This was the moment the revolutionary leaders had been waiting for. Theodor and Wienand now turned their troops around and fell into the enemy troops from behind! The trap snapped shut. The regime's army was now in an encirclement of its own making. It had lost. Nevertheless, this was not the end of the matter, oh no! Now the annihilation of the encircled troops began! The scenes that followed are better left unspoken. At the end of the day, huge numbers of enemies lay slain on the field. It was a sight that made some of the revolutionaries sick. But their forces had triumphed. It was an event that would send shockwaves throughout Kaphkos. This was one of the most decisive events of the revolution. The great army of the Confederacy had been defeated and its remaining forces fled with their tails between their legs.
Etzel now parted company with the Zeemarkian troops, that had been under Gawein's command. He rode south. Nobody could say exactly what he was planning. Perhaps he wanted to meet up with Her Highness, or perhaps his goal was something else. But one thing was now clear. There were no forces left in the whole of Ordania, that could oppose the Holy Ordanian Empire. Its army under the leadership of the Martyrs would now be able to take control of the remaining territories of the largest and most powerful nation on the continent. And this simple observation would soon be made by the other kingdoms of Kaphkos, too.
After the victory, the three commanders of the revolutionary army met. Theodor, Ulrich, Tassilo and Wienand came together full of joy, even if it would only last for a short time. As it turned out, General Tassilo in the final stages of the battle had been hit in the face by an arrow! Inadvisably, he had already tilted his visor upwards, as he thought the greatest danger had already been averted after encircling the Five-Nation-Army of their opponents. But then it happened. His colleague was now dragging the heavily haemorrhaging man over on his horse. The others immediately tried to stop the bleeding, but that doesn't work well with a wound on such a body part. Lying on the muddy ground and facing his end, the man wasn’t sad. A smile came over the dying Tassilo's face and he said: "What a beautiful day! The revolution has won." These were his last words.
After that, the mood was a little more subdued, but not too much. The fact that they had already lost countless of their best men in recent years had made them all numb to such events. When it was over, the troops rested in the southern part of the Archfeld, as the ground here was at least a little elevated and was no longer quite so muddy. It had been a gruelling undertaking and everyone was exhausted. The next morning, the field marshal sat on a large rock and sharpened his halberd again. In his thoughts, he reviewed the entire battle. They hadn’t used any cannons, because the gunpowder was almost completely out at the moment. So, it had become a battle in which sheer skill, tactical and strategic genius would win out. Etzel had underestimated them. Theodor was sure that he had made the right decisions and was satisfied with his strategy. Only Gawein's magic weapon had seriously taken him by surprise.
At the thought, he took out the sword he had now acquired. Where had the knight gotten it from? And why would someone who wanted to destroy mages use a magical weapon of all things? What ridiculous hypocrisy on his part! Theodor looked at the golden decorated weapon and discovered the M.R. engraving. This proved to him that the Chosen One was the true owner of the sword. The man asked no questions about magic or how this object worked. He simply packed it up again. When they returned, he would hand it over to Wenzel.
Then the field marshal leaned back a little with a sense of self-satisfaction. "The next step will be to move through the western lands of Ordania and impose our rule there, too. That shouldn't be much of a problem, as these areas are more rural and, thus, tend more towards Old Believers than Central Ordania. Besides, the enemies don't have enough troops left to really stop us." It was indeed the case that these areas would surrender quite quickly. The biggest hurdle had now been overcome. The five black knights had been taken out of the game, although it was not clear what the one of them, that had survived, would do now. Only the black queen was still missing.
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The following day, the army made whatever adjustments were necessary and packed up again to lead the decisive campaign west of the Karantian Forests. But things would turn out differently. Things never turn our the way you would expect. As the mass of men lined up to march off again, a messenger came across the river. He came galloping up drenched in sweat, and Theodor rode straight out to meet him. "Praise the martyrs!" he greeted him and the field marshal replied with the same slogan. "I bring bad news from north-eastern Ordania, my lord!" - "What is it?" the man enquired, his face imperturbable as ever. "The Hordes have invaded from the east! A huge army is plundering and pillaging the area around Oberduhnw?rth. It is moving further tot he west. Greifenburg requests your aid." The bear from the mountains had now arrived.
Theodor sprang straight into action. He turned the army around and ordered them to cross the Duhn again, this time in the other direction to stop the invading Kashars. "Tell the chief of staff, that we have decisively defeated the regime forces in the Battle of Archfeld." - "Yes, Mr Field Marshal!" Then the boots were clomping and the hooves were clattering again over the lifeline of Ordania. They crossed the great bridge over the stream and hurried towards the next problem. This one would be fundamentally different from the one they had just solved. On their march through northern Ordania, Theodor wondered what the Hordes were doing here. They had never invaded Ordania before. So far, they had only ever defended themselves against attacks and conquests FROM Ordania. This novelty was very alarming.
Night had fallen. We were in the marshy plains west of the Karantian Forests, leading in the south to Camenia and in the west to Zeemark. Under an open sky, surrounded by a few old, gnarled trees, a few men in military dress sat around a campfires. Surrounding them were their troops, who were also warming themselves by the fires and cooking their evening meals. The glow of the fire flickered on a man's face, which was already beginning to wrinkle. It was Etzel and he looked into the eyes of the man opposite him. "You guys fought well. Are going back to your home in Camenia now?" - "Indeed, my lord," the mercenary leader replied briefly and continued: "My men, or what's left of them, have suffered enough losses. We need to regroup first. And we won't stay here in Ordania for that. The fighters of the Boskettian Company are all Camenians. Most of us don't understand a word of Ordanian. We'll return home and see from there. Unfortunately, it will take a while. The king of Camenia will not be at all pleased about the death of his knight Maxentio." He paused briefly. Etzel's facial expressions and gestures showed that he was quite upset by his defeat. That’s why he told him: "It was the right decision for you to order a retreat. You wouldn't have been able to prevent the collapse anyway."
For a while now, the field marshal of the Kingdom of Ordania simply sat there and pondered. He wore a deadly serious expression. Finally, he asked the man, "How do you think the ruler of Camenia will react to the news of recent developments? Will it finally dawn on him, that he also needs to mobilise for war and that simply sending mercenaries isn‘t enough?" The leader of the Camenian mercenaries laughed sardonically for a moment. Then he replied: "No. His Highness is far too interested in maintaining his personal power and playing political games to understand the seriousness of the situation. He would probably only realise the reality of what’s happening when it literally bursts through his door!" Etzel didn‘t answer, he didn‘t even look his interlocutor in the eye, but instead stared into the flames that flickered before him. "That's exactly what I feared," was all he said.
After a while, the mercenary leader asked him another question: "And what are you going to do now? Fighting on seems rather hopeless with the progressive collapse of your forces." The field marshal was silent at first. Then he replied briefly: "Let's see." After that he looked his counterpart in the eye. "There are still matters I need to attend to. I'll see you in good time and get some tips on how you organise your units in "Bandierina", how you train and so on. This isn’t over yet!" Then they also ate their dinner under a clear starry night sky.
