Chapter 145: God Wills It!

An army bearing the legendary white field with the black cross upon it marched through the town of Suhl; the Teutonic Order was close to the region of Bavaria. After making their stop in Suhl, and resupplying the army would advanced forwards through the Bavarian Alps and into Tyrol, where they would raze Berengar's lands to the ground. Or at least that was the plan. Currently, the Teutonic Order was conscripting as many men from the town as possible into their army. Young or old, as long as they were capable of bearing arms, they were stripped from the towns the Teutonic Army visited and placed into their ranks as levies. 

In the middle of the town, a scene displayed itself as a thirteen-year-old boy was dragged away from his mother's arms and lined up into the ranks of the new levies. The mother begged with tears to knights who had snatched her child, yet for all her effort, the woman was only rewarded with a swift kick to the stomach, dropping her to her knees as she bawled in misery. Across this town and every village, the Teutonic Order had come across similar scenes such as this had become the norm. The ruthlessness of the Teutonic Army under Lambert's command knew no bounds, and they were even willing to slaughter the families of those who refused to join the service of their great crusade. 

Though this village was different than the others in which they previously passed. As the cruelty of the Teutonic Order was displayed for the villagers to see, some of them began to gather. The townsfolk quickly formed a mob that began to berate the Teutonic soldiers who had forcefully taken their sons and fathers away from them. What started as a peaceful protest quickly resulted in a full-scale riot. The townsfolk began to push and shove the soldiers of the Teutonic Order and throw produce and filth in their directions. 

Things were beginning to spiral out of control when Lambert arrived on horseback; seeing the lowly peasants dare to defy his orders, Lambert got off of his horse and took off his great bascinet revealing his charming face for all to see. The solution to this problem was simple; he would preach how it was the will of God for the men of this village to embark on a holy crusade to put down the Heretics in Tyrol. Berengar's reformation had already begun to spread rapidly; words of Berengar's rapid conquest of Tyrol had spread quickly and had been taken as a sign of divine retribution against the traitor Lothar. However, Lambert was more concerned with bringing down his brother and ending his rise to power than he was with fulfilling the duties of his task to end the Berengar Heresy in its entirety.

As such, he took a diplomatic approach and approached the angry mob, attempting to placate them with a sermon.

"Citizens of Suhl, I understand your complaints, but our Order is on a mission from the Pope himself! We require the assistance of every man and youth capable of bearing arms to bring down the wretched Berengar Heresy which has begun to fester in these lands. Only by cutting off the head of the serpent known as Berengar the Accursed can the will of God be restored to these lands."

Lambert did not know that many of the townsfolk were what would later become known as German Reformists, and they held Berengar in high regard. As such, a courageous young man who appeared to be a wealthy merchant or the son of one stood before the crowd and began to defend Berengar in front of the Teutonic Order, who had been tasked with his elimination.

"Who are you to declare Berengar a Heretic? I have read the bible, which he has translated into our language, and given the ability for all men, regardless of their birth, the ability to comprehend the word of God! Not a single one of his views and that of the Priest Ludolf goes against the teachings of Christ as is written in the scripture. If anything, it is the Pope who is the heretic, as many of the claims of the Catholic Church are not written in the word of the apostles or Christ himself! Berengar is a pious and enlightened man who acts against the corruption of the ecclesiarchy, and for that, you all wish to silence him! Have you no guilt?"

As the man spoke, the entirety of the mob began to agree with him and further chastised the Teutonic Order for their actions; if anything, they were even more outraged now that they knew the intentions of this army and were unwilling to stand by and do nothing when such a large army was tasked with hunting down the head of their reformation! Quickly things got out of hand, and Lambert was not handling it well. Hearing the villagers take Berengar's side enraged him to his very core. How could Berengar's influence reach so far that these filthy peasants were willing to defy the authority of the Teutonic Order and, by extension, the papacy! This was outrageous!  As Lambert was fuming with anger, a small child threw a cow pie in his face and shouted at him.

"Go away, you evil men!"

With this action, something snapped in Lambert's mind, and he instinctively gripped the hilt of his sword where he quickly unsheathed the blade sword in a smooth chopping motion; he cut off the head of the child who was no older than eight. The head of the child slowly rolled on the floor as blood sprayed onto Lambert's white tabard. A loud shriek filled the air, which belonged to the child's mother, who just witnessed her own son get decapitated before her eyes.

Horrified and enraged by Lambert's actions, the mob quickly clashed with the soldiers of the Teutonic Order; they were no longer thinking rationally and had decided in the heat of the moment to enact justice on these heavily armed and well-trained soldiers. Seeing that the mob had taken up arms against him, Lambert sneered in disdain and gave the order above the crowd's shouts to the men under his command.

"This village is filled with heretics, kill them all and burn the town to ashes! God wills it!"

Despite witnessing their commanding officer murder a child in cold blood, not a single one of the fanatic soldiers of the Teutonic Order cared, for, in their minds, the little boy was a heretic and deserved his fate. Instead, they all raised their weapons and began to massacre the townsfolk. Their victims could see the fierce zealotry contained within their eyes as the crusaders screamed their war chant over and over again.

"God wills it!"

With that, the entire population of Suhl was massacred, their town was burned to the ground, and the perpetrators confiscated their grain and livestock. By morning there would not be a single soul left alive within the confines of the once proud town; only blood and ash would remain.