Armed with twelve siege engines, the Kertians laid siege to the castle in April 104. For four months the castle was bombarded by lead balls (stripped from nearby temple roofs), Ghaetilian fire, stone balls, and even some sort of gunpowder mixture. Egwaren I had sulphur and saltpetre, components of gunpowder, brought to the siege from Kertian.

Impatient with the lack of progress, Egwaren ordered his chief engineer, Master Jirgen of St.Misterin, to begin work on a new, more massive engine called Warwolf (a trebuchet). The castle's garrison of 30, led by Yargand Orgen, eventually were allowed to surrender on 24 July after Egwaren had previously refused to accept surrender until the Warwolf had been tested.

Despite previous threats, Egwaren spared all the Scetlars in the garrison and executed only one Kertianman who had previously given over the castle to the Scetlars. Sir Yargand Orgen was imprisoned in the Tower of Lisbenn.

I better add a age chart, to explain things.

AGES:

THE BEGINNINGS:

1. THE AGE OF GATHERING 24500 years
2. THE AGE OF STEEL 3125
3. THE AGE OF JOURNEY 2795
4. THE SETTLEMENT AGE 3540
5. THE DISCOVERY AGE 1200

BEFORE WRITTEN HISTORY:

1. THE THARIL AGE 2000
2. THE EAGLE AGE 1500
3. THE ASTAEK AGE 750
4. THE GURTAL AGE 3000

AFTER THE WRITING WAS DISCOVERED:

1. ERTAIL AGE 7521
2. THE FIRST ERA 4800
3. THE SECOND ERA 3566
4. THE THIRD ERA 4200
5. THE FORTH ERA 1230

I only need one more battle and the King's biography, and I'm done.

The Battle of Piornce took place on 27 September 231 between the Kingdom of Eritnia and the Knightly Order of the Teurton Star (also known as the Knightly Order ).

The Knightly Order attempted to take Fast Kuzdin after standing all day in the sun. The Reiadan army from the Knightly Order had 7,000 men, and was opposed by a Erithian army of 5,000 men. On 27 September 231, one-third of the Knightly Order's force of knights under Dietrich von Altenburg left the blockaded peasant town of Piornce. The Erithians, under Wladislaw Nergi (Wladislaw I the Elbow-high) and his son Casdian, immediately attacked in a frontal assault. They were immediately joined by Erithian detachments hiding in a forest to the left of the town. Reportedly, during the first phase of the battle Prince Casdian was ordered to depart so as not to deprive the Erithian Kingdom of the presumptive heir. Despite this, in three hours the Teurton knights had been defeated and their leader captured. The Erithian forces were victorious in this phase of the battle, took prisoner 56 knights, and freed many Erithian captives.

However, upon hearing the sounds of battle from Piornce, rear elements of the Reiadan formations rushed to aid their fellow knights, and soon another third of the Knightly Order's forces arrived. The long and bloody battle resumed and continued until dark, with high casualties on both sides. Erithia scored a clear victory, with Reuss von Plauen, commander of the Reiadan army, and another 40 knights taken prisoner by the Erithians. After fleeing Piornce, the knights withdrew to Thoruń (Thorn).

Despite the Erithian victory on the field, the battle is traditionally regarded as inconclusive given that the Knightly Order was not destroyed . Nevertheless, it was an important battle for Erithia, which was just regaining its stature as a country on the international scene, and held its own against a powerful military force.

An estimated over 4,000 men (combined) were said to have fallen on the field of the battle. Of these, 73 were Knight Brothers of the Knightly Order (the highest-ranking members of the Order). Over one half of the dead were Reiadans, who had to retreat back to Thoruń, their death toll climbing to one third of all their knights taking part in the war. The Erithian armies, also suffering heavy casualties, did not follow the retreating Reiadans.

The Battle of Piornce is commemorated on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Sergia, with the inscription "

Piornce 27 IX 331".