An unusually stiff breeze blew across Theodor's face. The sun had only just risen and billows of smoke could be seen in the distance. He wouldn’t even have to send scouts to know, that they had reached the invading Kashars, for they were met by a whole host of refugees fleeing the raids. Some people dressed in rags, who had left with bag and baggage, confirmed to them that it was "the hordes" who were looting and pillaging here. They apparently sought to exploit the chaos in Ordania to create even more problems. "Everyone get ready for battle!" ordered the field marshal. Then they rode towards the invaders over the relatively flat hills. The terrain became even flatter now. They crossed the crest of the next lush green hill, which revealed a huge army behind it. These people had no flags or identifying marks with them, but their fur clothing alone made it obvious who they were. The revolutionary forces, on the other hand, now proudly flew both the red flags of the Martyrs’ Brigades and the sunflag of the old Ordanian Empire, which was now also that of the new "Holy Ordanian Empire".

  The army was halted and the order was given to get into battle formation. While all the men were lining themselves up, some of the "hordes" also moved. Grim faces of tall men looked over to them. The rough Kashars now seemed to be slowly forming up too, but at the same time a single man suddenly rode forward in their direction. Before one of their archers could fire an arrow at him, Theodor sharply told him to stop. When the Kashar leader had come close enough to them, he began to call out to them in the Kashar language. "I, the leader of the Kashars, challenge you to a duel! May the strongest of your fighters come forward! Unless he is not man enough to do so!" He rode circles on with his horse, swinging his sword around with a laugh. It was the typical Kasharian way of mocking and provoking his opponent. Theodor was well aware of this tradition and accepted it. The field marshal trotted over on his horse, followed by his deputy. When he arrived at his challenger, the man dismounted his horse. He followed suit.

  They didn’t approach each other too closely, but began to introduce themselves from a distance. "I am known as Lajosch and I am the Supreme Leader of the Kashars!" Theodor replied, "My name is Theodor and I am the field marshal of the Holy Ordanian Army!" This was followed by an almost deranged-sounding laugh from the Kashar. "Hahaha! No, you’re not! I know who you really are!" He spoke in an arrogant tone. "You are Kalev! A traitor who has obviously made it to the top with his deceit." Theodor did not react in any way to his provocations. Unperturbed, he simply looked his counterpart in the eye. He realised that a new, young man had now gained leadership over the Kashars. And he was no longer from the Tibors. This made him more unpredictable, but also explained why the hordes had now invaded Ordania, something that hadn’t happened for over a hundred years. Lajosch continued, "Just the fact, that a traitor like you dares to step here in front of us! Shame on you! I'll show you what your kind will get in the end." The warrior then drew his greatsword. It was particularly long and heavy. The leader of the Martyrs also drew his halberd. They took a few more steps towards each other and then the battle commenced.

  The impetuous Kashar warrior immediately rushed at Theodor and struck a mighty sword blow down on him from above. The field marshal blocked, of course, but the impact was so violent that he was immobilised for a brief moment. The Martyr was very impressed. Lajosch obviously had incredible strength and was similar in stature and height to his opponent. In the momentary stupor, which also affected the Kashar, Theodor tried to land a quick attack with the tip of his halberd, but the man managed to evade it. Then the duel really heated up. Left, right, up and down, they struck each other from all sides, but neither managed to injure the other. Theodor tended to dodge, while Lajosch often blocked. Behind them, their troops roared and cheered them on. It was like watching a sports competition for them. As he dodged a blow from the field marshal, the leader of the Horde forced him backwards with a powerful kick. Theodor looked up and over at him. Sweat was pouring from his forehead like a river. This man was the real deal!

  Lajosch was also sweating profusely and they both saw that their challenger certainly was living up to his name. Then the Martyr grabbed hold of himself and let out a scream. He ran towards his opponent and unleashed a wild flurry of blows. Here and there he grazed his opponent's arms, but did little damage as the other once again skilfully dodged. Then it was Lajosch's turn. He indicated an attack from below, whereupon Theodor positioned his weapon accordingly to fend it off. But then he turned the direction of the heavy thing's blow around, which was a complete surprise. Bam! There it was. The halberd fell to the ground. Theodore's hand was still clutching the pole, separate from the rest of his arm! The field marshal didn’t cry out, but in shock staggered back a few metres. It took a moment to sink in what had just happened, but when it finally did, the hordes began to cheer wildly. On the side of the Holy Ordanian Army, however, there was a depressed silence. Ulrich immediately sprinted to his commander and helped him off to his horse as quickly as possible. Theodor said nothing and rode off with him.

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  Lajosch did the same, riding back to his own and finally giving the order to storm. This was tactically unwise, as the enemy forces were in an elevated area. Nonetheless, the bugles sounded and after this morale booster, the invadors now were rushing towards the enemy lines without restraint. At first a little hesitant about what had happened, the revolutionaries quickly composed themselves and began to cover the attackers in a hail of arrows. The front ranks followed what they had been training for the last few months and held their pikes forward in row after row. Only moments before the Kashars crashed into the front ranks of pikemen at a gallop, did they realise the gravity of their mistake. Countless horsemen were impaled and the enemy army suffered heavy losses right from the start of the battle. The rows of pikemen were too deep to just falter under the enemy onslaught.

  While all this was going on, Theodor was taken to the rear and tended to. His hand was gone, but the doctor did everything he could to prevent him from bleeding out. The enemy didn't seem to be trying to attack from the flanks and was focussing on a direct, frontal assault. "They're all still green!" thought Ulrich, who had now taken command. He ordered the Martyrs' cavalry brigades to advance on the flanks, in order to encircle the enemy, hence to do exactly what they weren’t doing for whatever reason. A word and a blow. Some fell, but overall, the battle seemed to be going in favour of the revolutionary army. Their reorganisation and training had turned them into a full-fledged army, something the Kashar guerrilla methods were no match for.

  When the hordes finally realised that their encirclement was looming, unrest began in their ranks. They began to give way. Their Supreme Leader realised this, just as he realised that the Holy Ordanian Army was much larger than theirs and had more experience in fighting armies. He understood the situation and, as a result, ordered a retreat. The Kashar troops, most of whom were mounted, had a collapse in their battle formation, turned around and rode off to the east. Just like that. The current commander of the revolutionary forces watched them with satisfaction and sent his horsemen on their heels to inflict a few more casualties, but primarily to chase them off decisively.

  It was done. The invading Kashars had been defeated. Now they would only have to "accompany" them on their way back to Kasharovar. This would mean the final victory of the revolution, for there was no army left in all of Kaphkos that could oppose theirs in manpower or fighting prowess. The army would follow the Hordes for a while longer until they had finally left Ordania. The image of devastation, death and misery that they left behind on their rampage in north-east Ordania shocked many of the newer soldiers of the revolutionary army. Of course, the country would recover, but the people wouldn’t forget right away.

  Theodor, meanwhile, had survived the loss of his hand. He was strongly advised to rest for the time being. However, the field marshal only listened to this to a limited extent. As soon as he was able to do so, he was back in the saddle and leading his troops again. But something in him had definitely changed as a result of his defeat in the duel with Lajosch. If he had spoken little in the past, he was now almost completely silent. The Invincible had been defeated by those he had once abandoned, betrayed in their eyes. The declining resistance in Kasharovar had served poetic justice, or at least that was how its members would see it. The man who was once called Kalev saw it differently. He was humiliated and angry that these people, who in his view were completely mislead in their beliefs, had wounded him so badly. It was a wound that anyone could see and that would permanently reduce his fighting strength. Not to mention the fact that this had shattered the legend of the field marshal, just like the legend of Gawein had previously been shattered. On top of that, his ego was now badly shaken. Gritting his teeth, Theodor sat there and had no target for his seething rage, because he didn't want to take it out on the people of Kasharovar. They weren’t at fault for this either. He wanted to "save" them too and not put any more people through the same things he had once experienced.