The Stratigos of Dark Magic

The horseman rode through the melting spring snow as fast as he could. His mount's breaths were ragged, the beast on the verge of collapse. Its rider urged it forward. He prayed that he'd make it in time.

In front of him was a tall wooden wall. Numerous men with gambesons and crossbows stood atop it. They opened the gate when the rider came to the wall.

The rider dismounted right away. A man wearing metal lamellar over his gambeson approached the horseman.

"Where's the rest of the scouts?" the lamellar-wearing man asked.

"Dead," the rider answered, panic filling his voice. "The Baikals are attacking, despotēs! They ambushed us! They're on their way here!"

The man in lamellar didn't hesitate. He barked a string of orders.

"Shore up the defenses! Make sure your weapons are sharp! Put spikes in the ditch! Move! Now!"

The town became a flurry of activity as his men rushed to obey his orders. Theme warriors moved around with various weapons and tools. Townspeople joined in, doing whatever they could to help.

As they did, the man in lamellar moved towards a tall building with a grimace on his face.

"I was hoping we wouldn't have to rely on that man," he muttered to himself.

Soon, he arrived and opened the door with a tinge of fear in his eyes. A boy of 15 with black hair and a short beard sat by the fireplace. This teenager had a suit of mail on his body as well as a sword at his hip. He was reading a book and didn't even look at the man in lamellar when he entered.

"Despotēs, Tabahn Khan's on his way here!" the man said.

The boy looked at him with a bored expression.

"Is that so, Tourmarchēs Theotokos?" he asked.

"It is! He could be here at any moment!" the man in lamellar answered.

With a sigh, the boy stood up.

"Get your hundred best men and bring them to the town square. If we have any mercenaries, bring them too. Keep them there until I arrive," he ordered.

Theotokos shook his head.

"But we need them on the walls!" the man objected.

The boy pulled out a piece of paper with an imperial seal on it.

"Do not question my orders," he said.

"I will not, despotēs," Theotokos promised.

Then, he ran out of the room. The moment Theotokos was gone, the boy pulled the mail on his right arm along with the gambeson under it back. There were numerous scars underneath.

The boy pulled out a dagger and cut his own arm. Pain pulsed through him. Blood bubbled from his wound.

"I'm sorry," he said. "But I must do my duty."

With a sad expression, the boy wrapped a bandage around his arm. He put his armor back in place and hardened his face.

Soon, the boy was walking through town. A cold wind blew at his back. Dampness covered his feet as he walked through melted snow. Numerous people ran all around him, but the boy ignored all of them.

He gazed at the town square ahead of him. Over 100 men stood in it. Most of them were clad in gambesons with either mail or metal lamellar on top of it. Every man had a helmet. Additionally, most of the men wore red, green, or white Remen-style cloaks. These men were armed with a mixture of spears and shields or bows. Straight swords and axes were at their sides.

However, a number of men wore clothing of the steppe. Most of them had gambesons, and only a few had metal lamellar over their cloth. Each of these men carried a compound bow. Curved swords were at their hips.

"Most of the men here are theme warriors," the boy thought. "The mercenaries are all barbarians from the steppe. If I had to guess, they're probably all Ulvs. Tabahn Khan massacred their tribe and killed their Khan. The survivors probably want revenge, even if that means working with the Remen Empire."

The boy pulled up a status screen that only he could see.

Named Entities that Love You: 2.

Named Entities that Like You: 1.

Named Entities that Dislike You: 26.

Named Entities that Hate You: 1.

Named Entities that Despise You: 1.

Named Entities that Fear You: 4.

After pulling the status screen down, the boy waited until Theotokos happened by. Then he grabbed the man's shoulder. Theotokos' attention was instantly on the boy.

"Honored to see you, despotēs," Theotokos said.

"Spare me your courtesies, you pathetic fool," the boy replied. "Announce my presence to the men. I'm going to make a speech."

The Tourmarchēs nodded rapidly.

"Of course, despotēs. Right away."

Theotokos walked in front of the men, making sure to stand with incredible dignity. He projected his voice so all the warriors would hear him.

"Everyone, attention!"

All the men looked right at him. Theotokos surveyed them, giving a dramatic pause before speaking.

"Today, you are going to be given a speech by Stratigos Demetrius Kallergis, a dark magician from Kostaspolis."

The warriors shared looks of anxiety. Nervousness flowed through the crowd. Hints of fear flittered across some of their eyes. Demetrius pulled up his screen again, looking with care.

Named Entities that Fear You: 10.

Demetrius steeled himself. He walked up to the crowd. Theotokos got out of the way, and the boy stood where he was standing.

"I'm sorry," Demetrius thought before speaking. "I am the most powerful person here. With one spell, I could kill any one of you."

Named Entities that Fear You: 13.

Demetrius grimaced.

"I thought that I'd scare more of them for sure. Then again, these men are disciplined soldiers. They fight the Steppe barbarians all the time. They see men die. I don't think that words alone, even from a sorcerer, would be enough to intimidate them. And I don't want to risk fighting them before a battle. So be it. I will make them hate me."

The Stratigos gave everyone before him a smug smirk. He folded his arms. Then his smirk faded. Demetrius looked at the men in front of him as if they were trash that hadn't been cleaned up.

"You are all worthless peons unworthy to even look at me. I'd have you all ejected from the themes if I didn't know that everyone else here was somehow worse than you," Demetrius said.

Named Entities that Dislike You: 37.

Named Entities that Hate You: 9.

Demetrius looked over the crowd. He saw some people's mouths move, but they were too quiet for the boy to hear. Then, Demetrius pointed at the tallest man.

"You, there. Tell me, how many men have you killed in battle?" the boy asked.

"Ten, despotēs. I might have killed more if they bled to death after they ran or got infected."

Demetrius glared.

"No. You killed no men," he stated.

Then, his glare turned into a smug smirk.

"If any of you actually managed to kill them, there's no way they were men," Demetrius said.

Named Entities that Dislike You: 49.

Named Entities that Hate You: 17.

Demetrius hid a frown. Despite his grin, his heart clenched internally.

"It's working. I'm sorry, but I have to keep going," he thought.

"The same goes for the rest of you. I don't think any of you lot could even kill mice. If I had the choice between taking you lot into battle or 10 untrained women, I'd choose the women every time," Demetrius said.

Named Entities that Dislike You: 86.

Named Entities that Hate You: 57.

"That should be all the theme warriors and the mercenaries," Demetrius thought. "They're going to complain about me when they're with the other theme warriors. So, I can expect those numbers to rise."

He smirked and turned away.

"That's all. Do whatever useless thing you were doing before I called you here," Demetrius said.

The boy walked away. He went out of sight of everyone else, into a dark alley. Demetrius pulled out his dagger, pulled back his armor, and cut into his arm once more.

"I deserve this," he said.

Demetrius watched as blood coiled around his arm like a serpent. A low pain flowed through his body. The boy then swiped the blood off his dagger. He sheathed it before wrapping more bandages around his limb. With a deep breath, a look of determination crossed Demetrius' face.

"No matter what, I will protect this town."

A horde approached the town. 100 horsemen and at least 1,000 men on foot. They carried a battering ram along with numerous ladders with them. Their horse archers were clad in leather lamellar while the metal lamellar of the heavy cavalry shone brightly in the sunlight. This army approached from the West, ensuring that the sun was in the eyes of the defenders.

On the walls, the defenders shivered. They clenched their crossbows tighter.

"I've never seen an army that large," one of them said.

Another nodded.

"If they get in here, we'll all be slaughtered," he stated.

A third shook.

"The men will be killed, the women raped, and the children sold into slavery," he said, aiming his crossbow. "There's no way we're letting those bastards get past our walls."

Demetrius stood on the wall over the gate. He gazed at the army before them. A look of disappointment crossed his face.

"That's it? These are all the men Tabahn Khan can muster? I know that I'm here to keep it from getting big, but I expected more," he thought.

Then, Demetrius looked at the terrified faces of the men around him.

"We really are in the far regions of the Empire. Most of these men probably never saw an army that big. If a proper Remen army was here, we'd crush these barbarians. But there's no sense sending an army when one magician is enough," Demetrius contemplated.

He pulled up his status screen, this time including another detail.

Mana: 100/100.

Named Entities that Dislike You: 117.

Named Entities that Hate You: 69.

"The theme warriors complained about me, just as planned," he thought.

A horn blew in the distance. The oncoming army stopped in its tracks. They let out loud battle cries. Terror struck the men present.

"They're going to attack us right away," Theotokos said.

"An idiotic decision. They should make a siege camp," Demetrius replied.

"Why bother when they could just crush us with their numbers?"

"Because I am here, you idiot."

The boy pulled out his book and opened it.

On the ground, a horde of archers moved forward. The crossbowmen on the walls unleashed a volley of bolts. Blood poured out of some archers that were hit, oozing out of their pierced armor. Others were luckier and their gambesons managed to stop the bolts.

Then, the archers got close and shot their bows. A rain of arrows flew into the air. They went straight for the men on the walls in a volley of death.

Demetrius pointed his free hand forward. A great shield of darkness formed in front of the wall.

Mana: 85/100.

The arrows impacted the shield. They bounced off like rain splattering over glass. More shots came from the archers, all futile. Demetrius turned to the crossbowmen.

"Shoot back, you idiots! My shield won't stop your bolts!" he said.

With incredible discipline, the crossbowmen shot at the archers outside the walls. Bolts hit necks, pierced gambesons, and slaughtered many men. Some of the archers fell back, desperate to escape oncoming death. Others remained uninjured. Either the crossbowmen missed them, or their armor stopped the bolts.

Women from the city ran to the battlements. They carried bolts, giving them to the crossbowmen so they'd have a steady supply of ammunition. Some women even brought water for the men on the walls.

Then, Demetrius' status screen came up.

Named Entities that Dislike You: 115.

"What? What's going on?" he thought.

The boy listened as hard as he could.

"Hey, that magician's pretty cool after all," a crossbowman said.

"Yeah," another agreed. "He's stopping all those arrows."

Named Entities that Dislike You: 107.

"No! No! No!" Demetrius thought.

Named Entities that Dislike You: 95.

A crack formed in the shield of darkness, and an arrow broke through. It slammed into one of the women bringing bolts to the crossbowmen. The arrow pierced her heart, and she tumbled off the walls, dead.

Another arrow made it through the shield. It struck a crossbowman in the eye. He let out a scream of pain before the arrow pierced his brain. The man fell dead, blood bubbling out of his eyesocket.

More arrows pierced the magical defense. Some failed to pierce the armor of the crossbowmen. One bounced off Demetrius' mail. Still others embedded themselves in men's and women's faces, arms, and other body parts. Screams echoed across the walls.

"What the hell is that bastard doing?" a man shouted.

"Did he let those arrows hit us on purpose?" another screamed.

Named Entities that Hate You: 102.

Named Entities that Despise You: 26.

Named Entities that Fear You: 167.

The cracks in the shield disappeared. Then, its darkness shimmered. Arrows bounced off it once more. Demetrius quickly glanced at the men around him. Most of them were still alive and uninjured, but many were wounded or killed. Sickness welled up in the boy's gut.

"This is horrible, but it isn't as bad as I thought it would be," Demetrius contemplated. "We need to end this battle fast. The men's morale is shot."

He looked out at the battlefield. The attackers were bringing their battering ram forward.