Chapter 86: Saladin Arrives
Chapter 86: Saladin Arrives
On the distant horizon, dust billowed. On the walls of Kerak Castle, the garrison moved back and forth, their expressions tense.
Saladin’s grand army, without any warning, had crossed the border between the two kingdoms this very morning and was now bearing down on Kerak.
Holy Fire flags and a sea of men kicking up dust blotted out the sky.
The terrifying sense of pressure made everyone in Kerak tense. They knew very well that given the past actions of their lord, Count Raynald—plundering Zoroastrian merchant caravans, massacring Zoroastrian civilians, attempting to defile Zoroastrian holy sites in Nejd—if the city fell, no one would survive.
Though Saladin was known for his benevolence, his iron-fisted methods never lacked for bloodshed.
’Creeaak—’ A dozen armored sergeants strained at the windlass, raising the heavy drawbridge, completely ignoring the scattered groups of refugees who had already reached the vicinity of the gate, fleeing with their families.
"Please, open the gate! Let us in!’
"Our village has been completely massacred! Those Saracens won’t let us go!"
"Limur! I’m your uncle! These are all relatives and neighbors who watched you grow up! I beg you, show some mercy, delay raising the drawbridge for a moment!"
"Can you bear to watch your own kin and friends die like this beneath the city walls?"