Bern, 1326

"Sir? The latest pigeon has arrived."

"Thank you, Joseph," said Dietrich von Dassel. "Where has it cooped?"

"The usual spot, sir. It seems to have more to say than usual."

"Excellent, lead on. It appears that this is what we've been waiting for." Dietrich started giving out orders to the people around him. "Friedrich, alert Luther. He might want to know about this. August, come with me. I'm sure Hans knows about this by now and he might be prepared to react at any time. I need you to be ready to alert the troops."

Both men nodded. Friedrich, Dietrich's aide, departed, searching for Luther. August von Blücher, a Franconian whose hatred of the French brought him to Swabia, followed his general and Joseph, the man who brought them all the news.

The city had now been under siege for some months, but there were still ways of communication with the outside world. Just hours before Hans's army had arrived to trap his enemy, Dietrich had made contact with a sympathetic farmer who had an odd hobby relating to birds. The man had agreed to send carrier pigeons detailing the news of the outside world, and particularly Swabia, whenever possible. At first Dietrich was skeptical but after his preferred method of communication, a man who knew the secret passages of the city well, was caught and brutally executed by Hans's men in front of the garrison, he had no choice.

The three men arrived to where the pigeon was perched, resting after its flight and graciously accepting some seed, the message still tied to its leg. Dietrich untied it, and without waiting for Friedrich or Luther, read the message out loud.

Hummel is victorious at the Crossroads. He marches on Bruges against the Danes. Von Salza in full retreat towards Rheims, carrying only archers and some cavalry. He has lost all infantry. Hummel still has a decent army. Expected recovery time for von Salza is long.
And then, scrawled at the bottom of the paper:

Can you hurry this siege up? I'd like to be able to sell my crops again.
Dietrich read the first part of the message once more and then discarded it, turning to August von Blücher. "What do you make of all this?"

"Too early to tell," said Blücher. We don't know whether this victory was Phyrric or not yet. Hummel definitely won, but the question is whether von Salza roughed him up enough to make Bruges difficult. After he fights the Danes his army might be in as bad condition as von Salza's."

Dietrich was about to reply, but then Friedrich and Alexander Luther joined them.

"What'd it say?" Friedrich asked.

"Hummel won," Dietrich said simply, and then continued his discussion with Blücher. "August, you have a point about long-term. That's long-term though. What about short-term?"

Here Friedrich piped in. "Well, short-term, it energizes those who do not support the current Swabian regime. This kind of battle result won't convince anybody that Hans has his act together. That means the good Duke is going to have to do some major damage control to salvage the situation."

"Against us," said Luther.

"Very good, Luther," said Dietrich. "That's the thing now, in order to save face and keep Swabia in line Hans is going to need a decisive victory against us, and he's going to need it fast. Preferably one that results in mine and Luther's capture or death. Rebellions that survive the initial effort to put them down become infinitely more dangerous."

"What he needs to do now," said Blücher, "is beat us quickly, turn around, and then march on Hummel. If he focuses on us too long, then Hummel gets a free hand in the north and can wreak havoc for quite a while until von Salza gets back on his feet. If he abandons Bern in favor of chasing down Hummel, then we get to stretch our legs a little bit."

"And there's no way he can do either thing," said Luther. "Because the other side would get too dangerous."

All three of them nodded at Luther's words. Even though the man was a professional theologian he had spent a lot of time around armies and garrisons, and was starting to get a good grasp of the military perspective.

"Hans has no choice but to attack us here, and to do it quickly," said Dietrich. "And when he does, we'll be ready for him. By God, we'll be ready for him."