Chapter 6: Many Fronts
In the months that followed the Khanate defeat at Rindyar their horde shattered, Movan and his band of ninety eight swiftly advanced deep into the borders of the Khanate with no opposition. Feeling the pressure from Both the East and the North the Rhodoks were pushed back to only a couple of castles, and a few villages and made peace with the Kingdom of Swadia and King Harlaus and his army turned their attention more to the east against the Khanate. As the months turned into a single year the Khanate Stronghold of Unuzdaq traded hands Between Swadia and the Khanate three times. Word was received that the Rhodoks had taken back what they had lost to the Sultanate and that the Sultanate negotiated peace still holding on to the city of Veluca and the surrounding villages a peace which the Rhodoks grudgingly accepted. From the North there was an unstable truce between the Nords and the Vaegirs after the Kingdom of the Nords took the City of Curaw and the Vaegirs took it back. Now it Was rumored that King Ragnar King of the Nords prepared his armies to march south toward the Kingdom of Swadia while Harlaus and much of the army was away at war, and now to our story.
4th Seige of Unuzdaq
Movan and his men carried the ladder shields raised as Arrows rained down upon them from the walls of the recently retaken Stronghold of Unuzadaq all around the Stronghold siege lines could be clearly seen from all the fighting that had taken place outside the city, The reason King Harlaus wanted to hold Unuzdaq was to secure the border between Swadia, and the Sultanate in the event Swadia went to war with them also to have a more direct route to the Khanate city of Halmar.
Movan and his men carried the ladder quickly as they could carry the heavy ladder to the walls. As they advanced the Swadian Crossbowmen laid down cover fire trying to kill the Khanate archers before they did to much damage. As they approached the wall the Archers on the walls fire grew faster. Movan could hear the thud of arrow after arrow hitting his round shield as he covered the men raising the ladder with it. Once the ladder was in place Movan drew his sword and began to advance with the rest of his men to the walls. As they got up to the top of the ladder Movan slung his shield on his back and sheathed his sword and drew his two handed broadsword and carved a path through the Khanate line of shields his men right behind him. As his men streamed onto the ladder from the ladder the outside men formed a shield wall and began pushing in opposite directions while their comrades filed in behind them, Movan and his Comrades jumped down onto a stable roof then to the ground then split up and began to fight their way up toward their comrades who were pushing back the Khanate men toward Movan and Borchas groups. Movan and Borcha's groups charged up the stairs and began to cut their way through while the shield wall broke and the men began to fight their way toward their commanders. on the stairs below. In an hour the Stronghold of Unuzdaq was once more under Swadian Control. Movan and his men celebrated another victory and secured the castle repairing what they could so they could hold. Unuzdaq had fallen into disrepair as the Kingdom who owned the castle switched so often. That evening they rested easy and celebrated, but still kept an eye out for the Khanate to come and try to retake the Castle.
The next morning a page came from King Harlaus delivering a Message that Praven had fallen to the Nord King Ragnar and that Ragnar's own banner now Hung high over the city and that was the Nords way of showing they were at war. Movan burned the scroll and wrote another one saying he would liberate Praven and end the war all in one blow. Then he prepared his men and once again left the Stronghold of Unuzdaq just as another Khanate army came over the horizon. Movan straight marched his men for a week with hardly any rest when they reached Suno Movan finally stopped his men to rest and get fresh supplies for the battle ahead. On the fast march to Suno they had lost several men and horses to exhaustion from marching for a week non stop. Out of the original ninety eight there were only fifty left. Movan sent Borcha to Praven to asses the enemy garrison when he came back Borcha reported there being over two hundred garrisoned at Praven. Movan gathered fresh horses and let his men rest then they marched for Maras Castle Where they gathered some of the garrison to fill the ranks of the army that would march to Praven with him in the coming days it would be a test of strength to try an attack still outnumbered by over a hundred. If he overcame this obstacle he would be loved by the people of Swadia and gain more favor than his plans could come to fruition in one of the Kingdoms. If he failed he would either be killed or enslaved by the Nords. From Maras he could see Praven below them situated in a bay that lead to the great sea. What would happen during the Battle would decide the fate of the Kingdom of Swadia either way it ended.
"The Kingdom of Swadias fate lies in my hands right where I want it." Movan said as he smiled looking down on Praven from the walls of Maras Castle in the setting sun.