Temple Sword

Chapter 59 Bloody Buda
1307, Month of St. John (June)
Buda, Hungary
—

At midnight, there is only the moon left in the sky, and the stars, although they loved to cover God's dark blue cotton with their brilliance in early summer, are all hidden now, as if they don't want to witness what is about to happen in this city tonight .

In a dark alley near the Jewish Gate, two men were waiting for something.Wearing black cloaks and hoods that deeply cover their eyes and faces, they are transformed into shadows in the night.

"It's windy," said one of them, with a bow and spear in his hands, a quiver of arrows slung across his back, and a long dagger and curved Saracen sword.The man pulled up his black cloak, caught in the strong wind howling through the alley. "There will be a storm."

"The Tempest of the People," said another, a one-handed sword and short dagger slung from his belt, "I don't mind if tonight is the last time we bleed the Hungarians."

"It didn't start today," the archer shook his head, "and it won't end today. Buda is a key point, but it's by no means the biggest bet. Today isn't the end of everything, you know."

"I know, but how far do we have to go on this road? After retaking Buda, after defeating Otto, what do we have to face? Pas, Baboniks, Frangepans, Ratots, Arcos and Laszlo Kan? Then maybe a never-ending war with Matey Chuck, if the kingdom still If there is a living man... then what?"

"Quiet!" the archer was annoyed, "The time is almost up!"

Laszlo and Antal waited for a long time in the alley, which became darker, colder, and narrower as time passed, waiting for the guards to change at midnight and a signal .

"I hope others succeed," Laszlo crouched against the wall, drawing two arrows from his quiver on his back, one planted in the ground with his spear, and one resting on the bowstring.He walked all the way to the edge of the alley, fixed one eye on the gate and the guards guarding there, took a deep breath of restless air through his nose, and let it out slowly without making a sound. "If one of them is caught..."

"No one will be caught," Antal interrupted him. "It's impossible. You're talking about my best soldier."

"Your best soldiers, yes, but that's on the field, in open combat," Laszlo argued, "and they're not used to doing that, sneaking around like thieves at night, waiting until everything After everything quiets down..."

At this moment, the two guards leaning against the wall, who were half asleep and half awake, started to move. Seeing someone coming to change the guard, they complained loudly.

"We thought you wouldn't be coming," said one of them, a grey-haired man with a short neck, yawning. "I've had a particularly hard day and I can finally rest."

"You have a hard time every day, Brother Stephen," the soldier who came to change the guard patted him on the shoulder. "What hurts today again? Your balls?"

"One day you will understand, you arrogant and rude boy!" The man named Stephen took off his nose helmet, picked up the spear against the wall with his hand, and began to walk into the dark depths of the city. "If you really want to know, today my knee hurts more than usual, it burns me like a throbbing hellfire, something is definitely not right today, something evil is brewing, let me tell you!"

"Of course, Brother Stephen, of course!" another newcomer called after him. For the sake of it, if I were you, my knees would hurt every day!"

A laugh broke out between the two guards, but it didn't last long.The old man turned around, turned the spear in his hand, and threw it casually. The weapon passed through the air without a sound, and was inserted into the city gate in an instant, only a few feet away from one of the mocking faces.The smile instantly melted on his face, and he looked a little pale under the light of the torch.Seeing that the situation was not good, Stephen's companion immediately quickened his pace and disappeared into the night.

"Well, my dear friend," said the old man, with the spear still vibrating on the gate, "next time you dare speak of my wife like that, this spear will pierce your stupid empty head in the same way So, if you don't want to do this, think about it before you speak next time!" He turned around, sighed, and continued walking slowly with one leg dragging.

"Keep the spears!" he cried over his shoulder. "Keep your eyes open, for something evil is brewing!"

"You bloody old thing, hell is brewing a hot pot for you!" the young guard cursed under his breath, and the other nodded in agreement. "If he dares to threaten me like this again, I will definitely make him regret it, you know, one day I will."

Whatever the young guard had planned for the old man, all plans in his life were snapped off by a gently flickering bowstring.

Laszlo stepped out of the alley and aimed the arrow straight through the man's throat.By the time his partner realized what had happened, the archer had fired his next arrow, the shaft of which also pierced his neck but missed the throat, and the guard did not die instantly.The man snorted, coughed up blood, grabbed the spear, and rushed towards the archer with wide eyes.However, the knight also stepped out of the darkness, silencing the guards with a single blow of the sword.He retracted the sword into its sheath, then grabbed the paralyzed body with both hands and dragged it into the alley.

"Pull the other one over!" Antal said to Laszlo. "Don't let anyone see us."

Two dead guards lay in a side alley, and the Templar and his squire took off and hid their black cloaks, under which they wore the clothes of the Buda guards.They took off the helmet of the dead man, put it on their own heads, and stood under the great gate, turned towards the castle, and waited for the signal.

"If they don't succeed, then..."

"You were uncharacteristically negative today," Laszlo said. "Don't worry, they're going to make it."

Under the cover of night, the former rector of Buda, Laszlo, the son of Werner, and Janos, the son of Zac, entered the castle through a secret tunnel, and [-] subordinates carefully selected by Antares also accompanied them .The other thirty soldiers were placed in various parts of the city, dressed like Antal and Laszlo.If all goes according to plan, Antares will now stand before all the gates of Buda, and within a few minutes they will hear the war horns from the Kamokhov Palace, and the chaos will begin. Advent...

"I changed my mind!"

A voice came from somewhere in the darkness, "I still need that spear, you will definitely do something to me with it, I will curse myself for the rest of my life, curse me for leaving it to you..."

"Damn it." Laszlo cursed in a low voice. The old man named Stephen was limping over, but he was still far away, so he probably couldn't see the face of the person in front of the door clearly.

"Curse yourself for the rest of your life, don't you? As if you'd have a long time to live, you old man!" Antal yelled, imitating the tone of the dead guard. "Here's your spear, take it, bastard!"

As he spoke, he quickly pulled the spear out of the door and threw it beside the man.But the old man was not so easily fooled. He stopped, picked up the spear from the ground, and squinted at the two men.

"John! Where did you get this sword?" he asked Antal, then pointed at Laszlo, "And you, Vince, when did you carry a bow like this?"

Seeing that they did not answer, the old man took three steps forward and stopped again.

"Don't move!" he shouted. "Who are you?"

The gray-haired Stephen turned the spear in his hand as before, and Laszlo had already put the next arrow on the bowstring. If Antal didn't intervene, one of them would definitely die.The knight suddenly had a strange feeling. He rushed towards the old guard. The man had already raised his weapon and was about to throw it. Antal kicked the man's knee hard, causing him to scream in pain. With a sound, he fell down and the spear fell to the ground.

Antar turned him over, knelt on his chest, pulled out a crude dagger from his belt, and pressed it against his neck.

"Make a little more noise, and you won't survive!" Antar warned in a low voice, "If you want to survive, shut up and do as we tell you."

"Who are you?" The old man panted heavily, showing a painful expression.

"Charlie Anjou's soldier," said Antal, "and in the morning, everything here will be his. So tell me: do you want to live or die for that Bavarian dog who lost the holy crown ?”

"My allegiance belongs to Buda," the old man shook his head, "I will not serve Otto!"

"Will you swear allegiance to Charles Robert?"

"I would!" he replied immediately, "What about the others?"

"You'll find out soon enough," Laszlo said.

It was not long before the old man was bound and gagged, and sat down beside the two slain guards, covered with a cloak.

"If you move, you're dead," Antar threatened. "If you keep quiet, you'll be free tomorrow morning."

The two returned to the door and continued to wait quietly for the signal.The old man didn't make a sound, but Laszlo stretched his neck and looked towards the alley.

"Why didn't you let me shoot him?" Laszlo asked. "You know a lot of people are going to die here today, right?"

"I know, this is our mission."

"You can't save everyone."

"I won't, don't be afraid."

"Where's the signal? Why hasn't it come yet? Didn't they succeed..."

"They will succeed, they must succeed."

The silence grew thicker around them, like night.

—

The summer wind blew from the Kamokhov Palace, bringing with it a howl, the sound of a man's death, a long scream.No sooner had his howl died away than the hollow and piercing blast of battle horns sounded from the top of the castle, again and again.

They finally got the signal.

Antal and Laszlo turned immediately, lifted the heavy latch on the gate, and opened the west-facing city entrance.Antar took the torch attached to the wall next to the gate and swung it violently, carrying the signal to the forest beyond Buda.The trumpets died away, but the screams of death followed.

A low rumble came from the darkness of the forest, like a roar from below.The rumble grew louder until it became the rolling thunder of thousands of feet and hooves.Even without seeing anything, the sound has become unbearable.

The knights and attendants got out of the way in time, and the next moment, soldiers poured into the city gate like the Danube flooding. First cavalry, then infantry, they rushed fiercely and mercilessly into the street.Without a battle cry or an order, they passed the city like ghosts.Those who came after took the reins of the horses and handed the cloak and helm to those at the door, and Antar quickly put on his white cloak and jumped into Sarecher's saddle.Laszlo also took off the clothes of the Buda guards and put on his own dark blue cloak decorated with golden lilies.

All discarded their camouflage, they knew that the armies sweeping the streets would only know friend from foe by their clothes, would not ask who they were, swiped their swords, hammered them, stabbed their spears, and never Show mercy.Those who did not die immediately from the weapons were trampled to another world by the spiked hooves of the horses.

There was no pause, no mercy, nor any decent resistance.

When the sun rose from the east, the streets of Buda were already covered with hundreds of dead people. With the end of the massacre and the approaching storm, the parched mother earth could not absorb the spilled blood for a while.Those who survived were reassured that they did not venture out, even the bravest peered through windows to see what was happening outside, but most were hiding in cellars or in corners of houses, shivering.Of course, no one is ringing a bell at sunrise today.

(End of this chapter)