Judd awoke from his slumber, rubbing his eyes and groaning groggily.
"Ohh… Not againn. Judd, you fool." He said, getting up from his sleeping bag and looking around the camp for the others. "Jack! Jack!" He called out, looking around frantically. "Amiel?! Gabrien?!" He cried out for the other couriers and he ran around the camp.
"Jesus Christ, a few blunts and two days of rest and now they're gone" He muttered to himself.
"Jack, Amiel, Gabrien!!!" He yelled again and again.
"Calm down, man." Jack said as he and the other two couriers emerged from the forest holding a few freshly caught fish. "Jesus Christ, don't do that." Judd said, sighing in relief.
Amiel and Gabrien began to gut and clean out the fish before cooking them over the campfire.
"Well, I hate to spoil your fun, Judd but we're leaving today. We need to get Grandmaster Maxis and tell him of the situation before the fort is taken. You've already had two days of rest, that's plenty. We'll eat here and then we'll leave." Amiel said as he prepared meals for the soldiers.
Judd just nodded his head while he lay down and rubbed his temple.
The soldiers finished eating and then packed up their camp and set off to Mt. Boren.
Meanwhile at Fort Broken Shield, Heinrich's company had been taking severe casualties with constant attacks day and night and he was down to forty men.
Hetfield and David talked outside of the general's tent and oiled and sharpened their swords.
"How many more attacks do you think?" David asked.
"I think they might pull out soon, we've killed at least a few hundreds of them and they can't keep up for much longer, unless they have something planned that we don't knows about." Hetfield responded, sitting down on the ground to sharpen his greatsword.
"Yeah, I haven't seen the Order of Calatrava yet, just the Teutons, Templars and Hospitallers." David responded.
"Calatrava? Never heard of those guys."
"They're a Spanish order, Aldonva Guerra is their Grandmaster, he's thought to be the most handsome of the leaders."
"I see, should we be concerned about them?"
"Definitely, they have the biggest cavalry force out of all the orders, not to mention they're extremely devoted to their religion, most Spaniards are."
Heinrich emerged from his tent fully clad in his armor.
"Any word from the couriers yet?" He asked Hetfield.
"Not yet." Hetfield responded, getting up and facing the general.
"Dammit, what could be taking them so long?"
"One of the soldiers, Judd I think, is known to be a lazy jackoff, so he could be holding them back, he's also been caught multiple times using drugs and drinking while active."
"Well he's no better than us, we drink all the time."
"True, but he has a reputation."
"We're gonna die because of a lazy dopesmoker."
Just as the two men finished their conversation, the crusader battle horn sounded again and Heinrich's garrison quickly armed themselves and took up positions. Out of nowhere, a huge boulder came flying out of the forest and smashing through the eastern wall, crushing and killing twelve soldiers of the garrison.
Heinrich rushed over to help any soldiers out of the rubble but was met with the sight of hundreds of heavily armored mounted knights charging towards the gap in the fort's wall.
Leading the charge was Aldonva, wielding a long lance and a beautifully decorated great helm with elegant floral and baroque styles carved into the helmet. The crusaders poured into the fort from the breached wall and the fighting began.
Foot sergeants moved forward to combat the ceaseless and steady flow of crusaders invading the fort, killing their horses and grappling them from atop their saddles to club and stab them to death.
Just as this attack was launched, Monterrey led another assault on the front gate with a force of four hundred dismounted men made up of all of the orders. Monterrey's detachment charged forward and met the Middle Tahleans head-on, taking casualties as they advanced as the Middle Tahlean archers unleashed a barrage of arrows on them. The archers continued to fire from the safety of the fort walls while the battle raged below.
The Tahlean foot soldiers managed to cause Aldonva and his cavalry to temporarily withdraw and focus on Monterrey's assault.
Hetfield cleaved through the ranks of the crusaders with his huge Zweihander and led the Tahleans forward in a counterattack. The few men in the fort that remained charged out with a newly found courage and a boost in morale from driving Aldonva back and seeing Hetfield's ferocity.
They pushed Monterreys force back and soon, Monterrey and Hetfield came face to face while their men backed away to let them fight. Two leaders fighting to decide the fate of a battle had become a more common practice in the last century or so and today that practice would decide yet another battle.
Hetfield circled Monterrey, trying to spot a weakness in his stance or a gap in the crusader's armor.
"You're the Grandmaster, I presume?" Hetfield called out.
"No, i'm just his lieutenant." Monterrey responded, anxiously gripping his axe and shield. The sight of the tall and muscular Austrian terrified him but he maintained his composure and kept a straight and fearless face.
The two circled each other for another minute, both of them trying to figure the other out. Finally, Hetfield took a step forward and positioned himself for combat. He held his sword so that the tip was pointing to the ground and the handle was in front of his torso. This position is called tutta porta di ferro, or whole iron door, it deceived the opponent and put them under the illusion that the user was open to strikes but in reality it offered for quick parries and strikes.
Monterrey grew more anxious as he realized the disadvantage of his rather short french axe against the long Zweihander Hetfield wielded.
"Come on, Frenchie, take a swing at me." Hetfield taunted with a smile, ready to fight. Monterrey took a deep breath and slowly advanced towards the knight, his thoughts raced through his mind while he tried to strategize and come up with some kind of plan to bring the giant down.
Hetfield grew bored of Monterrey's caution and took the initiative, switching to posta breve, or short guard, and thrusting at Monterrey. The Templar blocked the thrust with his shield and swung his axe at Hetfield, who blocked the blow with his sword.
Hetfield tried to thrust again but was met with the same result. Monterrey attempted to close the distance but the Austrian swung and spun his sword around him, deterring the Templar. After completing his distancing maneuver, Hetfield gripped his sword by it's blade and second handle just above the crossguard, moving forward to try and bludgeon Monterrey with his hilt. Monterrey dodged and blocked the attacks with his shield and after successfully evading injury from the knight for a few more minutes, his confidence grew as his men cheered him on and urged him to get aggressive.
He finally attacked but Hetfield brought his sword up to block the axe. Thinking quickly, Monterrey used the beard of the axe and hooked the sword, snatching it away and sending it flying. Hetfield backed away, trying to assess the situation while remaining calm.
He unsheathed his dagger and prepared himself for Monterrey to attack. Monterrey screamed out as he rushed forward, bringing his axe over his head to strike. Hetfield grabbed a dead soldier's hatchet and threw it at Monterrey, striking him in the head, knocking his helmet off and sending him to the ground.
The Templar groaned in pain as he arose from the blood soaked ground, blood dripping from his forehead. Monterrey continued his attack and tackled Hetfield, hacking at him violently with his axe and screaming like a madman.
The Austrian panicked as his armor was hacked at by the Templar, denting his breastplate severely. Hetfield blocked the striked with his arm and searched for his dagger with the other.
Monterrey tore Hetfield's helmet off and threw it aside. Just as Monterrey was about to send his axe down into Hetfield's head, the knight lifted his dagger and thrusted it into the Crusaders left eye. Screaming in pain, Monterrey dropped his weapon and Hetfield pushed him off. The Templar scrambled away on his hands and knees, stumbling on his cape and struggling to rise to his feet.
"Retreat! Get out of here, the battle is theirs! Retreat!" Monterrey cried out, hastily making his way to the back of the lines with his men and retreating into the forest.
Hetfield retrieved his sword and raised it in the air with one hand, yelling in victory as the Crusaders retreated.
The Tahleans threw their helmets up in the air and cheered, celebrating their victory with Hetfield and entering the fort.
Heinrich smiled and approached the Austrian, patting his shoulder.
"Outstanding, Hetfield. Maybe you can win us the war by dueling all of the Grandmasters!" Heinrich laughed, walking into the fort with Hetfield.
The knight smiled and rolled his eyes at Heinrich's joke.
"Sure, old man, I'll send each of them a letter requesting to duel, I'm sure they'll be reasonable about it." Hetfield said.
"You can't let me have my fun, can you?" Heinrich said in a jokingly disappointed tone.
"No, fun is illegals here." Hetfield laughed, sheathing his sword.
"I'm a general, an elite. I can break all the laws I want to." Heinrich joked, sitting down on the staircase leading up to the fort's walls.
"Well uhh… Fuck yous." Hetfield responded, unable to think of something clever.
Heinrich just laughed and Hetfield walked away.
The Austrian retired to his tent and removed his armor, shivering a bit at the cold autumn air. He laid down on his cot and thought about Heinrich. They had only met three months ago but he already considered him one of his best friends. He appreciated Heinrich and liked being around him. He felt more than just friendship with him though but couldn't decide what it was. All he knew was that he felt more than just appreciation for Heinrich.