Chapter 392 - 277: Curved Saber

The Normans held an absolute combat advantage, both on land and at sea.

The villages Faruk controlled fell quickly, leaving him holding just one coastal fortress.

The fortress was quite sturdy and strategically located. Robert decided to starve its defenders into submission, so after ordering his Knights to surround it, he departed.

However, just three days after this decision was made, Rufus unexpectedly took the fortress.

Rufus, acting on his own authority, dragged the Heretics from a nearby village before the fortress. He massacred them in full view of the defenders, then used a catapult to launch their dismembered limbs into the fortress.

He then challenged Faruk to a duel and relentlessly provoked him.

Faruk eventually accepted the challenge, but on the condition that if he lost, Rufus would spare his soldiers.

Rufus agreed.

After a fierce struggle, Rufus was victorious, striking Faruk from his horse.

However, Rufus, in a rare display of integrity, kept his promise and spared the fortress’s defenders. This earned him praise, though the Greeks of Cyprus were quite displeased.

Eric took no part in the siege of Faruk’s fortress. He had accompanied Robert on an inspection tour of the entire island of Cyprus as the Normans took over all of its defenses.

As for Governor Constantine, Robert declared that he could enjoy one-tenth of Cyprus’s tax revenue, but he would have to move out of the Governor’s Mansion.

After resting on Cyprus for half a month, Eric led the Pisan fleet to Cilicia. Robert, meanwhile, remained on Cyprus with the main force to deal with potential attacks from Faruk’s pirate allies and to manage the island’s daily affairs.

Cilicia was mountainous and hilly, its terrain only slightly better than Lycia’s.

The long mountain ranges stretched all the way to the sea, making it difficult to find a suitable landing site in Cilicia.

Of course, this was also why the Turkic People’s conquest of Cilicia was much slower than in other regions of the Empire.

After the Battle of Manzikert, the Byzantine Empire was preoccupied with civil war and couldn’t attend to matters in Anatolia, leading to a total collapse across the region.

Contact with the distant southern regions of Anatolia was all but lost.

Thus, even Alexios knew little about the true state of affairs in Cilicia.

Because the situation in Cilicia was uncertain, Eric initially planned to only scout the coastal areas.

However, near the potential landing sites, there was nothing but ruins.

Apparently, the Armenians had implemented a scorched-earth policy along the coast.

Eric and his men had no choice but to march inland. Each man carried four days’ worth of rations for himself and fodder for his horse. They brought no spare mounts.

The Knights were fully armed, mounted on their warhorses. This was not an ideal situation, but to guard against sudden attacks from potential Turkic Cavalry, it was necessary to remain armored, ready to fight while on the march.

The column marched north. Before long, they found the source of the smoke. The first village was abandoned. Its residents, too slow to flee, had been brutally massacred. They had been stuffed into the well along with their livestock.

The scene that greeted the Normans at the next village was even more horrific. Half a dozen men and boys, tortured beyond recognition, were hanging upside down from butcher’s hooks on a mud wall. A woman had been split open from her groin to her chest, her purple entrails piled upon her breast. Below her was the corpse of a small child, its skull crushed and misshapen.

"I pray that God forgives your sins, as He forgave Mary Magdalene and the thief on the cross," Eric murmured, making the sign of the Cross.

Eric ordered Guy to arrange for two men to bury them, but first, he had the entire company witness the scene. Everyone dismounted, leading their horses single-file past the atrocity. It took some time, but from their pale, furious faces, Eric knew they were ready for the task ahead.

’Hook Eye’ spotted the Turkic raiding party.

"They’re half a league to the west, by a water source. I don’t think they’ll be moving on today.

They’re Guram Cavalry, but a lazy lot. Of course, the weakness of the Greeks and Armenians may have encouraged that laziness," ’Hook Eye’ said with disgust, having identified the enemy. "Besides, they’ve already set up their tents. They think they’re safe."

"What are Gulams?" Belem asked.

"A Gulam is a slave soldier who has been given military training. These slaves are usually from foreign ethnic groups, especially Turkic People, Persians, Caucasians, and so on.

They typically serve as heavy cavalry," Eric explained.

"Slaves? Are they eunuchs?"

"Perhaps you’ll have the chance to make them that way," Eric said with a smile.

Eric laid out a plan. He would take the Mounted Archers and circle around to the other side of the Gulam camp. Belem and Lagman would advance slowly and directly toward the camp. Eric would initiate the attack, driving the Gulams who couldn’t reach their horses into the heavily armored Warband.

It took some time for Eric to circle around to the other side of the Gulam camp. They were camped near a small village. In the center of the village was a well, where the Gulams had pitched six tents.

When Eric had crept to within two hundred paces of them, he counted fewer than fifty men. He could smell roasting lamb. Eric arranged the archers in a line eight men abreast and charged directly into the camp.

The first volley of arrows threw the Gulam camp into a panic.

"For honor and blood!" Belem shouted. The men around him roared the battle cry in unison.

The Knights charged into the camp and began to slaughter the Gulams who were on foot.

A Gulam leaped up, raising a Curved Saber high in his hand. The blade chopped down toward Eric’s horse’s head.

Eric yanked his horse’s head aside, dodging the blade. The Gulam lost his balance from the momentum and pitched forward. Eric’s sword split his skull.

The battle was over quickly. The Gulams did not flee, but died where they stood. No quarter was given. The tents were set on fire, and the men who ran out, clothes and hair aflame, were cut down by the Knights. Their bodies were unceremoniously tossed onto the village dung heap.

After the battle, with the day growing late, Eric decided not to press on. He didn’t think they could find a village with living people—rather than another one being ravaged by the Turkic People—before sunset.

That evening, the Knights were chatting idly by the campfire.

One of them, a Knight who had once been on a pilgrimage, was sharing stories of his early years in the cities of the Heretics—with some unavoidable embellishment, of course.

"In Cairo, I learned to cook Nile perch so it tasted like the two fish our Lord used to feed the multitudes. I’ve also tasted a bird bigger than a goose, even bigger than a swan. Its meat was as juicy as a suckling pig’s, and it melted in your mouth..."

As he spoke, he stood up. Eric followed his gaze. Suddenly, Eric instinctively glanced toward the Knight’s feet. An olive-skinned arm reached out from under a pile of discarded burlap, creeping silently toward a sack of bread.

Eric walked over, picked up the sack of bread, and grabbed the arm.

But in the next moment, a flash of cold steel glittered. The Curved Saber missed, its blade striking the ground.

Eric violently dragged the person out.

Eric punched her in the jaw. It wasn’t a heavy blow, but her head snapped back and hit the wall with a hollow THUD.

She collapsed to the ground, and Eric kicked her Curved Saber away.