Stories Thread

[Privateerkev]

Antioch: 1090

Makedonios tried to sit on his horse. He had been feeling bad for years. But finally, the moment he had been preparing for a decade was at hand. Antioch had finally run out of food for it's garrison.

The front gates creaked open. And all of a sudden, hundreds of men poured out. Thinking the garrison was attacking, Makedonios ordered his men into battle lines. But the garrison men simply ran along the sides of the wall and attempted to make it into the countryside. Afraid the garrison units would reform and bother them later, the Grandmaster ordered his Sergeants to take off and round them up. Being the only cavalry in his army, they all galloped off, leaving the Grandmaster sitting there leading the foot units of the army.

A young man was up in an arrow tower. Barely 16, Azim had watched everything that had happened. He saw a man in shiny armor barking orders and coughing. Taught by his grandfather to go for the shiniest armor first, Azim crouched behind the arrow slit, took aim, and fired.

THWOCK!

Makedonios had a fine plate of armor on order that was made by the Patriarch himself. It was supposed to arrive before today but Imperial bureaucracy was what it was. Some official had not signed one of the triplicate forms on time and the procurement officer had kept the armor behind his desk until he could get confirmation from the initial bureaucrat. The armor from the Patriarch probably would have caused the arrow to just bounce off. But Makedonios only had his old armor on and it wasn't thick enough.

The arrow hit him in the shoulder and caused him to fall off his horse. Upon hitting the ground, Makedonios immediately passed out. His body was weakened from a decade of severe illness and the shock of the hit was simply too much. His army saw their commander hit by an arrow from the city walls. Enraged, and with no nobles to lead them, they simply ran into the city.

Searching for who ever had shot their general, the soldiers started entering homes. While women and children were spared, any man of military age was rounded up and taken to the city square. Some of the garrison were still hiding and they put up a fight when their homes were entered. Outnumbered and separated, the militiamen lost their individual contests against groups of Byzantine soldiers. Any home found to be inhabited by a militia member had their property taken.

The captured men in the courtyard knew they were going to meet a bad end. As a group, they rushed the soldiers guarding them and we're cut down. Soldiers went to those men's homes and confiscated their property as well. Over 2000 military age men were killed in Antioch that day. Through all of this, Makedonios laid on a bed unconscious. His Sergeants finally came back from rounding up the fleeing soldiers a couple of hours later. Appalled at what they saw, they put an end to it immediately. Captains of the Byzantine regiments were placed under arrest.

When Makedonios finally awoke, he learned what had happened. From his bed, he performed the ceremony to turn the city over to Armatos and knighted him as a full Knight of the Order of St. John. And he made arrangements to make sure the confiscated property was sent to the Emperor. While he could not undo the terrible things that had happened that day, he hoped the 6591 florins would help the war effort in other parts of the Empire.