At the moment when Alexios was in full swing, Gawain, who was camping under the city of Niš, placed three companies to monitor Tapan in the city (of course, the Grand Duke of Tapan also strengthened the garrison on the city wall to guard against Gawain), and on the other hand, he continued to send scout cavalry to reconnoiter north on both sides of the Sava River, hoping to get in touch with his brother Peter as soon as possible.

Although there was no news in the past few days, Gawain still did not give up hastily, believing that he would be able to wait for Peter's army, but he was worried about whether something would happen.

On the sixth day, the scout was Blamsson. Wolfgang, with about thirty Cuman hussars, on horseback, rode along the forest and the road farther north, and halfway through a Slavic village, kneeling on either side, offered the sword master a home-brewed mead, but Bramson unceremoniously threw down a silver coin, and exchanged it for a large jar, which hung on the rope of the saddle, and drank as he went. Suddenly, two Cumans who were walking in front of him turned back and told Bramson, "About a giri ahead, a thick black smoke suddenly came out. ”

At this moment, Bramsson's wine was suddenly awakened, he turned over and dismounted, remembered the punishment that the Grand Duke might give him, shook his whole body, and paced to the wine-making workshop in the Slavic village, squatted down with his two-handed sword, and waved to the Cumans who followed him, "Ten men with bows and arrows and lassoes went to the sentinel, and the rest stayed here to answer; Also, you go to the big camp. Let's just say that there may be a large group of enemies ahead, and tell Giovanni to come and join me with the infantry. Just in case. Don't let the Grand Duke know about this. "Done. Bramson inhaled and inhaled into the puddle at his feet, hoping to get the smell out sooner.

Ten Cuman light horsemen, very cleverly divided into three, four, and three formations, the front holding spears and lassoles, the middle one holding bows a stone's throw away from each other to cover, the rearmost ready to turn back at any time to report the news, quickly through the forest, approaching the black smoke of the place.

It was a building that was blazing. At the top, with a small cross, was a chapel, probably created by the Orthodox hermits in the heart of Bulgaria, but now the Cuman scouts could clearly see that about two or three hundred cavalrymen in felt hats and leather armor were loudly coaxing, surrounding the building, throwing torches into it, and the terrible howls of the people locked in the chapel could be heard. A few men covered in fire had just crawled out of the windows when they were shot at close range by the cavalry with bows and arrows, and with a hideous laugh, those who had been shot fell to the ground. Motionless until completely consumed by the flames on his body.

So the Cuman light horsemen hurriedly sealed the horse's head. Don't let your mount suddenly make a sound, and stay quietly at the edge of the dense forest. Watch the tragedy until the end: the church was reduced to scorched rubble, and the cavalry saw that there was no room left alive. They passed whistles to each other and ran away.

Two minutes later, three Cumans came out vigilantly and approached the burned church, where dozens of burned bodies lay across the blackened and collapsed timber and walls, and it was difficult to discern the identities of the victims, so they stood in place, looked at each other, and shook their heads.

Soon, Bramson, who was still trembling on the edge of the brewery, received this message and immediately judged, "This group of people is likely to be pilgrims killed by the bandits!" ”

An hour later, Gawain sent Merlot, the chief of the march, with two hundred armored cavalry, to gallop in front of Bramson, who also had a somewhat dizzy head, turned on his horse, and galloped towards the burned church.

"There are no pilgrims, but there is not half a living mouth." Mellot, on horseback, sighed, and then he consulted with Bramsson, "Form up in battle formation and search in the direction where the butchers had left, and see if there are any other survivors." ”

"Yes, Your Excellency the Commander of the March." When Bramson had received the order, he took thirty Lombard spearmen and thirty Cumans with quivers on their backs, formed an evacuation formation, avoided the forest bushes where there might be ambushes, and marched along the road and field—while Merlot, with most of the rest of the cavalry, followed half a mile behind.

About four or five centuries away, Bramson suddenly shouted at someone, and then quickly drew his two-handed sword, and the grass flew under the horse's hooves, and the blade of the sword was slashed with a whimper--a warrior in armor jumped out of the grass, and held up his shield to block Bramson's heavy blow, but half of the shield was also shattered, and the man staggered twice, rolled back on the grass, and then two more warriors appeared, and knelt directly in front of Bramson's furious horse's head to ask for mercy.

"Speaking in the language of West Francia, you are pilgrims!" Although the alcohol in Brammson's body was still fermenting, and he also felt very sorry for drinking today, but his familiarity with the language of the surrounding peoples still prevented a mistake, and under the "coercion" of the bright and clear Kantos riding a spear, seven or eight wounded armed pilgrims came out of this meadow, and the old knight who had fallen struggled to get up again, and shouted to Bramson, "I am Walter from Boise. Sanzavar was a lord who volunteered to bring a pilgrimage with a sword. ”

"It's Peter's team!" At this moment, the Wesat, who hurried with the cavalry behind. Melo asked.

The old knight nodded, "I am the knight flag bearer of Peter's pilgrimage procession, and with the only eight knights in the entire procession, and a few servants, I came to find a group of men and horses who had left the group to come here first, but we encountered a large number of enemies, and we lost our horses and hid here with wounds. ”

"I don't have to look for it, I was all locked up in the church and burned to death by the bandits who didn't know where they came." As he spoke, Bramson pointed to the way he came.

Walter and the other knights fell to their knees with sobs and prayed for the sacrifice of the pilgrims, and then he said angrily to Merlot and Bramson, "The pilgrims were not simply bandits, they were all cavalry of the two murderous dukes of the Kingdom of Hungary. ”

This complaint made Merlot, who was in charge of this army, nervous, and he knew that this matter was not trivial, and that it was likely to cause the army of Grand Duke Gawain to intersect with the Hungarian swordsmen, so he said in a serious and sincere tone, "Dear Lord Sanzaval, I hope you will swear by your knighthood and honor, what you have just said is true." ”

"I can assure you, of course, that my trip is accompanied by a mission entrusted to me by Peter, which is to make my way through this dangerous forest and ask for help from your Grand Duke Gawain - a procession of about 30,000 pilgrims is being hunted down and besieged by the murderous Grand Duke of Hungary in the Belgrade wilderness!" After that, Walter. Sansaval grabbed Merlot's horse, "Please help us, or we will be wiped out." (To be continued.) )