Nathaniel stood guard halfway up the road to Mt. Boren. He had a blanket wrapped around him, and he sipped from a tin cup full of hot, black coffee. He tiredly looked into the distance and squinted his eyes as he saw five men walking up the road.
As they got closer, he could tell they were friendly by their uniforms, and he approached them. He recognized one of them from the raid on the wagon train. It was Judd, a foot sergeant.
"Can I help you?" Nathaniel asked as the soldiers drew closer.
"Yeah, can we speak to Grandmaster Adelwulf? We have a message from General Heinrich at Ft. Broken Shield." Judd responded.
"I can take you up to the camp on the summit. Why? What's happening?" Nathaniel asked worriedly, concern growing on his face.
"It's under attack by all the holy orders." Judd responded grimly.
"All of them?!" Nathaniel questioned, growing even more concerned.
"Well, four of them we think." Judd said, trying to calm the young man down.
"How long ago were you sent?" Nathaniel asked.
"How long were we sent? Err… five days ago." Judd said sheepishly, looking at the ground in embarrassment.
"FIVE DAYS?! YOU WERE SENT FIVE DAYS AGO?" Nathaniel cried out in frustration, hastily making his way up the road and urging the five men to follow him.
The group followed Nathaniel to the summit of the mountain where Maxis' army was camped and Nathaniel brought the Grandmaster to them.
"What took you five days to get here?" Maxis asked the men.
"Well, we stopped to make a camp and rest after the night they sent us. We stayed there for two days and, against military law, did some ganja and got lost for two more days before finding our way back again." Judd responded, crossing his arms and preparing himself for whatever punishment the Grandmaster would give him. Maxis just nodded and sighed. "Get the men ready, Nathaniel." Maxis said calmly before turning to face Judd again.
"Don't worry, I ain't writing you up or anything, I'm known to blow grass myself. However, you're coming with us to make up for taking five fucking days to get here." Maxis said before walking off and mounting his horse. Edelweiss and Nathaniel alerted most of the soldiers and knights in the camp and urged them to follow Maxis.
They all galloped down the road of the mountain at full speed. They rode hastily through the forests below for hours, only stopping for quick ten minute breaks for their horses and refreshment. The knights of the pines continued their journey throughout the day and into the night. They held torches and lanterns to aid their vision in the dark woods as they wendigo through the dense pine and oak forest.it it
They didn't cease their journey to rest or make camp and they simply kept riding through the forest and making as few stops as possible. Finally, after sixteen grueling hours of riding, they arrived at the outskirts of the fort.
Maxis and his circle dismounted and began to discuss a plan.
"Edelweiss? What do you think?" Maxis asked.
"I think we should wait til their next attack, and then we swoop in and drive them off. When they start retreating, we'll follow them into their camps and beat them there." Edelweiss responded.
"That sounds good, what about you, Nathaniel?" Maxis said, turning to the young soldier.
"Edelweiss' plan sounds good, I think we should go with that." Nathaniel responded.
"Alright, we'll go with his plan, go brief the men, I need to rest a bit." Maxis said tiredly. Nathaniel just nodded and went to the back of the lines to inform the four hundred cavalrymen of the plan of attack.
Maxis walked over to a tree and sat down with his back against it. He sighed deeply and took his knife out of its sheath, holding it in his hand and gazing at it out of boredom.
Edelweiss approached Maxis, smiling softly and sitting next to him. "When did you get that? It's huge!" Edelweiss said, seeing the giant, eighteen inch knife.
"It was a gift from my father. It's a Bowie knife, named after that guy down in one of the Spanish territories, Natchez I think it was."
"Why is it named after him? What did he do?"
"If I recall, he was in a duel and used a huge, handmade knife to kill someone and wound another."
"Damn. Did the sheath come from your father?"
"Yeah, Tawlee or, Grandma, beaded it and he did the leather work. He got the knife through trade with some trappers I think, I believe he gave one of them some real nice jewelry in exchange for it."
"Jewelry for a big knife like that? Must've been real nice then. How'd he get jewelry like that? What was it?"
"It was silver and turquoise. 'Course Tonkawas made turquoise stuff all the time, but the silver came from the Kiowa. Rings, earrings and gorgets that could all be made into something new if the trappers wanted."
"Did he get the silver from raiding or trade?"
"Trade, this was after he brought peace to the tribes and helped the Kiowas and Comanches fight the Spanish. The chief of the Kiowas, Dohasan, gave him the silver as a gift for his help. Dad didn't have any shortage of gifts in the following years, horses, weapons, everything."
Just as Maxis finished his sentence, he heard a loud bellow from the forest, west of where the fort was. It was the crusader war horn. He quickly rose to his feet and sheathed his knife. He made his way to his horse, mounted it and put his helmet on. He sat upon an appaloosa with a gray coat that had black and white spots on it. His dark green cloak flowed in the wind with his long, black hair that fell through his helmet and down his shoulders and back. He held a seven foot indian lance with the blade of a sword as its tip and eagle feathers tied near the top of the spear.
In his other hand he held a shield like that of the other knights around him. He waited until he saw the crusaders charging out of the forest and start their assault.
Maxis lifted his lance above his head and let out a loud, shrill war cry that distracted the crusaders. Other indigenous men under his command let out war cries of their own, as well as the band of Kiowa that had joined them for the wagon train raid.
The knights and Indians charged forward and began to decimate the attacking force of crusaders. They threw spears and trampled the crusaders underneath their horses, following the crusaders into the forest as they retreated into their camps.
The men in the fort cheered triumphantly as Maxis' cavalry drove off the advancing crusaders. The forest echoed with the sounds of horses screaming, hooves beating the ground, shrill war cries and whoops, and the screams and lamentations of the wounded.
The cavalry attack continued and the Indians dueled with the knights of Calatrava on horseback. The Spanish and Mexicans covered the escape of Aldonva and a handful of his men by trying to fight off the mounted warriors but failed. Twenty four of them went forth and none returned. The warriors then turned their attention to the Templars position and formed a pincer movement that trapped the Templars between the heavy knights and the foot sergeants from the fort and the band of Kiowa warriors coming from behind. Many of the Templars had escaped but their remaining force was trapped and unable to escape.
Many of them wept or began praying while the rest stood their ground and prepared for their last stand. There was a brief standoff between the forces. The Templars gazed at the Kiowas who were clad in bison headdresses and red and black war paint. The Kiowas stared back. Long-Rifle looked across the Templar camp to Maxis and Maxis simply nodded. The war chief raised his lance in the air and let out a loud war cry, as did the rest of the Kiowas and at that moment, the small detachment of Templars knew their fate was sealed.
The Indians and Middle Tahleans came crashing into the camp, slaughtering the tired and helpless Templars. The Kiowas impaled soldiers on their lances and hacked at them with warclubs and tomahawks. The Templars fought fiercely but were no match for the combined attack of the Indians and mounted knights.
The battle was short and the remaining three hundred Templars were swiftly wiped out within minutes. After everyone was killed, the Indians dismounted and began scalping, looting and mutilating the dead crusaders. They severed heads, hands, and feet as well as other body parts, gouged out eyes and filled the corpse of a rifleman with fifty arrows. However, they left one body untouched, the body of the bugler who had killed three of their warriors with his instrument and kept fighting even after he was wounded in the shoulder and thigh by arrows. A buffalo robe was placed over his body to signal he was to be left untouched.
Maxis tied a bloody scalp to his belt, it was the twentieth addition to the belt. Edelweiss approached him and saw the scalp.
"That's gross, I dunno why you do that." He said, disgusted by Maxis' practice.
"It's to serve as a record of battles I've fought in. My father did it, as did lots of plains Indians." Maxis said, picking his helmet up from the ground and holding it in his arm. Hetfield emerged from the ranks of the foot sergeants and began laughing maniacally as he approached Maxis. Maxis laughed back and the two ran to hug each other, their armor clanging together as they did.
"Bastard! What took you so long?" Hetfield said with a laugh.
"Those couriers got lost and blew grass on their way to the mountain, we rode day and night to get here though. Where's Heinrich?" Maxis asked, raising an eyebrow.
"He's out here somewhere, saw him leading the men out of the fort when you came in." Hetfield responded, looking around. "Ah, there he is." He said as he saw Heinrich making his way to the three of them.
Heinrich groggily stepped forward. His eyes had dark circles and bags around them and his armor and clothes were covered in blood and dirt. In the side of his torso there was an arrow lodged in his flesh and on the left side of his face there was a stream of blood running down his face from his eye. Maxis noticed the blood and that Heinrichs left eye was closed.
"My God, are you okay? Shit, you got an arrow in you too." Maxis said, rushing towards Heinrich to inspect him further.
"I'm fine." Heinrich said breathily, leaning on his sword to keep himself standing. "Some… bastard shot me in the eye with a crossbow, I couldn't tell where it came from and I didn't see the man." Heinrich continued, his breath becoming increasingly labored.
"Alright, General, let's get you inside the fort. You need rest." Maxis said, wrapping his arm around the general. "Edelweiss,take a small detachment of men and go with the Kiowas, try and capture some men if you can." Maxis said, looking over his shoulder as he walked Heinrich to the fort.
Maxis laid Heinrich down on his cot in his tent and took the general's armor off for him. "Alright, general. Take it easy now. Want your pipe?" Maxis asked, picking up the general's pipe and extending his arm out for him to take it.
"Ja." The general groaned weakly as he reached up to try and take the pipe. "Nnghh, schiesse…" He groaned in pain, letting his arm fall beside him. Maxis lit the pipe with a match on the nightstand next to Heinrich's cot and put it in the general's mouth for him. He removed it after the general took a long draw from the pipe and took turns with Heinrich three more times before letting Heinrich keep it.
"The Kiowas will want a victory dance, is it okay if they do it within the fort?" Maxis asked as he stood in the open flap of the tent. Heinrich just nodded affirmatively and continued smoking the pipe. Maxis walked out and saw Edelweiss and the other Kiowas and knights returning, their horses trotting through the gate of the fort.
"Couldn't capture nobody, they hauled ass." Edelweiss said to Maxis after he dismounted from his horse.
"Well that's good, they won't attack for a while now." Maxis responded, relieved.
"How's Heinrich?" Edelweiss asked, stepping closer to Maxis.
"Not good, he lost his eye from an arrow."
"Jesus, will he be okay?"
"He should be if he gets the proper treatment."
"That's good." Edelweiss said, kissing Maxis on the cheek. "I'm tired." The young knight said with a sigh.
"It looks like the Kiowa women are here with the camp." Maxis said, looking towards the gate of the fort and seeing a big group of forty women and children on foot and horseback carrying and pulling travois that carried their tipis and the tents of the soldiers.
"Come on, I'll help with our tent." Edelweiss and Maxis approached and found their tent and they began setting it up within the walls of Fort Broken Shield. Edelweiss set up his cot in the tent and sleepily took his armor off and flopped down on it.
Maxis sat in a chair beside Edelweiss and smiled at him as he drank from a tin cup of coffee.
From the entrance flaps of the tent, Hetfield walked in.
"Hetfield." Maxis responded. "Take a seat." Maxis said, gesturing towards a chair. Hetfield sat down with a sigh, flipping his flowing blonde hair so that it ran down his back. "What were the casualties?" Maxis asked, lighting up a long pipe with carvings and leatherwork on it with an eagle feather tied near the end.
"Over half of our original force." Hetfield responded with a sigh.
"Damn." Maxis said before taking a puff from his pipe. "Over half? Didn't you have two-hundred men here?" Maxis asked, taking yet another puff from his pipe.
"Yes. We have around eighty men now." Hetfield responded somberly.
Maxis nodded in response and kept smoking.
"We're lucky you came in when you did. I don't knows how long we would have lasted. Thank you, Maxis." Hetfield added, getting up from his chair. "Of course, phah-bee." Maxis smiled, and Hetfield left the tent, leaving Maxis and his lover in the tent alone.