Stories thread - King of the Romans PBM

[Warluster]

Frankfurt,1222
Part I
The sun was shining like a newly cracked egg, the sky like a drying painting. Life below could not be described like that though.

It was midday in Frankfurt, the market crowds were out,noise and cahos the surpreme rulers on market days. Pigs oinked,roosters crowed and people babbled.

On the third floor of a large house, standing at the window, was a German Spy,Hugo Heidelberg. He was waiting for someone to join him, for an important matter.

He let out a sigh of recognition, then sneaking through the larges crowds was his counter part, and the organiser of the whole thing. Hugo sat down on the window still, waiting for the person to come in.

The door banged open,
"mein master, you are finnaly here" said Hugo, the man,supposedly Hugo's master,let out a spulttering cough,
"It took longer to get away from them then I thought, had to escape some of those dogs..." wondered the man aloud,
"Now to matters mein master, he..." Hugo was cut off.
"Shut up! Don't you dare speak aloud,windows open" He slammed the window shut "Curtains open!" he ripped the curtains shut "And doors unlocked and empty!" He slammed the door shut and locked it, the room was now very dark, and no noise could be heard except the two men's breathing.
"At least a candle?" asked Hugo,
"Nothing!" snarled the man. Hugo accepted it and sat down at a table.

"So did the bribe work mein lord?" asked Hugo, the man nodded, his face in the dark.
"Those Danes couldn't get over it, I raised that money at the city, and gave it, they agreed to send a massive one..." drawled the man.
"Excellent mein lord..."
"Now we have to clear up this mess, at least it all worked, they didn't see anything,Luka reported it all, the bodies misplaced, the armies supposedly meeting, ha!" laughed the man.
"And today, the loose ends meet, and it all starts!" exclaimed Hugo, the man nodded and leaned forward.
"He shall be suspicous, but order it all anyway, now go, tell them to head off and wait! Let him be the ambushed!" claimed the man, and Hugo got up,unlocked the door and ran off.
"Today, it begins"
OOC:
Part II cooming up soon.

[Ituralde]

A strong breeze tugged at the tentflaps and made them flail, the two guards standing beside the entrance tried to huddle deeper into their coats. Inside a single brazier gave little illumination and not close to enough warmth for the three men occupying it.

One, a large bald man with broad shoulders was pacing slowly through the room. A second, younger man, wiry and thin was sitting on a stool perching over a piece of pergament, while the third man, a grizzled old veteran, stood silently to attention.

"This will be a glorious chapter, mein Herr! The Holy Crusade, I can't wait until you enter the city of Damascus gloriously. I have already prepared several versions of it in advance. It will be my masterpiece. Do you want to hear this third version of mine, I like it best so far..."

"Hush you fool!" The old veteran spoke, but the pacing man held up a hand. "Leave him be, Rainer. Let him write his stories."

"As you wish, my Duke!" replied the veteran stiffly.

Leopold was pacing through his tent, mainly to help him think, but also to get some movement in his stiff joints. He could feel himself becoming older. Who could have foreseen that the nights in this country could be so cold. By day the sun nearly melted your brain and by night it was hard not to shiver.
Finally he turned on the scribe, who jolted upright at the sudden attention.

"I wouldn't be so sure about me entering Damascus. If you write in advance, maybe you should prepare for some different endings as well. You have heard the news. The Mongols are besieging Damascus and have brought a force that far outnumbers us."

"I am sure you will be able to defeat them, my Lord! You always do. Nobody stands a chance against our armies. The Austrian Household Army has never lost."

Leopold gave a snort of contempt and began pacing again. The man was right though. He had never lost a battle, now had he? But then his enemies had been Rebels, Hungarians, Venetians, and he had been head of the Austrian Household Army. Now he was commanding a band of Crusaders. Men that followed him, because they believed in some pious mission. He knew what he would have done with the Austrian Army at his back. Wait for the Mongols to deplete their forces against the Egyptian defenders and then move in for the kill. Maybe deplete their ranks through nightly raids.
But this was different. The men would not sit idly by, while some barbarians took their prized objective. They had come to conquer Damascus, and conquer it they would. No backing down, no strategical maneuvering. You went towards the enemy and fought it out, square and fair.

He couldn't believe his own thoughts! Now he sounded just like Sigismund. Maybe this Crusade had changed him though. There must be a reason why his brother Henry was now hailed as Henry the Chivalrous, although he had never shown much inclination before he left. Maybe as a Crusader you had to do things differently. You presented Christendom after all. And while you may well be a sneaky bastard you couldn't act like one, that just wouldn't sit well with the Pope, or Emperor Henry and the Diet for that matter.

And for his enemies, these were no minor European powers. This were savage barbarians from the Steppe to the East. Horse Lords, they were called. Many a foe had fallen against them and it was murmured that they're Empire stretched expanses that no European mind could imagine. The had sent their best generals to conquer all of Christendom before them, and they would not be stopped easily.

Once again Leopold stopped in his steps. He knew what he had to do. He had known it all along. He was not getting any younger, and he had always wanted die in battle. He had known that the Mongols would await him and now he had his chance before him. To prove whether those Raiders from the East really were such formidable foes as everybody made them out to be. And also to find out whether he had really earned his reputation of being the greatest general of the Reich, he added wryly.

"Rainer, my trusted friend. We have been through a lot together and it looks like soon our fates will be decided. I have one final thing I ask from you." The old veteran only nodded.

"If I die, take my sword and bring it to my son Arnold."

"Die? What do you mean die?" exclaimed the Biographer from his stool in the corner.

"Hush you fool!" Leopold turns back to Rainer "Tell him, tell him to remember his father. And now go get me Karl Zirn. I have to talk with him and then I will have to speak to the Crusader Council."

"Jawohl mein Herr!" Rainer bows and leaves the tent immediately. With a thin smile on his lips Leopold turns to the scrawny man sitting in the corner.

"Well, go ahead already. Write your stories, write a lot of them. If I should die, I want nothing less than the best version you got, understand?"