For three days the Battle of Sieradz was an execution of Hungarian troops. They lost 5,000 the first day although only 1,200 the second day. The holes in the ground did trap and kill many Polish knights but then they simply stopped attacking and so on the second day, those holes caught no one. But their infantry took lots of damage on the first day (3,500) and so they copied the Hungarian format the second day, losing about the same as them. Overnight then, the Poles chopped down all of the trees in the area and tried to fill several holes with the wood or rocks. So the third day was even worse, especially since the Nalecz clan took a greater participation on their 50 horses.
Inbetween clashes, Sigismund complained to Jan, “holy shit, these guys suck, what the fuck!”
“I think I should’ve already died ten times but they want more.”
The brothers charged with some reinforcements again. The Nalecz easily beat them off and they had to retreat again. The Nalecz were acting as a blender box of obliteration in the middle of the battlefield right now as infantry wings pressed each other. If the brothers didn’t hold them back, they would lose the majority of their armies. The Nalecz wore bright crimson outfits with a white cloth around the neck. “Dammit and we can’t even shoot magic at them.” Whenever they did previously, the Nalecz was able to fire back Congelo, freezing the spell and sending a shard of ice back to the caster.
“We should just shoot those birds, right?” There were white birds in the air that seemed to be producing the snow that blanketed the battle ground. The Polish horses were used to this but every Hungarian hated this. Sigismund fired a spell but it was blocked once again. An icicle fell right next to him.
“I’LL KILL EVERY POLE!”
Kurjakovic came next to Sigismund with Tamasi on his back, “MARGRAVE! The wizard has placed an excellent shortcut for us!”
“A shortcut past the scarf boys?”
Tamasi started, “Across the entire-”
“ACROSS THE ENTIRE BATTLE FIELD!”
“Okay good. Stay with me and Jan, go grab the Szecsi brothers, I wanna do a cool magic trick.”
While he waited, himself and Kurjakovic kept firing random spells at the Nalecz. Then the Szecsi brothers came with Jan. The team was all on horseback. “Okay do your magic on a count of three Tamasi.” And they rushed at the Nalecz. The Nalecz turned to them and prepared themselves. Then, with a flash, the team was gone. The Nalecz were a bit shocked. Then Aron said, “it doesn’t matter, let’s harvest some wheat”. They brandished their reaper scythes and charged at a unit of infantry. BUT then, they would be blocked by Perenyi and his 250 knights, “you will be dealing with us!”
With Hermes’ teleportation, the team was able to land right behind the camp of Siemowit. Tamasi pointed at a hole in the ground. “It took me three days but I simply dug through the ground to get here.”
“Inhuman,” Jan commented.
“Let’s fucking go,” Sigismund blasted fire at Siemowit’s tent and the man jumped out in shock.
“You! How did you get over here?”
“Your troops suck,” he pounced on the Duke, sending several punches. Siemowit threw him backwards and then they both hit the ground on their backs. Siemowit’s elite guards then attacked Kurjakovic, Jan, and the Szecsi brothers. As they battled, so did the Duke and Margrave. The two equipped their swords.
“A Piast’s blade is enchanted with ‘razor’ properties. I can cut cleanly with it but the wound will be too damaged to ever heal. This way Poland’s enemies do not attempt to attack again.”
“So I just don’t get hit by you.”
“You’re pretty big for your age but I still have more reach.” They were almost the same height. He took a wide stance and started inching toward Sigismund. “Anything special about your blade?”
“In the year 1384, it killed Siemowit Piast.”
Siemowit chuckled and swung low with his sword. Sigismund blocked him and blinded Siemowit with Lucem. Sigismund then swept his legs causing the man to fall into the snow. Sitting over him, Sigismund plunged his sword to Siemowit who blasted him away with Malleo. Siemowit then rushed over and almost cut at Sigismund’s neck if he didn’t make the Duke float away. In the air, Siemowit drank a speed potion. “I don’t want this to take long.”
Sigismund quickly drank a vitality potion and then grit his teeth as he blocked a flurry of swings from Siemowit. He would be frozen by every other block but get hit out of the covering of ice. Then Siemowit started kicking in between his attacks and so Sigismund retreated more and more. “Can’t get hit once,” he reminded himself. “But how do I even attack?”
“Don’t ask me.” Siemowit took a step back and then lunged forward pointing his sword. Sigismund dodged to the side. Siemowit turned, as his body flew by, and slashed at Sigismund which was protected by his layers of fur. His feet touched the ground and he backflipped to come down at Sigismund like a guillotine. Sigismund pointed his sword up at Siemowit and fired “Tempestas”. Siemowit would have thought he misheard the boy if a pillar of lightning did not crash upon him burning his cells away. Siemowit fell on his back. The potion was burned up…
He didn’t get up but he asked, “how’d you learn that? It’s not an easy spell.”
“I’m better than you.” He slowly got off the ground. Sigismund was standing on a tree stump. “How’d you survive?”
“You only fired it as a reaction. Did you think I was so weak?”
“Well, damn I can only fire one a day.”
“Why do you talk so much? That’s not something you mean to tell me.”
“I was lying! Now give up.”
“No…” he raised on arm and a white eagle from the air descended upon him. “The Piast were also blessed by a familiar. Luxembourgs have no such thing so you wouldn’t know.” The bird flew around him and then entered his body. Siemowit shined for a moment and in the next he had huge white wings protruding from his back. “About magic like this.”
“Ah, damn.”
Siemowit now freely flew and twice as fast as before. Sigismund armored himself from the first hit but then would suffer from the next. And the next and the next until a fire spell burned up Siemowit. Sigismund’s wounded body crashed onto the snow. Tamasi stood over him protectively, “you think yourself some kind of Hercules just deciding to tank all those hits. He told you it’ll never heal!”
“Thanks Tamasi but maybe I’ll die now.”
Siemowit shook his burnt feathers loose and then said to Sigismund, “truth be told, you are already defeated. Now let’s see the massacre of Sieradz!” Siemowit flew into the air and started rapid firing Congelo spells upon the Hungarian army. Many men would been encased in ice or at least suffer deadly low body temperatures. Wenzel fired Flammo spells at Siemowit and across the field to keep things hot. Siemowit then descended upon him and suddenly, someone else riding a hawk punched Siemowit clear across the battlefield again.
At Sigismund’s side was his core team again. Alsani squeezed lemons over Sigismund’s wounds as Tamasi poured a potion down his throat and Kurakovic held him down. Alsani said, “good work on drinking the vitality before taking an injury. Your flesh was already at work and seems to have mitigated the worst damage. And then the fur absorbed a lot, he really ripped through it. This potion Tamasi is feeding you won’t kill you yet.”
“Huh?” asked Tamasi.
“Well his sword’s mental game didn’t work onMEEEEEEE either! I totally gonna AAHHH AAAHHH AAHHH….I still want beat up his bird brain.” Siemowit crashed in the snow near them. “I feel something familiar.” Sigismund looked at one hill where suddenly a league of Habsburg calvary came running down in the snow. “NO! IT CAN’T BE!”
Kurjakovic stood up ready to defend as Siemowit looked at this attack. The boy was held up by a hawk holding his one hand. “Who the hell are you?”
“Habsburg,” he said, landing on the ground, “Wilhelm Habsburg”. Wilhelm would suddenly be surrounded by his 100 calvary. “Go attack the Mazovians from the back.”
“Yes sir!” and they turned around to attack. This would shatter Polish lines.
“Okay and why are you here?”
“For the Polish crown. I hear you’re a Pretender.”
Sigismund jumped inbetween the two, “you fucking goofball, the crown isn’t for you anymore. Hasn’t your marriage to Hedwig been annulled?”
“No.”
“What does that Queen even do?” Sigismund wondered quietly.
“I just asked her the other day and then she told me there was a Pretender so here I am.”
“Whatever, I’ll kill a bunch of teenegers today,” said Siemowit rising in the air. Then a flame spell knocked him out of the sky again. Sigismund looked to the north to see Jobst leading his army of 7000. The army broke apart to attack the Poles while Jobst came to Sigismund’s side. “I’ve come from Poznan. It was a bit difficult so we scorched their land and came down this way since Wenzel said there was difficulty.”
“Oh cool but really I want to fight him alone. You better not interfere either, Wilhelm.”
“Are you not supposed to be dead?”
Siemowit flew into the air. “What the hell is going on?” Then he was blown up AGAIN!
“Who the fuck is that?” Sigismund pointed. Another army followed Jobst’s wearing bright red and yellow along with tails of peacocks.
Jobst answered calmly, “ah that’s the Grzymala Clan who opposed the Nalecz. They were imprisoned in Poznan until we distracted the defenders enough that they escaped.”
“Sigismund! We support your kingship to this country. A Brandenburg-Polish Union will do our country fine!” shouted their commander. Then he charged into the Mazovian armies.
“Thanks although a lot has happened.”
The Mazovian armies would face countless losses now as they took damage from both sides. The Nalecz would be confused to see their antagonists, the Grzymala, return to face them again. Siemowit stood up but then kneeled when he saw someone else descend down the hill.
The Voivovde at the head of his calvary shouted, “SIGISMUND! You can cook!! Keep cooking!!!”
“What the hell is he talking about?”
Losonci jumped to land right next to him as his calvary crushed more Poles. “You sent me back at the right time for I foiled an assassination on Maria when I arrived in Buda.”
“Oh cool. But like, I’ve always been a chef.”
Siemowit was in the air one last time. He was holding a bright blue object as he rose in the air. “You all came this way just to die! Zamieci” Then the blue object dropped and exploded mid-air.
Now magicians had discovered that since magic travels in rays of light, in photons, that it will behave the same way against reflective objects as light does. That’s why one would carry any glasses. When a spell is fired, it will affect whatever object it lands on. But if it touches a mirror, it will reflect or bounce off and fly the other direction. Using a lens, one could also be able to magnify or minimize a spell as it flew through. Using certain jewels, magic could be amplified in various ways before flying out of the jewel. So the Zamieci or Blizzard spell needs to be processed by a sphere of especially enchanted amber before spawning such a winter storm over a 1 mile radius. The winds were massive and the temperature incredibly low. Being an area of effect spell, it is rarely used by the Polish nobility because it could even harm their troops. And so while Siemowit rose higher in the air to escape the deluge, everyone was buried under tons of snow. The storm would last 30 minutes.
When everything subsided, he touched the snowy ground again. While summer was soon, it would take a while for these plains to lack snow ever again. Sigismund landed right next to him. “What’s up bro?”
“What the!? And we are not brothers!”
“Brothers in Christ. And you’re probably a second cousin to be honest.”
“How are you still alive?”
“Habsburg wanted to be real nice to me. I’ll remember this,” he pointed back to the hawk that carried him away from the storm, who seemed to now be searching for Wilhelm.
“Ah I see, not a regular bird but a familiar. Well, you’ll still lose to me, nothing’s changed since last time.”
Someone else then crashed next to them. He gripped at the snow and then tossed it all away. “Oh, you’re with the Anjou, who are you?”
“Stibor…Wenzel saved me with levo I think. Now they’re all under the snow.”
“Stibor we’ll get them out but chin up, we have a harpy to fight.”
“Harpy?? I’m more like an angel.”
“Nuh uh.”
“Uh huh! Zigsimond is it?”
“Nope.”
“Look Luxembourg, there’s a divine right to these things. Again, it was the Piast line mandated by Heaven to rule over the Poles. The Sejm does not accept me only because they know me and I have connections. I am God’s chosen one, like King David. You can pretend that you’re king, or Hedwig, but that is a simple alternative to reality.”
“Siemowit, you do not even have the merit to kill a teenager so what does Poland have with you as king? Forget about nepotism, the Mandate of Heaven or Earth, merits as a warrior, or even luck. Remember that Kasimir the Great and after him, Lajos the Great do not even consider you!” Siemowit was caught in shock. Stibor stood up. He was wearing shiny silvery armor with an Anjou badge on his chest. He also wore a white cape. He was 36. He whispered “Hostoja” and the air around him shifted. The other two recognized this as a Polish term. Then he equippied a lance and charged at Siemowit. Siemowit would be splashed by Sigismund who said, “you’re really slow!”
Siemowit blocked his tip with the broad side of his sword. Then he was sealed frozen for a split second until Stibor spun around and used the back of the lance to knock Siemowit away. “Are you Polish?”
“Time to balance the reach,” Sigismund said, equipping a spear himself. He attacked Siemowit with a flurry on his left side while Stibor continued with another attack on the right side. Siemowit armored himself Protego and then leaned into Stibor’s lance to break the armor there. Then he could easily swat away Sigismund’s flurry. He stepped back and flapped his wings strong enough to send the two spiraling. Siemowit then flew over to Sigismund who kicked him in the face to get off the ground. On his two feet, Sigismund froze Siemowit’s sword hand and then stabbed through it with his spear. Siemowit moved back defensively and used his wings to toss snow in Sigismund’s face. Stibor sped at Siemowit who was forced to block. Frozen! But he fired Flammo at the exact same moment, blowing up Stibor at point blank. Unfrozen! Turning to his side, it seemed as if four Sigismund’s were aiming their spears at him. Sigismund had duplicated images of himself with floating mirrors. Only one spear stabbed Siemowit’s cape stuck into the snow. While Siemowit was surprised by this, Sigismund used Malleo to knock his sword out of his hand and then Aspergo to wash Siemowit’s face again. Readying his fists as he approached, he started to beat Siemowit’s body back and forth.
Siemowit’s wings broke as the eagle rose out of him and then flew around. It would fly to knock Sigismund in the back sending him tripping a few feet away. Then the bird rejoined with Siemowit who flew up and away. Calling upon his sword it flew toward him. Stibor knocked it back down with Malleo and then Sigismund caught it. Siemowit called upon it again. As Sigismund rose with the sword, Stibor tossed him his lance. “Raaaaaahh,” Sigismund yelled, chuckling at Siemowit who moved slightly out of the way. “Fool”, he commented as he caught his sword. He started kicking Sigismund in the face who seemed to be moving his hand around. Then he let go falling…onto the lance floating in the air. Jumping off of this like a spring, he kicked Siemowit in the balls. “No, I make a fool of others!” and he spat in his face before punching Siemowit into the ground. Stibor stylishly caught his lance saying, “you’re quite a wise fighter to rely on subterfuge.”
“Sure.” Sigismund raised his hands and started blasting major Flammos where Siemowit landed. Stibor joined using his lance to fire. They stopped when they nearly exhausted themselves. Smoke covered the still standing Siemowit. He was breathing heavily. Then he fired Congelo encasing Stibor in thick ice. His wings sent powder into the air again and Sigismund covered his face. The nice thing about ice is that it can also be used as ‘glass’. Siemowit fired a spell that bounced across each snowflake getting stronger and stronger until it landed on Sigismund hitting him with metal breaking Malleo. Sigismund flew far away feeling his insides and armor break apart. He crashed in some snow and then Siemowit stood over him pointing his sword.
“Well you did good enough.” Sigismund made an o with his two fingers. “Can’t back up your words about cutting me down so you’ll just stop talking. Good to hear. Thanks for making my succession so hard for me.”
An arrow flew through the air and Siemowit caught it before it hit his chest. Then, ice started to spread across that arm until he shattered the arrow with his sword in fright. A Polish archer. Sigismund turned his gaze to another blonde man was was just as tall as Siemowit. He held a bow and more arrows. He was wearing a red coat over his armor but the same badge as Siemowit.
“Who?”
“I am Janusz Piast, his older brother! I’ve come here to put an end to his little pretendership. Come home, Siemowit. Your foolishness has already buried thousands.”
“No and I don’t appreciate you using Chilling Arrows on me. Leave this region Janusz, no one wants to see you right now.” Siemowit turned toward his brother, readying himself to block another arrow which freezes whatever it touches for a minute.
Janusz lowered his bow, “I don’t see why you need to do this. Would you be happy if one of our other cousins like Naderspan was at the head of this? Find a peace treaty with the Anjou.”
“Naderspan already tried and I was one of the ones who talked him down. Now I’ll do as I-” and then Sigismund slashed across his back. Siemowit fell to the ground and the wings disappeared. Janusz froze him then and there.
“Good job and thank you for giving mercy to him.”
“Yeah I might’ve done a bad swing,” he muttered to himself.
With Sigismund nearly out of mana, Janusz and his troops would help him burn away the snow in order to unbury everyone. But many soldiers had died in their short time under tons of snow. The majority of deaths came from Polish infantry and calvary when they were crowd-crushed and deaths of hypothermia were carried by Hungarian troops. From around 70,000 total men, 40,000 survived. When that was finished, the Polish troops were too tired, despite their anger, to lift a finger against Janusz’s surrender. The Polish troops would be sent home and Siemowit arrested by his own brother. Wenzel considered sending a message bird back home but then Sigismund told him they should be going straight home. And then Janusz confirmed to them that, “no one leaves until King Hedwig arrives”. With his own troops, he was able to capture the commanders of the Anjou-Luxem armies and bring them back to at Wawal Castle. The Hungarian troops would be sent home and they were happy too since they were so cold.
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