Chapter One
"Real men are forged in the heat of battle. They do not retreat, they do not waver." said Thane Leifur. Young Halfstien Hallbjorn took this in intently. "If there is a weak link on the shield wall, we all die horrible deaths because the Orcs are not known for their mercy." The new warriors nodded. "Drink on the eve of battle is like falling on your own sword." said the Thane. "Drink only after the battle and only in amounts that you can tolerate. I knew a fool who once split his guts open when he fell on his own sword when he fell out of the doorway of the Hall. It was my older brother." said the Thane. "Another member of the family went out alone to gather firewood from his slaves. He never returned. The Orcs had killed the slaves and they killed him too! He didn't even have his sword on him. Ours is a beautiful and a deadly land. It was my little brother, killed on his seventeenth year." said the Thane, deadly serious. "The desire for women drove my uncle crazy and the gods cursed him and turned him into a weirwolf." said the Thane. "We had to hunt him down and kill him because he became a Grendel." said the Thane. "a hideous monster that does not change back to a human." said the Thane with a note of horror. The warriors nodded, eyes wide open. "When the enemy hits, they scream a horrible, otherworldly scream that can send even the bravest man running for his life. Stuff moss into your ears to lessen the impact but don't stuff so much into your ears that you can't hear battle-commands." said the Thane. "Okay, one more thing. We just got a shipment from the Capitol of things called "hand cannons" and a large "cannon" We will have the shield wall duck when the hand-cannoneers fire their loads and the heavy cannoneer will be off to the side and he will fire into the charging Orcs. The High Yarl hopes that these weapons will make it easier to fight the Orcs off, who seem to be breeding more and more as of late." said the Thane. "They keep coming through that damned gate at the Hand of the Watcher in the desert lands." said a senior warrior. "Aye, and it's been the third invasion of them so far. I hear they have advanced weapons on their planet but they cannot bring them through the gate, so they raid caravans for our simple weapons." said the Thane. "The Du Frondeuc lords had ravaged Nordlandia and turned it into five of their Kingdoms, all with latini names, except for brave little Nordmark, which threw back the feudal Du Frondeuc lords. Unfortunately that had left us here in Vyirlund wide open for invasions from the deep south." said old Tryggvi the three-fingered.
Chapter Two
Halfstien looked at the field, it was white with snow. He manned the main cannon with another warrior, Ulf. The hand-cannoneers were getting into position. "Here they come!" said the Thane and the shield wall quickly formed.
"Fire!" said the Thane and the cannoneers let the Orcs eat cannonball. One shot alone took down twenty Orcs and the sheildwall began to advance. The Orcs, not in a great number, just a raiding party, turned and ran. The warriors pursued and killed the remainder of the raiding party. The small army went to a cave that the Thane guessed where the Orcs were hiding. They surprised thirty of them and set the cannon at the entrance of the cave and blasted the Orcs to pieces. "It amazes me how fast they come back here and build their strongholds and villages! We had to clear thirteen Orc villages this year, all of them squatting on my land! Thankfully the Orcs raise cattle so stealing back the cattle that they stole from other Thanes has increased my profits for the year." said the Thane. "Sire, I am shocked, don't you return the cattle to their previous owners?" asked a warrior. "Only the ones with marks on them, everything else falls under the laws of booty and plunder." said the Thane. The warriors searched the other passages for Orcs but only found an ancient altar. "Nothing in here. We should probably seal this cave." said a huscarl. "Get to it." said the Thane. The men chopped down large firs that grew all around them and sealed the entrance to the cave. They drove iron spikes into the wood and into the rock to keep the logs from falling away. The army returned to the Hall and rested before dinner was served that night. Halfstien took to writing an idea down on paper. He drew diagrams and after several false tries, he sent the letter by Currier to the High Yarl. The High Yarl studied the idea and was impressed. "According to this lad's idea, all warriors would be hand-cannoneers or cannoneers. The sword and shield would still be used of course, only for close combat." said the Chancellor. "And he also proposes that all the warriors be directly under the High Yarl as a National Army, with Captains and such." said the Chancellor. "So what would the Thanes do?" asked the High Yarl, not liking the idea. "I suppose they would tend to their estates." said the Chancellor. "The only thing that has kept us from actually forming an official force, except for the Ranger Force, has been the enormous cost. We can't possibly feed, house and train every Vyir in the country. If we had to adopt this idea, it would have to be a small force of 100 men." said the High Yarl. "Why not ask all new members of this new National Army to already be trained and pay their own way?" asked the Chancellor. "Brilliant! Now go out and find 100 trained men and thanes to serve as Captains." said the High Yarl. The Chancellor saluted and left the Great Hall. After a month of running all over the Kingdom for volunteers, the Chancellor had found 1,000 men willing to pay their own way and who were already trained on hand cannons as well as wheeled cannon. The forty thanes that had volunteered where named Captains and everyone was given heavy fur coats and a fur hat. "Remember your ranks! This is all we have. Unless someone can think of a way to display rank without tipping off the enemy, everyone looks the same." The men were given cutlasses. "Wear these and use them for close combat." said the Chancellor. "We need shields!" said a volunteer. "Not if the Orcs are running. They hate cannon-fire" said the Chancellor. The 1,000 man army was divided into forty legions, each under their own Captain. "We seem to lack a leader." said the Chancellor. "Prince Valbjorn will lead this "New Model National Army" as General. Halfstien Hallbjorn was invited to see the fruits of his efforts. "Thanks in large part to you and the Chancellor, we now have a modern, National Army." said the High Yarl. "I name you Thane, any lands you can take from the Orcs are yours. I also name you Captain in the National Army and you are asked to serve as Captain when the National Army is called." said the High Yarl in solemn tones. "Yes sire!" said Halfstien as he saluted the High Yarl. The National Army was sent immediately to break a fortified position of Orcs to the south. They crushed the Orcs and killed them quicker than the Grand Army ever did. The result was that the National Army swelled into a 10,000 man force and the Thanes had to ask some of their retainers to "stay around" and use hand-cannons on trespassing Orcs. Most thanes saw the writing on the wall and released their retainers and hired their own mounted Ranger forces, which used the new "muskets" to send the enemy fleeing.
The End.
"Real men are forged in the heat of battle. They do not retreat, they do not waver." said Thane Leifur. Young Halfstien Hallbjorn took this in intently. "If there is a weak link on the shield wall, we all die horrible deaths because the Orcs are not known for their mercy." The new warriors nodded. "Drink on the eve of battle is like falling on your own sword." said the Thane. "Drink only after the battle and only in amounts that you can tolerate. I knew a fool who once split his guts open when he fell on his own sword when he fell out of the doorway of the Hall. It was my older brother." said the Thane. "Another member of the family went out alone to gather firewood from his slaves. He never returned. The Orcs had killed the slaves and they killed him too! He didn't even have his sword on him. Ours is a beautiful and a deadly land. It was my little brother, killed on his seventeenth year." said the Thane, deadly serious. "The desire for women drove my uncle crazy and the gods cursed him and turned him into a weirwolf." said the Thane. "We had to hunt him down and kill him because he became a Grendel." said the Thane. "a hideous monster that does not change back to a human." said the Thane with a note of horror. The warriors nodded, eyes wide open. "When the enemy hits, they scream a horrible, otherworldly scream that can send even the bravest man running for his life. Stuff moss into your ears to lessen the impact but don't stuff so much into your ears that you can't hear battle-commands." said the Thane. "Okay, one more thing. We just got a shipment from the Capitol of things called "hand cannons" and a large "cannon" We will have the shield wall duck when the hand-cannoneers fire their loads and the heavy cannoneer will be off to the side and he will fire into the charging Orcs. The High Yarl hopes that these weapons will make it easier to fight the Orcs off, who seem to be breeding more and more as of late." said the Thane. "They keep coming through that damned gate at the Hand of the Watcher in the desert lands." said a senior warrior. "Aye, and it's been the third invasion of them so far. I hear they have advanced weapons on their planet but they cannot bring them through the gate, so they raid caravans for our simple weapons." said the Thane. "The Du Frondeuc lords had ravaged Nordlandia and turned it into five of their Kingdoms, all with latini names, except for brave little Nordmark, which threw back the feudal Du Frondeuc lords. Unfortunately that had left us here in Vyirlund wide open for invasions from the deep south." said old Tryggvi the three-fingered.
Chapter Two
Halfstien looked at the field, it was white with snow. He manned the main cannon with another warrior, Ulf. The hand-cannoneers were getting into position. "Here they come!" said the Thane and the shield wall quickly formed.
"Fire!" said the Thane and the cannoneers let the Orcs eat cannonball. One shot alone took down twenty Orcs and the sheildwall began to advance. The Orcs, not in a great number, just a raiding party, turned and ran. The warriors pursued and killed the remainder of the raiding party. The small army went to a cave that the Thane guessed where the Orcs were hiding. They surprised thirty of them and set the cannon at the entrance of the cave and blasted the Orcs to pieces. "It amazes me how fast they come back here and build their strongholds and villages! We had to clear thirteen Orc villages this year, all of them squatting on my land! Thankfully the Orcs raise cattle so stealing back the cattle that they stole from other Thanes has increased my profits for the year." said the Thane. "Sire, I am shocked, don't you return the cattle to their previous owners?" asked a warrior. "Only the ones with marks on them, everything else falls under the laws of booty and plunder." said the Thane. The warriors searched the other passages for Orcs but only found an ancient altar. "Nothing in here. We should probably seal this cave." said a huscarl. "Get to it." said the Thane. The men chopped down large firs that grew all around them and sealed the entrance to the cave. They drove iron spikes into the wood and into the rock to keep the logs from falling away. The army returned to the Hall and rested before dinner was served that night. Halfstien took to writing an idea down on paper. He drew diagrams and after several false tries, he sent the letter by Currier to the High Yarl. The High Yarl studied the idea and was impressed. "According to this lad's idea, all warriors would be hand-cannoneers or cannoneers. The sword and shield would still be used of course, only for close combat." said the Chancellor. "And he also proposes that all the warriors be directly under the High Yarl as a National Army, with Captains and such." said the Chancellor. "So what would the Thanes do?" asked the High Yarl, not liking the idea. "I suppose they would tend to their estates." said the Chancellor. "The only thing that has kept us from actually forming an official force, except for the Ranger Force, has been the enormous cost. We can't possibly feed, house and train every Vyir in the country. If we had to adopt this idea, it would have to be a small force of 100 men." said the High Yarl. "Why not ask all new members of this new National Army to already be trained and pay their own way?" asked the Chancellor. "Brilliant! Now go out and find 100 trained men and thanes to serve as Captains." said the High Yarl. The Chancellor saluted and left the Great Hall. After a month of running all over the Kingdom for volunteers, the Chancellor had found 1,000 men willing to pay their own way and who were already trained on hand cannons as well as wheeled cannon. The forty thanes that had volunteered where named Captains and everyone was given heavy fur coats and a fur hat. "Remember your ranks! This is all we have. Unless someone can think of a way to display rank without tipping off the enemy, everyone looks the same." The men were given cutlasses. "Wear these and use them for close combat." said the Chancellor. "We need shields!" said a volunteer. "Not if the Orcs are running. They hate cannon-fire" said the Chancellor. The 1,000 man army was divided into forty legions, each under their own Captain. "We seem to lack a leader." said the Chancellor. "Prince Valbjorn will lead this "New Model National Army" as General. Halfstien Hallbjorn was invited to see the fruits of his efforts. "Thanks in large part to you and the Chancellor, we now have a modern, National Army." said the High Yarl. "I name you Thane, any lands you can take from the Orcs are yours. I also name you Captain in the National Army and you are asked to serve as Captain when the National Army is called." said the High Yarl in solemn tones. "Yes sire!" said Halfstien as he saluted the High Yarl. The National Army was sent immediately to break a fortified position of Orcs to the south. They crushed the Orcs and killed them quicker than the Grand Army ever did. The result was that the National Army swelled into a 10,000 man force and the Thanes had to ask some of their retainers to "stay around" and use hand-cannons on trespassing Orcs. Most thanes saw the writing on the wall and released their retainers and hired their own mounted Ranger forces, which used the new "muskets" to send the enemy fleeing.
The End.
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