Chapter 55- And so they came, and so they came
No matter how many of them they killed, the bloody fools keep on coming without a stop. It's been more than a week since the first group of unsullied attacked them and yet, there was no day without at least three or four assaults against their wooden palisade. And yet, every single time, they repel the attackers, killing almost all of them.
Maybe because hadn't been a slave before or maybe it was something else, but no matter how hard he tried to think about it, Gerland couldn't for the love of God understand why would these slave soldiers throw their lives away in such a way.
"When was the last time you rested, brother?"
Gerland was broken from his thoughts by the familiar voice of his brother, Vergo, who approached him looking worriedly at him.
"Vergo… There would be enough time to rest when we will finally be free from this unholy siege. Too many a man died already. I can't afford to lose any more of them because I was asleep."
Ser Vergo let out a sigh before placing a hand on Gerald's shoulder.
"Brother, this is the nature of war. People will die, but it's our job to make sure we kill more enemies than they kill our brothers. So far you have done a spectacular job on keeping our casualties low and while we had lost fifteen people to arrows, that doesn't mean you can keep on being awake for long unless you plan on dying in the middle of the battle."
"Aye, maybe I should catch some sleep. Before I retire for the night, did we got any news from Volantis?"
Ser Vergo's face turned grim as he slowly nodded. "That we did brother. Our Grandmaster alongside the order and those free folk sailed out of the city, drawing after them the whole enemy flotilla. While that doesn't help us directly, it would disrupt the enemy supply for now. We must hold for a little longer and everything would be done."
The sky to the east was molten gold pouring around a bank of sun-drenched cloud, while the rest was blue. Pale blue to the east and dark blue to the west where night fled towards Westeros.
To the east Konrad could see the low shore of Volantis. It was green and much of the land had been turned into farmland mostly due to his suggestion something that the whole city was thankful for as not only did it created more jobs but it also secured a relatively safe source of food. The wind was in their favor as it helped their thirty or so ships to quickly slip past the enemy ships. And if that wasn't all, almost all of the ships choose to give chase in open waters rather than continuing blockading the city.
His ship had no name and she carried no beast-heads on her prow or stern, though, both Gendel and Malaquo had strongly suggested for an eagle head to be carved and put on the ship's prow. Even though it was modified to some extent, at base, she was still a trading ship, one of the four bigger ones that Volantis had in its flotilla.
Konrad stood right beside the captain of the ship, a man whom he grew to trust in the past few days, mostly cause the man was one of the few captains worth their pants willing to teach a boy like him how to actually be a good captain.
"You good, m'lord?" The captain asked while looking at the small figure clad in armor beside him.
"Honestly, captain? I'm not sure what to feel about this. God knows, we are fighting men and women that are forced to fight just because they are slaves and following their masters is the only thing they knew for all their lives."
"M'lord, in my experience on dealings with slave soldiers is that unless you want to die, one shouldn't treat them as normal soldiers as long as the command staff, more unsullied at least is in the hand of your enemy. As for the rest… That is something I don't know."
Gendel, who just walked beside the captain, glanced over his shoulder. "What you say Cap'n? Crew of fifty?" He suggested with an almost battle hungry grin plastered on his face.
The captain didn't answer which made Konrad answer in his stead. "Maybe more? The ship that's on our arse is quite bigger than ours."
Hearing his lord, Gendel grinned. "How many more are we talking?"
"Say captain, with a ship this large could be over a hundred?"
"Easily m'lord. However, I have faith in my lads and those armored men of yours." The captain finally spoke nodding his head at the young lord.
On their ship, they numbered fifty-seven, and all but fifteen of them were hidden in the place where the ship would normally have carried goods. While it was clear there would people on such a ship, there wasn't always need for a bigger crew to man it. And judging how "desperate" the crew might look to the enemy, it was clear as day that they thought this ship was trying to run away before the inevitable happens, something that Konrad couldn't be more grateful full.
"But m'lord, it be a rare fight if it's so many a man." The captain said with a sigh, and who could blame him?
"This won't be a long fight at all, because they won't be ready for all of us."
And that was true. The crew that as visible looked like an easy victim, a handful of men on a ship too big for just fifteen men a child to sail, as for the enemy… their ship would come alongside and a dozen or so men would leap aboard while the rest of the crew just watched the slaughter. That, at least, was what Konrad hoped, otherwise his plan would not work so well. Now, while the watching crew would be armed, as any slave soldier should be in a battle, he they would be expecting a difficult battle, not to mention all of Konrad's knights were ready.
"Remember who we are fighting against! Remember that they would not surrender!" Konrad called loudly so the men that were hidden would hear his voice, "We kill them all!"
Gendel crouched beside him. "Don't get me wrong, but why kill them all, my lord?"
"If I were a blood thirsty warlord, I would have said so that they would fear us, but the truth is the only way to make those people stop is to kill their master which I'm sure would be many kilometers away from here."
His answer seemed to have made the Free folk chieftain accept that today would be a slaughter, one that Konrad doubt Gendel would shy away from.
"Get her clumsy now! Let them catch up and get ready men!" Konrad shouted as loud as he could prompting the crew into action.
The men grinned as they deliberately move in such a way that it made them look clumsy that only a simpleton could be worse, not to mention that it made it appeared as though they were trying to escape. Now any captain worth his name, would know that the sensible thing that he should have done, if his ship and crew had been as innocent and vulnerable as they appeared to the enemy, would have been to sail to the shore, abandon the boat and run for their lives, but instead what Konrad did was the exact opposite and so they turned and started rowing against tide and current.
"She's taken the bait!" One of the crewmen shouted as he tied one of the ropes. The enemy was coming straight for them, and for some reason, Konrad couldn't help but feel himself getting excited for the upcoming fight… maybe the endless nights looking over maps, reading books or just practicing without a real challenge had finally made him lose it.
In yet another attempt on making the enemy think they were going to take on an easy "prey", both Konrad and the captain ordered the crew to abandon their post and act like they were in a panic. It was a long shot to risk so much, but if his plan would work, they could significantly damage the enemy fighting force before they would even attempt sieging the city itself.
When they ship was close enough, the captain turned his head and looked at it, making the young lord to follow his example.
Unlike their ship who had big sails, the enemy ship, while just as big if no bigger had in some ways have been modified with many a oar on a side, and when he counted them, Konrad managed to get to forty and since the other side would be the exact same that made eighty men. The boarding party added a dozen, though it was hard to count the men who were crowded so close together, and two men stood beside the ships's wheal.
"We'll be in a for a treat lads!" Gendel called out loud, but Konrad didn't heed him any attention as he tried to see what the enemy were wearing. Chances are that those that were down and at the oars were not in armor like the ones above and if they had some armor, it would definitely not be mail. After all, they would not expect to fight not in such a pointless fight, and most would have their weapons at their feet or if God's good near their hammocks.
Just as he was about to tell Gendel to move to the other side of the ship, Konrad heard the captain's voice.
"Get her to stop! Let those bastards board us!"
Almost as if they heard the captain, the enemy oarsmen (A/N: I do think this is how you call these people) gave a last heave before the inevitable was going to happen. Racing towards us, their ship was quickly closing the distance to the point that it was easy to hear the enemy's taunting them, then the moment Konrad waited happened, the oars were drawn inboard as the enemy shit swooped for the kill.
Konrad quickly turned his head towards the captain, who shook his head making the young lord wait in anticipation and a bit of fear for a few more seconds until he heard the man "Give them hell!"
Despite his age, Konrad grabbed his sword and shield just as the melee started. Gendel, who by now was on the opposite side of the ship grabbed one of the enemy sellswords and slammed the poor man so hard on the ship's edge that it broke the man's back before tossing him in the water. Just in time to duck and cleave another man. The rest of the brothers and free folk immediately swarmed over towards the enemy ship. These were the most loyal men to both Gendel and me, all trained knights or warriors, dressed in the best mail gold can buy and hungry for slaughter in the name of God, as many of them leaped among the poorly armored or unarmored sellswords who were utterly unprepared for this sudden fight. The enemy boarders, the only men looking somewhat better in terms of armor and weapons started to hesitate when they realized that they too were being bordered. The choice was there and they could have turned back and clear the men who were already killing their friends, but instead, whoever their leader was, shouted at them to jump across onto Konrad's ship.
While the slaughter continued, one sellsword, a young one at that, tried to jump and then most likely sneak behind Konrad thinking he was an easy target, only for the young lord to turn around and bash his shield into him before cutting at his legs with the sword, sending the poor sellsword between the ships where, thanks to his armor, he found how the sea floor looked like.
Every where he looked Konrad could only see men hacking and slashing at each other, and thank God that his men were winning at least on their ship. But at this rate those who choose to attack the enemy ship rather than clearing their ship would sooner or later meet their end, unless he did something. Turning his head towards the captain who took the head of a sellsword, Konrad decided to do something crazy.
"Captain! You are in charge of our ship!"
Without waiting for a response, the young lord run towards the edge of their ship and jumped over to the other ship, right in front of a burly men, almost as big as Gendel was. Both his armor and helmet looked too shiny for him to be just a normal sellsword, no if his guess was right, Konrad just jumped in front of one of the leaders if not THE LEADER of this sellsword company. If he didn't knew better the Konrad would have thought the man was a free folk judging by how wild looking he, well, looked. Before Konrad could even raise his sword, the man slashed with his axe at him only for Konrad to duck underneath the man, a perk of still being a barely ten name days old boy. But to his misfortune, the ship lurched and he fell on his arse long enough for the armored man to raise his axe ready to cut the little boy in two with a single and clean slash.
In that fleeting moment, as the ship rocked violently beneath him, Konrad's heart pounded against his chest like a drum of war, its rhythm was erratic and frantic almost to the point of feeling sickening. The cold touch of fear slithered up his spine like a cold stream.
"Why?" he thought, his eyes wide with the realization of his own stupidity. "Why did I leap before looking, why did I rush where angels fear to tread?" The world seemed to slow as the axe arced through the air.
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