Tyranny of Steel

Having sacked the capital city of the Kingdom of Portugal, Berengar had begun to lead the chase in the direction of the City of Porto, where he believed the hostile King had fled to. His ultimate goal was to end this war quickly. Thus, he planned to capture the King of Portugal and force his surrender.

Unfortunately, after laying siege to the City of Lisbon, the cowardly King was nowhere to be found. He had fled the City he was tasked with defending and left its people to their fate. Thus, Berengar now not only wanted to force the man to surrender, but he also dėsɨrėd to punish him for his dishonorable actions.

After all, if there was one thing that Berengar hated, it was a coward. A King who would leave his soldiers to be slaughtered so that he could buy some time for his escape was no king at all, at least not in the eyes of the Reichsmarschall of Austria. 

At the moment, Berengar rode upon his red horse, whose name was Glory, as he trod forth, with his army of roughly 50,000 men behind him. It had been days since they had conquered Lisbon, and though a small force was tasked to stay behind and manage the conquered region, most of the troops belonging to the Triple Alliance were now in the field. 

Scouts had advanced, searching for any sign of the King of Portugal and his host. Finally, after days of searching, they had been spotted. One of the scouts among Berengar's forces returned to the main army with an excited expression on his face. 

The moment Berengar saw this, he smiled cruelly; at last, he would be made aware of the enemy's whereabouts. The Scout eagerly approached his King before reporting the intelligence he had come to receive. 

"Your Majesty, we have spotted a caravan heading towards the border of Castile that we believe to belong to King Felipe and his family. It appears he has decided to completely abandon Portugal to our conquest and intends to hide among the Castilians with who we have a treaty. "

The moment Berengar heard these words, he spat upon the ground in utter contempt. He could not believe that such a coward ruled over a once-mighty Kingdom like Portugal. If Berengar wanted to intercept the man, he was left with one option. He quickly questioned the soldier about the distance between his army and the party of the Portuguese King.

"How many days ride are we from his location?"

The Scout immediately pointed in the direction where he spotted the target and gave the available information.

"About three days ride towards the East from here. If you hurry, you can catch him before he reaches the border!"

"We have received word that King Luiz and his host rides for Castile; I will lead the Cavalry to the East where we will intercept him. You are to lead the majority of the army towards Porto. I want the City under siege by the time I return with the Portuguese King. Let us finally end this war!"

After saying this, Berengar did not wait for a response; his orders were absolute. Instead, he rode off and sounded the bugle where the 5,000 Cavalrymen followed in pursuit. They would ride for the next three days, with intermittent breaks before finding their target. 

---

King Luiz was exhausted as he neared the Castilian border. He had given up his dignity as a monarch and fled the City of Lisbon when he heard reports of the Army of the Triple Alliance rapidly advancing through his southern borders. 

Despite his best efforts to control the chaos in his territory, it had rapidly spiraled out of his control. With Brigands declaring themselves lords of their territories, and a lack of currency to stabilize his collapsing economy, he had completely and utterly failed to defend his territory.

Reflecting upon this, Luiz cursed the ministers who raided his treasury and fled for foreign countries. If not for them, he may have been able to mount a proper defense against the invaders from the South. However, he had no idea that Lisbon had so rapidly fallen, nor that the Austrian Cavalry quickly was approaching his location. 

Instead, he gazed upon his wife and children with a bitter smile. He had managed to scrounge up the last of his wealth so that he could live a decent life in Castile as a monarch in exile. After all, the Aragonese Crown was close to unifying the two Iberian Kingdoms; surely his former ally would welcome him with open arms?

However, just when he was about to enter his new life in the neighboring Kingdom, Luiz witnessed a group of horsemen gathering on the hill above them. The more time passed, the more men arrived until he gazed in horror as he noticed thousands of Cavalrymen flying the banners of Austria, charging towards him at full speed. 

"Dear God in heaven..."

The man's words were cut short as the thunder of a rifle echoed in the air, and a projectile whizzed past his face. This action had frightened the King to such a degree that he immediately rushed his mount to gallop forward at full speed, leaving his own family behind to be captured or killed by the invading force.

The Queen of Portugal and her young children gazed in shock as their King abandoned them for the brief glimmer of hope that he could safely make it past the Castilian borders. Thousands of horses rushed past them in the next moment, with a few hundred staying behind to secure their persons. 

Berengar was at the head of the Cavalry as his mighty steed rapidly caught up to the King's mule. He had purchased a pack mule as his mount and fled under obscurity to save expenses and hide his identity. However, when faced with a proud Iberian Warhorse, the mule could not compete with its pursuit. 

Berengar pulled out a weapon he had designed in a camp precisely to capture the Portuguese King. In his hand were bolas made from ordinary rope and stones; the mighty Austrian King twirled the weapon in his hands before casting them off towards his Portuguese rival. 

With a skillful toss, the bolas flew through the air and wrapped around the man's upper body, forcing him to fall from his saddle and onto the ground below, where he struggled to get out from the device. Berengar wasted no time and immediately dismounted from his horse, where he approached the Portuguese King on the ground and began to fasten ropes around his limbs as if he were tying up a common hog. 

The Portuguese King began to curse at his captor in his native tongue, which was met with a firm kick to the teeth. The once-proud King grunted in pain as a molar was dislodged from his jaw before falling into a slight pool of blood on the sand below. 

As he gazed upon the mand that stood in front of him, the fury immediately faded from his eyes as he saw the vicious smile upon his captor's face. As if Berengar was the devil playing with his prey, the young Austrian King picked up the restrained Portuguese Monarch and tossed him onto his shoulder before dragging him over to his horse and placing him on its back. 

Despite the wound he had suffered, the Portuguese King refused to remain silent; as such, Berengar reached onto his belt and grabbed a handkerchief where he wrapped it around the man's mouth as a makeshift gag, silencing him completely. 

As he was fastening the Portuguese King to his horse, the Colonel in charge of the Cavalry Brigade approached him on horseback and witnessed the sight. Upon seeing the wicked grin on his Monarch's face as he subdued a rival King, the Colonel felt a chill down his spine. Despite this instinct, he managed to find his voice as he began to speak to Berengar.

"Reichsmarschall! What should we do with the members of King Luiz's host?"

Berengar shifted his glance over to the King's family, who was both frightened due to their circumstances and outraged at their fallen King's behavior. Upon witnessing their conflicted expressions, the Austrian King laughed before making his decision.

"Bring them with us to Porto. I want the Portuguese People to see what has become of their cowardly King and his family!"

After saying this, Berengar jumped onto Glory's saddle, where he began to take off in the direction of his main army. By now, they should be approaching the City of Porto, which was the last bastion controlled by the forces loyal to the Portuguese Crown.

As the Austrian Cavalry strode forth into the fading sun, Berengar sang the words to the song "I wanna be in the Cavalry" with a vicious grin on his face and a prisoner tied to the back of his horse. He was departing to the next battlefield that was sure to be the end of this long conflict. 

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