Der Krieghund
(Three months later)
Siegfried knelt before his statue of the Madonna and prayed. "Mother of God, full of grace, forgive me my sins. I have trafficked with witches, and shortly I must lie to my most trusted knight. The evil I do, I do out of necessity. If you find me worthy, redeem me from hell, so that I may atone. If my soul is condemned, let it be the price of my peoples' lives."
He stood up and crossed himself. "You may come in now." he said.
"Good evening Grandmaster." Cyresse said as he entered.
"Good evening, have a seat." the Grandmaster gestured at a chair. "We must discuss our order of battle."
"Battle sir?" Cyresse inquired, as he seated himself at the table.
"Yes. Battle." Siegfried cleared his throat, and with a last silent prayer for absolution, he began.
"Cyresse, it is no secret that I have nominated you to succeed me. You have proven yourself worthy in battle, and capable in the administration of your estates. So, you are to be Grandmaster when I die. Therefore, I will take you into my confidence. For some months preceding the Teutonic Order's foolhardy attack on Poland, my spies in Konigsberg had reported rumours of heresy within the Teutonic Order. It is supposedly the same heresy which damned the Knights of the Templar, the teaching of the Rosy Cross. After further investigation, and plenty of gold, it was confirmed for me that the Rosicrucian heresy was present in their Order, and that their Grandmaster was possibly involved. So, I waited and prayed, for my agents could reveal no further information, hence I asked that God send me a sign. Their war with Poland is such a sign, I am sure of this. I also knew that if God favoured them, then they would surely triumph in battle. How fare they now?"
"Sir, at last report Danzig and Konigsberg are besieged, and the crops burn in the fields. Only the province of Memnel is free of enemy presence."
"God confirms the worst. The Teutonic Order have fallen from His sight, and their heresy corrupts their souls.
Cyresse, you must swear to me that you when you are Grandmaster, you will not cease to wage war on our fallen brothers, until all their lands are under our control. Only then can we excise the the evil and save our kindred. Swear it!" Siegfried exhorted.
"I swear by the blood of the Christ." Cyresse said earnestly.
Siegfried was convinced that he would burn for what he'd just spoken. But, it didn't matter, he needed to ensure the safety of his Order.
"You must swear your successor to the same oath when you are Grandmaster. Will you?" Siegfried asked.
"I will."
"Good. Now, our order of battle. As I said, the Teutons are corrupted, and we must cleanse them. So, in two months time, we declare war. Go then, and ready St Mary's Corp for a long campaign. Raise seven thousand infantry, as the sieges will not be worth wasting good brethren on."
"Respectfully sir, what of our enemies? Will they not attack us when we have committed our knights?"
"I have entered into an alliance with several of our enemies. While I consider it abhorrent to do so, it is necessary, and it only cost a hundred ducats to convince them that we weren't such bad people. The Muscovites cannot be bought so easily, which I admire them for, but our new alliance should aid us, as Muscowy has no love for our new friends either, and hopefully they are richer pickings."