--Chapter 9: A Fateful Balance--
I must reach Konigsburg in time--I'll not let another Prince of the realm fall to the swords of the Teutonic raiders!
Juvage swore to himself.
With the Declaration of War by Poland, all the Baltic now knew that Lithuania had grown strong enough to be a threat--if nothing else the capture of Konigsburg assured that. But while Vykintas was sent over the sea, a strong force had besieged Kongisburg to try and regain it for the Teutonic Order.
But not far to the east, Juvage marched to the aid of the new Prince of Lithuania. When the news of the siege of Konigsburg came, he had gathered the forces he could and left Kaunas heading south and west to come up to Konigsburg and block the path to ensure no more forces were being sent from Marienburg to the siege. In this he did not make it, for the Teutonic Knights struck at him in the fields to the east of that castle.
His troops were all light or missle, though he traveled with Butvydas, Tautvilas's eldest boy at his side he was at a disadvantage. They had exchanged seconds and Juvage had begun to suspect that factions were forming, Vykintas and Edivydas against himself and Tautvilas with the other nobles forced to choose. It was an act of faith for Tautvilas for if Butvydas died, it was likely Juvage himself would be the Heir upon the Grand Duke's death.
Now however, he took up positions on a hill as the Teutonic Knights advanced on him.
They were led by the Dismounted Ritterbrudder, full Teutonic Knights sworn to the Order and with a core of iron. They were surrounded by swords and spears, but only few archers and cavalry. They did however have a catapult with them.
While he struck at the Sword Brethern with his charge, Butvydas attacked the Ritterbrudder themselves, on the far left flank of the Knights. The archers had been ordered to target the Christ knights while his missile troops struck at the spearmen and Halbrudder from behind as they advanced.
To his surprise a shout went up and he saw the Ritterbrudder overborne though they had taken a frightful toll on Butvydas's forces. Then again, a ripple through the Teutonic line as the captain of the knights lay dead with a javelin through his belly and the line staggered in confusion--now was the time!
Juvage waved his sword and all the horsemen charged the knights, breaking them into pieces. When it was over, Butvydas stood before him covered in blood, but they clasped hands and met over the bodies of the slain. Juvage was amazed as he saw that though Butvydas was all-over blood, he had suffered no wound though his entire bodyguard was slain. Only he remained.*
In the distance Juvage could see his horsemen chasing down the last remnants of the Order but while Butvydas was ebullient over the victory, all he saw this day was the slain.
It had been a hard fight, and with nearly half his command perishing. Juvage had no choice, he had to fall back to Hrodna to regroup and rearm, Prince Tautvilas would have to fend for himself this day. As they retreated back to Hrodna looking at the horrible sight of Butvydas convinced Juvage that he would simply have to send the young man to the east. There was no way in his present reckless state that he could take him into the battles against the Order, not when their heavy troops battled his light troops.
In Konigsburg, Tautvilas and read the report of his second, Saugardes of Riga and said aloud the news.
"Juvage cannot come in time."
Saugardes nodded, "What shall we do, my Prince?"
Saugardes was one of the three nobles that Juvage had created in his brief tenure since his own elevation. These were strong and resolute young men, and Saugardes was possessed of a strong military mind, one that Tautvilas was sure he could shape properly with enough time. His own son was in the south of the Grand Duchy, and Tautvilas often wondered about his progress. Now however, he and Saugardes met to plan the assault that would surely come in the morning.
While not led by a general, the Teutonic Order's army was composed of over five hundreds, heavy with Christ Knights, Halbrudder Halberdiers, Order Spearmen, Sword Brethern and Livonian Auxiliaries. Against this force Tautvilas could count on spearmen, peasants, Sudovians, a unit of bowmen and a pair of Samogitian Axemen. If it came to a full on battle in the open field, he would be massacred, but the walls gave him a chance and they had no catapults or mangonels.
"Do? We fight," Tautvilas replied.
That evening Tautvilas met with Saugardes to discuss a battle plan.
In the end they decided on both a static defense at the gate house, and a dynamic defense on the plain outside the town. To their fortune, the Teutonic captain had elected to assault the recessed gateway, one that would enable his towers to fire on the flanks and rear of the Teutonic Knights as they advanced on the gate. Tautvilas stationed his unit of arches on one side of the gate with his peasants on the other. The rest of his troops were arrayed in depth around the gate with himself and Saugardes behind them in the lane.
As the Teutonic Knights moved forward with ladder, ram and tower, he and Saugardes both kicked their mounts into action, thundering through the gateway that he'd ordered closed behind him and to either side, Tautvilas to his left, Saugardes to his right. The only reason this strategy worked is because of the blizzard that had begun to rage that morning. That was why the Knights had struck--had they stayed out there in the blizzard, they most likely would have frozen to death or been buried by snow.
Tautvilas saw Saugardes charge right into the ladder carrying Halbrudder from the flank, killing many. An instant later he judged the distance right and wheeled his own bodyguard to his right.
"Charge!" he shouted pointing his blade at the foes holding the tower, foes that were as yet unaware of him bearing down on them.
The first the Halbrudder at the tower knew of them was when the Lithuanian knights spears leveled thundered out of the swirling snows and crashed into their flanks. Many were dead in the opening moments and from the corner of his eye, Tautvilas saw Saugardes move against the ram, charging them before breaking away and rushing back to the city as per the plan. However more spearmen moved to block his way and he was forced away from the town and farther from the walls. Knowing if the Teutonics gave chase now it was hopeless for him, he urged his troop to greater speed until they turned back to the assault on the tower while his next target loomed large against him, they'd hung back, but they were there, reading for the sack of the city--the Livonian and Prussian archers.
They grew large in his vision as his men lowered their lances and charged again...
Meanwhile at the gate house under a rain of arrows so thick as to compete with the falling snow, the ram was brought against the gates.
Half the Teutonic army had already fallen to the charges and the arrows when the gate was forced open and the weakened spearmen rushed in to battle. Still as spearmen their specialty was killing cavalry and they were at a disadvantage as they were swarmed by axe-wielding Sudovians and Samogitians.
Behind the Sword Brethern surged forward, anxious to close with the Lithuanians but they had forgotten about Tautvilas. After dealing with the archers he had ridden back to the gate and now just as they began to move he crashed into the Sword Brethern at full tilt, running over dozens of them in his wrath.
At the same time being attacked from both sides and weakened by the arrows the Teutonic forces broke and the Lithuanains poured from the gates to slaughter them to the man.
At the end of it, Tautvilas found that over five hundred Teutonic soldiers had fallen that day, with many of the Halbrudder and spearmen. By contrast, less than 90 of his men were dead. A great victory.
As more news spread of the battles agains the Order, tales of small skirmishes won by the Lithuanian's over the long Baltic summer against the Mongols began to filter into the West.
It appeared that the last of Juvage's elevations, Gediminas, was busy proving himself and and that Butvydas was beginning to learn caution in the east.
Grand Duke Mindaugas sent message entrusting the defense of the West to Tautvilas and Juvage while he continued east to help shape the next generation of Lithuanians and to deal with the Golden Horde.
That summer also, Vykintas sent word of his own: The siege of Visby had begun.
So far from his power base, he had no choice but to be loyal and he was intelligent enough to realize it for himself.
But what had gone before was nothing compared to what came with the next winter. Another army of the Teutonic knights, approached Konigsburg barely a month after the snows melted. Juvage would need to come this time because the city's garrison had been depleted by the last battle and by the troop reductions that Lithuania had undertaken desperate to replenish it's cash strapped coffers.
But the news this time was like a fire... this was the time that paid for all. If the Order won this battle, Konigsburg would fall and there would be few armies in the west to stop them for a season. If Juvage and Tautvilas won here and had anything left at all, they could besiege the castle at Marienburg, the capital of the Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights....
As Juvage hurried to the battle, the he swore to himself that this time there would be nothing left of the Teutonic Knights.