10. Baron Lord of a city.
A Baron was in the Mikelian feudal hierarchy a village lord, hereditary and usually subservient to some Duke, for Morganius to be a Baron of a city was comical to all involved, for in reality he had the power of a Duke, but did not have the title to match it. He looted 30,000 silver coins from the defeated army. Shooting ice bolts Morganius promptly was let back into the city he had only just recently captured, the rebels were not in a mood to fight and surrendered with only a few people being casualties. Morganius had lost 800 people, mostly to arrows and the various charges, but he quickly found 1000 willing mercenaries who were equipped with crossbows, he gave another 10,000 silver coins to his soldiers, and another 15,000 to the people of the city. The people grumbled, but they did not outright hiss at their new governor.
“Shouldn’t you offer some silver to the Emperor? You cleaned your budget completely.”
“I have 3000 troops, it’s not for nothing,” Morganius said, “but yes, I need to keep campaigning.”
“You gave your city 15,000 coins,” Zaras whispered.
“A wonderful demonstration of the Gods’ generosity!” Myrddin boomed.
3000 troops were immediately deployed out of the city, but even with the bribes the city was disloyal. Morganius moved out from the city of Demetra and immediately ambushed a small outpost. 100 soldiers were annihilated with ice shard showers and they looted the small outpost.
“Every Turanian fort is a silver mine!” Morganius said, “I am only a Baron officially, but I will wield what little authority I have to enact revenge on the Turanians! I am not finished! For the Ice Goddess!”
A dream of the Ice Goddess in the night turning toward Morganius had prompted him to be more proselytising, only a few people were known converts. Myrddin was enthralled and perhaps some of his mercenaries after seeing his powers, but otherwise the number of converts were small. Nonetheless he persisted. He marched his small force to take another fort, looting 1000 coins from an otherwise empty structure. This puzzled his men, but he was cautious, for it seemed to be some sort of ruse.
“Be extremely cautious now!” Myrddin warned, “they could be hiding nearby.”
“I don’t think they are,” Zaras said, uncharacteristically, “it’s just a gut feeling.
They turned westward to a sea of Turanian territory bordering Bitenia. Three Counts and Seven Barons came to destroy Morganius appearing out of nowhere. 14,000 infantry armed with spears were now readying themselves to destroy this new pagan lord.
“Death to the infidels!” They shouted.
Some of the mercenaries were Kena, albeit loyal to coin, but they were a bit queasy about the whole fight. Morganius opened up a salvo against the low ranking Turanian lords. The 14,000 were assisted by a 5000 royal detachment commanded by an appointed general. 19,000 troops charged Morganius’s position on a random slope. He dug in, his mercenaries putting stakes into the ground, and Morganius immediately bombarding the horsemen who charged him. Never had they seen such a thing, and the melee cavalry were slaughtered as they came.
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“Fire! Fire! Fire!” Zaras screamed.
The cavalry were hit through the chest and the crossbow bolts hit so many horsemen that the charge petered out into a small huddle, horsemen charged into other horses. Ice bolts began knocking out the remainder, as the crossbowmen cheered their lack of losses. The royal horse continent was annihilated completely, the remainder being shot out of their saddles, to the absolute horror of the infantry.
“Turan will perish wherever they face us!” Myrddin said triumphantly.
The crossbowmen cheered, but Morganius went to task on the spear infantry, showering them with enough ice bolts to whittle down the forward units. The other contingents attempted to hurry up, but the crossbowmen already begun shooting down at them, despite their numbers they were being annihilated in quick speed, Morganius turning to a different position to whittle down another load of spearmen. Morganius went wide and then deep with his ice bolts, the ice skidding hitting the forward lines and ultimately allowing another salvo of crossbow fire to utterly annihilate the spearmen in front of him. Again he kept up his shooting of ice, and again his crossbowmen fired, before the left over spearmen scattered and ran. He chased after them too, his men getting swords out, but even just with his ice magic he took out another 2000 men, leaving 2000 to scatter and tell the tale of how an army was annihilated. The Turanian lords were all killed, some of their retainers fled the scene telling the tale, but all the silver and supplies were immediately taken by Morganius who used it as alway to reinforce his small mercenary army. The 1000 silver coins of before were divvied to his men, and a further 15,000 silver coins were looted, with 5000 horses being sold in the local towns, earning 25,000 silver. Morganius had to hire mercenaries as guards, but he was keenly aware that he was in enemy territory and that his authority was entirely reliant on plundered silver and mercenary guards. He gave his troops 6000 silver coins, hiring 200 mercenary guards. Three local towns were taken with no fighting, their lords having died fighting Morganius. He spent his silver on mercenaries to garrison Demetras, sending some of his bullion back on donkeys and mules, as he went westward to territories that belonged to the Turanians.
After approximately three days they encountered a small castle belonging to a Turanian lord who had stayed put, he was pelted with ice for a day and night, and his castle was stormed in the evening, stunned by the sheer might of magic. Ice destroying the garrisons ability to defend the castle effectively. Myrddin stormed the castle, and by the time the moonlight shone through, the lord and most of his men were dead, the rest ransomed on the spot by leaving their belongings. The crossbowmen stormed the fortress and put the flag of Mikel, an increasingly more common sight. Morganius, Zaras and Myrddin opened the letters of the lord, and intelligence Morganius had no idea about came into view.
“They’re saying here that the city of Lotus fell yesterday,” Zaras whispered breathlessly, “this is really really bad.”
“Perhaps you can save him, the Duke of Lotus.”
“Duke Archibald?”
“Sure,” Myrddin said, “you reinstate him as lord, I am sure he’ll listen to you a bit more, wouldn’t anyone?”
Morganius looked at his friend like he was crazy but then nodded, slightly.
“No, you are right, he can be converted into an ally.”
They did not know it yet, but Bulganum had taken much of the western territories, installing a puppet emperor known as Sergios the 3rd. In exchange for the cities of Pharopolis, Thracium, Scupus and Achenum, the new emperor was crowned and received 20,000 troops. The lord of Bitenia and Phesus agreed, but Morganius not being an official duke was not even consulted. He would irrevocably change the fate of Mikel and of himself.
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