Chapter 14: Time for revenge
It had become Anno Domini 1413, the King had retreated from the war with Hungary. He had internal problems to deal with.
(OOC: I didn’t want my allies to kill the Hussite rebels.)
Ludvik and Vilém couldn’t have chosen a worst moment to start a rebellion, it was winter and we suffered losses from cold and hunger. I didn’t only have to worry about men, I was the leader of the only rebel army with horses. It were only a thousand against the thousands of horses of the King, but it was something.
Later it crossed my mind that Ludvik and Vilém couldn’t have chosen a better moment for our rebellion. Sure, we were affected by the cold while we sieged the castles of the Catholic nobles. Sure we suffered, but so were the armies of the King. They had to come back from Hungary first though, and had to travel across the mountains. When they came back to Bohemia the King’s soldiers had no motivation, no morale, left to fight their own kin in the winter.
Vilém had the first success with his siege, at the end of January he had breached the walls of the castle at Hradecko. He would make sure that our brethren at home would be safe. He did not yet want to try a full assault on the castle, as any wound would lead to certain death within a week due to the cold. No, he waited, got on the nerves of the soldiers inside the castle. We couldn’t be so patient, the winter was more harsh in Wroclaw and we had to ration our food supplies. We could restock later in the year, but we couldn’t wait too long, for the King’s armies would come to us when the weather was better.
It had become March, the weather had become better, but there were no successes with our sieges. The men in the castles had lasted the winter, we wondered how long their supplies would last. It would be a lot shorter than ours, as we got at least some fresh supplies every now and then.
On the 5th of March the castle gates of Wroclaw opened and the soldiers poured out. They went straight for our food supplies, their intentions and needs were clear. I grabbed my hammer and went straight to where the fight was. They showed no quarter against their own countrymen, who off course they saw as filthy heretics. They were vastly outnumbered, but still they tried to savagely kill as much of us as they could. They were trained soldiers, while most of us were just armed peasants.
When I arrived at the scene of the battle I recognized the captain, a bald man with a black moustache. So this is where he had fled too. They had come on foot, so I towered over the captain, he was a man of average length and I was half a foot taller. Not only did I have my length in my favour, as a smith I also had my bulk, my muscles which I used every day to left my hammer and smash upon whichever I was working on at the moment. At this moment I was working on that captain, that savage man that had ordered the death of Markéta, and Darina.
As he stood before me he recognized me too, ”Ah, it’s you, the man of that woman leader of the whole bun..”
Before he could end his sentence I had put all my anger, all my revenge into the arm that held my hammer. I swung my arm and split his helmet in two, my hammer ripped through his skull and took the top part of his head off. I raged, I shouted my longs out and let out a roar of which I didn’t think myself possible. All the men around me tried to get away from me, afraid to be close to the men that seemed to come straight out of hell itself. The Catholic soldiers saw their captain falling to the ground, his head smashed to pieces by something they believed was not entirely human. They fled back into their castle, they wanted to show us no quarter, but were shown no mercy on themselves instead. Without their leader their morale and discipline broke.
We tried to follow them into the castle, but they closed the gate before we could get inside. We assaulted the castle, while they were still low on morale and discipline. Although we tried, we couldn’t breach the castle, we couldn’t get inside. They were still trained soldiers, who were afraid for the Man with the Hammer outside their walls.
Two weeks later we heard the news that the walls of Morava were breached. We were now the only Hussite army that hadn’t breached the walls of the castle they sieged. Our men were still recovering, but some didn’t heal of their wounds and succumbed to the cold and the lack of food. We had to win this siege, for if it would take too long and the King would convince his troops to fight us, there would be no Hussites left to spread the true word of God.
(OOC: I didn’t want my allies to kill the Hussite rebels.)
Ludvik and Vilém couldn’t have chosen a worst moment to start a rebellion, it was winter and we suffered losses from cold and hunger. I didn’t only have to worry about men, I was the leader of the only rebel army with horses. It were only a thousand against the thousands of horses of the King, but it was something.
Later it crossed my mind that Ludvik and Vilém couldn’t have chosen a better moment for our rebellion. Sure, we were affected by the cold while we sieged the castles of the Catholic nobles. Sure we suffered, but so were the armies of the King. They had to come back from Hungary first though, and had to travel across the mountains. When they came back to Bohemia the King’s soldiers had no motivation, no morale, left to fight their own kin in the winter.
Vilém had the first success with his siege, at the end of January he had breached the walls of the castle at Hradecko. He would make sure that our brethren at home would be safe. He did not yet want to try a full assault on the castle, as any wound would lead to certain death within a week due to the cold. No, he waited, got on the nerves of the soldiers inside the castle. We couldn’t be so patient, the winter was more harsh in Wroclaw and we had to ration our food supplies. We could restock later in the year, but we couldn’t wait too long, for the King’s armies would come to us when the weather was better.
It had become March, the weather had become better, but there were no successes with our sieges. The men in the castles had lasted the winter, we wondered how long their supplies would last. It would be a lot shorter than ours, as we got at least some fresh supplies every now and then.
On the 5th of March the castle gates of Wroclaw opened and the soldiers poured out. They went straight for our food supplies, their intentions and needs were clear. I grabbed my hammer and went straight to where the fight was. They showed no quarter against their own countrymen, who off course they saw as filthy heretics. They were vastly outnumbered, but still they tried to savagely kill as much of us as they could. They were trained soldiers, while most of us were just armed peasants.
When I arrived at the scene of the battle I recognized the captain, a bald man with a black moustache. So this is where he had fled too. They had come on foot, so I towered over the captain, he was a man of average length and I was half a foot taller. Not only did I have my length in my favour, as a smith I also had my bulk, my muscles which I used every day to left my hammer and smash upon whichever I was working on at the moment. At this moment I was working on that captain, that savage man that had ordered the death of Markéta, and Darina.
As he stood before me he recognized me too, ”Ah, it’s you, the man of that woman leader of the whole bun..”
Before he could end his sentence I had put all my anger, all my revenge into the arm that held my hammer. I swung my arm and split his helmet in two, my hammer ripped through his skull and took the top part of his head off. I raged, I shouted my longs out and let out a roar of which I didn’t think myself possible. All the men around me tried to get away from me, afraid to be close to the men that seemed to come straight out of hell itself. The Catholic soldiers saw their captain falling to the ground, his head smashed to pieces by something they believed was not entirely human. They fled back into their castle, they wanted to show us no quarter, but were shown no mercy on themselves instead. Without their leader their morale and discipline broke.
We tried to follow them into the castle, but they closed the gate before we could get inside. We assaulted the castle, while they were still low on morale and discipline. Although we tried, we couldn’t breach the castle, we couldn’t get inside. They were still trained soldiers, who were afraid for the Man with the Hammer outside their walls.
Two weeks later we heard the news that the walls of Morava were breached. We were now the only Hussite army that hadn’t breached the walls of the castle they sieged. Our men were still recovering, but some didn’t heal of their wounds and succumbed to the cold and the lack of food. We had to win this siege, for if it would take too long and the King would convince his troops to fight us, there would be no Hussites left to spread the true word of God.
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