Dark Age Maiden

What really happened in the battle. Carina's vow.

. Uberto, Wotano, and the other knights quickly mounted their horses and hurried to get into position behind the phalanxes of infantry. Those squares of infantry, each one hundred and forty-four men strong and stretching for hundreds of yards, erupted in a continuous deep throated roar as they raised their pointed pikes toward the advancing Muslims.

Volley after volley of arrows were unleashed by the enemy and rose over their horsemen to strike at the infantry. Karl’s archers countered with barbs of their own, bringing down many of the attackers. At times, the screams of the wounded rose above the shouts of battle. Fortunately, most of Karl’s infantrymen were able to kneel behind their shields in time to escape the deadly, whistling shafts.

        The Saracen army reached the crest of the hill, and charged with bloodthirsty yells toward the gaps separating the phalanxes. From his position behind the infantry, Uberto could clearly see  Karl’s military genius. The gaps closed on the enemy, becoming death traps, and horses and men were pierced by the long spears and short swords converging on them from both sides. The Saracen commanders saw their soldiers falling from their horses to their deaths. They hurriedly called a partial retreat. Thus far, none of the enemy had broken the ranks of Karl’s staunch infantry. The pikemen had stood strong and would not be routed.

       The great swarm of mounted Saracen warriors regrouped scarcely two hundred yards away. Uberto was part of Karl’s several hundred mounted knights who thus far had not had to lift a sword. However, he and all the knights were closely watching the enemy’s movements. When suddenly they charged again, the enemy objective became immediately clear. They were trying to overwhelm the pikemen by pouring all their manpower into two of the gaps between the formations. Karl directed his commanders to form a second row of phalanxes behind the first to meet the massed charge, but it was too late.

The pikemen fought valiantly, striking down many of the attackers, but they were cut down by wicked curved swords and enemy cavalry stormed through. There, they faced Karl and his knights. The knights strove to prevent the Saracens from splitting the army in two. Suddenly, Uberto, Wotano, Donato, and all the knights of Nice, along with Karl’s liegemen found themselves fighting for their lives and that of their leader.

        Wotano screamed, “behind you!” Uberto spun around to deflect a sword aimed at his neck. Grabbing the man’s wrist he thrust his blade through his breast and let him fall dying from his horse. He turned to see Donato finish off a Saracen whose leg was already gashed. Then he saw Karl, riding a majestic horse, bring down his heavy, curved axe on the head of an attacker. The battleaxe sliced through the metal of his helmet killing him instantly and knocking him off his horse.

         By then, Karl’s infantry had reformed their phalanxes and were able to stop the successive waves of enemy horsemen. Finally the attackers, having lost thousands of men, retreated down the hill to their camp. Uberto breathed a sigh of relief. The respite from fighting gave the Franks time to retrieve their dead and wounded from the front.

Intermixed among the defenders were huge numbers of Saracen dead and dying. Most lay where they had fallen, and some were still crying out and moaning from their wounds. Karl pulled his phalanxes back so the dead of the enemy did not interfere with his military formations. His army waited for the next attack. Uberto saw that the engagement had gone well for the Franks. They had suffered scarcely a tenth of the casualties of the enemy.

        Time passed, and the Saracens still did not renew the battle. Uberto sat on the ground, eating his ration of venison and unleavened bread with Wotano, Donato and three other knights from Nice, all prepared to jump up and fight again at a moments notice. The six of them speculated on what the Saracens would do next. There was fear they would resort to some kind of trickery. Karl had given his whole army explicit orders not to chase the enemy down the hill. He feared the Saracens could easily launch a counterattack under subterfuge of retreat. Unknown to all but a few of his liegemen, Karl was planning a strategy of his own to confuse and distract the enemy.