Temple Sword

Chapter 98

"Thank God!" Janos Abba ran down the stairs with sunken cheeks and haggard eyes, and the castle gates that had been closed for weeks were finally opened to let in the commanders of Mate Chak's reinforcements.

A grim-faced old man was the first to enter the castle yard, riding his black horse, hunched over, with a rusty pot helmet under his arm since it saved his life in battle 30 years ago. He never changed his helmet.His short gray hair bears two scars, one from Trencin's surgeon and the other from a German tomahawk.He also had dozens of scars under his clothes, which he never showed to anyone, but anyone who knew him even a little knew it.

"Lord Abba!" Ahmad's eldest son shouted the man's name, almost kneeling in front of his blood relatives. "I didn't expect Lord Matai to send someone as important as you to help us! I am honored to have you here, my lord!"

The man didn't answer, he sat on the horse and looked into the distance, looking at the pile of unburied corpses of the castle defenders.The wind blew the smell of rotting corpses onto his face, he frowned slightly, and put his leather gloved hand against his nose.

"We haven't been able to give them a decent funeral," Janos observed his expression, and explained sadly, "and we can't bear to burn our companions..."

"It's so stupid," High Lord Abba said blankly. "Never mind the Christian faith and mercy, this is the battlefield. Believe me, it's much better to burn the dead than to catch a deadly disease from them."

Janos Abba nodded palely, and the man turned his horse to bid farewell to the stinking castle.He was pleased to see that the abandoned siege engines were still intact and ordered them to be dismantled so they could use them in the next siege.

"Bury the dead!" Abba said to Janos, his voice hoarse and majestic. "Clean up the castle, eat a good meal, and pack yourselves! If you're ready by then, we'll be off in a week..."

"What do you mean, my lord?" Janos approached him in astonishment, "Where are you going?"

"The siege of Kosice," the high lord replied calmly, "Don't you want that city? Wasn't Ahmad killed by the mob there? Or have you given up?"

For a moment Janos Abba couldn't decide whether he was feeling dizzy from hunger or from the questioning of the battle-tested great.

"No," he shook his head in denial, "we didn't abandon Kosice..."

"Then the people of Kosice had better start praying now," Abba said, "Master Matai ordered us not to let anyone in there be spared, and to avenge the good Paladin thoroughly. When I captured Kosice , we will continue our expedition to Timisoara."

"Timisoara?" Janos swallowed, "What about the king?"

"The man is not a king, boy, he's just a little bastard. We'll burn his castle, slaughter his knights, rape his wife. And when he's on his knees before us crying for mercy, we'll chop off his head .”

"Okay," Ahmad's eldest son nodded with his eyes wide open, his back trembled, but he was very sure that if the great Abba had said so, he would no longer doubt anything. "Go to Timisoara!" A strange heat of pleasure spread in his stomach and permeated every inch of his body, "Let's chop off Charlie's head! The days of the Anjou family in Hungary are numbered !"

【footnote】

① Great Aba, Nagy Aba, member of the Galgóczy branch of the Abba family, who built and owned the castles of Senica and Berenci, a close friend of Mate Chak (Familiaritás, a sometimes not A feudal relationship involving feudal taxes, which can be terminated at any time) and one of the army commanders.

(End of this chapter)