36. Chomp Chomp

Spendius’s empire of Mendek had taken the world by storm, they had taken the northern cities of Uruq and were poised to annex the country of Balna. To make things worse for all foes of the God of Battle, a new evangel had been created, Maurice, a man similar in some aspects to Mercurius and different in all others. He had brown hair, green eyes but had a temper and had a lust for battle, and did not have a good nature. With Spendius’s conquests and defeats of Uruq, Maurice revealed himself as an evangel to the God of Battle, and talked to the ruler himself.

“Humble Lord.”

“Lord,” Spendius said.

“Lord,” Maurice corrected, “you turn to the west and take on Balna, I will aid in the conquests of the south.”

“The south?” Spendius said, “are you so sure about that?”

“I can take the rest of Uruq.”

“I will lead armies to also attack Uruq, we can finish them quickly,” Spendius grinned darkly, “they won’t know what hit them.”

Using the Chenep and Hunur armies, Spendius, rode through the lush green countryside with his army, taking towns and forts along the way, intending to take Uruqa in one fell swoop. Maurice on the other hand led 5000 infantry mercenaries and went down south along the eastern frontier of Uruq, first besieging the city of Azer and then after promptly taking the city advancing down to Van, hoping to take the city of Hatun and secure the whole eastern border. It was barely a day and the Uruq flags had been wrested off so many battlements of so many settlements, now the God of Battle’s emblem adorned city after city, the sheer awe of such a feat producing some followers. The sword and axe on a golden flag fluttered in the wind, Mendek troops marched through the city of Azer and quickly out of it again. The governor’s gold was used for weapon and supply procurement, Maurice hiring 2000 mercenary cavalry and getting his troops plenty of food and drink for their march down south. 20,000 Uruq army comprising infantry had set off from Uruqa in order to halt the madness, but Spendius used his 20,000 cavalry to quickly annihilate the army. As usual he led from the front, taking out the enemy commander, many officers and even some of the common soldiery, before the cavalry swept in for the kill.

“Don’t kill too many! These lands will be ours soon!”

Again such words produced awe, Spendius managed to subjugate village after village, pausing in the evening to spectate upon the city of Kert.

“Should we take the city of Kert?”

“I leave that to Maurice, having another evangel allows me to accelerate my plans.”

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Instead they marched down straight to Uruq.

Mehmet’s woes in the north were met with surreptitious ones in the south. Symachus and Xelra were buying the loyalty of the city of Symr and contemplating the city of Hatun, idols to the God of Trade, Water and Farming began sprouting up, and the city authorities noted the emptying of the slave markets. They had heard rumours of what had happened to the Moru kingdom, but these had become fables to many, who did not believe that such a thing truly happened. Nonetheless the city of Symr’s allegiances clearly changed. The flag of the revolution, of Yerek, of the Republic; it went by many names, had entered many homes, and even more hearts. The prosperity of the city of Smyr had increased, and the authorities did not notice the increase in the crossbows being distributed to many of the lower classes and recently freed slaves.

570 autumn and the country of Mendek had not freed slaves, in fact to pay for the large armies Spendius had been doing the opposite; capturing people and selling them into slavery, to make profits to support his state. Spendius had rested well in the night, but his horse army rode in the early hours to go for the jugular of Uruq. Uruqa was defended well, but Mehmet had not been expecting such a thing, his armies crushed recently he had not sufficient time to raise more. Chenep and Hunur soldiers loyal to Mendek cheered endlessly as they rode through village after village. Maurice had likewise captured Van, taking a side route to take the city of Kert. His 7000 man army was considerably smaller but was motivated by gold and quick easy victories.

It finally happened in the afternoon Spendius arrived at the gates of the Uruq capital. The great city walls were built by a Byz governor many centuries ago when Byz was an imperial power, and now they were Mehmet’s, but Spendius was about to change that. He used his God Powers to rush up the walls, take out the guards and crank the gate open, after which his cavalry streamed in. The sheer momentum of his actions demoralised many into surrender, after which he rushed into the king’s palace. A fine marble structure was quickly breeched and entered, the guards being felled by Spendius’s quick blows, his soldiers hooting and hollering to further demoralise the enemy.

“Surrender and we’ll spare your worthless lives!”

Much of the common garrison followed the advice, but the palace guard put up a bit more of a fight. King Mehmet himself was lassoed and brought before Spendius, his boot put on his head in the most ignominious way.

“His lands are my lands now!” Spendius shouted, to the terror of Mehmet, and the delight of his troops, “and everything else.” Spendius said most evilly.

“You wouldn’t!” Mehmet said in fright, only to be knocked down with the butt of Spendius’s sword.

Spendius took the royal treasury, and had the wives of Mehmet put before him. A blonde and a raven haired one, Spendius took his time combing through their garments, ogling them. He looked at Mehmet and taunted him with a smirk.

“To the conqueror goes the spoils…”

While Spendius had taken the capital, Maurice had used his mercenary cavalry to enter the city of Kert and take it ahead of the tired advancing infantry, who merely took towns and villages along the way. The campaign in a day, left only Smyr and Hatun in the hands of the Mendek empire, Smyr under Symachus’s direction led a revolt which threw out the garrison, while Hatun surrendered itself to Hitara in exchange for protection. Uruq was gone. Spendius and Maurice had in so short a time, totally destroyed a country. With their stunning victory followers to the God of Battle increased, and so another evangel would be created, much to everyones' displeasure.