Chapter 329: Snowid’s Disgust

Snowid watched as the Empire camp moved once again. The walls came alive as his men quickly organised themselves. Each day had been the same thing. From the early hours, artillery would fly across the open field and slam into the walls and at night, small harassing forces would be sent to attack, teasing a siege. It was strange, as if Alfred was testing his defences and reactions.

Each time it happened, he made sure to order his men to keep a watchful eye and not miss anything, but he repeated the same thing over and over when the enemy showed no change in their tactics, which made them sloppy. Gaps formed in the walls at night, and whilst he had been able to catch them and punish whoever needed to be punished, it was getting to Snowid.

He was exhausted. From being kept awake during the day as artillery hit the fort each day, the paranoia of wondering when the attack was coming, and forcing himself to watch his men at night. He had hardly rested.

Despite it, Snowid watched again. From across the open field, he watched the trebuchets fire. The boulders looked smaller to Snowid, and he couldn’t help but wonder what Alfred had prepared this time. Small pieces fell off them, and they aimed much higher, for the inner walls.

"BRACE!" Snowid cried out as he and his men ducked. He expected the sound he had become used to hearing. The sound of the boulder exploding into pieces as it crashed, but it never came. Instead, a loud thud followed by some squelching was all he could hear. Snowid lifted his head and looked down.

The change from indifference to disgust was instant as the courtyard below was covered in a dark paste. Limbs, guts, and unidentifiable pieces of human flesh lay sprawled across the floor as the. Some of his men, unlucky enough to be in the courtyard, looked at themselves and quickly threw up as they were covered in what remained of a human body.

Looking back up and outside the walls, Snowid saw the trebuchets being prepared again and clenched his fist. "Animal." To keep him awake and force his men to be on edge. He had no problem with that. It was war. It was a viable tactic. One he had used before.

But launching the dead at someone. What was the point? Why disrespect the idea in such a way? Snowoid froze and looked back down at the courtyard.’Where did he get the bodies?’Looking at them, Snowid squinted before clenching his fists in rage.

It was hard to tell, but he could when he focused.’He’s using my men.’Snowid felt like running out of the gate at that moment and charging Alfred’s camp alone. It was one thing to disrespect the dead, but to use his own soldiers whom they had killed in the previous battle was a disrespect he couldn’t accept. Clenching the wall, it took everything he had to stay calm.

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Alfred watched as his men got to work. He had a satisfied smile on his face, watching everything happen. "Phase two has started." Turning to face Charles, he carried on, "How has the security become at night?"

"The men have reported that they are getting more lax. If we keep it up, gaps should form." Alfred nodded and looked back at Malbork. Although he would love the fort to fall within days, he knew what was impossible. He still had to play the long game to some extent, even with his plans.

"He’s going to react to this, isn’t he?" Alfred said coldly, making Charles dryly chuckle.

"You’re throwing his own dead at him. We already know it’s easy to anger him. If he doesn’t react, I will be more surprised." Alfred nodded and watched.

"Set up defences for a cavalry raid. He still hasn’t used his armoured cavalry yet, which is strange."

"Saving his trump card?" Alfred nodded to Charles’ question.

"It will come within the week. If not, then I just need to annoy him more. Have we got someone ready for phase three?" Alfred asked.

"Yes. A man whom Henryk trusts. Whilst you and I can speak the language, the accents of the Commonwealth are hard to replicate."

"I don’t like leaving something so important to an outsider." With a tone full of annoyance, Alfred clicked his tongue. "Was there no way to have any of the Unyielding do it?"

"Absolutely not." The mere suggestion made Charles want to laugh. "They are more dolls than humans at this point."

"Fine." Alfred gave up. "You didn’t tell Henryk the exact nature of the mission." Charles shook his head, making Alfred nod, "Good, keep it that way." Looking at the fort, Alfred yawned and stretched his arms. "I will be resting. Wake me if anything happens."

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Alexei sat with his spear across his lap. His eyes were cold, sitting in the middle of the battlefield. Piles of bodies lay around him, as the Vulture watched from a distance, waiting for their meal to be free.

"Father." Ivan walked over, his smile out of place compared to the sight around him. "Lighten up, we won." Ivan watched his father for a couple of seconds and frowned, seeing no change in Alexei.

"Too easy..." Quietly speaking to himself, his words confused Ivan.

"What?"

"The battle was too easy. My brother is an idiot, but those around him aren’t. Why did we win so easily?" Alexei looked at his son, who scratched the back of his head and gave a grin that said he was an idiot. It annoyed Alexei, who stood up and slammed the end of his spear into Ivan’s foot. "I’m not messing around right now, son. I asked you a question?"

Ivan groaned and knelt down, rubbing his foot in an exaggerated manner. Deosite that his eyes went cold, colder than Alexei’s. "Uncle is in a two-front war against us at the Goths. Not only does he have to split his soldiers, but also his generals. Adding to that, I did a pretty good job of rallying our men. "

Alexei shook his head. Whilst he agreed with Ivan, he couldn’t help but feel he was missing something. Others may have called him paranoid or overly cautious, but Alexei didn’t care. It was this ability that allowed him to keep power for so long., to prepare for the day when the old Empire could be rebuilt.

"We’re holding off for a while. I need to check something." Alexei’s words made Ivan groan, but he said nothing. His father had trusted him too many times for him not to trust him.

"It’s fine. Our men need time to rest anyway." Putting his arm around his father’s shoulder, Ivan smiled at him, the serious attitude he had a second ago vanished, as if it had never been there. "Shall we have a drink, Father. We need to keep our morale up aswell."

"No." Alexei quickly shot it down, but didn’t take Ivan’s arm off. "Find Mikhail if you want a drink."

"I can’t keep up with Godfather." Hearing Ivan’s sulk, Alexei finally broke away, embarrassed to be seen with his son acting like that.