Chapter 246: Glory to the Empire (2/2)

By the time the Mamluke's had gotten past the pike wall, the Byzantine arkebusiers had fully reloaded and fired a second volley. This time the effect was far more devastating to the enemy line. Seeing his forces being rapidly cut down by the Byzantine firearms, the Mamluke general instantly ordered his cavalry to charge.

Thus the heavily armored Mamluke Cavalry rushed towards the Byzantine lines, and yet as they drew near, the pikes were lowered in their direction, causing the horses to buck wild in fright and flee in the other direction. Many of their riders had been cast from their horses onto the sand below as a result.

Others found themselves incapable of controlling their mighty steeds until they had reached a point where they were safe from the enemy pike wall—seeing this, Arethas merely smirked. The battle was beginning to head in his favor.

Though the Mamluke forces outnumbered them, the combined force of pike and shot was well beyond this Medieval era's capabilities. Though it was not as effective as Berengar's tactics, it was more than enough to crush the armies of the Mamluke Sultanate.

Arethas watched the sight of the battlefield with glee as the Mamluke forces began to route; quickly saying a prayer to God, he rallied his cavalry forces and began to charge the frightened Saracens. The Byzantine Cataphracts rushed down the hillside and into the fray, where they collided with the routing enemy while wielding their lances, skewering them upon impact and sending their souls to the afterlife.

The result of this battle was an overwhelming victory in favor of the Byzantine Empire. After cleaning up the battlefield, Arethas stood along with his ranks of men, where he began to chastise them for firing their first volley early.

”All of you are soldiers of the Empire, and yet you have failed in your duty. If not for the overwhelming advantage of our weapons and tactics, we could have lost this battle today.

Why? Because many of you were frightened by the enemy charge and fired your first shot out of fear, missing your targets entirely as you did so! I expect more of the men beneath my command, and thus during the rest of this campaign, I want you all to perform much better than you did today.

If every one of you can get to the point where you follow my commands to the letter, then this campaign will be an overwhelming victory for our armies! Glory to the Empire!”

After hearing Arethas' speech, the men of his army all began to salute him and yell their battle cry.

”Glory to the Empire!”

In doing so, Arethas looked fondly upon his men. They had suffered very few casualties this day, and though the Mamluke army had routed in large numbers, likely to return in the future for further conflict. This battle was an overwhelming success, one that inspired Arethas. While armed with these weapons and tactics, maybe, just maybe, the Empire could reclaim its former glory.

Arethas had one man to thank for this victory, his trading partner and friend to the West; he did not know what Berengar had planned for the future, but he was certain that one day the man would surely be a mighty King, and after this battle, he felt great regret for not trying to convince the Emperor to marry his only daughter off to such an outstanding young man.

Then again, Berengar was already happily engaged, and Arethas doubted he could convince him to accept Honoria as his lawful wife and instead turn his fiancee into another concubine. As for the Emperor, Arethas knew the man was too stubborn to make his only daughter the concubine of some King from the West. Thus it was simply not meant to be.

As he thought about this, Arethas began to wonder about what had happened to the Princess. Had she been found during the time he was away? Was she even alive? He would never guess that the girl had run off to Kufstein because of a few good comments he had made about Berengar.

These were the thoughts that plagued Arethas' mind as he campaigned to restore the Empire's borders in North Africa. This was just one battle of many to occur with the Mamluke Sultanate. Only time could tell if the Empire was to restore its former glory.