Homelands
Chapter Twenty Eight: Glory and Shame
Part 3
Prelude:
In 1281 the Kingdom of Prussia, led by King Kiten, invaded the Roman Empire, led by Emperor Wihtred. Prussia had been cut off from leaving the Black Sea, immobilizing half of their trading fleet. The Roman Empire claimed that it was to better protect Constantinople from Muslim raids, but the true reason was a well-known distrust between the Prussians and Romans. The Prussians marched south with one of the largest armies ever assembled during the Medieval period. Estimates put the size of the Prussian army between 60,000 and 130,000 men. It was a war for revenge, for honor and to decide the master of the Christian world. The Romans, already fighting a war against a long and quickly changing front in the East, were still able to call up large armies of irregulars and mercenaries. Plus few believed that Kiten would actually put Constantinople to the sword; sieging her massive walls and fortresses was thought to be suicide, even if the attackers outnumbered the defenders of the Mother of all Cities twenty to one. Even though it was relatively brief, only two years, it became something personal between Kiten and Wihtred, two men who had never before met. Farther west the Caliph watched in interest, waiting to see who would win. He is said to have remarked to his advisors, "Remind me to never hinder Prussian trade."
June 13th, 1282
The cannon Uzváru let forth a powerful shock that on the other end was met with the crumbling of stone and mortar. Kiten watched from horseback outside his tent as some 100,000 sons of Prussia surrounded the Mother of all Cities. In the distance a few other cannons fired, but it would have seemed futile to a lesser man. Kiten knew that inside that city was the Emperor Wihtred. The city didn't seem to notice the siege, the water front kept her fed, the walls held back the cannon. In the middle of the city rose the Hagia Sofia, the great church of the Emperor Justinian. A messenger rode up to the commanders' pavilion, a group of tents that housed the King, the marshal, and the lead commanders as well as their support staff. Kiten turned to face him, but saw he bore no military insignia, rather it was that of the Kiev Palace.
"What is it, messenger?" Kiten asked hastily. He beckoned the rider close so he could get the letter and be done with it.
"I bear a letter from her majesty Queen Marie," he handed the sealed letter to Kiten who snatched it out of his hand quickly and obviously annoyed. "I believe she sends her husband tidings on the long campaign." Kiten raised an eyebrow and handed the man a coin.
"Wonderful, her letters keep me inspired," he lied. The messenger left and Kiten handed the letter, still unopened, to his assistant, who placed it in a pile with others like it. He turned his attention back to the city before him. From the ramparts flew several red and gold banners that had not been there before. It was the Emperor himself, inspecting his troops. Kiten knew he'd soon flee on one of his boats to safety in Athens or Crete.
Emperor Wihtred inspects the walls under siege.
"Sir?" the marshal called, "my lord a sizable hole has been opened in the walls. Shall we proceed with phase two?" The King followed the marshal's pointing finger to a cleared region in wall. Yes, that would work, the King thought. He smiled and nodded to the marshal, who then picked up Kiten's smile and turned to the generals, "Let us begin our deadly work, gentlemen!"
"Shall we suit you up, my lord?" Kiten's knaves asked.
"Yes, get my strongest armor, boys." Kiten stepped down from his horse to be suited up. All around the horns of war were blasting and the largest army currently standing in Europe began to stir in front of its intended target.
With Kiten leading indirectly from the middle, the Prussian forces marched toward the city, still under cannon fire, with their ladders in hand. The white and gold banners of the great Northern Kingdom waved in the wind. The proud eagle carried in its claws a cross. God was with Prussia, the flags claimed, and in due time the world would see who was truly the greatest. Never before had such an army marched against Constantinople, and never before had the Second Rome fallen.
Hours later Kiten stood on the second set of walls, the first set having fallen to the Prussians. All around him the war waged. Men hacked and slashed at one another, but the Prussians had brought soldiers and the Romans had only farmers and old men. However, the marshal and Kiten knew that the Emperor would have reserved at least a thousand of his elite Saxon warriors, Varangians, descendents of Saxon nobles and peasants who left Prussia with the Emperors. However he could not see their banners on the ramparts, and that caused him great concern. Slowly he returned to his body, and remember where he was. Quickly turning he was able to dodge a poorly aimed hack. Returning the blow, Kiten sliced the man across the chest and qith a kick pushed him off the walls and down into the rubble of the first wall.
The fighting progressed deeper and deeper. And eventually the second wall fell to the Prussians, a feat never before accomplished. Looking to the great church, Kiten saw his target. Now that he was back on horseback, the Prussian King could see that from within the Hagia Sofia the Varangians sallied forth. "Men of Prussia!" he shouted to his host, mostly made up of Asowians and their commander the Sich, "I have seen our target, our treacherous brethren come here to slay us! But they will get no such thing!" The men cheered and pumped their spears. Behind them they were lit by the burning of shops and homes as the Prussians pillaged and torched what they controlled.
The Varangians were on foot, the Sichmen on horseback. Kiten joined them as they formed a straight line across the road, their spears held out, the tips at chest height. But across from them the Saxon guards were living up to their reputation. Their leader stepped forth and began beating his chest and swearing in Saxon. Eventually he ripped off his tunic and revealed a scarred and battered body, freshly cut from the bizarre and unknown rituals of the Varangians. He beckoned Kiten come join them so that he too might have the chest of a true man.
And taking no more from the Saxons, the Sichmen brought their shields up to protect their bodies and began a slow and silent advance. Every inch they gained, as legend said, would be Prussian until Prussia chose to give it up. When they were no more than fifty feet from the enemy they stopped. They waited to see what the Saxons would do. And for a brief second the world stopped and Kiten took a deep breath. Then, with a powerful roar, the Varangians began their charge. Armed with axes and swords the Saxons charged, and the Sichmen remained still, waiting with a new tactic up their sleeves. When the Saxons were only ten feet in front of them, the Sichmen charged and then jumped their horses, crushing the first line of men and allowing them to attack directly the second line.
It was a powerful move, and one that halted the Varangians' charge. Now, with the momentum, the Sichmen began riding and fighting hard, keeping the Saxons scattered and disorganized. Kiten was not used to fighting from horseback, and so was awkward as he tried to shift his weight around to swing his sword. But there was little risk as soon the Saxons broke rank and began to flee. And the Sichmen followed along with the rest of the Prussian army, which began to fan out into the rest of the city, looting and pillaging.
Then, surrounded by his guard and the Sichmen, Kiten marched past the great palaces, the gardens and everything to the doors of the Hagia Sofia, and swinging open the doors he marched inside and kneeling at the altar gave prayer and thanks for his victory over the Romans. Emperor Wihtred was in the church as well, held captive by the Prussians until Kiten could finish his business.
When he was done, Kiten walked over to Wihtred and spoke softly, "Roman, it did my no great harm to sack the Mother of all Cities, to tear her walls down and burn her stores and houses. From time to time it is necessary for humans to punish those for their hubris instead of waiting for God to do it."
"What are your demands?" Wihtred asked, impatient to end it all.
"One ton of silver, the reopening of the straits to Prussian ships and the Bulgarian coasts. Take it or face the rape of your entire country."
"Fine, have your lousy Bulgarians and your damned silver! This is a pathetic waste of my time."
"Strange words for someone who started all of this. Maybe you should think harder next time when you try to threaten the well-being of another state. We are not the pathetic children you like to pretend we are." And with that Kiten left the church with his victory over the Romans. Years of dreaming had come to a satisfying end, made all the better when he stepped out of the church and saw most of the city ablaze, her walls punctured and pock-marked, the people in panic and the hands of Prussians full of gold and silver. He would return through Bulgaria to install new leaders and to begin the building of roads. The future rulers would need them if they wanted to walk directly to Constantinople.
Prussia and Rome, the annexed region in light red, the areas that sustained heavy fighting during the war in dark purple.