"The king" and his entourage.
Chapter Nine
(This scenario is an on the spot creation of Ricky's. I am so pleased with it.)
Prince Richard was in his cups at the high table. And he was bored. In fact, the boredom malaise overhung the royal court, emanating from the high table and pervading the great hall. When prince Richard got bored, and drunk, he became garrulous, boastful and obnoxious.
"My champion, Sir Alexander, is, as everyone knows, the most peerless fighter in the realm," he drawled. "In fact, he is so puissant that nobody dares challenge him to any chivalrous contest. As my father knows well, Alex can unhorse anyone in this hall, or anyone in the entire realm."
He then began (yet again) to regal the great hall with his version of the "old wars" between himself and his father, king Merlin. The king ground his teeth in frustration, hearing the same old details of his less stellar combats in that brief and embarrassing civil war, now receding years into the past. He tried to distract his besotted and bored son with memories more recent, of how they together had vanquished their banditti foes and rescued his sister-in-law. But Richard was having none of that.
"How good is this new champion of yours, father? He hasn't yet proved his worth. You pay him enough. And he comes with a good reputation, we all admit that. But, he hasn't really proved himself, until he crosses lances with Sir Alexander."
The object of his noisy boasting looked sidelong at the knight sitting to his left. They shared the far left end of the high table. The king's champion, one Sir Roderick, sat back with a sigh. He stood and faced the prince. "I will cross lances with any man. Alex and I are friends. But if you insist on slighting my honor like this, I will challenge prince Richard's famous champion."
Sir Alexander accepted the challenge with less than his usual enthusiasm.
A visiting officer from the nearby commandery of Military Order Knights then stood. "I will add interest to this upcoming contest by turning it into a tourney. My own prowess is not to be questioned, and I challenge the pair of you. We shall all meet at the time and place of your choosing."
A local emir, who had been very civil of late (since the demise of the brigands and their own emirs), was also visiting the king's court, as a guest and a friend. He had already expressed an interest in Frankish horsemanship and received instruction from no less a teacher than Sir Alexander himself. The emir now stood, where he had been seated at the far right end of the high table:
"Let me increase interest in this upcoming contest of arms, by including myself. I will stand champion for my own people."
"Excellent! Excellent!" enthused king Merlin, glad to have the increasing tension at the high table deflected by this cooperative planning. The relief of boredom was instantaneous and the rest of the evening passed off pleasantly with boasting and challenges. Now that the issue would be settled, no one's feathers could be ruffled by mere talk.
The date was set a fortnight hence. And the place was a narrow vale not far off, just beyond the bounds of the tiny mountain realm, tending toward a neutral ground between kingdom, commandery and emirate.
As duly appointed, the four courts arrived on the field. The king's entourage used short ladders to take their places on a capacious bute overlooking the east end of the tilting ground.
"The king" and his entourage.
All four groups of challengers came with the agreed number of attending armed men. Each company was to be composed of four infantry and a mounted second to each champion. Prince Richard stood second to his champion, Sir Alexander.
Prince Richard rides as Sir Alexander's second.
Sir Roderick's second was the most eminent of king Merlin's knights. Among the four footmen stood the king himself, engaging in a bit of incognito, once again, out of a sense of restlessness and conceit that he was actually fooling anybody. His look alike stood robed in the royal regalia on the bute. Nobody who knew of the switch said a word.
King Merlin stands to the left of his banner.
The Black Knight, the champion of the Military Order, arrived with the Order's banner bearer as his second, plus four knights on foot.
"The Black Knight" rides again.
The emir stood with his own people at the far west end. He had bent the rules a bit, by having a few foot along to hold the horses of his men, who dismounted to form the agreed company of infantry. His second was mounted, of course, and accoutered alike. One of the horse guards sneaked in with the foot.
The emir and his company.
There were spectators from all three holdings, who lined the foothills. The emir's people seemed to have come in rather large numbers. (All "spectators" are off-table.)
The tourney field.
Sir Alexander and Sir Roderick prepare to run the first of three courses.
Sir Roderick spurs forward.
They meet ...
And Sir Alexander is nearly unhorsed! His lance is broken.
After taking a fresh lance, Sir Alexander runs an even course with Sir Roderick.
They meet for the third and final course.
And Sir Roderick is sent tumbling head over heels. Sir Alexander barely keeps his saddle.
Playing his role as "the king" to the hilt, Merlin's look alike says to the jester: "This spectacle bores me now. Amuse me, knave!"
The Black Knight squares off with Sir Alexander.
They approach ...
... they meet and pass by without any conclusion.
Both knights whirl their horses about and charge into the second course
Sir Alexander nearly unhorses the Black Knight!
Without pause they haul their warhorses about and gallop full tilt at each other for the third time ...
.. and the Black Knight is vanquished!
There is a pause while the two defeated champions are ministered too and Sir Alexander makes certain that there are no hard feelings. After a spell, he sends word to the emir that he is ready and fit to face his third challenger.
Sir Alexander and the emir seem to be sizing each other up at opposite ends of the lists.
But the emir does not oblige the victorious Sir Alexander. He was awaiting his opponent's favor by allowing him to begin his charge first. Instead, the emir turns his horse about and walks over to where his company is waiting. They walk out to meet him. While they converse outside of everyone else's hearing, a sudden movement is seen by all amongst the Muslim spectators. Many of these leave the few remaining, display weapons from under cloaks and robes, and mount the horses being held. Infantry with javelins, bows, shields and swords, move quickly to join the company where the emir is waiting.
The emir's army is suddenly revealed.
Cries of anger and dismay erupt from the king's and prince's people. The Military Order soldiers are contrastingly silent, even grim.
"What treachery is this?" shouts king Merlin, and his outrage is echoed by prince Richard, Sir Alexander and many others.
"My lords," says the Black Knight, "it is apparently the intent of our 'guests' to take prisoners for ransom and to sell into slavery. Fear not, we have an answer for this perfidy. We have arrived prepared. Form up and meet these unworthies!"
It was then noticed that one of his foot knights had already mounted a horse that was quietly and surreptitiously brought to him during the tourney, from whence, the lay people could not say. But none of the Black Knight's company are in doubt about how the destrier was produced on such brief notice.
The emir's light cavalry begin a flanking move to the right.
The combined companies of the king and prince face the bulk of the emir's approaching force.
The Military Order knights move through the rough ground to contest the passage of the Turcoman cavalry.
The tourney ground ...
... has become a battlefield instead!
The horsearchers draw down on the Crusader Knights.
"Pin cushion time, lads!" shouts the Black Knight, and quickly leads his men into the rough ground where there is some cover.
The cavalry reach the cover first.
Turcoman arrows kill a foot Knight!
The emir and his askaris trot forward. The best infantry run to keep pace on their right flank, javelins poised. The askaris shoot, focusing on the known figures of the two champions!
Sir Alexander and Sir Roderick's horses are shot from under them at the same time. Both knights land nibble-footed, simultaneously cursing their bad luck. It would be funny, if it weren't so deadly a situation that they all face now.
The emir's archers have obtained first blood.
The two champions have lost their warhorses!
Sir Roderick and Sir Alexander ponder (very briefly!) what to do next.
"Fall back!" they shout to their still-mounted seconds. Prince Richard has virtually turned over command to his champion in this suddenly horrible predicament, and does as Sir Alexander has said.
A mad scramble between infantry moving up and horses falling back, with dead horses in the way.
The foot move up beside the two champions and the pair of horsemen are now protected from further deadly composite bow shot.
The infantry screen.
Deadly shot indeed! Two foot knights go down. One is dead.
("Sir Wasted Space" is the fancy, dead knight in the near ground. Ricky, aka Prince Richard, is so disappointed with this favorite figure. He has always had great expectations, because the figure really is one of Schleich's best. But, the now defunct "Sir Wasted Space", formerly and fecklessly rechristened "Sir Valiant", in an attempt to overcome his even earlier ignominious cowardly death, had been "rewarded" with this latest epithet, hoping to perversely force fate to be kind. It made not the slightest difference either way. He took an arrow and died forthwith. Ricky is toying with even more ignominious names for his disappointing foot knight ...
"... Sir Wasted Space".)
Javelins rain down, the Franks rush into the missiles, which fail to penetrate armor anywhere. Then hand to hand battle is joined! King Merlin lags behind, ahead on either hand are his dismounted champion, Sir Roderick, and Roderick's second. Between them they take on all five of the emir's best foot.
The rest of the melee is against prince Richard and his company. Sir Alexander, much annoyed to be doing combat on foot(!) nevertheless presents his two-handed sword against the charging emir and forces the man's horse back! Prince Richard is driven back at lance point by an askari! Richard's axman on the right end is likewise driven back!
The desperate fight begins!
The thin line faces the flood!
Turcoman cavalry coming abreast of the Crusaders in the "rocks"
Pressing through the brief defile between the "rocks", the Military Order banner bearer (the Black Knight's second) strikes into the left flank of the Saracen archers and javelin men.
The banner bearer takes on three (the spear/javelin man in the second rank can fight).
The axeman goes down!
The banner bearer of the Order "Schwarzeneggered" the archer and javelin man in front of him. (The term "he Schwarzeneggered" means that he split his attack between two or more opponents in a single turn, thus taking on all of their combined defensive values, in this case 10; 4 for the archer - whose shield is on his back while he shoots his bow - and 6 for the javelin man. The Knight's attack total was negative, iirc the -4>-3 column, and he rolled boxcars. That was exciting!) The nearest pair of javelinmen took fright and flight.
Sir Alexander forced the emir back further, and he turned his horse around and kicked it into a trot through his own men behind.
Sir Alexander routs the emir! The "Schwarzenegger" Knight is at the top of the pic.
Sir Roderick is felled by three to one odds. The axeman right behind him turns and flees. The mounted knight fells one of the pair of Saracens facing him.
The king, his banner bearer and Sir Roderick's second vs five swordsmen.
Emerging from concealment in a narrow side canyon, the rest of the Crusaders suddenly appear behind the Turcoman cavalry. The Black Knight did not ever trust the honor of infidels and came prepared, as he had said.
Pikemen to the fore, crossbowmen behind ...
... cavalry moving out and around to the left.
The horsearchers would target this new enemy force, except for ...
... the sudden reappearance of the Black Knight and his two foot knights
The axeman takes a swing at the nearest Turcoman but is shot before he can score. The other Turcoman arrows target the foot knight to the Black Knight's left and shoot him down too. Then the Black Knight swiftly closes the gap on the nearest Turks.
The Black Knight engages two Turks before they can get away.
The third Knight starts to emerge from between the "rocks" in support. But there are two reasons why he doesn't complete his attack: his sword is broken, leaving him with nothing more formidable than a dagger. And, the Turcoman bows are all bending his way!
The Black Knight in outnumbered combat, and the Brother Knight reins his horse up short!
Seeing the swiftly advancing pike block, and the galloping Crusader Knights, the horsearchers cannot stop to battle with the Black Knight. The Turks keep cantering on to maintain the distance.
The Turcoman cavalry put on speed to keep their distance.
King Merlin and his banner bearer met the three remaining swordsmen. The pressure was greatest on the king as he took on two to one. The banner bearer faced his Saracen equivalent in the middle. Then the Order Knight appeared on Merlin's left and engaged one of the Saracens. The melee shifted to the right. The king now faced one, the banner bearer one and the knight one.
The Brother Knight comes to the aid of king Merlin.
An askari rode down one of prince Richard's foot. Sir Alexander took one last swipe at the rear of the fleeing emir. The Saracen foot got out of his way. Archers turned their arrows on the prince's champion fighter.
The little battle so far.
Sir Alexander said to himself, "Bugger this for a game of foot soldiers, I'm off to find another horse!"
Sir Alexander sees the hungry eyes of his enemies and seeks the "better part of valor" (it happens to the best of them).
The askari to prince Richard's left turned his horse and attacked him. Two to one! The askari to his right continued on with the momentum of his charge. But in a moment he would pull up. And then the prince could face three to one!
On the far left end of the little melee, the Brother Knight had broken his sword and backed out of the fight (that's how it happened that he only had a dagger when he faced the Turcoman menace moments later). King Merlin was facing two swordsmen alone again!
Prince Richard faces two to one, about to become three to one! King Merlin also faces two enemies!
This was the moment when the battle changed. Several things happened almost at the same time. The casualties that had mounted among the Saracens, plus the delinquency of their emir, caused the archers and javelin men to halt all forward advance, they milled, then broke for the rear following after their retreating emir's horse.
The king's mounted knight slew his man just in time to join the prince's standard bearer and the "Schwarzenegger" Knight in pursuit of the running Saracens, which tended to keep them running.
Sir Alexander, freed of all pressure, noticed his prince in grave danger and immediately moved to attack his leftmost foe. This askari saw the waving two-handed sword approaching and broke off to join the other askari, who had turned right to chase down the routing axeman. Alexander then assaulted the flank of the askari still facing prince Richard.
Merlin dispatched one of his foes who fell into "the pears". :) He completed the elimination of his two enemies by swiftly sending the second Saracen swordsman to hell. Then he saw his standard bearer in trouble. The man had inconceivably started to run away, just as the battle was winning. "Get back here, you varlet!" the king shouted and made a grab at the man's cloak. He missed, and was then in combat with the Saracen standard bearer, the final survivor of his company.
Merlin's standard bearer ran for the rear, only to see the askaris crossing in front of him as they chased the axeman into a very narrow cul de sac formed by the salt shaker, candle stick and napkin holder. The routing standard bearer withdrew to the relative security of "the pears". There he dithered while the battle wound down and never did get his morale back till the end.
The pressure is off! Against all expectation, the Franks are winning.
The pursuit begins.
The pursuit went deep.
Sir Alexander attacks the askari in the flank.
In the next instant the askari tumbles from the saddle, even as the Saracen lance steals the prince's horse's life!
(Later, Sir Alexander and prince Richard argued about who had struck the decisive blow. But as the prince mounted the defeated foeman's horse, while Alexander moved off to attack the other askaris in the rear, it was generally accepted that the prince had completed his own combat. In his presence, at any rate, it was allowed. When anyone in the castle talked to Alex (when Richard wasn't around) they tended to side with the champion's description and credibility. However, professional pride, adrenaline surging through your system, and a braggart for a prince and lord, would tend to influence any man's memory. In fact, the prince had struck true, as he insisted forever. The champion's sword had only toppled what the prince had already transfixed.)
Prince Richard mounts up in his enemy's place.
The weaponless Brother Knight failed to save his horse from Turcoman arrows, in spite of the added cover. He got to his feet and looked around for a weapon. It took a little while, but he finally found a dandy longsword on the wounded person of the king's foot knight captain (he had been one of the earliest casualties to Saracen arrows).
The pair of askaris pursue the axeman, a medieval case of "target fixation."
They poke with their lances fecklessly as he ducks for cover.
Sir Alexander closes on the rear of the nearest askari.
The crossbows with the Crusader force see the emir between the intervening rocks. They both try to bolt him, but the shot is too hard and they miss.
The crossbows draw a bead on the emir.
The Black Knight about to vanquish another foeman.
The Black Knight unhorsed the Turk in front of him. The other one, seeing the Crusader knights within striking distance, fled after his brethren.
The Turcoman flees.
The unhorsed Knight finds a replacement sword.
He steps into the king's duel and cuts the Saracen banner bearer down.
The Turcoman archers consulted very briefly as they rode away: should they ride by the royal party on the bute, and take some prisoners? A "performance check" on their morale was the deciding factor: they failed it miserably. Therefore, instead, they turned off to the right and lost themselves in the foothills.
The pursuing Crusaders gave up the chase and turned left, filing through the narrow spaces between the "rocks".
The Crusader cavalry lead the way between the "rocks".
Pikemen follow, though much slower.
Sir Alexander cuts down a Saracen horse from behind, then faces the dismounted askari.
Prince Richard is about to attack the other askari from the rear.
The Crusader cavalry arrive at the same time and move to join in the kill.
The askari turns around. But the axeman gets brave again and steps out to attack him from the rear.
The emir had rallied some of his infantry and returned to the attack. He personally engaged the knight from king Merlin's company. The "Schwarzenegger" Knight cut down a spearman or two, then the emir found himself facing both knights, with the standard bearer not far off. The emir's few men began to desert. When the crossbowmen shot down two of them, the rest of the archers took off for good. At this point, the Franks offered the emir and his askaris a chance to surrender, which they accepted.
The emir and a couple of rallied javelin men resist.
The "Schwarzenegger" Knight drops another Saracen.
The emir is offered surrender.
The final inducement ...
.... crossbow bolts, which rout off the last of the emir's men.
When the fallen had been attended to, and the wounded recovered (and ransomed, which the subdued emir was glad enough to pay), the final tally of dead was thus: two foot knights of the Order, half a dozen Saracen infantry, and "Sir Wasted Space".