Turning Tables and Broken Glass

Faint

On a white horse Mavros was praying as he crossed the desert with his army. “Oh Saturn,” he cried, “you are the god of disaster and destruction. May we have your compassion and cross this desert safely. May you reserve your anger for the Antakians.”

“Lord, there seems to be a desert storm up ahead,” relayed one of his soldiers.

Mavros opened his eyes to see giant dust devils racing towards them.

“Disperse!” he yelled.

Amid the chaos, the storm reached Mavros. His vision was blurred and his hearing was failing him. He could feel strong winds kicking at him, their cold touch rendering him motionless. Every minute or so, as he was walking away from the storm, he would see one of his men rolling on the ground or being flung by a gust of wind. As he kept walking he saw some dead, some bent and broken and some trapped. A silver dagger pierced his heart every time he looked upon a face he could not help; he felt trapped in an endless hell. He yelled “Saturn, where are you? Help me!” but no one could hear him, not even himself. He fell to the ground and wept bitterly. He wept for quite some time while the storm went on.

He looked up, with tears in his eyes, when he felt the wind getting stronger. All around, as he could see, was a twister. He followed its spiral and saw his comrades being dragged by its dance. All around him, they were sucked up by the twister while he stood in the centre. As he stood and watched, weeping tears like rain, the twister’s spiral came closer and closer to him. Mavros closed his eyes and awaited the inevitable. The winds drew closer and closer. When they were about to take him, like a sudden flash, the winds faded and the storm calmed. Mavros fainted as the bodies of his comrades dropped around him, creating unbearable crushing noises.

On the eastern shores of the sea, Kryzos’ army advanced into the holy land of the Asmoneans.

“Halt!” yelled Kryzos, as he saw the banners of the Asmoneans. They were blue, large waving banners, with the Asmonean insignia, a white hammer. Kryzos stood on a hill facing away from the sea. He was looking at, what he could guess was, about twenty thousand men on foot. He recognized their leader standing in front of the army. He had curly brown hair, a large build and a well-rounded beard. “Judas, is that you?”

“Yes, my friend. You must be Kryzos of Ptolemy. It is good to finally see you. Welcome to our holy land.”

“Thank you. I have brought gold and silver beyond your asking price. I hope that our alliance will continue far into the future.”

“Yes, I would like to see that as well. Do we march ahead my friend?”

“Please, let us not delay. I will explain the strategy as we ride.”

“None of us have horses. Most of my men are farmers, priests, shepherds and fisherman.”

“We shall walk then, but let us make haste. Onwards men!”

At his command both armies marched toward the western walls of Antakya.

As they walked Kryzos began to pray, “Oh Venus goddess of my heart, allow us to prosper today and to return home to our dancing women. May their bodies be reward for our effort and may our gold not turn to dust at the hands of Antakya. My lady I ask for your blessing. May we find favour in your eyes and may the Asmoneans find favour in us to serve us well.”

Judas overheard Kryzos praying and asked who he was praying to.

“To Venus of course. She moves the hearts of all and grants men prosperity.”

“I do not wish to offend you Kryzos, but our god is greater,” remarked Judas.

“And who might this god be?” asked Kryzos.

“The one and only, the god who is and always will be. His name we do not dare utter for it is holy,” answered Judas.

“You pray to your god and I to mine and may they both provide us with strength,” replied Kryzos.

They were drawing closer to the wall. The could see the top of its tower in the distance. As they marched forward the Asmoneans rallied to the back since they were on foot. Judas proposed this to Kryzos as they had no men on horseback and Kryzos agreed. When Kryzos’ men attacked and besieged the wall, the Asmoneans would provide support from the back.

They drew close enough now that they could see the archers on the towers. As Kryzos was reminding his soldiers of the plan, a bell rang within the walls. Upon hearing it Kryzos yelled “Attack!”

Kryzos and his men raced towards the wall. They tried to get to the draw bridge before it was raised but failed to do so. The archers shot at them with arrows but Kryzos taught his men how to defend from such a threat. Armed with silver shields, the soldiers guarded themselves from the archers’ fury. At his command, Kryzos’ men brought large siege structure and laid them in front of the moat. The structures were like wooden staircases capable of having two men walk up at once. They drenched one end of the structure in rum and set it ablaze then immediately lifted the structure so that it clung to the wall. Two at a time ran up the structure with shields at their sides to block the onslaught of arrows. When they reached the top, they were to take out the archers so that more structures could be laid.

When they had about a few hundred men on the wall fighting, Kryzos heard a commotion from behind his soldiers. He couldn’t tell what was going on but he could see his soldiers falling. He yelled “What is going on?”

“We’ve been betrayed!” yelled his soldiers.

Hearing that, he commanded more structure to be positioned so the men could retreat. As his soldiers ran to lay more structures, flaming arrows shot towards their bases, setting them on fire. Kryzos looked back in shock to see Judas standing on the chests of gold they brought to pay him with, bow in hand, shooting fire at them.

The tides had turned. With the Asmoneans’ betrayal, the siege was sure to fail as they were now facing a two-pronged attack. Judas’ men cut the space short and pushed Kryzos’ men towards the moat. The men on top of the wall were surrounded by Antakian soldiers; Kryzos could see them dropping one by one. “Why Venus why? Did we do something to displease you? Did we not pay our dues?” screamed Kryzos to the heavens. His men were hacked in front of him and there was nothing he could do. He searched his brain for an answer but it left him. He was too distraught to come up with a solution, if one even existed. Kryzos had fallen.

The Asmoneans defeated all of Kryzos’ men and left him as the sole survivor; a souvenir of their victory, or betrayal. They surrounded him in a circle and pushed him around. When they saw Judas approaching they let him through. Kryzos ran at Judas with bloodshot eyes, rage, spewing from his face. Judas easily kicked him down to the ground and the crowd laughed at his helplessness. The laughter could be heard from inside the walls. “Look at the cunning and brave Kryzos now? What does your gold do but offend? And what of your god Venus? Was she ravaged by our might?” mocked Judas.

“Why, why would you betray us?” asked Kryzos angrily.

“Oh its fairly simple. The Antakians paid us more and we also keep your payment as well.”

“You coward, does your god teach you this treachery?”

“Shut up,” said Judas coldly as he kicked Kryzos unconscious, “Take him away.” Judas’ men took the general into the walls, as a prisoner for the king.

As all this went on Kokkino was waiting to attack. As he waited he prayed with his soldiers. “Oh Mars, god of my fathers, may your blessing dwell in us. May your fire burn within us, giving us newfound strength from the heavens. We come here today before your field, your station, to battle for your glory and that of our Lord and king. Oh, warrior god, grant us victory in battle and send us home with honour. We pour out our blood for you!”

Just then, a horseman came from the west and stopped right in front of Kokkino. “Lord, I’ve seen the start of battle on the western wall!” explained the horseman.

“Great. Tell the men to get into position. In just a few hours, we attack,” he commanded his lieutenants and they readied their men. The time came, according to Kryzos’ plan, to attack. They sieged the wall easily but found that inside the wall the Antakians were in position. The bells rang as soon as Kokkino’s men were spotted and soldiers flooded towards them. The battle began; Kokkino was excited.

In no time, Kokkino had taken out a few dozen of the enemy. He was charging at the enemy like a bull, thinking that Kryzos’ plan was still in effect. His prowess on the battlefield strengthened his men. Seeing him defeat so many soldiers at once riled them up; they were unstoppable. Kokkino opened up a path for them by pushing back enemy soldiers as his soldiers came through supporting him. Their victory was at hand; they had reached the outskirts of the capital. They pushed back the enemy and outnumbered them. The enemy retreated towards the city leading Kokkino and his men to their destination. There was absolutely nothing the Antakians could do.

“March on men. To victory by Mars!” shouted Kokkino as he climbed the hill leading to the capital city. His men charged like demons up the hill to lay their eyes upon the capital city. As they reached the top of the hill, the enemy soldiers that took down Kryzos arrived with Judas and his men. Kokkino’s men began to stiffen up. And then they heard footsteps from the south; the soldiers from the southern border had also come for reinforcements. Kokkino, seeing that his brothers had been defeated, put aside his emotions and rallied his men. “Attack,” he ordered, “we advance on the capital, whether Mars is with us or not!” They advanced forward but were sandwiched between the three armies. The vigour of Kokkino’s men left them as they began falling one by one. Eventually all but Kokkino were slain. Kokkino kept advancing, taking out soldiers left and right. His face stained with the blood of his comrades, he yelled at the heavens “Why god? Why have you forsaken your servant?”

“That’s interesting.”

“Who are you?” asked Kokkino as he turned around to see Judas.

“The man who defeated Kryzos,” he laughed.

Kokkino charged at him with rage but a flurry of arrows halted him as he defended with his shield. He looked up to see Judas swinging a large axe at him. He tried to guard but Judas was quicker and took Kokkino’s shield off him. The general took a knee and Judas used the opportunity to kick him. As he fell Asmoneans surrounded him and held him down. Kokkino was defeated. He struggled against his captors but at last his strength left him. He looked up to see Judas laughing before he fainted.