4. The Menace

  Morganius became a pest for all parties bar his own. To his mercenaries, the goddess of ice became something of a folklore among them, something allowing them to gain riches without dying.

  “The goddess of ice?” Zaras said, “perhaps I will believe in the goddess of ice, will I get ice powers?”

  “No,” Morganius said, “she is not so generous, I think.”

  To Mikel he was an oddity, for he was a pagan lord of a Crixian realm, his new appointment as lord albeit unsupported and unfettered made him an oddity to Mikel spies and informers. The news of his paganism for now was not too well known, but his threat to Turanian border towns did in fact become quite well known. He had ten wagons built at the cost of 400 silver, transporting 55 crossbowmen and 2 swordsmen, Zaras and a new hire replacing the old one, as well as 10 drivers. The simple carts were left behind, preferring to travel with four horses per wagon in a convoy system rather than trot on foot. Morganius rode on horse with his two bodyguards surveying the next town of attack. Morganius was working in winter, his mercenary soldiers surprised by his tenacity. He could see his breath coming off of him. In the next proceeding moment the other swordsman bodyguard was hit in the face with an arrow, instantly perishing. Morganius put up an ice shield before throwing a barrage of projectiles into the nearby bush, immediately hitting home, as the soldiers collapsed.

  “Form up! Form up!” Zaras screamed, “damn it Morganius, what kind of shit have you got us into?”

  It was a 2000 man ambush, Turanian troops were crawling everywhere. The mercenaries put the wagons into a circular position, Morganius easily covering their movements. 100 rushing swordsmen at the front were defeated from the front. Zaras sliced a more eager soldier, before beckoning Morganius to retreat by the makeshift fortifications.

  “My money, these fucks are wasting my money!”

  The Turanian troops were laid waste with even faster rates of ice shot. He successfully went into the brush, refusing to hide among his troops, firing down at oncoming Turanians who were hit and felled with unique efficiency. Zaras hid behind him, swatting at least two fellows who had attempted to terminate Morganius’s life. In a move shocking both Zaras and the Turanians Morganius made ice come up from the ground nearby them, ending six attackers, but giving away their position quite visibly.

  “Keep fighting!” Morganius screamed, “I will kill these bastards.”

  Crossbow shot could be heard clicking, as Turanian men fell. 500 cavalry rode near the path from an open field and were quickly laid waste to. Ice melted slowly in the cold morning, but the hot blood did help the offending articles slowly disappear. Cavalry were easy targets for Morganius due to their height, and Morganius was careful to take out the riders and not the horses, for he knew just how valuable horses were. In the end he spent half an hour circling his wagon fort before entering it and directing devastating shots at the Turanians. The cavalry had been halved, but circled around quickly to avoid more losses.

  “Kill the infidels! How dare pagan scum claim our lands!” One Turanian officer said.

  Morganius shot the man, instantly retorting:

  “Watch how this pagan scum beats you!”

  Morganius’s men were weary of the pagan epithet, but they nonetheless were impressed with how he took out scores of men. His magical power did not have an infinite scope, but it had unlimited firing ability, it was essentially an ice machine gun that never tired, but it only had a breadth of roughly a metre and a half, more than enough to lay waste to the Turanians. Turanian soldiers attempted attacks from all sides, and again Morganius slipped out his defences to lead attacks. 600 archers, were coming to end them all, but he made an ice screen, catching almost all the arrows, with only a few slipping through and hitting some shoulders. He shot at the archers with unceasing fury, their chests being punctured by the fast flying ice. He precipitated a small rout, other infantry trying to attack to distract Morganius’s attention. His ice screen had gone down and the crossbowmen began peppering the oncoming soldiers. Morganius directed his attention to the sorties of all sides, hearing the groans of Turanian men, who labelled him ‘monster,’ in these moments.

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  “Fuck…” one could be heard groaning, “who is this guy?”

  Who is this guy? One mercenary thought, I have no idea.

  Zaras managed to cut a soldier’s hand, and Morganius shot the fellow down with such force, that he impaled the next few soldiers. Morganius took a more active role in the defence of his wagon fort, rushing the Turanian spear with flying ice.

  “Hang on a second!” Zaras said, as he rushed behind him, “this lunatic,” he uttered with bated breath.

  He rushed the enemy commander and barrelled icicles into his stomach. Then turned against the archers, brushing through the undergrowth, Morganius gunned down 100 men in 30 seconds, moving onto the spearmen nearby who seemed to be charging his position. Zaras ducked on a blade, missing a jab of a spear.

  “Damn you crazy mother…” Zaras said, swatting two near fatal blows.

  Zaras slashed the torso of one soldier, and cut the spear tip off the other, Morganius turned around and began gunning down the next set of soldiers.

  “God that is reassuring!” Zaras said, huffing.

  His chest was wet his blood and that of a Turanian soldier. Morganius kept the pressure, the pagan lord successfully taking out hundreds as he ruffled through the brush next to his wagon fort. With the enemy commander dead, the archers bested and the cavalry falling off their horses, the coherence of the Turanian army collapsed. He gunned down the melee units, he then moved onto more of the cavalry, taking them off their horses and onto the floor. His mercenaries were cheering, as more and more attention was focused on the pagan baron. Morganius gunned down the approaching spearmen with ferocity, killing the archers with unceasing fury, before finally emerging down the hill and having the melee units run away in terror.

  “It’s a demon! A demon!”

  Ice whistled through the air, hitting a target, and soon precipitating a rout. Zaras slew a few more soldiers who had come to kill the lord, successfully defending the lord from any threats.

  “Thanks,” Morganius uttered, “well done.”

  The archers were devastated, the horsemen killed off their horses and the melee were now all running away. 1000 were dead, and the other 1000 came to avenge their general and their fallen comrades. Morganius’s men came up the ridge ready to fight for their commander. Morganius focused on the northern flank, the rate of death was enough to scare the rest to run. His mercenaries chased after them, for now there was no hope for them.

  “Run away from that monster!” The men shouted.

  200 men had been gunned down, the rest fleeing in all directions, leaving much of their equipment, whoever the commander was he had been defeated and Morganius had lost only five of his men.

  “Glory to Morganius the hope of Mikel! Demon or not he’s ours!” One man said lifting a crossbow.

  It took a while to loot all the silver and gold, all the rings and things worth selling, and organise the carts to head for the nearest settlement. The army Morganius had beaten had mostly fled there, heading northwards to a town of 5000 named Zolsa. Morganius had looted 2000 silver coins, plus rings, plus the 500 he already still had. He had no method for all the horses, but corralled them and left them where they were. Zolsa fell after a short battle, after which, the Mikel flag was raised. Again the townsfolk were amazed, the ‘Ice Demon of the East’ became a title that was used by Crixian and Kena alike. He hired 100 mercenaries from the town, and began organising his next manoeuvres.

  “It’s winter Morganius, we were lucky so far, but the larger the force the more we need supplies, and the more the troops are likely to freeze to death,” Zaras advised.

  “I’ll bring the fight to them, ‘Ice Demon of the East’ has a nice ring to it, that Ice Demon will change some things,” he whispered.

  And so the Ice Demon began his planning for his next campaign.

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