Three Knights (III)
What followed was a series of twisted and one-side battles, which effectively cut, then cut, then cut again the numbers of barbarian warriors. Edward and Phillip orchestrated each massacre disguised with heavy woolen cloaks and swift, decisive action.
To ensure an immediate and aggressive Baka assault on the Aviar horses and scouts, Edward planted his banner on the rise near the Aviar camp. When the Baka leader recognized the banner, his suspicions were confirmed. He attacked and destroyed or captured all Aviar horses and troops. Phillip rescued a young Aviar scout and allowed him to carry the news of the Baka treachery to the Aviar leadership.
The Aviars responded with a frenzy of mobilization. Aviar cavalrymen were given whatever horses were left to scavenge. The Aviar’s vengeful war cries could be heard for miles, which reached the ears of Baka scouts.
The knights had sent word to the remaining half of the Bakan army that the Aviars were planning to betray them by killing their king and half their army thus making the Bakas servants instead of partners. The Bakas sent scouts to the Aviar camp and overheard the cries for the death and dismemberment of all Bakas.
The remaining half of the Bakan army prepared to attack their Avair allies. Both groups now acting without their leadership and succumbing to mob sentimentality.
Edward watched these events unfold with a sense of keen satisfaction. Phillip was beside himself in awe. “Edward are you a sorcerer that you can control men’s minds? Our enemies have virtually volunteered to annihilate each other!”
On his march to meet the Bakan chief, the Aviar king was now suspicious of Edward’s hand in this catastrophe. The loss of virtually all of his horses now made his army inferior to the better-trained infantry of the Bakas. He considered it a distinct possibility that Sir Edward had engineered the Baka attack. His fellow leaders warned against rushing headlong into a battle with the Bakas unless some proof of their treachery could be discovered.
The Aviar advisors cautioned, “They have never betrayed us before and what could Edward offer them that would compare with the plunder we could capture together? We must talk to avoid destroying ourselves. Only if we witness the very banner of Sir Edward himself flying in the middle of their camp will we attack.”
Their words were of prophesy for when the Aviars reached the exhausted, returning Bakan army, there for all to see was the captured banner of Sir Edward flying next to all their captured horses.
The Aviars attacked with lightning quickness. The shock and dismay registering on the Bakan faces as Aviar lances mowed them down. The Bakan king led a brave counter attack but his weary forces were overwhelmed.
Only a third of the once feared Aviar cavalry still remained. The Aviar king could only console himself with those riding behind and alongside him, “This is still enough to bring down any half-whit German prince.”
One final battle awaited him. When he arrived at his base camp, he discovered instead a bloody field. The leaderless Bakas had exercised “fate” and destroyed what they thought was going to be an Aviar surprise attack. Nothing was left but parts of the Baka army stripping Aviar bodies and burning their tents.
The final Aviar charge was an example of extraordinary carnage. Once the last arrow flew and the final spear found its target the threat to the German prince’s domain was gone. Edward eventually recovered his torn and tattered banner from that battlefield. He still uses it to this day.
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