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April passed in the blink of an eye, and the orders kept coming. I even began receiving custom commissions from so soldiers of the local themata, although for the most part it was the wealthier mbers who asked to sell them steel swords. Apparently, the strategos' sword had not gone unnoticed, and several orders followed, along with commissions from the local tagmata, which served as the emperor's mobile elite force in the region and was responsible for securing the road toward Bulgarian territory.
My forge had beco a hotspot among the wealthy, as I was one of the few smiths capable of working steel without taking months to deliver a product. Thanks to the modifications I had made to the furnaces, we could reach much higher temperatures and truly lt the steel instead of rely carburizing iron and producing poor-quality steel.
From ti to ti, I could earn up to eight gold coins for barely two days of work, since the most difficult part was simply shaping the blade and sharpening it, avoiding the endless labor other smiths endured for days just to produce an acceptable sword.
For the first ti, Adrianople began to run out of blacksmith apprentices. When I hired the last twenty who were still begging for work making nails or other minor tasks, I put them almost exclusively on civil repairs—carts, tools, and small commissions—bringing my workforce to fifty people.
With inco now approaching two hundred gold coins after paying wages and material costs, I began spending heavily on military equipnt purchased from local rchants and craftsn. I acquired one hundred padded jackets, two hundred pairs of boots, several quivers of bolts, commissioned pavise-style shields—though they would only be delivered later—two hundred pairs of leather gloves, and one hundred padded coifs. I practically spent all my inco equipping the hundred n who now lived near the lands that belonged to my father.
I had also exhausted my remaining savings building a small military camp on the outskirts of the lands near the river. Tents were raised, a palisade constructed, and two watchtowers built, along with leveling an area for a training field.
Now I had a group in constant training, defending my forge and, by extension, my family's ho, while the forces of the themata focused on guarding the frontier. Rumors indicated that Bulgarian attempts to cross the border were increasing, though for now they were limited to raiding bands. Even so, the frontier was far too extensive for barely a thousand n to watch, since between the themata and the tagmata, imperial forces did not even reach five thousand troops and had to protect cities and trade routes, leaving many border villages completely exposed to Bulgarian raids.
"Good. Turn to the right," I ordered, signaling the spearn at the front to change direction.
The spearn complied, though clumsily, shifting their formation and pointing all their spears to the right, while the second line rested their spears over the shoulders of the n in front.
"Compress the line, lock shields… and brace yourselves as if horses were charging straight at you," I ordered again, moving along the sides of the formation, watching how the spearn adjusted.
Amid stumbling and collisions, they obeyed, compressing the formation and locking shield to shield, while the front line crouched to plant their spears into the ground.
"Good. Open a square in the center for the crossbown," I commanded. With difficulty they complied, forming a narrow space into which the crossbown moved and took position with their weapons.
"Enemies on your left. All crossbows, loose your bolts on my signal," I said, raising my hand toward a straw dummy mounted on a post topped with a horse's head.
I dropped my hand, and forty crossbows released their bolts at the target. Several struck true, others missed by little, and so missed badly.
"Check your crossbows. One of them seems to be pulling slightly to the left," I said, looking at the crossbown as they began inspecting their weapons, until one stepped out of formation and brought his to .
"Yes, it's off… there. Return to your position," I said, adjusting the crossbow and handing it back.
A month of training did not work miracles, but at least they would not disgrace themselves against bandits, who were likely trained just as poorly—or worse. With sixty spearn and forty crossbown, I could easily hold a position, provided we were not overwhelmingly outnumbered.
Training continued for another hour until a rider arrived at full speed.
"Is Kapetanios Basil here?" the rider asked, wearing fine Byzantine lallar armor.
"I'm the one you're looking for," I replied, turning to face him.
"Strategos Leon Skleros summons you at once. We are marching north, so I ask that you travel imdiately. The strategos has missions for you, Kapetanios," the rider said.
"I don't know what the strategos wants, but rest and prepare a supply wagon. If we have to move, we must be ready," I ordered, mounting one of the twenty horses kept in the stable, where we housed draft animals as well as the three warhorses I had retained.
I rode hard toward Adrianople and soon encountered part of the themata army fully ard, along with units of the local tagmata advancing north in marching columns.
I scanned the formation for the strategos and quickly spotted him riding alongside a unit of imperial cataphracts.
No one stopped as I approached. With my equipnt, I looked almost like another cataphract—the only difference being that I wore a steel plate cuirass instead of Byzantine lallar armor.
"Strategos," I said as I drew alongside him.
"Kapetanios Basil…" the strategos replied, lifting the tal mail that covered his face.
"You sent for ," I said as I began riding alongside him, once the cataphracts opened a gap for .
"An exotic suit of armor?" the strategos remarked, glancing at my steel plate cuirass.
"Very well… I have reliable information that Bulgarian troops are massing near the frontier. We do not know whether they will attack, but they are concentrating along the entire line. We need everyone available watching their movents, in case they break the truce or attempt limited raids," he said.
"But my forces are ant to defend part of Adrianople. We are not border guards," I pointed out.
"I know… but I need numbers," he replied. "I will leave ten n guarding your forge. It is far too important to risk it being looted—especially when you are arming both the tagmata and the thema with steel. Cross the Evros and head north. You will et one of my tourmarches there with a thousand n. Obey him in everything he orders," he said, signaling that I was dismissed.
"As you command, my strategos," I replied, spurring my horse and riding back toward my forge.
I returned quickly and found my n ready to march. It had taken effort, but I had finally beaten discipline into those bastards.
Without many orders, we loaded two wagons with dried at, flour, and water for the march, along with all the camp tents.
We crossed the bridge where two rivers converged and began marching north, passing through several small villages that still bore the scars of recent raids. The closer we ca to the frontier, the more ruined the settlents beca, until we finally saw smoke in the distance. It was the tourmarches' camp—or part of it, at least—since the thousand n the strategos had ntioned were nowhere in sight.
I presented myself, showing my rcenary contract, and the few guards watching the camp let through. I advanced until I found the tourmarches, who was listening to scouts reporting on the terrain.
"Here… there were around three hundred riders… and here I saw close to four hundred n in a camp… and here…" the scout was saying before stopping when he noticed .
"Tourmarches… Kapetanios Basil, in service to the strategos of Macedonia and the imperial army," I said, introducing myself.
"Yes… I was inford a rcenary unit would arrive to support us," he replied. "Tell , how many n do you command?"
"One hundred," I answered flatly.
"Better than nothing," he said bluntly. "I need you to watch this hill," he added, pointing to a rise near the Bulgarian camp, where roughly four hundred n were gathered.
"They outnumber four to one… what do I do if the Bulgarians actually attack?" I asked, studying the map.
"They shouldn't attack. But if they do, buy ti. All the ti you can, so we can prepare our forces," the tourmarches replied.
"Very well," I said, grimacing at the lack of any attempt to deny the obvious—that we were expendable, little more than cannon fodder to them.
Without wasting ti and while the sun was still up, we moved toward the hill they had indicated. But upon arrival, I noticed a far better position not far away: a higher, steeper hill, relatively close to the river in case we needed water.
So we lost no ti. We raised the tents imdiately, used the stakes we already had prepared, and built a palisade covering the two possible approaches facing our position. I placed observation posts and crossbown controlling both access routes, securing every point they might try to climb.
Without delay, I ordered nearby trees cut for firewood, choosing the driest ones, and also younger trees to continue fortifying the area. We also had a trench dug into the hillside to make the approach even more difficult.
We watched the Bulgarians, and the Bulgarians watched us. Our observation point was so good that we could see their entire camp, to the point of spotting when so of them went into the woods and squatted to relieve themselves among the bushes.
In our case, we had a latrine downhill, so all waste fell off to one side of the slope. It wasn't pleasant, but it was far better than keeping it close.
Several tis, small groups of Bulgarians ca out and tried to provoke us into attacking. They shouted things we couldn't make out due to the distance. From ti to ti, we had to move at night, using the darkness to receive supplies sent by the tourmarches or to send small groups to fetch water. Other than that, we did not move for anything. As eager as the Bulgarians seed to start a fight, even they recognized that our position was too defensible.
Two weeks passed in tense stillness, watching as now and then so Bulgarian left their camp to hurl insults, trying to lure soone into exposing themselves.
When I saw a cavalry unit arrive, my stomach tightened as I realized it was heavy cavalry.
"Shit…" I muttered, watching them. "We're on a hill. They won't charge—that would be stupid." I moved to count their numbers.
I imdiately sent a ssenger to the tourmarches' camp requesting reinforcents or permission to withdraw, but the bastard only sent more supplies and orders to hold the position. He had no n to spare.
That day was especially tense. I let everyone sleep or take naps so they would be fresh if combat ca, while those on watch remained fully alert.
From our rear, a shipnt arrived from my forge, and I imdiately distributed everything that had co: four mail hauberks, several pavises from recent orders, additional crossbows, and hundreds of bolts. Everything was made ready as we prepared ourselves.
The next day, I saw that the Bulgarian heavy cavalry had ford at the base of the hill and were preparing to advance—but they had dismounted and would attack on foot.
I did not know what to expect, but I ordered everyone to eat double rations while we prepared for a long day.
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If there are spelling mistakes, please let know.
Leave a comnt; support is always appreciated.
I remind you to leave your ideas or what you would like to see.
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