Bård took another bite of bread and chewed it slowly. What he was doing could only be described as crazy. Counting no more than 24 years, having just recently grown a beard, he was about to do something no one before him and no one after him would attempt. He and his whole army, 30 000 men, were sailing through the Mediterranean with one "simple" goal on their minds. Sack, pillage and burn the Queen of cities. Constantinople, a city that never fell to foreign armies, capital of the Roman empire. And he wanted to conquer it. Even he admited that was crazy. But that didn't change the fact that he would enrich England and himself immensely... If he succeded.
He stood up grimaced. The heat was a immense nuisance. He spat on the deck of the ship and walked over to Sægrim, his friend and the commander of the english fleet. Sægrim was one of the slowly diminishing anglo-danish nobility. Damned half normans were taking away their realm.
"How long?" Bårds annoyance grew even bigger as some damn mosquitos were trying to leech of him.
"Till we arive?" Sægrim wasn't as big as Bård, neither in posture and pride, but that didn't mean that he looked less menacing and stroke less fear into hearts of mainland europeans. His face was decorated with more scars that one could count, and on his chest a great sea serpent was tattooed. In this weather that made everyone angry, he wore nothing over his back, with only legwear out of skinned leather and fur boots on his legs. "If the winds favor us, a few days from now."
Bård thanked Christ that at least there were no other nuisances than the weather in this expedition. "Good. I can't wait to get out from under this damned sun." He moved back towards his throne. Maybe the bugs would leave him so that he could sleep for at least a few hours.
The sight before him was amazing. They arrived at night, and the lights of the city could be seen from a great distance. But it was now that they were close enough to see the dome of Hagia Sophia that they could see the splendor of the city. Palaces were scattered about, the smallest churches as big as the cathedral of John the Baptist back in London. The shine that came from the city made one think if the streets werent paved in gold. Bård smiled. Soon those riches would be in London.
The route of english armies
On the way to the city they took a few islands and then marched on land itself. The riches they took from the minor counts were big, but the sight of the city made them realise that those were just counts, and this was the capital. The city of the emperors. The Queen of cities.
Bård smiled. It was even easier than he imagined. His contacts told him that the imperial armies were in the east fighting the Turk. They didn't tell him
all imperial armies were there. He took about 3 counties on his way to Constantinople, all of them were defended by nothing more than mercenaries and small guard regiments. Now that he was on the borders of the city, suprise wasn't on his side anymore. And yet, the only thing that met him was about 15 000 soldiers. Half of them not even being real soldiers. Peasant levies, mercenaries and criminals forced in the army. The only real challenge was the 5 000 elite guards of Constantinople. And even they failed.
He took a bite of the apple he was holding and looked at the massacre before him. Blood was everywhere, as were mutilated bodies. He cut down many of those people himself. Man after man fell down under his sword. Another bite. He saw fear in their eyes. And he cut them down without mercy, Hell!, he smiled while doing so. His wicked smile, his blood covered beard. The ones that survived would spread the tales. No doubt he would become the Barbarian or some other fancy title. As long as he got the respect he deserved, he didn't care about anything. He took another bite and threw the apple away. He still had a siege to win.... And a city to rob. One last wicked smile covered his face as he turned around and walked towards his camp.
The apple landed on one of the bodies scaring a raven away. The raven flew high with a screech. It had to tell it's brothers. They would feast tonight.