Chapter 488: Little Rabbit

Within the Summer Palace of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth dwelled the royal family of Poland, having narrowly escaped the massacre at Krakow, the King of Poland stared at a map across his table that showed the latest intelligence he had received on the Austro-Bohemain movements. 

With Krakow brought to ruin, the King of Poland had lost his Capital and had thus moved it to Warsaw. Despite this, Eckhard showed no signs of ceasing his advance. Why would he? The Austro-Bohemian army was roughly 100,000 men in total, all of which were armed with vastly superior weapons to the medieval armies of the Commonwealth. 

A defeated expression was worn across the aging King's haggard visage. Just what nightmare had he brought upon himself? The rumors were true; Berengar von Kufstein was the physical incarnation of the Devil, a man whose armies wielded supernatural powers to defeat any opponents they came across.

However, he could not easily sue for peace, as the Austrians had made their demands clear, and such requests would force the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth not only to cede all of the gains it had made against the Teutonic State but also a substantial sum of their pre-existing territory. As he was lamenting his options, his young daughter no older than five approached him with a worried expression on her doll-like face.

"Papa? When are we going home?"

A bitter smile formed on the King's face; after all, he had not yet informed the girl that there was no home to return to in Krakow. Thus he knelt and placed his hand on the little brown-haired girl's shoulder and attempted to comfort her.

"My sweet Natalia, we will return home soon enough. You must be patient; some evil men are looking for us; it is up to the brave Knights of Poland to fight against them so that we may return home in peace..."

The girl gazed up at her father with her steel-blue eyes with a curious gaze; she did not quite understand what was going on or why they had to flee their homes so quickly. Nevertheless, her father had told her to be patient so that she would do so.  The young girl latched onto her father's leg and hugged it tightly as she expressed the thoughts on her mind.

"Okay, Papa..."

While this heartbreaking scene was occurring, the girl's older brother entered the room, clad from head to toe in plate armor, while wearing the tabard of the Royal House. Judging by the stern expression on his face, the King of Poland was able to guess that he carried unpleasant news, and thus he ordered his daughter to go elsewhere.

"Natalia, my dear, go find your mother and sister; I have much to discuss with your brother...."

The little girl immediately smiled and nodded her head before doing as instructed; she waved to her elder brother as she passed by him and proceeded towards her mother's location. The Prince of Poland broke his silence only after the girl was out of earshot.

He did this by tossing a letter over to his father, its seal was broken, but it carried the sigil of the Austrian Military; the King briefly read through the contents before the Prince summarized what it contained.

"The Austrian Field Marshal implores us to surrender and give in to the conditions he had previously laid out. If not, he vows to march on Warsaw and destroy every semblance of Polish civilization..."

Immediately the King's eyes grew wide in fury as he tore the letter apart before cursing out his rivals from the West. 

"God damned Austrians, who do they think they are intervening in our war with the Teutonic Order? For centuries we have had to suffer abuse at the hands of those bastards, and right when victory is in our hands, it is denied us by this upstart from the south!"

Despite his father's harsh words, the Polish Prince was far from hostile towards the Austrians, unlike the King he had witnessed firsthand the destructive power that Eckhard and his soldiers wielded, there is a reason why he had personally delivered the letter to his father, rather than dispatch a messenger.

He did not desire to engage in combat with the enemy; thus, he had marched his army back to the capital to personally deliver this letter. After recalling the Austrian troops' brutality and the explosive firepower they wielded, the Prince dropped his facade of strength and began to implore his father to make peace.

"Father, I suggest we yield to their demands; Austria is too powerful to contend with. You are lucky they are just asking for the regions occupied by the German people. I have seen the weapons they use on the field of battle; before our knights can even get close, they are consumed by Austria's hellfire. 

I hear the Austrian King has a young son who is roughly Natalia's age, and perhaps we could buy some peace by arranging a marriage between the two of them! Maybe they would even reduce the amount of territory they desire?"

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The King of Poland did not react as his son expected. Instead, he immediately backhanded the young man across the face as violently as he could muster. The impact sent the boy to his knees as he gazed upon his father's enraged appearance with shock.

"You suggest I give all which I have conquered over to the Austrians and sell my beloved daughter to this lowly Baron who dares to call himself King as if she is some common whore! If you weren't my son, I would have your tongue removed for suggesting such a farce!"

The Prince spat out a puddle of blood from his mouth and shifted his jaw. The level of force that his father had hit him with was no joke; despite this, he continued to remain defiant. He was desperately trying to convince the King of Poland to yield.

"Father, you have not seen their army as I have; they have 100,000 men who are capable of slaughtering our army as if they were mere insects! What remains of the battlefield after our defeat is a scorched wasteland as if hell itself had been conjured onto the land!"

As the King heard these words, he erupted into a state of fury once more; he nearly struck his son again before forcing himself to calm down; after taking a deep breath, he exhaled heavily before lecturing his eldest son.

"I do not remember raising such a cowardly son; you have dishonored yourself and this household, not only from your actions but also your words! Iwan, my son, I hereby order you to take charge of what remains of our army and ride out to meet the Austro-Bohemian forces in open battle; you will either return victorious or not at all!"

The Polish Prince known as Iwan could hardly believe his father's words; this was essentially a death sentence. Nevertheless, he was honor-bound to fulfill the King's orders to the best of his ability; the man clutched his fist in grief and anger as he slowly came to accept his fate.  After spending a few moments in silence, he sighed heavily before nodding his head in agreement.

"If that is your command, your Majesty..."

After saying these words, Iwan departed from the room where his father dwelled; he briskly walked towards the castle's exit, where he witnessed his little sister Natalia peeking out from behind a door. The girl quickly rushed over to her elder brother, where he caught her in his iron-clad embrace. A bitter smile formed on the Polish Prince's face as the young girl innocently asked where he was headed too.

"Big brother? Where are you going?"

Though he tried not to show his grief to the innocent and naive princess, his dark blue eyes ultimately revealed the lament deep within his soul. He forced a smile upon his lips before patting the girl on the head.

"Natalia, my sister, I have been ordered by our father to go reclaim the land stolen from us by the Austrians and their Bohemian allies! I am afraid I must leave you behind yet again..."

The girl was too young to realize that her brother was marching off to an unwinnable war and thus cocked her head in a curious expression before asking the question on her mind.

"You will return, though, right?"

Though Iwan wanted to reassure the girl that he would be returning home safe and sound, he knew deep down that this was, in fact, his swan song. Thus he choked on the sentence he had prepared and merely nodded in silence.

Upon seeing the grim expression on her older brother's face, Natalia knew something was wrong and immediately handed him her favorite toy, which was a small stuffed rabbit.  With a cheery smile on her face, the girl spoke to her eldest brother with a glint of hope in her eyes.

"Here, hold onto Kacper for me! Make sure you both come home safe and sound!"

Iwan grabbed ahold of the stuffed rabbit and clutched it tightly to his chest; after doing so, he nodded thrice and patted the girl on her little head, trying not to break out into tears. After doing so, he turned towards the door and opened it; the last words he spoke to his younger sister would forever resound in her head.

"I will make sure to return this little rabbit to you!"

After saying this, the young Prince of Poland departed from the Summer Palace within Warsaw.. He would lead what remained of the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealths soldiers into battle against their enemy to the West.

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