Eric had given all responsibilities of Campbell to the old commander and provided him with two brigades of soldiers to secure the city and it's port.
The houses, manors and every other property of the traitors were seized. About 40000 gold coins and other items were recovered.
There was fear among the family members and some other people who were involved indirectly. They were worried for their future.
These people were not directly involved, but also had not protested against the actions taken by the traitors. Leaving them without punishing would leave a bad example.
However, giving them any heavy punishment would also be wrong.
Thus, Eric decided to let them choose their punishment, he put forth two options. First was to leave the Campbell city, Second was to serve as a contracted labor for ten years.
Perhaps this was the easiest punishment for family members of traitors in Antig continent. The standard procedure was to put all of them to death.
The families readily accepted the first option. They were given seven days time to leave the city.
Extra guards were appointed at the port to check the luggages of the leaving people. They weren't allowed to carry out more than 10 gold coins worth of stuff.
…
Kipler arranged the remaining soldiers into the seven brigades and started preparing for the next campaign.
Bruns was nearly thirty kilometers from Campbell, it would take an entire day to reach there.
Conquering that city by force was nearly impossible. Soldiers would first need to climb the slopes to reach the city wall and then climb the thirty foot tall walls. During climbing all the soldiers would become targets for archers on the wall. And any mistake during climbing, they would fall directly on the rocks and stones on the ground.
…
Borin, the leader of rebels of Bruns city, and other nobles were standing on the wall above the main gate. They could see the Kingdom's soldiers had surrounded the city from all sides.
It had been eight days, the soldiers would not let anyone enter or exit the city. Their stocks of fresh food and vegetables were over, only dry grains remained.
Soldiers had blocked the water canal which supplies water to the city. Water storage would also dry out in a week. The people of the city including nobles hadn't bathed for over a week now. Their bodies have started to smell.
Discontent among the local garrison soldiers was rising. People would throw stones on their homes at night. They couldn't even sleep peacefully now.
Borin sent a messenger to commander jack who was leader of soldiers and invited him for a meeting.
However, commander Jack rejected the invitation saying that he had been sent here to completely block the city and not to negotiate. When his highness arrives, you could talk to him.
…
Ninth day of blockade,
A messenger from Campbell arrived and announced that Campbell had been taken back from the nobles control and the military convoy would arrive today evening.
Borin saw that the soldiers were erecting larger tents and tidying up their base. He was sure that someone was about to come. But when he saw the amount of food being prepared he started sweating profusely, the food prepared was enough to feed more than seven thousand men. What this means, a large contingent of the Kingdom's forces would be arriving.
While Borin was busy analysing the enemy strength. The guards on the top of the walls were salivating, it's been weeks since they tasted anything fresh. They were fed up with dry grains and limited amounts of water.
Borin noticed the lust for food in the eyes of the garrison guards. He ordered that today nobody would stand guard on the west city wall .
The military convoy arrived in the evening. The soldiers were fatigued from the long journey.
However, the appetizing aroma of food prepared by commander jack for their welcome filled them with energy. They put down their baggage and hurriedly set their tents up.
Eric was impressed by commander Jack's thoughtfulness. The soldiers were eagerly waiting for tonight's welcome feast .
Kipler didn't waste any time and let them lose. Soldiers started gobbling down anything which came in their plates in no time. The food prepared for more than seven thousand soldiers was devoured by four thousand soldiers within half an hour including the time of serving.
…
Last night was very painful for the garrison guards. They could smell the aroma, hear their chomping and burpings. Commander Jack has purposely arranged the feast area at the distance of two hundred meters. Garrison Guards didn't even eat the food last night.
Borin was informed that the prince had arrived last night. Borrin prepared himself to meet with the prince.
The place was decided, Borrin arrived at the designated place. Eric and his commanders were already present there.
"Greetings, your highness, we don't want to continue this conflict. Please, give us a way out." Pleaded Borin.
"Yuck! What's this smell?" Eric exclaimed while pinching his nose. Eric's group gave disgusted looks to Borin and his group.
"Your highness, please forgive me, but your commander has blocked the water supply canal and we don't have enough to bath."
"Ah! Sorry for my rude remark. I thought the nobles of Bruns had special hobbies." Eric made an apologetic face for a second.
"Anyway, do you also want special concessions like Campbell." Eric made this up.
"Your highness, may I know what kind of concession you provided to them." Borin thought that the Campbell nobles had negotiated and reached some agreement with the prince. If it's terms were good, he would also accept that and exit from this mess.
"Well, you can't say I provided." Eric thought for a minute and said "I am still thinking if I should let them choose the way they want to end their lives. If you have any other interesting suggestion please say"
Borin and nobles were utterly shocked hearing the news, "I don't believe you took down Campbell in a week, they had the support of others. No, that's not possible. Your highness you must be lying to fool us."
Eric shook his head, "once a fool, always a fool. My dear Duke, why would I lie to you. I can crush your city without even sending a single soldier to fight."
"And correct your facts it took less than a incense time for us to wipe out rebel forces." Kipler proudly stated. Eric gazed at him oddly, weren't you against my plan.
Kipler raised his both hands in the air and clapped. His assistant brought a wooden box and gifted it to Duke Borin.
Duke was confused but still opened the box. What he saw inside blew his mind. His hands started shaking, eyes wide open. His legs trembled as he stepped back, he stumbled and slumped to the ground, and he remained transfixed there. Everything's over now.
The box tumbled from Duke's hand and fell down. A severed head rolled out of it. The remaining nobles were stunned silly. This was the person who had encouraged them to rebel and gave them generous gifts and assurances.
"Your dadda is dead. So, do you want to accept my offer of concession or do you want another gift." Eric smiled in a pleasant way as he gave them the offer to choose the way they want to die.
Some of the nobles returned back to normal, "We can survive for a year or two easily, living in the city but from where would you bring people for mining."
They picked up their stunned fellow nobles and brought them back behind the city walls.
Eric shook his head and sighed, "Ah, Kipler why don't people learn the way of peace. They should have taken my offer."
"Your highness, what should we do now? They would try to use people living inside the city to pressurize us." Kipler wasn't worried for others but people of the city.
"Let them get the death they deserve, a traitor's death."
Kipler nodded and shouted at the backs of retreating nobles "Garrison soldiers would not be considered guilty of rebellion and would be acquitted of all the crimes they participated in. And the soldiers who kill the nobles would also be rewarded with one gold coin each."
Commander Jack yelled "How long do you think you and your families could survive without water." Eric and Kipler waved at Jack to stop and their group returned to their tents.
Soldiers who were already desprited heard the offers given by the military Chief. They mulled over the words of commander Jack. A question which they had avoided from the day one of blockade. How long could they survive without water.
…
Next morning, the west gate of Bruns opened and a group of garrison guards came out with a large sack being dragged by four soldiers. The sack left a bloody trail wherever it went through.
Garrison Soldiers piled up the contents of the bag. A soldier counted and reported that there were thirty two severed heads.
Kipler ran to that spot as soon as he was informed. Patrolling soldiers had surrounded the garrison guards.
When Kipler reached there, the garrison guards kneeled on ground and started pleading "Chief we were just following orders. Please spare us, these are the heads of nobles. We fulfilled what you asked of us yesterday, please release the water."
…