Emperor Heraclius chuckled briefly at the unintended pun from Constan’s choice of words. He then held up his right hand to Constan as Constan opened his mouth to continue. The Emperor then turned to General Vahan, “You were supposed to be my expert on this scourge. Where you aware of this characteristic of the enemy during your failed defense of Heliopolis and Emessa?”
It was General Vahan’s turn to look nervous. He swallowed audibly and said, “No your majesty I was not. When the enemy approached, I sent a courier into both cities instructing the local militia to sound the mobilization alarm.”
The Emperor’s cheeks took on a crimson hue as he said, “So this man right here, figured this out after a single engagement with the damned? One in which you too were present, but failed to comprehend? Then you magnified your mistake by losing two more of my cities to Satan’s Legions!” The Emperor’s eyes narrowed and his nostrils flared as he continued, “Don’t bother answering me now. I grow tired of your excuses. I’ve clearly made a grievous error by leaving you in charge of my Tagmata.”
Emperor Heraclius, closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm himself. His posture relaxed and he turned back to Constan, “Please continue Tourmarches.”
Constan nodded, “We succeeded in our silent mobilization. I had all of the elements in place that myself, and my subordinates had devised to keep the damned out of the city. It began to rain as the enemy arrived in front of our western wall. By our estimates the horde was some fifty thousand in number.”
“How many did you have under arms to defend the city?” The Emperor asked.
“All told, just shy of thirteen hundred souls your majesty.” Constan replied.
The Emperor grimaced, “So by your estimates you were outnumbered fifty to one?”
Constan nodded mutely to the question and the Emperor said, “Please continue with your account Tourmarches.”
“Aye your majesty, the horde then did something unexpected as they approached our walls. They stopped. We were shocked at first but then we saw a parting in their numbers much like the sea parted for Moses. As the part reached their front ranks a single female emerged. She then asked for one of my subordinates specifically Dekanos Baltazar.” Constan said.
Before he could continue the Emperor, interrupted him once again, “She spoke? As in intelligently?”
Constan nodded, “Aye your majesty.”
The throne room erupted into pandemonium as shouts of impossible, that can’t be, and saints preserve us echoed off the walls. Vitalis responded by banging his staff into the floor once again and yelling in his high-pitched voice, “Silence! We must have silence!”
The combined effort of the clamor he made with his staff, and his high-pitched voice cut through the noise and the room quickly fell silent.
“What did she have to say?” The Emperor asked.
Constan replied, “She asked about Dekanos Baltazar. He was among a group that I had sent out on a mission. Along with a Kentarches Justin, some of the guardsmen, and a detachment from the 8th Mesopotamian light horse to recover Kataphractoi armor from the battlefield at Yarmuk.”
The Emperor smiled, “What were you planning on doing with the armor?”
“Establishing our own unit of Kataphractoi to help defend Damascus your majesty.” Constan replied.
The Emperor chuckled lightly, “I can see why Governor Maurice promoted you. Please continue with your report, I’m sure more evidence of your creativity will be forthcoming.”
“Aye your majesty. At that point she stated that we would all be turned into dinner and ordered the horde to charge. They followed her direction and charged the walls. We had dug a moat and filled it with a special liquid that the Persian remnant had brought with them in great quantity.”
The Emperor again held up his hand which stopped Constan from continuing and asked, “The Persian remnant?”
Constan nodded, “Aye your imperial majesty. They arrived on our doorstep in late August after being completely defeated by the damned. The only survivors left from the Persian Army. They thought the flammable nature of the substance would come in handy. They were right.”
Constan paused for a moment to take a deep breath. The Emperor turned to a servant standing in the shadows and said, “Please give the Tourmarches a cup of wine.”
Constan gratefully took the cup and began sipping it as he continued, “As soon as the moat was awash in damned, I ordered my archers to ignite it with fire arrows. The substance that the Persians claim just bubbles up in the desert is a thick black and tarry substance. It stuck to the damned and inhibited their forward progress. At least until the moat was filled with their writhing bodies. At that point more simply started walking across the top of those in the moat.
Emperor Heraclius straightened his back and moved to the edge of his throne as he asked, “Did it work?”
“Aye your majesty. A conflagration was instantly ignited by the flaming arrows. Their flesh burned downed to the bone and then they died.”
“Interesting, I wonder if we could acquire more of this substance for use against the damned?” The Emperor asked.
Constan frowned, “I don’t think so majesty. By their own accounts, the eastern deserts where the Persians found this substance, is lost to the damned.”
It was the Emperor’s turn to frown, “Does anyone in your party have a sample of this liquid?”
Constan looked down at the Emperor’s feet as he replied, “No your majesty.”
The Emperor sighed audibly before replying, “That is unfortunate indeed.”
The Emperor made eye contact with one of the men in the audience to the left of the center aisle that Constan, Athos, and Vitalis stood in and said, “Kuni, please go to the alchemists at once and describe the account that the Tourmarches just relayed to us of this black and tarry liquid. See if they have any record of this substance existing within the Empire. If they don’t have immediate knowledge of it, they are to begin working toward creating a liquid with the same properties at once. Understood?”
Kuni, nervously rubbed his left palm across his black hair, which was speckled with gray, and said, “Yes my Emperor. I will see to it.”
Without waiting for a dismissal Kuni turned on his heels and left the throne room via the center aisle. Emperor Heraclius then turned to another nearby court member and said, “Raziya you are to depart by sea immediately for the Library at Alexandria. Have the librarians canvas the scrolls for knowledge of this substance. If Kuni’s alchemists cannot devise a substitute I must know if there are any locations within the Empire where it bubbles up to the surface, like the Persians claim it does in their homeland.”
The wizened ancient man, whose long gray beard nearly reached the waist of his white linen robe, nodded his bald head at the Emperor, and said, “I shall leave at once my Emperor.”
Emperor Heraclius then turned his attention back to Constan and said, “Please continue with your account Tourmarches.”
Constan nodded and continued, “Once the fires burned low, they swarmed to the base of our western wall. As they began climbing up on top of each other in order to reach us we opened fire with our crossbows.”
The Emperor interrupted Constan’s account with another question, “Crossbows? That weapon is extremely slow to reload. With hordes of the damned swarming up at you, wouldn’t it have made more sense to employ bows? You would have increased your rate of fire.”
“My Emperor, ye would be correct under most circumstance. These circumstances were extraordinary for two reasons. The first being that the Skutatoi under my command had their training rushed, and we did not have time to teach them both the melee fighting and the distance fighting skillsets. The second being that the Persians once again provided us with a solution outside the boundaries of our own technology. Before the damned destroyed them, they had acquired a new kind of crossbow technology from Chin. Technology that they had every intention of using upon us, to reverse the humiliating defeat that ye laid upon them.”<
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The edge of the Emperor’s lips turned upward at the compliment from Constan, but this time he remained silent as Constan continued, “In addition to the flaming tar, they brought us repeating crossbow technology.”
Constan, getting a feel for the Emperor and when he would likely interrupt his account, paused so that they Emperor could ask a question. Constan wasn’t disappointed as the Emperor asked, “How does a crossbow repeat?”
Constan smiled inwardly and thought, Maybe I can keep my head after all if I can deliver hope, and then answered aloud, “They have what is called a magazine that holds twenty bolts. When you fire the crossbow, you must operate a hand crank that simultaneously pulls the firing string back, and drops a new bolt in place.”
“How long does it take to operate this hand crank?” Emperor Heraclius asked.
Constan mimed holding a cross bow and said, “Imagine that I am holding a repeating crossbow and I have just fired. This crossbow is similar to the ones that everyone is familiar with save the magazine with twenty bolts and the hand crank. To reload you simply pullback on the hand crank like this.” Constan mimed pulling the hand crank that is attached to the rear of a repeating crossbow, “And the bolt drops into place. Ye are now ready to fire.”
“So it works just like you demonstrated and only takes a few seconds to reload?” The Emperor asked.
“Aye my Emperor, just like I demonstrated. One can fire off an entire magazine of twenty bolts in a matter of a few minutes.” Constan replied.
“Incredible! We must have this technology. We could set the mob in Constantinople to productive use for once in their miserable lives and have them butcher the damned with these repeating crossbows. Did you or your party bring one with you?” Emperor Heraclius asked.
Constan’s shoulders slumped as he said, “No.”
Heraclius slumped back into his chair and said, “That is unfortunate indeed. Continue, what happened next?”
“We held them back for a time with the crossbows. When it looked as if the damned were going to reach the top of the wall, I ordered our next idea into action. Using the artillery your majesty so generously provided for our defense we sighted them to shoot nearly straight up.” Constan paused to await the expected question.
He was not disappointed as the Emperor asked, “Why did you do that?”
Constan smiled as he continued, “So that the stones fired by the catapults would come down just a wee bit from the wall.” Constan held up his two hands about twelve inches apart to indicate the described distance, “It worked. The stones came down and struck the damned trying to ascend the walls.” Constan chuckled as he continued, “Ye should have seen what the stones did to the poor bastards. Drove the lot of them into the mud below. Ye could have fit what was left of the buggers in a helmet.”
“Help me to understand Tourmarches. You basically fired the catapults straight up and the stones came down onto the heads of the damned swarming up the wall?” Asked the Emperor.
Constan nodded in affirmation, “Aye, ye got it. We did that until the artillerymen ran low on stones to fire.”
“What happened after that?” The Emperor asked.
“We were able to reload our crossbows while the artillery held them at bay. That bought us several more minutes, and several hundred more dead beasties. Eventually we were down to just our Spathas. It was time to try our last idea.” Constan paused and took a sip of his wine.
The Emperor asked with an incredulous look on his face, “You devised another innovation?”
Constan nodded and smiled, “Aye, Athos led that effort so I’ll let him describe it to ye.
The Emperor’s eyes shifted to Athos, who had been standing quietly while Constan spoke with the Emperor. Athos swallowed hard and took a deep breath to steel his nerves before beginning, “I was in command of a two-hundred-person strong unit.”
The Emperor interrupted before Athos could continue, “You mean two-hundred-man unit?”
“No, your majesty, I mean person. We had one hundred shield bearers. They were men whose muscles had been built by shoveling charcoal into the furnaces of the Damascus armory, and one hundred ladies armed with gladiuses.” Athos said.
The Emperor’s eyes widened, “You allowed women to fight?”
Athos replied, “Given our lack of numbers we didn’t have a choice. Every man between fifteen and sixty had been drafted. There were simply none left not already in the ranks that had the strength to lift a Spatha. Those numbers weren’t nearly enough. We needed more fighters in the ranks, so we had to identify another source of recruits if we were to survive.”
“I see. Though the church is likely to be in disagreement.” The Emperor paused for a moment and threw a glance at the Arch Bishop of Antioch. The man’s bearded face was beet red as he opened his mouth to object. The Emperor held up a hand to stay the man’s outburst then continued, “Allowing women to fight. It is an interesting idea that potentially could double our army should it become acceptable.”
While Emperor Heraclius spoke, Athos was presented with his own goblet of wine. He took a sip and continued his account, “The men of my unit bore shields modeled on the old-style square legionary shields, with one important difference. These shields were twice the size of the shields used by the armies of old and they had two slits cut into them. One slit about a third of the way from the top, and the other about a third of the way from the bottom.”
Athos paused for a moment and took a sip of his wine before continuing, “As we exited the gate, we went into testudo formation. The women with their smaller forms, moved into position amongst the shield bearers.”
Unable to contain himself any longer the Archbishop interrupted his voice tinged with outrage, “It is an abomination against God to allow women to fight!”
Emperor Heraclius slumped back into his throne before glancing over at the Archbishop bedecked in the silken vestments of his office and said, “The dead walking the earth without a rapture of the true believers is an abomination against God. Why not fight one abomination with the other so that the believers of Christ can triumph?”
The Archbishop Zachary, stammered a moment before he replied, “My Emperor, it isn’t proper. Women ignored the word of God, took the apple, and tempted man into making the same mistake. If we allow them to take up arms, they will eventually find themselves in a position of power again. Should we allow those that are so susceptible to the temptations of Satan to be in a position where they can influence, man who was created in God’s image?”
Emperor Heraclius sat up straight in his throne and squared his shoulders. He smiled down at the Archbishop and said, “Perhaps this Scourge of the Damned is God’s way of showing us that they deserve another chance? I would suggest you study the scriptures thoroughly with an open mind before making a final decision. Vitalis, see that Archbishop Zachary is given a private audience one week hence, so that we can discuss the matter of a woman’s place further.”
Vitalis bowed and responded in his high-pitched voice, “It will be as you say my Emperor.”
Emperor Heraclius’ eyes fell back upon Athos and he asked, “Then what did you do?”
Athos took a deep breath and picked up where he had left off, “Once the women were within the testudo, we sealed up the rear of the formation with the remaining shield bearers and exited the gate. As soon as we were outside the gate, we yelled, screamed, and beat upon the shields with our swords. This distracted the damned away from the walls to the source of the racket, us.”
Athos paused, and took a long sip of the wine that he had been given. As he did so, he briefly made eye contact with Constan. The older man gave Athos a nod of affirmation. He turned back toward the Emperor and continued, “The tactic worked. We were able to distract the damned off the walls to attack our testudo. In the first few minutes, the women, using the slits in the shields, slew the unholy bastards by the hundreds.”
“So what went wrong? This seems like a brilliant strategy to use against our p
utrid enemy.” The Emperor asked.
“Our shield bearers that held their shields aloft eventually tired, especially considering the added weight of the crazed damned upon them. One of my men, in time, tired of holding the shield aloft. When his strength failed him, the creatures were able to penetrate into our mobile fortification. Once inside the testudo they began to bite my people and turn them into more damned. The chaos that ensued enabled several of the damned into my formation. Several more of my people were turned and we lost control.” Athos finished sorrowfully.
At this point Constan started speaking, “I saw the predicament that the lad was in and ordered in the last of our reserves. Fifty Persian Cataphracts. Though not as numerous as the Kataphractoi at the Battle of Yarmuk, their charge wrought significant carnage on the unholy bastards. This bought Athos and his survivors an opportunity to retreat to the gate and escape the damned. Unfortunately, Zahid, brother to the commander of the Damascus Vigils Farid had other plans. He would not open the gate to the lad and his people.”
The Emperor gasped and said, “Treachery? The Empire is being overrun by legions of the damned and someone dares to be treacherous?”
“Aye, Zahid was jealous of the lad and tried to prevent him retreating into Damascus. Luckily Athos had formed a friendship with one of the vigils, Hadad, and he was able to fight his way to the gate and open it.”
“Well, at least someone kept their wits about them. What happened to this Hadad? Is he with your group now?” The Emperor asked.
“No. He perished during the fall of the city.” Constan responded.
“Wait a moment, so you won this battle against the damned, and successfully defended the city?” Questioned the Emperor.
“Aye, thanks to that bastard Zahid, the damned got into the city through the gate, but I had the remaining non-combatants on the rooves of the city armed with stones. Ye should have seen it, women, children, and the old hurling rocks onto those damned bastards! Slew them all they did.” Constan smiled as he finished speaking.
The Emperor took a sip of wine from his own golden gemstone encrusted goblet and asked, “If you defeated the damned, how did the city fall?”
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