Lion of the Levant
Chapter 6: The Titan of Tarsus
Richard awakes to the Anatolian sunrise, he is still not used to how hot it is, he cannot wait to return to England. He goes to eat with the other lords and sits next to Otwin and they begin to talk about yesterday's battle. Otwin asks Richard where he was near the end as he did not see him. Richard tells him he was about to flank the enemy forces but he saw a friend of his was in trouble and decided instead save him. Otwin can tell in Richard's voice that there was a tinge of doubt in his voice, he reassures him that he made the right choice, that being a backstabber and unreliable would make you more enemies than friends and that he would fall faster than he rose, Richard nods silently and finishes his meal without another word. He heads to his tent to prepare for the march and they head out, moving south towards Antioch. The Turks in their retreat had scorched the Earth, plundered the land dry and destroyed all the wells they could find. The lack of food and water as well as the increasing heat starts to take a toll on the crusaders and they begin to die in droves and a trail of the dead litter the path behind them. Richard gives up some of his food and water to his men to help them march and keep up morale. Eventually, the crusaders reach the ancient city of Iconium where there is ample supplies for the massive almost 45,000 strong crusader army.
They continue to Heraclea and then the leaders of all the forces meet to discuss their next move, this group is called the Council of Princes, which is ironic as Otwin wasn't royalty and Richard was a bastard son who had no fiefs, current or the promises of ones through inheritance. They have a predicament, their path splits into two, the first path is through the dangerous but expedient Taurus Mountains, the second path was the longer but less dangerous path through the Anti-Taurus Mountains. Almost everyone decides to head through the Anti-Taurus Mountains save for Richard and Tancred. Tancred decides that moving with a light force will be the best idea and only brings with him a few hundred knights however Richard feels that once they exit the Mountains they would be isolated and easy to pick off and so he decides to bring his entire 3,000 force. Before leaving he asks Otwin if he could lend him several hundred men in case they came across a city or an army, Otwin happily agrees and gives Richard a 800 infantry and around 200 knights, bringing Richards force to a total of 4,000 strong The armies go their separate ways and Tancred and Richard head through the Mountains, with Tancred's smaller force reaching the city of Tarsus first.
Tancred's forces manage to push the garrison into the city but once the gates close he knows he doesn't have enough men to take the walled city, he begins to write a message to send to his Uncle Bohemond for reinforcements but decides not to as he believes that Richard's 4,000 would be enough to take the city, they ready for the siege and rest for the night. The next day Richard's force arrives and Tancred and Richard meet to discuss their strategy on how to take the city, after much discussion they agree on a conclusion and begin the final preparations for a siege. The next day the assault begins, Richard attacks the western side while Tancred sits back behind the makeshift barricades not assaulting, this is to ensure he does not take any losses in the early stage of the siege but his presence forces to leave troops on the eastern wall, Tancred harasses them with projectiles and feints to keep them on edge. Richard's forces manage to take the western wall, Tancred takes this opportunity to take to the walls, Tancred however underestimates the Turkish forces and is pushed back, he makes another assault but is pushed back again, Tancred believes that the next assault will be a success and makes one last assault and this time they are not immediately pushed back and begin to defend themselves on the wall. Richard pulls off a genius feint, drawing in the Turks and then pushing back in a devastating counter attack which routs the majority of the Turkish forces, being free from the fighting Richard moves quickly through the streets of the city and heads to flank the forces fighting Tancred, making quick work of any of the scattered garrison forces they find in the street, and crashes into either flank of the Turkish forces on the wall. Being trapped between enemy forces and stuck in a slaughter the Turkish begin to go berserk, attacking Tancred's force with unrelenting in order to escape the city and flee, Tancred takes a non-lethal hit to the head but is visibly dazed. Despite their best efforts the Turkish forces are unable to escape however they inflict heavy losses on the crusaders, especially Tancred's forces, regardless, they continue and find that most of the garrison have fled and the few that remain are holding the white flag of truce. The city is taken and then the matter of who gets it arises, at first Tancred says that the city is his, but than Richard proclaims that without him the city would not have been taken and claims it is his. Tancred fights back but is forced to concede as Richard leverages his far larger force to cow Tancred. Richard raises Otwin's banner over the city.
Both forces head to the city of Adana and lay siege to it and it falls after intense fighting in the streets. Once the city falls it goes to Richard again and he raises Otwin's banner once more. Tancred sets out to scout out and pick their next targets while Richard to get some volunteers from Adana to compliment their force. Tancred decides that the city of Mopsuestia would be a good target, returned to Adana to inform Richard of their new target, Richard meanwhile, had great success getting volunteers, mostly Armenians who had suffered at the hands of the Seljuk Turks, to join his army. Around 3,000 men in total. Tancred and Richard march towards Mopsuestia and lay siege to the city and make short work of it. Tancred is becoming increasingly angry as Richard denies him every city but keeps his anger silent as he knows he cannot challenge him. They continue marching towards Antioch and siege the castle of Sarvandikar, the Turkish garrison puts up a ferocious fight, Tancred, supplemented by several hundred of Richard's men, made an assault that fails miserably, Tancred is badly wounded and has a sizable cut in his chest and right arm, he however insists he his fine and they continue marching to the strategically important castle of Anazarbus. They soon make it there and begin the siege, Tancred is advised by his medicus to rest but he will have none of it saying that he would stand on the castle walls or die, the medicus is disheartened by this but knows there is no use and returns to his tent. The assault begins with Richard leading the main army with Tancred leading an auxiliary force, Richard breaks through the walls with relative ease as news of his victories at Nicea, Tarsus and Adana have reached the castle and have demoralized them, to the point where they refer to Richard as "The Titan of Tarsus". The courtyard of the castle devolves into chaos as the remaining garrison fight furiously as their white flag of truce was ignored by Richard. The garrison forces manage a successful breakthrough and make a dash for the walls to escape the way their besiegers came in, Tancred spots this and brings his force to intercept and manages to block the stairs and they pin them in brutal combat. Tancred, fearing that his authority and the respect of his men was in danger by Richard's actions, heads to thick of battle despite his injuries, in the heat of the battle a Turkish soldier swipes at Tancred but by a stroke of luck he manages to dodge it however it seemed his luck had run out as he, having his senses and limbs dulled and made sluggish by the injuries he sustained, does not pay attention to where he is stepping and falls off the wall and onto the castle ground, killing him. Despite this devastating loss, the battle is won by Richard, the Turkish soldiers are slaughtered to the man. Richard raises Otwin's banner over the city and buries Tancred bodies and holds a ceremony in his honor. Tancred's remaining knights swear fealty to Richard and claim they will follow him wherever he goes after Jerusalem is freed. Richard also manages to drum up a few hundred volunteers for his army, he now commands a force of around 5,000 men, most battle hardened and all loyal to him. He quickly reorganizes the newly conquered territories and sets up ad hoc militias with a number of his most veteran footmen as commanders of each garrison to drill them, once he is secure in the safety of the cities and castles he continues to Antioch.
As Richard's force march towards Antioch, they are pleasantly surprised by how they have not come across a single Saracen army, although supplies do get tight at some points they manage to avoid starvation. After some time they rejoin the main Crusader army, and when they did they were surprised to see the state of it. The trek through the Anti-Taurus Mountains had only been so much safer and the massive 30,000 or so crusader army had been forced to abandon much of their heavy armor in the mountains and had lost most of their horses to the heat, however the now unified crusader army was still a force to be reckoned with, numbering over 35,000 strong. Bohemond asks where Tancred is and when Richard tells him what happened he is not pleased. He then asks where Tancred's knights are, and when Richard tells him that they had renounced their previous oath and were now loyal to him, he is even less pleased. He claims that Richard had let Tancred die so he could take his knights for himself, Tancred's former knights quickly jump to his defense and soon Otwin breaks it up, favoring Richard. Bohemond, still bitter over what happened at Nicea, becomes even more resentful at Otwin's status as the leader. After more marching, they come across the great and ancient city of Antioch, founded by the Macedonian general Seleucus Nicator, expanded by the mighty Romans and made nearly unassailable by the great Justinian. This awe inspiring city was the last and greatest barrier to Jerusalem and capturing it is going to take everything the crusaders had. Though the crusade has come very far, it could still be undone.