|
|
Next Part of The Fall of Bragannia
Posted February 8 2008 01:05 PM
Mood: Hopeful
Doing: Working
The Fall of Bragannia continues:
Eskie made a long formal bow towards the towering Griffin in front of her, "Greeting's Balthor and welcome" she said in her dulcet tones, the griffin returned her bow with a long graceful dip bending his long sleek neck and head, so that his beak nearly touched the floor. "Balthor I sense something wrong to the north east of Rushford, there is an unusual sounding emanating from the forest. In the darkness I can see fairly well, but do not possess your great sight to pierce the dark of the forest below, without having to call upon some of my brethren far to the south west." she gave a little pause to emphasise this, then continued. "Balthor I need your help to seek out the strange sound. I know that with your enhanced vision and sense of hearing, you would be able to aid me more swiftly, as my brethren would take time to get to me and as yet I have no idea what this sound represents and whether it is a threat." The Griffin had moved his head to one side and was listening and staring straight at Eskie, studying her from the tip of her hat to the toes on her feet.
She wore a long flowing black robe, and looked to be in her early thirties with her wild long black hair cascading down onto her shoulders, she wasn't slim, or fat, just average in build, but she looked stunningly beautiful in the moonlight, with piercing green eyes. The Griffin knew that Eskie was much older than thirty, tho he would never tell anyone as most people didn't speak Griffin, and he lived most of his life up in the Tirian Mountains, with his father’s flocks. As one of the Princes of the Griffin's he had been placed in command of his father’s airborne armies and patrols, and any threat to the witches could mean a threat to his kind as well. As this thought sunk in to his mind, he moved forward towards Eskie, he could understand exactly what she was saying and decided to except the tasking she would ask of him. If he had not agreed he would have taken wing and flown back to his mountain, but Eskie rarely summoned him and when she did it was not done lightly, she considered every angle and sought out the best solution to every problem. She had a very analytical way of thinking, which was probably due to the spells and summonings she had learnt over the many years she had been a witch, she had been in this profession for several hundred years now and had known Balthors great grandfather who had once let her fly on his back an honour that most humans did not seem to understand.
Balthor inclined his head towards Eskie, speaking in slow clicks, chirps and a guttural throat noise he said "Madam Witch I will do your bidding, as this strange noise may affect my kin and we of the feathered do not wish another war. Some of my kin have become one with some of the king’s human knight's, and have allowed themselves to be trained in a way as to be as such, flying steeds. So if this noise is a threat to the humans, some of my kind may have to go into battle although we are not afraid of battle and are a formidable force to be reckoned with, we do not throw the lives of our flock away on a whim." "I understand Balthor" said Eskie "We witches are of the same mind, in the last great battle we were facing a problem of vast magnitude, if we remained neutral in the last battle the Valdovian army would have been victorious. Bragania would have fallen and we would have been forced to flee the Valdergast. The decision to make was, did the cost of our sisters lives out way the threat from Valdergast winning the battle". Eskie paused in reflection "My sisters and I are normally of a neutrality throughout this world; we owe nothing to anyone and help where needed, but never fall under another’s rule. By fighting for Bragania, we were fighting under the King that made him in a way our master, and a witch has no master but her own person. Oh there are senior witches in our covens and witches that are revered and sought for their wisdom and knowledge, but none that could control another witch by command." She looked straight at Balthor, "The decision was made and through that we are now vassals of our king and protectors of his and our lands, now we must protect and serve, by firstly finding out what is making that noise". Balthor nodded in agreement spread his huge wings apart and rose gracefully off the ground, with Eskie mounting her broom as he ascended into the air.
Eskie moved off low, gradually gaining height on her broom, she didn't look for Balthor, but started another low chant to meld a linking of thoughts and minds, it only took a minute and the connection was complete. Balthor can you hear me? Eskie thought, willing her thoughts out into the moonlit sky, the cloud was thinning and stars were breaking through the curtain of darkness that had enveloped the land earlier that evening. I can hear you perfectly madam witch, I sense no danger at the moment from above or below and will make my way to the closest edge of the forest.
Eskie rose higher and manoeuvred her broom into a heading towards the great forest of Rushford and prayed that she had been mistaken; the noise could mean only one thing, if it was that one thing and she was right. Would she have enough time to stop it from doing whatever dark deed it was up to, Eskie silently prayed that she was wrong and the sound she had heard was something other than a Titan, though it was going to take time to find out if she was right or wrong?
−−−−−
The leaves on the great oak, moved in a rhythmic motion with the gentle evening breeze that was coming from the distant sea, on a small hillock above the plains, below the branches of this age old tree a solitary horse had been tied to a bush next to the tree, it's reins had been wrapped over the bushes tangle of small branches and the horse was now chewing on some coarse strands of grass growing either side of the bush. A medium size figure all in black, was sitting under the oak, it's back was propped up against the mighty tree, with head resting on it's chest, one arm was wrapped around a small backpack with its hand clutching the backpacks straps, the other black gloved hand laying on the hilt of a well worn but very sharp long sword. Which hung from a scabbard belt at its side, a knife hilt could also be seen partially emerging from one of the pair of black leather knee length boots the person had on. The three men who were watching the figure under the tree were nervous, they knew that they had the advantage of surprise and of numbers, but they had been bandits, robbers and even murderers for several long years. Violent and blood thirsty men at times, hard and merciless at others but always cautious. Caution came naturally now and it had saved their lives on many occasions if they first observed and then planned their attacks, when they first deserted from the army there had been fifteen of them to start with, now only the three of them remained, others had died due to recklessness and haste, illness and wounds these three were now veterans and they had become very good at there chosen profession in order to survive. They were all in their late thirties and had been outlaws now for a little over 3 years, making quite a good living off of other people’s goods, money and possessions. This target looked easy and they would come in from three angles and attack in unison, the figure hadn't moved for over an hour, there was no campfire so no risk of setting ones self aflame or losing their night vision.
After a quick hushed conversation the men decided that this would be business as normal, little did they know they faced a very deadly opponent and their lives were now being measured in minutes rather than years of healthy life to come. They fanned out and with an owl hoot as the pre-arranged signal they moved in slowly to remove the figure of its possessions and its life. Now silently creeping forward and getting closer and closer inch by inch towards the sleeping figure, they thought they were going to have an easy night.
The men stopped suddenly in unison, the figure wasn't there..... Now sitting under the tree was only the backpack, but no person..... This couldn't be possible they all thought at once, there had been the figure of a man or woman under that tree only moments before. Their eyes scanned around the tree and the surrounding hillside, where was the figure in black? They were startled by the sudden disappearance of their intended victim and were now starting to get slightly agitated and also ill at ease, how had the person done that, disappeared into thin air? They had been concentrating on the person under the big oak tree, focusing on them all the time, their night vision was good, they hadn't looked away from the slumbering figure, but now where he or she should have been, they were there no longer. Swords had already been drawn by the three men already, as pulling one from a scabbard on attacking might have awakened their victim, hands reached for hunting knives as fighting in the dark needed every added advantage you could get. "Aaargh" a scream sounded to the right then silence, the two remaining men whipped their heads round fast looking directly to the right where their friend should be and could no longer see their colleague. Fear was now starting to creep into there subconscious thoughts, who ever they had stumbled across and decided to try and k*** then rob, was very fast and seemed very deadly, the seeds of doubt started to creep rapidly into their concious minds that they may not be the hunters any more and maybe had just become the prey. The two remaining men looked at each other and without a spoken word moved closer together, to speak would give away there position and possibly get them killed, now in fighting stances they crouched down making themselves less of a target and waited to see if they could spot this mysterious figure in black. A crossbow bolt flew through the air and hit one of them directly in the chest, slamming him over onto the ground, piercing through his rough leather jacket, half the bolt was still showing but the other half had punctured the heart, killing him instantly. The last man stood there in stunned silence, where had the crossbow come from, the figure had a sword and knife only, he didn't have defence against a bow of any sort, a crossbow took time to load and during that time he needed to put plenty of distance between him and the mystery figure in black, as its range was shorter than your normal bow.
He turned on the spot and started to sprint off across the top of the hill, heading for the rearward slope, if he could find his way round to the right or the left of the hill at its base he could return to the three horses they had tethered to a dead wooden log several hundred yards away from their so called easy target, which was proving to be anything but. Running out flat only lasts for so long as your body only keeps going with the adrenhilin rush, as the would be murderer was now finding, then it starts to give you cramp and to slow you down till you get a second wind. At this present state in time he was running full tilt down hill as fast as his legs would carry him, which is actually more tiring than running uphill, this was taking a heavy toll on his body as he was unfortunately not the fittest member of the three men and had gained a fairly large paunch and a thick set heavy frame of mostly fat so his body was now starting to scream at him to slow down or even stop. Glancing around behind him he saw the tall oak on the top of the hill but no sign of pursuit from that direction.
He slowed slightly and took a quick glance around, looking ahead he saw a piece of rock sticking partially out of the ground it was about three foot high and sloped off at one end towards the ground, also it was about seven foot long, an ideal place to cover from a crossbow and rethink what to do next, as he scanned the horizon for his oncoming death. The rock was getting closer just off to his left hand side, only a few seconds away, if he managed to get behind that he could gain his breath then set off again. Just a few more feet he thought only a few feet more as he started to speed up again and then safety, if only for a short breather and a chance to stretch his now cramping tight muscles, he was almost there two foot, one foot, he leapt over the rock and suddenly felt pain in his chest legs arms and his neck. The rock had been an ideal hiding place for the figure in black, but it had hidden something he hadn't expected, a large pit on the other side filled with small wooden stakes. Who had put it there he would never know as his life blood drained out of numerous wounds on his body and he slowly died on the stakes still wondering about the figure in black.
−−−−−
Patrus was starting to grow impatient, his clients contact should have been here four hours ago but there was still no sign of him, he was getting ready to move back to camp and leave a message with the landlord to pass on that the contact should come to him, after making him wait. When he spotted a green hat with a red feather in it coming through the now crowded street. His contact would be known to him by the hat that he/she wore that was his instructions; hopefully they were late due to normal everyday hold-ups and not anything to serious that might involve his company.
The crowd started to thin out a bit closer to the tavern and Patrus got the first glimpse of his employers contact who was a she and not a he, she was tall and slim, with long blonde hair tied back into a neat ponytail, there was no makeup on her face which had become a bit of a fashion lately with some of the high bourne women powdering their faces and necks and applying colour to their lips and cheeks, the clothes she was wearing from the ruffle necked jacket to the soft leather knee high boots were of a very costly weave and were probably the latest court fashion. She was not unattractive but was not stunningly beautiful, she had a face that was more strikingly pretty in a feminine sort of way, the sort of slightly more homespun look but well breed lass you could take back home to meet your dear old mother, who would start doting on her from the word go and have you married off in a trice. The most striking thing about her were her pale blue eyes that seemed to shine from within, a man could loose himself and maybe even drown in those eyes probably dying with a big smile on his face thought Patrus, who on the other hand had been called handsome numerous times by some women but mostly those who liked their men to have a bit of a rugged look, he had only one fashion of clothing and that was clothes and light armour that fit him well, suited for riding, fighting, hunting and keeping him warm and dry in the Braganian wilderness.
So he looked more the hunter and seasoned soldier than the nobleman that he actually was. His father had been a minor Baron and now with death, Patrus was the legitimate heir to that title, he rarely used it as the land's he owned were mostly forested and ok it you wanted to take up a life of tree felling, after the war the estate had enlarged somewhat due to the loss of several noble families, he now had even more tree's to fell if the desire took him. He was happier to let the Duke of Rushford's magistrate tax and tend to his current tenants as his father had done so many years before and let Count Pericard one of his fathers and now his vassal look after the few hundred tenants living on the estate, Bragania had five Dukes, who under the King ran four sections of the country, with it being split into four sections their was one duke to many so the dukes rotated every two years so that one would be the kings advisor and lord chamberlain who over saw the entire country, below them were now just over a dozen Earls, who mostly administered the duties of state, the Barons came below them and ran vast estates within one of the four sections. These could encompass a couple of towns and maybe even a fort or castle, the Earls ran mostly major cities and port towns and further down were Counts, they had the task of governing up and coming towns and with the local Magistrates under them looking after the village communities and keeping the Law and Order of the land of Bragania the system worked quite well, his mind drifted back to the contact. She was now only a few feet away from him, he stood and got himself in the right frame of mind to meet, his new employers exquisite blue eyed contact.
She approached and offered a hand in greeting with a large beaming smile, that actually lit up her face and made her look like a sun beam. "Good afternoon Baron Steel, I am Miss Alicia Redburn, I am so sorry to have kept you waiting,” she said with a deep and rich southern accent that just seemed to melt off of her tongue. "My ship only got in to the harbour three hours ago, the wind was not on our side and I was also delayed in getting here due to a very stringent customs official that wanted to check every item of cargo coming in before he let passengers off. So I do hope you will accept my deepest apologises for the delay". The accent again flowing into his ears and forcing its way up into his brain, actually stimulated him in a way he thought he should not be, so he blushed. To cover this he said quickly "My dear lady there is nothing we can do about the ever changing wind of the sea, unless there’s a good sorcerer to hand, and I should have been more through in my details of this meeting’s arrangement’s and mentioned the fastidiousness of Eldegars local customs officials. So the fault my dear lady is totally on me for the official’s throughness and with the sea gods for the lack of wind". That seemed to put her at ease and do the trick of opening up the conversation to business, which was what Patrus was very eager to go over. He could be dashing and charming when he wanted to be, he had been too many a banquet and even hosted a few contests and tournaments on his land in the past, during brief stays in his families’ home. He never stayed for long tho as the pain of remembering his lost, mother, father and sister always took its toll on his heart, so he moved away again to pastures new with his band of merry men when it hurt too much.
He offered her a seat beside him and waved over the waitress to order a round of drinks, she ordered an exotic honeyed coffee and some sweet meal bread as well; Patrus ordered a dark rich flavoured eastern coffee, which was served with a small jug of cream and a bowl of sugared lumps. His roasted pig was served as well with a selection of vegetables and a light drizzling of a cream and herb sauce. "I hope you will find the coffee and food better than ships biscuit's Miss Redburn, as I have travelled by ship on a few occasions and found the fare limited by only what can be salted of stored in wax sealed barrels." He was fishing for details on her journey and trying to find out who she actually was, where she had journeyed from and any other useful information. He was to find, that all though this women might be one of the prettiest he had seen in a long while, she was all business at heart. "My dear Baron, you are quite right in your observations of ships life, but we do have pressing details to attend to and as much as I enjoy pleasantries and chit chat. I have to be back onboard the ship in three hours time as we will be sailing on the evening tide."
She wasn't sharp in her words but Patrus could see that it was not meant in spite and all he meant to her was another business transaction and even as a baron, she was just observing the formalities. "The title baron is one I hold from my father and athough I am a noble man would prefer to just be called Captain or Patrus, so Miss Redburn, we will proceed straight on with the details of the escort duty, and the location of where you want us to deliver your package to in the north?" Not taken a back by his sudden brunt-ness, she proceeded to explain the details of what they would be escorting north, "Under the terms of parley this conversation is classed as private and is to be repeated to no-one out side of our circle." this was a mercenary tradition the act of parley, used by mercenaries and some pirates. The Old Code was upheld and meant that nothing was said outside there circle of two, as it was strictly forbidden to break the code, the captain of a company or ship would parley with their employer or his/her representative, their conversation was a total secret, if the trust was broken by one side the other would be hunted down and killed.
"I accept the terms of parley", said Patrus, Miss Redburn continued. "The package to be delivered north is a diplomat of the Royal Court; he is to be treated with respect as he holds the court rank of Earl thus earning him some privileges. He is a round portly little fellow by the name of Caspian Theroford; he is widely renowned as the best diplomat in all of Bragania, skilled in the arts of arbitration and negotiation. He is well versed in over fourteen different languages, will sweet talk the pants off most people and convince the others into doing his bidding, thus making them think it was there idea in the first place. I tell you this as I want you to understand how valuable an asset he is to this country, Captain Patrus and hope that you will be able to deliver him in one piece to his destination." Patrus sat back in his chair interlacing his fingers on his chest and waited for Miss R to go on, she pause for a second to take a bite of her sweet meal and wash it down with some coffee, he reached across and took a sip from his to, patiently waiting for her to continue.
"Now the package is as you would probably say, an easy cargo, he is not in any danger at this present stage in time and I am sure your men will frighten away any bandits that you come across, as they like easy pickings and not a hard fight normally". Patrus started to tense slightly, the package to transport was as she had said and easy cargo but he could sense the good was about to become bad. "The problem my client has is the destination for the package, we would like you to escort this diplomat up to the Tirian mountains and then through the pass to the Valdovian Capital city of Valorise, where he will meet with the Valdergast in person."
The silence hung in the air, Patrus had been expecting something bad but this was beyond bad this was horrendous. He had heard the various stories and rumours about the diplomats and there escorts that had tried to get to see the Valdergast over the past few years, they had got to see him sure enough but each of the attempts had ended with them having a return trip in a casket containing only there heads for recognition. "So what makes your employer or should I say, His Royal Highness! Think that I would be willing to sacrifice my men by letting them enter the lions den and be out numbered by thousands to one, on a suicide mission?" Miss Redburn took another bite of her sweet meal and another swig of her coffee, "The Valdergast is getting old, he's now in his eighties and his son is set to take his place, it is rumoured that the Valdergast is ill and may not be on this world for too much longer. My employer or as you guessed his royal highness, thinks it would be wise to approach the future heir, his son the Prince and hopefully arrange a mutual peace, he might be interested in that after just ascending to the throne. It has been said also he is not the tyrant that his father is, there is a bit more compassion in the young man than the father and we are hoping that this might help us arrange a peaceful solution to the still current war we have been fighting".
Patrus sat forward in his chair, "Hold on a second, I thought we had won the war and that the Valdergast had run home with his tail between his legs after we destroyed his army,we now have a fortress on the Tirian Pass to make most of the emporers and other kings and queens of distant realms think twice about even thinking of war with us, the witches can raise the dead and we now have a collegium of sorcerors to equal his remaining ones?" He said, "No" replied Redburn "The Valdergast was beaten in the last battle, but the war is far from over, he had at the time of the battles retreat, still more troops garrisoning towns and cities, with reserves enough to hold us from marching in and taking his country and has been training more since then. It has been three long years and he has already amassed enough troops to cause our commanders quite a few sleepless nights and even if the king put out a call to arms, to his five dukes we could only rally about 100,000 troops, now that might sound a lot but we have sources that are telling us that he is working on an alliance with some of the nomadic tribes to the west of Valdovia. He hasn't made a move on their territory because it's mostly hills and rocks. The tribes also out number the Valdergast with a standing army of three times his own, on a tribal call to arms. So they could snuff him out in an instant". Patrus interrupted "Hold on if what your saying is true, why didn't these tribes band together and take him out after the battle, they would have had ample troops to do that and would have gained an entire country?" Miss Redburn shifted in her seat slightly and looked at Patrus "The nomadic tribes do not get on, the Valdergast secretly see's to that, by pitting each chieftain against the other. There was too many tribal blood feuds and infighting going on at the time of his defeat for them to band together and mobilize, so that they could take advantage of the situation.
Which was exactly what he wanted, but now if he finally succeeds in uniting them under one banner then we know where he will be heading next and even with the countries militia we would be vastly out numbered".
Patrus sat in thought then spoke, "well the witches are still on our side, all it would take is another undead spell and his army would be destroyed by itself?" "This would be true" she replied, "If we hadn't been informed by the witches that the spell they cast, used a special type of gem, it's called a soul gem and contains the spirit of a long dead necromancer. In return for freeing him from his imprisonment and letting him return to the spirit world he was the one that raised the dead and commanded them to attack our foes. They do not possess another stone and cannot cast the same sort of spell; we would have no help from any spell to raise the undead if war comes again. The Valdergast doesn't know this and has been avidly hiring sorcerers, witches and other spell weavers to see if they can combat the undead spell, they think we can still cast it, he has even employed his priests and other religious adepts to see if they can banish the dead." She paused again and took the last piece of sweet meal popped it into her mouth and took another sip of her coffee. "As a baron of this country and also the captain of a renowned and well honoured mercenary company, we thought you would be the best person to approach and would possibly be able to get this job done? She’s now trying to butter me up with flattery thought Patrus She’s going to have to do better than that, this has SUICIDE written all over it, Patrus came back from his thoughts just as Miss Redburn finished speaking, “So Baron Patrus Steel, will you accept the kings commission and save this country from a war it cannot win?"
Need Feed back on 1st chapter of Fall of Bragania
Posted January 31 2008 11:36 AM
Mood: Cheerful
Doing: update
Hi all, this is the first chapter draft of my new novel, can only post 40,000 characters per blog so please bear with me as i update and add more of the story as it goes. Hope you enjoy the book, appologise for spelling and grammar as need a few courses to improve, Kind Regards
Paul
The Fall of Bragania
Chapter 1: A Strange Sound and The Company of Steel.
It was a dark and almost starless night, the cloud and mist had rolled in over the Tirian Mountains. Giving the land an almost eerie blackness all across the rolling plains and vast fields of maize, wheat and other crops, it may have been misty and murky but it wasn't a cold evening with Summer gradually nearing it's end, Autumn had yet to take hold and change the leaves on the old trees of the great forests sprawling all over the fine landscape of Bragania, to amber, red and gold. So for the time being the land was a lush green. Small campfires could be seen from the air, dotted all around as travellers and some of Bragania's countrymen, finding it too hot to sleep inside there hut's or houses settled down outside for the night. Campfires were not really needed for heat, most used for cooking and all used for keeping predatory creatures at bay. Eskie was watching the movement below, taking in every little detail an nuance, every minute change to her beloved land. For as a Guardian Protector it was her job to protect and nurture this land as if it was her own loving child. It had not always been like this, her fellow sisters had fought alongside the Bragania army for many years to help them survive the onslaught of foreign invaders. They had won seven years ago and crushed the forces of Chaos in a tremendous battle but would it be enough stop the flow of evil and if not, when would they be back? Flying higher on her old battered broom, she revelled in the peace and tranquillity of the night, savouring the call below of a night owl and the howl of a solitary wolf, as each creature stalked and hunted their prey for supper, in their own unique ways. All was peaceful and well in her land so she banked her broom to the right and started to head home, when she spotted a change.
There to the northeast corner of the great forest of Rushford was something different, something out of place; she could not put her finger on what it was. A strange scent, or subtle change in the wind, a glimpse of movement or an unusual sound? The latter she thought was more likely, then she heard it again, an almost tinny, metallic sound that she thought she had not heard in a long, long time. It had to be investigated but her fellow sisters were below and most likely asleep, she could wake them and have them here within minutes with a simple alarm spell but she could be wrong and it could be nothing.
So it had to be investigated first, with the clouds starting to build up and steadily getting thicker below her, Eskie realised she was going to need far better eye sight than her own, there were a few spells she could cast to illuminate the area but she was very reluctant to give away her position, alerting what ever it was to her observation, this needed stealth and cunning rather than more witches as potential targets for an unknown enemy. She made her desicion and focused her mind, Eskie then began to chant. Magical words of Power flowed from her lips, like a wave rolling over the ocean; they came tumbling out of her mouth in wisps and puffs of silver and gold smoke. A summoning of powerful proportions was occurring as Eskie kept her mind focused and said the last syllable, then abruptly stopped and waited.
She did not have long to wait as a screech from behind alerted her to an incoming friend. A huge Griffin with white and golden wings was soaring towards her. The beautiful but deadly beast had a wingspan of over fifty foot and was twenty foot from beak to tail, of a mostly golden colour with a white gold speckled breast and face. It was descending fast from above towards her, with its silver eyes sparkling as a shaft of moonlight illuminated the area through a slight break in the cloud, lit them both up in a darkened sky. Eskie waited patiently as the huge beast she had summoned slowed it's decent and glided in gracefully towards her. Once she had eye contact, she pointed to a small clearing in the woodland below and started to descend herself with the griffin following. With both feet finally on the ground and the griffin landing softly a few feet away she stepped off her broom and moved forward to greet her old friend.
−−−−−
Quite a few miles away to the southern end of Rushford’s great forest, a small band of mercenary’s were in camp. "What are you cooking for us tonight then Tregar, better not be rabbit! Had my fill of rabbit over the past two weeks, rabbit stew, rabbit grill, rabbit fried. We even had rabbit poached with a rum sauce the other evening". "You'll eat what we got or you will go bloody hungry Sam!!!" said Tregar, a pot bellied and bushy bearded, grissled man, he was in his late fifties and starting to go grey gracefully but still had long wavy locks of hair that hung down to his shoulders, tied back into a ponytail. Tregar was the camp cook and as nearly all cooks do, prided himself on making the best meals out of the ingredients provided, out in the wilderness it was most likely to be field rations and there was his trusty box of spices to liven up the most tedious of foods to make it fit for a king. The problem was that hunting in this area had proved to be poor fare over the past few weeks, with only foraged fruit, nuts and berries to supplement the only meat they could find of Rabbit, the soldiers of the company were steadily growing tired of it no matter how many spices Tregar added.
He was not a bad man, he just had a grisly temper at times and was actually quite a good cook but had lost his home due to being swindled on a financial enterprise and then to top it off he had a major crop failure at home. Thus with an absence of taxes to pay to the crown, he had sold his home for the funds, with only a small amount of savings remaining, he had sought recruitment and stumbled across a mercenary captain in a tavern who was looking for a decent cook for his company.
So he'd signed up seven and a half years ago with the Company of Steel and been their cook ever since. He thought back on the event's leading up to today. His Country had been at War when he had been recruited and the invading armies from the north of the Valdergast the High Emperor of the Valdovian's had been war'ing with the Braganian's for ten long years, it had been a fierce start to the war with numerous large battle's for the first 4yrs then it seemed to reduce its fierocity and became a stalemate for the remaining six of those with both sides wining and loosing nominal battles and scirmishes all centred around the Tirian Pass and sustaining only slight losses. These losses had been refilled easily in Bragania by new recruits who wanted to fight for king and country, as the Braganian's were fiercely loyal to their good King Fredrico II. He was a well loved and good king to his people, which was rare and his people lived well. So when the invading hordes of Valdovia had tried to invade they had found themselves up against not only a well-trained army of twenty five thousand men and women, but also Bragania's countrymen with most of them serving and training regularly in the local militia's the king had started four years before the invasion. This had swelled the king’s army to just over eighty thousand soldiers, which the Valdovian’s were not expecting. With the King being a warrior also and believing in good training and discipline, he had thus hosted tournaments and contests across his land to encourage his men and some women to train, in the ways of the warrior. The Valdovian's had never faced an opponent they could not defeat by their sheer weight of numbers, but this time they faced men and women who were fighting with such courage and stamina. That they found their advance halted and then pushed back to its starting point on the other side of the Tirian Mountain’s pass.
The King erected defence's and built a huge fortress at the entrance to the pass with every siege weapon known placed at 40 foot spaces, along it's 20ft high walls, with over five thousand archers platform's and numerous sally ports for horsemen to harry the advancing or retreating enemy. With a fortress of this magnitude and scale the Valdovian's, had been stalled and that had held them up for six years. Then they had come in force, the Valdovians had been waiting and enlarging their army with a mass recruitment and conscription campaign, so that it now numbered over three hundred thousand men strong. Only by luck and the sheer determination and courage of his fellow Braganian countrymen.
Had the king managed to nearly defeat the oncoming army, he had used an ingenious array of traps and killing devices set-up along the pass on the way to the fortress to even up the odds a bit. These had been dreamt up by some very nasty generals, back in the early wars and border skirmishes, with some new ones coming from the guild of engineers. By the time the Army had got halfway down the pass it had lost nearly one quarter of its troops as the Valdergast continued to send wave upon wave of troops flowing down the pass, with no regard for there lives at all, in an almost fanatical way. Then the siege engines had started up and more troops were being pulverised by boulders and flaming giant arrows, hot oil and timber logs were hurled at advancing troops but still they came on, into the killing ground of the archers.
By this stage, only sixty percent of the Valdovian army remained and was quickly being whittled down with every minute of their advance. They reached the walls and ladders were put up for men to climb, scaling hook's and grapnels were thrown then pulled tight, men started to climb with defenders cutting ropes and pushing away ladders with giant pole hooks. Still they came on and gained a foothold on the walls, the fighting had been fierce, and Tregar remembered his company being called to reinforce the north wall as the enemy had gained a large area of wall there. His company had been 200 strong and they had raced along the wall to throw themselves at the enemy, through the smoke of burning timbers, he saw the enemy on the ramparts, hacking and slashing through the defenders, they were in a killing frenzy and had started to push the defenders back from the battlements. A trumpet sounded from above somewhere sounding the attack and Tregar's company surged forward to engage, the sudden injection of comrades gave the defenders a glimpse of hope and they renewed their attack on the enemy. Tregar lopped the head off a man coming over the wall then moved on to rope grapnel and hacked it free, depositing its load of men to the moat below. Tregar then turned his attention back to the enemy on the ramparts, only to find it nearly empty of Valdovian troops. We’re winning! He thought.
Then the explosion happened. A whole section of the West wall exploded inwards and the enemy came streaming in. His company had gone from winning to losing in a split second; they had to fight a rearguard action retreat from the north wall to the keep and just got in before they shut the main gates. It had been a close thing and they had lost 72 men in one hours fighting, six others were seriously wounded, with others sporting cuts and bruises. The enemy began mopping up the last remnants of the defenders resistance left outside the keep before turning their attention on their next target, the defenders in the fortress keep that had made them bleed so badly.
Over one third of the full enemy army were now in the fortress with the rest still filtering in over the walls and through the breach, the Bragannians had twelve thousand fresh defending troops ready in the keep and about four thousand off of the walls that had managed to make it back inside before the keep was sealed. Most of the walls four thousand defenders were now walking wounded from the fighting retreat and the blast, the situation was getting very desperate, they needed a miracle because, if the enemy were to throw themselves at the keep as they had done the fortress they would not be able to withstand the onslaught, as almost all of the men on the keeps walls were now not only exhausted from fighting the enemy for the past 6 hours on the outer wall and keep, but starting to fear them, as these enemy would not yield or give up fighting when injured but just kept on coming until they had been killed outright, in an almost fanatical way. They had found this on the outer walls and it had shocked the majority of the well-trained troops, that the men they were facing could be so dedicated, to throwing there lives away in this fanatical state of mind. Now they might have to face that again! When the enemy had organised their ranks and positioned themselves, they started to move against the keep. It had only been a few hours since they had taken the outer wall with their generals organising a very quick turn around, and now they had one thing on there mind, Revenge! To k*** all the defenders within the keep, as getting too and taking the outer wall had cost them dearly, there was blood to be taken for the blood of their comrades had been spilled.
Tregar was watching in wonder as they once more moving into the archers killing zone, Maybe they won’t take the keep, the archers will stop them, he thought but still they were coming on strong. He had thought at that moment that all was lost, they could never defeat these warriors, who would throw themselves at you with such a fury and might that he found terrifying. He had said a silent prayer to Eraythor the Goddess of War and also he had made a sign of warding and invoked the name of Belanor, the God of peace, the twin to Eraythor. Then just as if his prayers had been answered a rescue came from above, the witches had finally organised themselves and decided to fight, instead of just helping by passing on information of troop movements and locations, as they had done in the past few years.
They had stayed mostly neutral on the fighting side during the latter part of the war but some had still helped the king plan his defences and performed aerial recognisance. They had at first been the bane of the Valdergast's army over the intial war years, pinpointing the enemy troop’s movements and allowing King Fredrico to place precise ambushes, to hinder supply lines, destroy patrols and generally cause havoc. This lasted for about two years until the Valdergast managed to get a small collection of sorcerers who could shoot down the witches from above by firing spells at them.
Some hit and some did not but as the witches only numbered a few hundred, losses in there sisterhood were felt more deeply and when the number of fallen had risen to 52 witches lost. A concave was called and the witches decided by a majority of 80% that the losses were too many to take.
Therefore, the witches pulled back from the war and became neutral. A few remained loyal and advised the king, but now as they swooped in above on their brooms, it looked like they had decided to remain neutral no longer, they threw themselves into the fight in earnest and started hurling spells down at the attacking hordes. The surprise move on their part was not expected by the enemy and when Valdergast's sorcerers replied with spells of there own, five witches coming in from behind the sorcerers position suprised the enemy, flying directly out of a wooded area, where they had been hidden from view, they launched a counter attack. By joining together their power and magic, they forged a very powerful spell. It looked like a giant bear was being formed of the earth and taking shape from plants and trees in the area, it was clearly as tall as the large oak trees that grew in the forest and was now marching at the group of sorcerers who distracted from the witches faced their new target and started to hurl fire balls and lightning it’s way, which seemed to do very little damage to the huge bear and didn’t even slow it down. For it’s size, it was actually very quick and closed the gap to the sorcerers in seconds, when it got there they threw every spell against it they could, causing the bear to glow in an almost blinding light, just as it got to the point of nearly blinding those who looked at it, the huge beast exploded right in the midst of the enemy magic users and their guards.
All that remained after that was an enormous blackened crater where the sorcerers and their guard protectors had been standing. With nothing to stop them now, the witches hurled spell after spell into the ranks of advancing Valdovian troops. Damage was being done on a grand scale but even with the enemy taking a blasting it was not enough to turn the tide; the witches seemed to sense Tregar's thoughts and began to circle and form above the advancing horde. A low methodical chant began and the hairs on the back of Tregar’s neck started to prickle and stand on end, very powerful magic was being composed and the chanting got louder and louder, then as it reach a high pitched wail. They stopped, and silence descended from above, what had they cast? There was no halt in the enemy, they were still coming and within a few minutes would be at the wall. An order flowed down the wall from man to man; any man killed on the walls was to be thrown from the battlements to the advancing hordes below. What did they think they would achieve thought Tregar, they had rocks and oil to scour the enemy from the walls, the keep had been well prepared and also well supplied just for this case. Throwing your dead off would be a last ditch solution.
He watched as the first dead man was thrown from the battlements, followed by another and another, a dead boy lay a few feet away from him he had been a water boy, but had been hit by two archers arrows. One had pierced his neck and the other had hit him in the chest, puncturing his heart, he moved to the small boy’s corpse and bent to pick him up. Cradling him in his arms he moved back to the keep wall, this was madness, the boy would be mutilated below in the carnage and then his own mother or father would not be able to recognize him when they searched for there beloved son below. Standing with him held over the battlement Tregar was deciding what to do when the boy moved in his arms, the shock of the movement startled him so much that he let go and the boy plunged downwards, arms and legs waving about madly. He hit the bottom and stayed still, Tregar was in shock, he had thought the boy dead and now knew that his action had just killed him. When he might have been able to save him. He stared downwards, rooted to the spot, his mind racing through guilt and anger and sorrow.
Movement below drew him out of his state of shock, the boy was moving again! How was this possible he thought, the keep was 35 feet high and the rocks below were jagged and deadly. A mason a few weeks before had been making repairs and had lost his footing and plunged to his death, they had said he had died instantly, with every bone in his bloody body broken, but this boy was not only moving. He was also starting to rise and stand. His body was a mass of blood and was heavily deformed due to his body being mostly shattered. Then Tregar spotted another soldier, an archer who had fallen to a certain death start to rise and move away from the keep. Many more were rising now, not just hundreds, but thousands of dead soldiers were rising up and moving towards the enemy.
Tregar then realised what the witches had done and why the dead should be thrown from the keeps walls. They had cast a spell to raise the dead and had thus created an army capable of destroying the enemy. The undead swarmed towards the enemy and engulfed them in there masses, for every living soldier killed an undead fiend rose to fight against its own comrades. The Valdovian army was terrified and now being defeated, but could not escape from the vast host of undead, the dead has risen from the outer walls as well and were now blocking the pass to freedom and Valdovia; there was nowhere to go. No hope of rescue as the Valdergast had earlier that day, sent in his reserve forces already to bolster the keeps assault, some soldiers, realising there fate threw themselves on the own swords or asked friends to decapitate them as it seemed that was the only way they were finding to stop the oncoming undead. Not wishing to become undead themselves!
Within an hour it was over and the dead must have sensed it or the witches recalled their spell. Because they started to stagger and then fall, silence fell over the fortress with the last sword or shield clanging to the ground out of dead hands. They had won but at an enormous price and it would take them a long time to get back to the way of peaceful living they used to know, if they ever did, as war had become a way of life.
Tregar moved back to his stove, he shuddered as he recalled those images of the dead rising and still had the occasional nightmare over the last battle. Sam's bickering brought him back to reality and he got back to work, there were troops to feed and rabbit to prepare, "Sam, stop your bloody bickering and fetch some firewood, these stoves won't heat themselves, I've got work to do". "Okay, okay, keep your hair on" said Sam "just make sure I get a good portion of meat off that scrawny beast Tregar, as I'm starving!” "Thought you didn't like rabbit then Sam?" piped up his friend, "Never said I did, but if I have to eat it, always best to have a good helping" Tregar chuckled as Sam rose from his seated position on a large log by the companies campfire and went off towards the trees of Eldegar forest, grumbling along the way as usual. Tregar moved his knife skilfully and selected a fine piece of meat for Sam, he may be a pain in the arse at times but he was a true and loyal friend, despite his constant grumbling and bickering. That was just the way he was, some people took it as hostility, but Tregar knew him better and knew it was just a front put up to protect him from the rest of the horrors of this world.
Samuel Marlow was the companies’ treasurer, pay clerk and quartermaster, he had also been in his time a very good thief, he could read and write which was not that common these days, as teachers and scholars had also gone to war and men of learning were only now starting to become more frequent. Sam had been a fraudster, occasionally relieving banks of there over flowing bags of gold and silver, he used forged credit notes to get money for non-existent supplies for civilian caravan wagons, or even army patrols. This had worked well for many years and then one eventful day he made the mistake of forging the signature of Senur John Whelled Wright, a prominent merchant and master caravan trailbreaker. He had arrived at the bank and presented his note for supplies funding, it looked authentic and had been signed and dated early that morning, the problem was the Mr Whelled Wright had died at approximately 2am in his sleep from a heart attack and the time on this was dated at 10.30 am. If he had gone to any other clerk in the bank he may have got away with the deception, but the clerk he had chosen to see was the late man's housekeeper's husband and had been comforting his wife in her grief from 2.30am then had come into work at ten, even in grief there’s work to be done.
Sam knew something was wrong the moment the mans eyes met his, he didn't flinch or show he knew he'd been rumbled, as he had been doing this job for too many years, so when the clerk moved away to supposedly get the 1000 silver falcon's for the credit note. Sam moved out quickly and away from the bank at once. He narrowly missed getting caught by the local watch guardsmen at his rented room and fled the city, the watch was aware of other numerous crimes he had committed and went all out to get him, so he was tracked and hunted for 22 days. Nearly getting caught once or twice, even having to use his trusty crossbow to save his hide on more than one occasion. In desperation and out of all options bar one he finally managed to give his pursuers the slip, by swimming down stream of the Lorean river, for 2-3 miles this being late october and the Lorean river being ice cold. Soaking wet, freezing with his teeth chattering away of their own accord on the far bank of the river, he vowed that day to find another means of employment, as he was coming up to 40 years of age and getting far to old for this. So after barely escaping with his life and a determination to change career he travelled eastwards for two days and found himself approaching a small town, in the first tavern he visited Samuel managed to find a Mercenary Captain and there and then, signed up for service with the Company of Steel. He was an average fighter but when the Captain learned of his abilities to read, write and his knack with numbers, the post of pay clerk had been his.
Over the past few years the Company of Steel had lost their treasurer and quartermaster in battle with Sam adding those jobs to his duties, with the company now only numbering 85 men, including Sam as one of the three officers and Tregar in his Sergeant Majors role with his cooks monkey Mathious, it was fairly easy to do all three jobs and he enjoyed the challenge of it. He still trained and exercised with the troops and with his trusty crossbow, as waving, a ledger book and quill pen at an oncoming swordsman will only baffle them for a short while, before they decide to run you threw with their sword. Wood and more wood was needed for Tregar’s stoves so he set about gathering timber from the wood piles, to keep the old grisly bear happy and dreamt of eating deer, wild pig and even partridge. "I just hope the captain can get a commission" he muttered to him self, laidening him arms with timber for his return to camp.
−−−−−
The following morning in what had before the war been the rustic and quiet town of Eldegar, which was now steadily becoming a busy and rapidly growing port town, Patrus Steel was sitting cross legged on a stool on the front porch of a fairly respectable tavern, it was a medium town by normal standards with just above two hundred and fifty buildings, within a few years it might even become a city as farming was good and trade returning from western shores was starting to pickup.
It had a small harbour, which the town council were currently expanding to cope with the increased demand for mooring's and berth's, there were new warehouses being built further along the coast next to the new constructed harbour expansion, by greedy merchants, trying to increase their wealth by a bit more and expecting high returns on their investments.
He was waiting for a prospective new employer's contact, who was supposed to meet him in 3 hours time. All he knew was that the employer wanted a trained mercenary company to escort something north. Bandit's and robbers were few and less numerous down south as it was easy to make a living off the lush pastureland where crops were bountiful. Some people though, always thought about getting there hands on other peoples money and goods the easy way, without having to do the hard work involved, so they wandered the dodgy path as it was known, to thieves, rogues, vagabonds and robbers. In the north, however those of the dodgy path were far more numerous and caravans heading north or passenger coaches normally went with an armed escort. He ran his fingers through his long wavy blonde hair and marvelled at all the busy inhabitants of Eldegar running around on this errand or that business in the early morning and imagined them as a colony of ants all scurrying around busy reaping in food and supplies for there queen, or in this case the town council, who undoubtedly were lining their own pockets with gold from some profits or bribes. Patrus Steel was in his early thirties and had started commanding the mercenary company fairly young, when his father who was the Company of Steel's last captain, had taken a crossbow bolt to the chest in a border skirmish. Many had thought at the time he was to young to command, but he had been backed by his boyhood friend Ferenzo, Tregar the cook and the companies new pay clerk Samuel. With three people vouching for him, he had managed to sway the others with a rousing speech of how his father would want him to carry on in his footsteps and so at 18 years of age he took command of the company.
By making Ferenzo his Second Officer in command who was a well liked soldier and by gaining quite a few lucrative commissions’ using his father’s diary to find some of his father’s old friends who'd employed the company of steel in the past, he had kept the company paid, fed and supplied. After his first few skirmishes and some well planned ambushes, the men of the company started to warm to their new captain. He was a young man of very few words and had lived with his father in a mercenary company since the age of seven when his mother and baby sister had died in childbirth. His father had brought him up. His big strong father who had not shown favouritism to his young son but had been fair and good to him, reprimanded him when he had been bad and praised him when good.
Patrus started out in the company as the cook's monkey, the same as young Mathious was doing now under Tregar, he could still remember the old warhorse Bradford Nox who was the companies cook at the time, shouting and swearing at him for putting too much seasoning spices in this dish or that. He gave a dry chuckle, old Nox had been quite a character, but the old man had also in his spare time taught him how to use a blade and other weaponry their company used. He had once been a heroic warrior. But had lost an eye in battle and been nearly blinded in the other, it was too much of a disadvantage to him now, so his father had suggested the position of cook as the company had been taking turns on a rota basis to do the cooking, with no-one actually assigned to that job he had accepted, Nox as it turned out was actually quite a fine cook and had thrown himself into the job with vigour. Despite his constant swearing and the occasional slap round the head to Patrus for being stupid, Nox had taken a liking to young Patrus and vice versa, but in the kitchen he still knew Nox was the boss.
What was the time, Patrus fished out his fathers pocket watch, it was the only personal memento he had apart from his fathers sword, diary’s and notes, still 2 hours to wait. He had left Ferenzo looking after the company on the outskirts of Eldegar Town just within the forest, in a large hillocked clearing he knew they were in safe hands, but he was starting to find town life a bit straining and confining as he had now been here 2 days. Waiting for his employers contact to show up and give him his orders was starting to grate on his nerves. Being brought up in a mercenary company to him had meant open space in the vast countryside of Bragania, not sitting in town sipping warm ale and eating cheese and bread, but such were the strains of command. A pretty looking slim waitress walked over and asked if he would like some of the roast pig for lunch, as they would be serving from eleven.
With only having a small dish of cheese and a slice of honeyed bread for his morning meal, Patrus decided that he would do well to eat something, it may even calm his nerves, he thought. So he said a very polite yes and gave the waitress a charming smile and a wink, that seemed to have the right effect as she blushed, giggled and then smiled back, giving a swish of her hips as she turned and rushed off back inside, to get his food for him.
Back at the camp, second in command of the Company Ferenzo, was bored. He had drilled the troops yesterday and again today, and kept them busy by getting them to make a breastwork defence around the camp. So now they now even had a drawbridge to go across the freshly dug moat, and a lattice work 6ft perimeter wall behind a field of sharp spikes pointing outwards towards any oncoming enemy, hoping to deter a charging cavalry.
Patrus had picked this hill for their defensive position as it had a natural spring located on it’s southern side and also a very handy old stone quarry, it was nearly depleted but still had quite a few hundred small boulders that they could use for their small artillery catapults if needed, this far south though, the chances were they’d be relatively safe. In the North this was always a matter of course as bandits and companies of the wars deserters could number anything up to 200+, but down in the far south you were lucky if you saw a band numbering more than a dozen. As the Kings guards rode the highways regularly and the local magistrates were funded by the king to supply an independent armed garrison to keep law and order in the local area the bandits and deserters were becoming less numerous but there were still enough, that if the picking's got too few up north might be inclinded to test the waters and travel south. The company had been working hard these past 2 weeks building defences and training, as Captain Patrus had been travelling to and in town hopefully getting them a commission. Unfortunately hunting had been pretty poor fare since the war; they had enough fruit, nuts and berries to last for months. Rabbit however was the only meat they could find plenty of and with an ever-dwindling purse of funds, it was cheaper to hunt and forage than pay the merchants their extortionate fees for supplies. Once they had a commission, their new employer would give them a credit note to get supplies from a local merchant. Until then they were on rabbit, nuts and fruit and by now Ferenzo had also had enough of rabbit to last him a lifetime.
The company of Steel consisted of three officers, one cook, his cook’s monkey and 80 well-trained veteran mercenaries, there had once been over 250 of them but after the battle of Tirian Pass where they took major losses and the odd loss here and there, they now numbered only 85 of the original Company. Which was actually better now as there weren't any major battles being fought, mainly escort work and most bandit hordes were dealt with by the Kings Lancers or Cavalier Out Riders. The country was gradually getting back on track after the war, the king had helped by building orphanages and schools to train and care for parentless children, he had reinforced the Tirian Fortress which now had 4 Walls and a bigger inner Keep, Manned by a 30,000 strong force to defend against unwelcome invaders. All had been peacefully quiet and the country had started to bloom again, some larger town's became cities, with trading mostly coming from the sea, these were mainly coastal port towns, piracy was rare, but the kings naval squadron's patrolled the ocean ways, keeping the peace.
Some of the towns on the kings highways at cross roads were getting bigger day by day as well. Business was booming and with a fair tax on the populace, even the king’s treasurers were mildly happy. The tournament’s and contests still went on and the local militia's still trained just in case the Valdovian’s ever thought about coming back.
In addition, the witches now patrolled the skies day and night, they had come out of the war, as heroines to the nation after the battle and since then had made an alliance with the king to be the guardian protectors of their home land. For their protection the King had started and built a Collegium, dedicated to the study of Magical artefacts the tuition of witches and the training of up and coming Sorcerers. This would be the founding base of magical knowledge in the kingdom and could be utilised as a major defence of the kingdom if ever was it needed, the Collegium was a magnificent six storey building with four wings moving out from the central square building, which consisted of administrational and lecturer’s accommodation, staff room and canteen. The wings were where the students would have their classes, sleep, eat and practice their new found powers in safety, with the building warded protecting the populace from the new spells and conjurations the students were being taught and hopefully learning, the floor's were broken down into areas. The students occupied the top two floors with dormitories and eating areas, floors three and four were used as classrooms, floor two was for practical spell casting rooms and also summoning rooms. These were heavily protected to ensure nothing students summoned by mistake got loose and ran amuck with the local population and to stop them blowing holes in the walls. Then last but not least, the first floor was the home to the many servants that were employed by the Magical Collegium, with living quarters, kitchens, washrooms and a fine array of stables. With the Witches protecting the skies and some of the new sorcerers protecting the fortress pass and occasionally helping the Naval forces with the odd weather spell, to help through rough autumn and wintry stormy weather, the Collegium was becoming a powerful force within Bragania. Now with the country going from strength to strength, peace was once again taking its hold and life was good, but how long would that peace last.....
Started My profile and hopeful that i will get some feed back on the book
Posted January 30 2008 07:10 PM
Mood: Good
Doing: My Profile
Updating my new Profile, this is a good and straight forward system and very easy to use with good point and click menus and helpful hints and tips. Looking forward to making new friends from around the world.
|
About WireClub
Terms of Use and Privacy Policy
Report Offensive Material
Contact Us