5
The Siege
Cassius wanted to know what was bothering Darar, but she kept pushing him away. Same “I’m fine” “What do you mean I’m crying” “There is nothing wrong,” she said all through sobs, then when they finally got to the gathering area in the plains, she was still sniffling. As she took place in front of her 1000-man army and stood still waiting for her brother to give the signal to start moving. Darius, clad in his finest Blue steel armor, was on his black mare, looking as burly as ever, but he had a dangerous black aura around him, and his guards were looking grim and focused. They signaled to start moving and the journey began.
It was pouring with rain the whole first day, and the ground was boggy and knee-deep in mud and water. The heather fields were the worst, as the little seeds kept getting into the horse's hooves and were driving them crazy. The Captains were begging to take a long way, just to get out of the heather and rain, but Darius refused, saying, “Did our ancestors take a shortcut to our lands just because of some drizzle?” There were murmurs of;
“How do you know?”
“I guess”
“Fine”
But after a death stare from Darius, they shut up.
When the rain cleared they were all soaking wet, and it did not help then the overcast was massive and it was as cold as a warrior's heart outside. Veena was shivering, Darar had ice crystals in her hair and many of the captains had blue fingers, but Darius pressed on, there were now the luxury buildings and the large ships sailing to Concarne and the Blue Isles in the distance. It was Port Marth, the richest city in the whole archipelago, which included Dogaria, Concarne, and the Blue Isles. The average citizen had an income of 100,000 ducats per week, and the citizens were all dressed in red silk and white ruffs and usually had a servant holding all their shopping for them. They thought that holding a pouch full of Ducats and Shalls was already too heavy, and they did not want groceries to ruin their expensive clothes.
They were soon riding into position just out of sight of the tower guards and soon became a daunting formation. 100,000 pikemen were in a perfect line, with 20,000 archers in the back, 1000 ballistic on the flanks, 40,000 horsemen in a wedge position and the rest were footmen in soiree formations between each rank. The sentries of the town panicked and sent out 3 messengers, 2 of them were killed by arrows, but the last ran off into the distance.
“NEVER MIND THEM, THEY'LL PROBABLY DIE IN THE COLD, CHARGE!”
and charge they did, I am sorry to say, reader, that they killed all but the women and children in the city, so 100,000 men died in Port Marth that day, and only 10,000 of them were Olivian. But this battle was the milestone of one of the last olivian victories in the war, as when the men were marching back, they were ambushed, the messenger had not died and had delivered the message to the Inuin fort about 3 miles away, so now the jumbled up, the tired army was ambushed by the organized, fresh army of the Inuin forces, it was a good fight, and both sides fought bravely, but the Inuin soldiers were better organized, and Darius ordered his army to retreat through the icy mud and marsh, the last orange slimmers from the setting sun did nothing to warm and dry up their soaking and frozen tunics and mail, which were groaning with rust with every step. Although Darius had some stew handed out, it was too wet to make a fire, so it was icy cold, and in some cases, already frozen. It was a sad walk home, and when they returned to the fort, they were the most depressing sight that had been seen in years. The fort was a welcome sight on the horizon, and everybody yearned to go back, but it was getting dark, and there was an annoying way that Heatherwolves loved to silently pick soldiers off in the night. So they set up camp, and since it was too wet to start a fire, they all sat in darkness, singing songs of battle and glory and maidens. Then, Cassius, who had taken an arrow to the leg, and could not fight for a while, picked up a lute and started strumming “The Archipelago Journey” Everybody cheered and sang along to the lyrics:
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Have you heard of the southern archipelago
Where wildflowers bloom and the maiden picks the mushroom
Have you heard of the southern archipelago
Where the Mead never runs out you’ve heard of it no doubt
Have you heard of the southern archipelago
Now it lies poisoned by the human lust for war
But ask a passing dragon or deer, they will tell you the stories from before the human spear
They’ll tell you of peace and the meadows of old
were now laid forts and armies bold
Never again will come peace until humans cease
Have you heard of the southern archipelago
Where human blood spills the land
the trolls and the gnomes
and the elves and the groves
Lay angry
Their story is not told
because of the human lust for gold
Darius was known as a kind, lovely, and helpful man that the cadets would go to to have a chat and some fun, and he constantly took laps around the castle with the other cadets and insisted that the meager rations were made into fine dining, so instead of stew, they had vegetable soup, instead of pork shreddings, they had forest hare. But he made sure that if they were fine dining, the cadets would pray to the animals, and thank the souls that were dining with them for contributing their flesh and bone for the good of the army. Darius always only gave 1 portion, with equal amounts of all the items that a soldier needs. As an example, here is a lunch note for the old army, translated from the old English that ruled in that era:
Lunch Note for 66th Archer Regiment
10 Boiled potatoes with butter
1 Leg of a common forest hare
1 Pint of Rosewater Ale
5 Boiled Carrots
2 Bread buns
As you can see, these soldiers were enjoying a delicious diet, and soon the soldiers did not have to rely on food sent by the family to avoid the cold, rubbery pork and the lumpy stew, and started to eat the now warm, filling meals that the new cooks served. Darius put the once strict fort into a happy, calm place, making the morale skyrocket. But let’s zoom out of the happy commotion in the fort, and look at a young 16-year-old Kararian, a few minutes before his life would take a turn.