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POV of Andronikos
Anno Domini, 831-March-25-October-12
As I brought my sword down, I felt it cut through enemy flesh, sending blood spraying into the air as I used the movement of my faithful horse to pull the blade free from where it had almost lodged itself.
While breathing heavily, I looked over the terrain as I felt pressure in my chest every time I drew breath.
The sarakenoi vanguard that had tried to block our path had begun to withdraw. It was already the third attempt of the day to delay our advance. Worst of all, they were coming out from anywhere: some hill, some building we had not properly marked, and those vanguards would come out to harass us or strike us hard enough to force us to reorganize.
''How are our forces?'' I said, looking at the kentarchos beside me, who was wiping his mouth after one of the sarakenoi had struck him near the face.
''Some dead, but we have more wounded. Their horse archers caused quite a lot of damage among our infantry'' said the kentarchos, leaning on his shield as he ran his tongue beneath his lip and made a face as if something hurt.
''Well, I am not much different. I have three arrows lodged in my armor, but the mail and the padded cloak stopped the projectiles'' I said, pulling out the arrows that had embedded themselves in my armor. ''My horse did not escape unharmed either'' Looking at my mount, I noticed that it had two arrows stuck near its back.
''They were not too serious. Just change horses. We will have to move the wounded and continue. We need to establish a camp on that hill over there so we can have full control over the encirclement of al-Fusṭāṭ, as the strategos ordered'' said Stephanos, who was pulling a great number of arrows from his shield.
''I only have two trained horses, and the other one is simply for travel. This is my only warhorse. I have nothing to replace it with. It is not as if I can find trained horses in the markets of our camps'' I said, dismounting and taking some bandages from the saddlebags. I pulled out the arrows while controlling my horse's reaction and began to bandage it.
''We have to continue. We are not far from our objective. There we will take defensive positions and be fine. With that, we will have several fortifications watching the city of al-Fusṭāṭ, and the siege will have a complete encirclement, as well as control over any sarakenoi movement'' said Christophoros, who was covered in blood after having killed several of the sarakenoi in single combat.
''Good. Shields raised. We march in formation. We have to continue. Have the riders who can still fight and move continue their scouting missions. How are the construction materials? Did they manage to damage them?'' I said, turning around as I took out my waterskin and drank from it before putting it away.
''No. The materials are fine, although some of the horses carrying them are wounded'' said one of the kentarchoi who was near the carts.
''Good, we continue. We cannot stop. The siege engineers need security so they can keep building the encirclement and the trench to cut that enormous city off from the rest of Aegyptus'' I said after finishing bandaging my horse and watching the bandages turn red.
Grabbing my horse's reins, I continued guiding my men as we moved on foot, watching the distance and hoping the sarakenoi would not send another patrol to trouble us, or that those who had attacked us would not return, since much of the cavalry that had accompanied the infantry had escaped and might have withdrawn to look for more arrows.
But fortune finally smiled on us. After several clashes that had claimed many lives among my troops, we had managed to reach the nearby hill.
This place was one of the most important, as it would allow us to watch the east of the Nile. The Muqattam hill system was where the forces of the sarakenoi operated to harass our troops during the siege of al-Fusṭāṭ, and we had orders to watch the area, give warning in time of any incursion and also present a defense against any force that wished to reclaim this hill in order to raise a camp from which to harass our efforts.
''Good. Raise palisades and towers immediately. The tents can wait. Dig the trench at the same time as well, and have your forces, Christophoros, stand guard while our work is finished'' I said, walking toward the wagons carrying the construction materials.
Quickly, picks and shovels began passing from hand to hand, along with wooden planks, nails and hammers, with which our men began to assemble the camp in sections, following the standardized camp layout our strategos had designed, indicating how each camp had to be built.
While much of my tourma worked, I kept watch on the distance, looking to see if dust was rising into the air in great quantities, since that was a sign of enemy movement. I also supervised some of the work from time to time, while the palisade slowly rose and I watched the first watchtowers begin to stand.
The sun continued its natural course and, as the heat began to do its work, it made us sweat completely, to the point that I regretted wearing armor so heavy and so insulating, but I did not want to risk a sarakenoi arrow.
''Come on, that ditch must be ready by nightfall, since this is what best protects us from an attack'' I said as I watched the men digging with picks and shovels to remove rocks and earth, while keeping my eyes fixed on the possible areas of sarakenoi movement.
Hours passed until we had a large ditch protecting us, as well as a firm palisade and towers. By order of the strategos Basil, we had to build towers to place scorpions on them, since it was possible that we would be facing our enemies often.
So we had to build thicker towers, ones that could hold more than a single guard on top, but that was something done the following day, after setting up all the tents and lighting the fires for sleep.
The next day, we finished every detail of the camp, and our privileged position in the area allowed us to observe very carefully what was happening in the surroundings.
Multiple camps like this had been raised around the capital of Aegyptus, since we could see them. Some had established camps on other hills, others had fortified villages near the Nile River, but in itself, the encirclement of the city was total.
Every day, we watched sarakenoi patrols, and every day, we went out to fight them when it was possible, though that was rare, since we would only attack if we saw a great numerical difference between our riders and theirs.
But the sarakenoi had many horses and camels among their ranks, and although it was known that our navy was sinking many ships or capturing many Abbasid ships transporting the reinforcements gathering in the south, it seemed that they were still managing to slip through the naval blockade our navy was carrying out.
So the days passed, and the days turned into weeks, and then into months. The siege of this city seemed as though it would be very long, and with every passing day, we noticed that the presence of our enemies kept growing around us.
And we were not in the best position of all. The heat was becoming suffocating, to the point that we had men dying from it. Many men whose water ran out in the stifling temperatures ended up dead.
And although enormous efforts had been made to keep large reserves of water, in many cases, these evaporated inside the barrels or canteens of our men, forcing us to move frequently to secure water reserves. That was usually where our enemies moved.
Every time we sent patrols back to our rear lines, they encountered some enemy attempt to attack our supply routes, since the heat was making us suffer, and cutting off our water would mean that we would have to abandon our position and leave it at the mercy of the sarakenoi.
That was why we had to send strong patrols, which sometimes left our camp somewhat exposed when that happened.
Besides, the extra reinforcements that had been requested were not arriving in the numbers that had been asked for. We needed another sixteen thousand to cover the gaps that had been created by the constant clashes against the sarakenoi.
But no more than a few extra kentarchoi had managed to arrive, since the resources of the empire were still limited by the process of rebuilding the new themas, and that restricted what could be obtained.
The only real reinforcements that kept arriving were Varangians and Slavs coming from the foederati, sailing by using the commercial naval strength of the strategos, which was the only relief in men that we had. Although the problem was that the foederati formations were under the direct command of the strategos and, for the most part, were assigned to the siege and to the reaction forces.
''Andronikos!'' someone shouted from the walls of our kastro.
''What is happening?'' I shouted back to one of our lookouts.
''A large force of sarakenoi is coming toward us!'' shouted the lookout.
''I am coming!'' I shouted back, moving quickly up the wooden stairs toward the upper part of the walls of our kastro. I saw that a large number of sarakenoi infantry were approaching us.
''Blessed God… there are many of them'' I said, watching as a large sarakenoi contingent approached from the southeast, passing through the mountain chains of the area.
''Send a messenger, now. We will need reinforcements as soon as possible'' I said, shouting toward the camp.
Quickly, the entire camp began to move and put on full armor, since because of the temperatures, many men were not wearing all their protective equipment.
Preparing for battle, many toxotes took positions on the walls, while the gates opened so that many of our Skoutatoi could go out toward the earthworks where our ditch and our walls stood, making it harder to enter our positions. In addition, the engineers of our turma immediately went to use the scorpions we had positioned for this battle.
In a matter of minutes, we were all ready, although to our misfortune, the sun was blazing.
''Holy God, I think I could fry eggs on my armor'' I muttered while watching the forces of the sarakenoi.
A rather strong force of sarakenoi troops was advancing. As I descended to the earthen ramps outside our kastro, I noticed that we were facing heavy infantry, and according to our sources, they had to be the turk infantry.
A group of slaves that the Abbasids bought to serve as their infantry lines, and who were on par with the best tagma of the empire, since their equipment was at the same level as the most expensive armor that could be obtained anywhere in the empire.
Clearly, I kept that information to myself, since I did not want to break the morale of my men before a force whose equipment exceeded ours in cost by some ten times.
''Crossbows. I doubt those armors can be pierced simply by our bows'' I said, noticing more and more of their heavy armor as they advanced slowly in formation against our position.
While I listened to my breathing and watched the enemy garments begin to surround us by using their numbers, I continued distributing my men throughout the area. Our nearly two thousand five hundred men had to be more than enough to defend this kastro, at least long enough for reinforcements to arrive.
As they slowly began to climb the slope toward us, I heard the mechanisms of the scorpions release, and I saw enormous bolts cut through the air, producing a sharp sound until a huge scream rose from the enemy positions.
It did not take long for me to see the sarakenoi impaled by the bolt, where at least four of them had an enormous piece of wood piercing them from side to side.
''On my signal'' I said, raising my hand while the crossbowmen positioned their crossbows on the palisade, using the small ladders to see over it.
''Release!'' I shouted, lowering my hand, and dozens of crossbows released their projectiles.
Even more screams began to be heard from the enemy positions as we watched some fall to their knees, dead or clutching the bolt that had remained lodged in some part of their body.
The arrows of the toxotes also began to fall, although, as expected, they were doing little against troops so heavily armored.
But even so, they kept climbing while leaving bodies behind their fallen comrades, advancing without stopping.
The projectiles continued flying until the sarakenoi began using bows from their rear lines.
''Shields up!'' I shouted, raising my shield, and many sounds of impacts against wood were heard around us when the volley of arrows fell over us and onto the walls.
''Again. Use only the crossbows. We have to buy time'' I said, looking at my officers who were spread throughout the area.
Finally, after long and tense minutes, their forces had almost reached our front and had begun moving earth, trying to fill the ditch in front of one of the gates of our palisade.
Arrows and bolts, as well as the scorpions, concentrated on the areas where they were doing the work, but we were clearly outnumbered several times over, while we had to spread ourselves across several sectors to keep them from entering through an undefended area.
So slowly, our ditch began to fill with the earth that some of them were bringing in buckets. Noticing that the hole was quickly filling and that they were bringing a battering ram, it was only a matter of time before they opened our outer defense.
''To the kastro, now! This area is indefensible. The moment they fill the ditch, fall back to the second defensive line'' I shouted. My officers began giving the orders, and slowly, we returned to the walls of the kastro.
Opening the gates and seeing that the sarakenoi continued their work, we managed to retreat, remove the bridge over the second ditch and close the gates, positioning ourselves inside our camp to keep resisting.
The pounding against the outer wall was heard, and it did not take long for it to break. Hundreds of sarakenoi charged, only to be surprised that there were two ditches and not just one that they had to cross.
But after they stood there looking at the ditch with their shields raised, they repositioned themselves, although we noticed that many returned to search for more earth with which to close the ditch.
The bolts continued decreasing in number. Supposedly, we had around almost twenty thousand bolts and arrows, but they were running out very quickly while we fought everywhere.
The pressure from all sides kept increasing, and I had to move around to keep organizing the defense against every attack. Once again, I watched as the second ditch began to fill, even as the field filled with dead.
As I saw the battering ram approaching, I moved my men toward the gates and we prepared the blocks to throw them onto their heads.
''Andronikos!'' one of my droungarios shouted, though I could not recognize who he was.
''What!'' I shouted back, although my voice seemed to crack.
''The Varangian tagmata is arriving! The Varangian riders are coming!'' someone said, pointing toward the rear.
''Holy blessed God, may the Almighty bless the sons of the north'' I said while I continued breathing uncontrollably from the pressure.
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If there are spelling mistakes, please let me know.
Leave a comment; support is always appreciated.
I remind you to leave your ideas or what you would like to see.
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