Temple Sword

Chapter 208

1323, Moon of the Holy Virgin (August)
North of Zagreb, Slavonia
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At first, the shackles were not as uncomfortable as Antal imagined.Of course, the feeling of not being able to move made him angry, and it was humiliating to bend over and kneel there, but at first he didn't feel any discomfort.

But an hour later, several parts of his body began to ache, his knees, neck and lower back ached badly, and by the end, the knight had mild but constant pains all over his body, which didn't get worse, but didn't go away either. It's the worst feeling.

The sky gradually darkened, a bonfire was lit in the camp in the distance, and the cool evening wind came blowing with the smell of barbecue, which made Antar swallow his saliva.

At least this saliva makes me a little less thirsty, the knight thought bitterly, but the thought didn't comfort him, he hadn't eaten a bite all day.

Miklos' words echoed in his head, and when he called Antar and the other commanders to the main tent, he was so angry that it was a wonder he didn't draw his sword in a fit of rage.

Then he quieted down and spoke as if in a whisper, but the horror didn't change in any way.

"I've been thinking, should I just kill you, or send you back to the king, and let him give you the punishment you deserve," he told Antar with a deadpan face, "but I can't kill you, because Others won't understand.

Most people see you sending half your army into the center, ending the battle, and then taking the other half to wipe out one of the enemy's units.For God's sake, they still think of you as a hero.

I can't send you to the king either, because he will only reward you for this, not punish you severely!But you and I both know," he said, approaching the knight, "that you openly disobeyed my orders, and used your position to mobilize half the heavy cavalry for your own purposes. "

Then Miklos turned to look at the others. He wanted them to know what kind of person the king's chief knight was.He is not a legendary hero at all, but a favorite of the king, neither worthy of his fame nor his popularity.

"I have warned you in advance that you cannot do whatever you want in my army," he said to Antal, "I have also warned you in advance that if your actions endanger the lives of my men and our battle Even you can't escape the punishment, do you remember?"

"I remember, my lord general." The knight replied.

Miklos Gutkled paused for a moment, staring at him with tense eyes, "Do you have any excuses?"

"We have won the battle," Antar said calmly, "we have completely routed the enemy, and now no one will attempt to oppose us, and the road to Dalmatia will be clear.

So I didn't endanger the lives of any soldiers, nor spoil the victory of the battle. "

Miklos was silent for a long time after hearing Lily Knight's answer. He squinted at Antar's unkempt face, and then gestured rudely to the others present.

"Get out!" he ordered, "Get out, everyone!"

After the two were alone, Miklos picked up the silver jug ​​full of spirits from the table and drank directly, and he didn't speak until his whole body began to warm up.

"I don't know what you think of yourself," he laughed gruffly, "I really want to know what you're thinking, and I want to know what it means to think of yourself as an omnipotent person. What does it feel like..."

"I never thought I was omnipotent." Antal replied coldly.

The scarred man smiled ominously and frightfully.

"You must be very proud now," he said, "if the king knows that I killed you because of a mistake, he will definitely not let me go...

But listen to me, in Visegrad, you directly obey the king, but here, I am your lord, not only your general, but also your governor.

You are now violating my orders in the territory under my jurisdiction. If you don’t want to end up dead, you’d better listen to me obediently from now on, do you understand? "

"Yes," Lily Knight replied in a deep voice, suppressing all the disgust and resentment under his throat, "I understand, my lord."

"For your own good, I hope you can do it," the terrifying smile disappeared from Miklos's face, "but don't think that you will not be punished for what you did today..."

In this way, Antar was locked in a cage with shackles on his hands and neck.The cage was so far away from the camp that he couldn't talk to or hear anyone else.

"Solitude and silence are good for you," Miklos said as he left, "you can calm down and think about the crimes you have committed..."

In the middle of the night, the fragrance drifts away, the campfire has dimmed, and the singing and intermittent talking in the distance are replaced by thousands of snoring, but there is a pair of eyes looking at the lily knight with pity.

A black figure moved in front of the white tent, and Antar thought at first it was the faithful Simon who had come to see him.As the man approached, however, he soon saw that the man was much shorter than the squire who had just been knighted that morning.

"Istvan Lakfi," Antal recognized the man, "you know, this may be the first time I need to look up at you..."

The bucket-shaped Knight Sekai ignored the knight's sense of humor, and looked at his head stuck in the shackles with wrinkled eyes. He knew that Antal deserved it, but he still couldn't bear to watch it all the time.

"Why, I'm the one to disappoint you?" he asked. "I could swear I heard your stomach growl as I sat by the fire."

As he spoke, he knelt down and unfolded a linen handkerchief in front of the lily knight.

"The roast had been eaten by the locusts long ago and I couldn't keep a piece of it, but I managed to hide it."

Inside the handkerchief was a piece of pie, which was covered with bacon grease and barbecue gravy. Lakfe brought the pie to Antar's mouth, and within a few mouthfuls, the knight ate up the cold dinner.

Lakfe then took out a sheepskin wine bag and gave Antal a sip of wine. The knight still had blood and stains from the battle in the morning, but the armor and weapons on his body had already been removed.

"Thank you." Antar said in a low voice.

In any case, the knight had to admit that this little food and drink was really just in time for his exhausted body.

"You know, the general is right." Lakfe said casually.

"Do you think so?"

"I know he's right." Lakfe stood up and folded the oily handkerchief.

"Then why did you come?" Lily Knight growled.

"Because Miklos is a nasty bastard," Lakfee replied, "Because I know Antar Bator as the greatest warrior I've ever seen, even though I thought he was another king's side at first The aristocratic sycophant.

I was there for him when he proved me wrong, and I was there for him when his soul was broken.I know things not many people know, so I can understand why he acts like he's the stupidest, most reckless person in the world.

Because I understand him, I hope that Antar Bator isn't lost forever in his hatred and grief.I hope he's a pillar of the empire again in the future and not a stubborn bastard bent on his own destruction.

Because without him, there would be no Charles Anjou, no Hungarian Kingdom, would there be?The old warriors' tales of the young Templar teaching the king to fight are all true, right?

If all these are childish legends, then you can deny it now, and I won't bother you anymore. "

Antal didn't say anything, just blinked silently.

"I know you're a good man, Antal," Lakfell continued, "and that's why I'm here. So, as a general, or viceroy, alas, whatever he likes to call himself, when Miklos starts interrogating I was in the tent with Janos Babonik.

The Croatian dog was almost at his feet, and he promised to submit to the king and obey everything, and it was a good thing that the man didn't pant and lick Miklos' feet..."

"Why are you telling me this?" Antar asked puzzledly, "I'm no longer interested in the games of careerists."

"You idiot, listen to me first. In exchange for a pardon, Janos Babonik recruited everything, and we know the answer to many things without even asking," Lakfey explained,
"Then I asked him, by the way, if he knew a man named Mikolaj who used to be the steward of an estate near Dubica..."

Antal's heart beat suddenly and violently, almost breaking through his chest.He instinctively wanted to raise his head, but the shackles blocked his neck, and the knight was almost suffocated by the tearing pain.

"You don't mean to say...?"

"I know where Mikolaj is," Lakfee nodded, "or rather, I know where he should be."

"Then what are you waiting for?" cried the knight to him. "Speak up, for God's sake!"

"The bastard is alive and well, and soon after your estate was sacked, he took refuge in Janos Babonik, who was then the governor," Lakfey said.
"He claimed to have survived the attack on the manor and remained with his master to the end, who, according to him, was killed in the attack. He was an eloquent liar, there is no doubt about that...

He had been one of the governor's stewards until last year, and was also his spy.Janos sent him to Skradin, where he gave the Governor a weekly secret report on Muladen Subis.

He helped Janos deprive Muraden of his powers as Governor of Croatia, and to thank him Janos made him a rich man.

But now Janos Babonik hated him terribly, for Mikolaj had deserted his benefactor without looking back when the news came that the king's army had gone south and the governor himself was alone.

But he didn't hide, he married a woman named Sophia, her father was the biggest businessman in Skradin, and according to his parasite's habit, he lived in his father-in-law's big house after marriage.

So the man you're looking for is in Skradin, in the most prominent house in town.I don't think he knew you were looking for him, because he didn't seem to have any idea of ​​hiding..."

Antal was going mad with his helplessness, which was worse than hunger, worse than pain, worse than any punishment.

He wanted to break the shackles, but the heavy instrument of torture did not budge.

"Let me go!" He suddenly thought of something, and begged the Sekai knight outside the cage, "Take this thing down for me..."

"No!" Lakfe shook his head, "I didn't tell you this to cause you more trouble! The general will let you out tomorrow morning, and then forgive you, and you can continue to lead your heavy cavalry team.

We'll keep going south, you understand?When we get to Skradin, Mikolaj will get his punishment. "

"By the time we get to Skradin?" Antar yelled, "By the time we get there, he'll be gone!"

"He's not going to run away," Lakfee insisted. "We're going to bring him to God, and then his soul will go to hell and his name will be forgotten by all."

"Istvan..."

"If you want to kill him so much, you can petition the general so that you can kill him yourself at the hand of judgment, or..."

"Istvan!"

"Stop yelling, my god! Are you trying to wake up the whole camp?"

"Then let me go!" Antar demanded firmly, "You just need to pull out a wooden stick stuck in this damn thing... just one... No one will blame you."

"I'm not worried about myself!" Lakfey smiled wryly, "I want to protect you from my own impulse!"

"Look at me, Istvan!" Lily Knight's voice was trembling, "I am no longer the great person you said I am, I only have one thing left now, and that is my right to revenge, you don't even have this Do you want to take it from me too?"

"I will not deprive you of the right to revenge," Lakfe shook his head and said, "I also hope that Mikolai will be punished."

"Then why are you so stupid?" Antal asked, "When the army reaches Skradin, the worm must have disappeared. Will we follow him to Venice? Or to Naples, Sicily, or the end of the world... ?”

"If you leave now," said Lakfey after a long silence, "you will become a traitor in the eyes of Miklos, an eternal enemy, and you will burn all the escape routes behind you, Antal, you Still don't understand?"

"Let me out, Istvan!" Antar demanded firmly, "You owe me."

"I don't owe you anything..."

"You owe me," repeated the Lily Knight, "unshackle, open the door, let Simon saddle the horse, and bring the horse, and I will wait for him here."

Sekei White Dragon decided not to argue anymore, maybe Antar was right, maybe he really owed the knight, maybe the best way is to let the demons who poisoned Antar's soul wreak havoc.

He pulled out his scimitar and cut open the lock of the cage, walked to the edge of the shackles, and found the section of the wooden stick that was holding the knight's hands.The stick was not small, and so tight that he had to knock it off with the handle of a machete.

Miklos Gutkled will definitely be furious because of this. Anyway, his subordinates have long been used to his anger. When the knight was found, the king could not prevent him from killing him.

Isstvan dropped the stick, then carefully lifted the upper half of the shackles, waiting for his friend to break free.

Antar fell directly to the ground first, but Lakfei didn't let Lakfei help him up.He got up cautiously and slowly, and after the feeling of dizziness subsided a little, he stretched his body thoroughly.

"Are you going to kill everyone?" Lakfee shook his head and asked him.

"No, Isstvan," Antar said, "I only kill my enemies. You don't need to worry, you are no longer my enemy."

The burly knight Sekai turned his back sadly to him.

"I'll fetch your horse," he said feebly. "Simon is a good man, and you must not put him in trouble."

(End of this chapter)