Chapter 108: Fontaine Under Pressure

About a month later Gerhard and his escorts finally arrived at Osterbon to report on what had happened during the siege of Joltz. Their faction needed to be urgently alerted to Victor's new weapon and how it completely changed the tide of the siege.

Gerhard was greeted with cold and sullen eyes when he entered the Fontaine Palace. He had not come to know of how Joltz had faired after he left, but he assumed that the city fell within days of his forced departure. The only man who was genuinely happy to see him was his father, Duke Geraldt Hirschmann.

"Father, Grand Duke Fontaine, I have urgent intel on a weapon that could completely change siege warfare, we could not find a way to neutralise it…" Gerhard said before getting cut off by his father. Duke Hirschmann signalled for his son to sit at the table and rest, which led to the duke recounting the report they had received from Joltz.

"Son, it pains me to say this but Joltz has been captured. (Sigh). A few days after you left, the walls of the city crumbled. At first, our men put up fierce resistance, making it hell for the invading infantry to pour into the city, however, it seems that one of King Victor's generals led a surging charge and overran our position."

"Our men fought to the last as they were dropping like flies. Hans, the Garrison Captain, led the last stand with a handful of remaining defenders. Regrettably, they refused to surrender and were killed swiftly, with steel and musketballs. I am sorry son, I know how much you had grown fond of the garrison, they were your men, and they fought to the last for you."

Gerhard, who had been fighting to remain dignified, burst into tears. The overwhelming grief could not wash away from him. Garrison Captain Hans's death especially broke Gerhard. His presence as an advisor and a friend was precious to him, and now he was dead alongside all the other defenders who he considered brothers.

Grand Duke Fontaine approached Gerhard and rested his hand upon the sobbing man's shoulder. With a soft and sincere tone, Simeon spoke to the young lord. "You did your best, young Gerhard. Those men willing fought to the last, to honour you, your family and the city. Now you must honour them and assist us with this war. You said you had important news about a new enemy weapon, please explain.

Gerhard collected his thoughts and reported everything about the siege. "For the first day of the siege we had hit them hard, they lost 100 or so guns. We thought we could hold the city for months. That all changed when they introduced this weird contraption that launched these explosive Javelins extremely high in the air."

"These Javelins eviscerated man and cannon. We tried to return fire, but their artillery was out of range and yet they could still fire upon us. Their range was insanely far, they could even fire into the city and hit many buildings. These exploding javelins were deafening and threw the men into a panic. Truthfully, they were the deciding factor of the siege."

The nobles of the Fontaine Faction were alarmed to hear about Victor's new weapon. If Joltz, their most defendable city could be conquered with the assistance of these rockets, then cities like Osterbon and Auderbrast could be taken with ease, even the Verdant port city of Bismarck would falter to these rockets.

Grand Duke Fontaine was internally panicking. Doubt began to antagonise his mind, should he have marched against Victor and broken the siege of Joltz? Maybe he should have, but it was now too late to have such regrets. All he could do was look ahead and make sure he defended his remaining territories.

When the Grand Duke composed himself he was about to formulate a new strategy to deal with the Luxenberg forces that were currently split into 2. But before he could have a moment to create a plan with the knowledge he already had, a messenger carrying new intel arrived in the room.

Racing to view the new information, Simeon ripped the seal of the letter and began to read the contents of it. To summarise, Victor's force in Joltz had separated in half, with the King and his men soon to arrive at Auderbrast. 

The next lot of news from the letter left a confused but slight smile on the Grand Duke's face. A week ago there had been a revolt and an assassination in Joltz. It was confirmed that one of Victor's generals had been killed in an ambush. Although they did not have the full story, it was apparently brutal and resulted in a number of Luxenberg casualties.

This revolt could change things for the Fontaine Faction, especially if they capitalised on the growing unrest in the region. If they played their cards right they could put immense pressure on the split Luxenberg forces in the south and diminish their strength greatly. While the Fontaine Faction began to scheme, news of the revolt had reached Victor. 

His force was a two day march away from the Godert city of Auderbrast, he had brought 3 out of the 5 corps with him, leaving General Tauentzien and the newly appointed Duke of Joltz, General Vandamme to garrison the newly captured city.

In his tent a messenger who was as pale as a ghost and out of breath, approached him, clutching an urgent letter from the city of Joltz. Victor had originally hypothesized that the letter contained news of an incoming Fontaine army or the arrival of foreign mercenaries to help support the Fontaine Faction.

Unfortunately for King Victor, neither was the case. In the letter contained news of a revolt and assassination that had taken place in the city and region. This caused Victor to be anxious and alarmed, before fully reading the news he summoned his advisors to his tent immediately.

As he waited for his advisors to respond to his summons, Victor continued to read a detailed account of what actually went down in Joltz.