At Hazzleme're the armies of the king where gathered and as he rode into the valley, shivering in the cold wind, He looked up and was pleased to see his childhood companion the duke of Tzarauel, A tall and clean shaven man with hazel brown hair and uncommonly blue eyes, He had broad shoulders adorned by a plated Armour vest, that reflected what little light protruded through the dark ominous clouds, and in his chain mail clad elbows he wedged a helmet, clutching the visor with his stout fingers he rolled it down his wrist and their it hung. “My King” he said with what would have been a smirk had he not resolved himself to hold back the laughter. “Speak not of Kingship but of friendship, your loyalty has not gone unrecognized old friend. Tell me of Tzarauel. How are your sisters”. The duke laughed “They are very well my younger sister illouise was very disturbed to hear of her favorite king as she calls you to be going to war, she has instructed me to give you this favor”.he jested and with that he took out a picture encumbered with stick figurines. “Ha he said her governess tells me the one on the left is you and the one on the right is me.” he laughed. “Hahaha ah yess” The king replied I can definitely see the likeness, shes got your shaggy hair and bulbous chest down to a tea. But what is this at the side of me.” “I think that may be a dragon he laughed, but I cant be sure. I thought it may amuse you Sire” said the youth, faced duke. “And your mother is happy in her new marriage” inquired the king. “Very much so” said the duke . “And what of YOUR lovely new wife I hear she is quite the beauty”. “She is very happy as am I my king”. “Then all is well in the world” said the king. “Come let us inspect the men”. “News came this morning the Careighnians were sighted in the lower valleys surrounding Cathagaras. They have made camp their.” The king laughed. “such brave men and yet little is their bravery when confronted with a little rain, I wonder how they will fare against the armies of meridig.” “It is not your armies I fear will let us down” said the duke. “Surely you suspect not the cudorian” said the king they are a ferocious race, The Khan of cudoria has given me his word that they will fight to their deaths for the glory of Meridig and for the right to take back their own lands from the careighnian scum, and yet you doubt them”. “Sire they have already suffered defeat at the hands of the enemy. I seriously doubt they would fight to our untimely deaths let alone to their own bloody end ,they are treacherous by nature. I don’t trust them. I don’t trust them at all”.
The Careighnain having taken a more scenic route round the back of the mountain had emerged, finally on the long awaited Meridighan border and had encamped on a rocky eastward facing hill just above cathagaras. “My Khan” said the General. “What are your orders” The Khan replied “ let one of your lieutenants take a small task force of about two hundred. These are simple people they wont put up much fight. Show no mercy, let this be a message to King Bolvodose of what we do to those who betray us, burn their houses to the ground with the peasants within them. All but the women. Save the women! They shall be lined up for my inspection”said the Khan remembering the Shah-mans instructions.
A women cradled a baby in her arms lovingly her long auburn hair fell to her shoulders and her pasty and flawless complexion highlighted her pale red lips, long eyelashes adorned her eyelids and cast shadows on her rose red cheeks and as she gazed down at her beloved baby boy her dark green eyes seemed to twinkle like unrefined gemstones. She gazed up to appreciate the beautiful home provided by her doting husband, a humble shack with two small rooms and a window with shutters that overlooked the grazing horses in the valleys to the west, where her husband worked as a horse dealer and a second window overlooking the hill opposing cathagaras, also with shutters. The smell of fresh wood filled her senses and gave her a warm glow in her heart. As she sat up she heard a knock on the door it was her friend Miriam a tall and frail women of about twenty five she had dark hair and olive skin with dark brown eyes to match, and behind her legs hid a small child of about seven, it was the woman’s daughter Esther, little need be explained about the young girl only that her appearance mimicked that of her mother except for the addition of a slightly more pointed nose and black hair rather then brown. “Isabelle. Isabelle. Why do you dither here” said Miriam. Isabelle looked confused and wondered why her friend disturbed her at this ungodly hour of the morning. “Have you not been out today.”said Miriam. “NO! Miriam I have not it is not long since sun up why?”. Miriam threw back the shutters of the second window to reveal an encampment of about one hundred thousand soldiers. “We must get the children to the paddock and inform the men in the western valley that we will be under siege by nightfall!. “But how the road is blocked” said Isabelle. “A curiously dressed man arrived in the village last night not long before the soldiers arrival and told of a narrow pass down the mountain to the west he said he will advise us of this passage and in exchange I have given him some less conspicuous apparel” said Miriam. “But who is he” said Isabelle. “More then lightly an outlaw ” said Miriam. “But beggars cant be choosers .Its our only hope. Pack food and water. Your baby is he weened?” said Miriam “He is” said Isabelle knowing what was about to come. “The men in this town are few, after last years great sickness and they will need our help. “strap him to my daughter we will load her horse with food and supplies, she is already a good rider. We will send them to hazzleme're and instruct them to notify the kings army, While we hold of the Careighnian marauders, and when the kings army arrive we will go to hazzleme're and retrieve them.” Isabelle looked worried, but began throwing food and other supplies into a bag she used as a swaddling cloth to tightly secure her baby to the little girl whom she then put over her shoulders. Then a knock on the door! It was the Shah-man. “Come. Come quickly we must make hast”.
An hour had gone passed and the women and the shah-man where now in the western valley. “A horse. A horse” cried Isabelle to her husband. Miriam at this point threw herself in front of the nearest horse and grabbed it by the reigns the horse reared up and then stomped its front hooves on the floor while letting of a terrible “neigh”. Isabelle kissed her baby and stroked his head tearfully. Then he was ripped away by a panicking Miriam who hastily loaded her little girl and the baby onto the stout horse. “Ride! Ride! As hard as you can head southward and when you are in safety and the soldiers are but a dot in the distance make your way carefully to the north till you reach hazzleme're, Tell the soldiers, They'll tell the king, be as quick as you can but take care my flower. Go. Go now! And with that the children were gone! On hearing this the men raced back to the town with the two women guiding them up the perilous road, It was a quarter past nine in the morning by the time the two women and the men of the village returned from the valleys and the other town folk where just starting to wake up. Camp fires began to spring up on the hill and Isabelle Husband feared that the careighnians would be upon them soon. Shrill cries began to echo through the valley as the people in the neighboring shacks arose to find this vast army encamped on their doorstep. The village was in chaos and the people in uproar . One of the town elders seeing how little time they had,mounted a speakers box. The villagers gathered round. “ The women are to take up bows find a safe place in the battlements and pick off as many of the incoming soldiers as possible”shouted the Man. “Half the men are to defend the walls take up swords ,pitch folks anything you can find to hold them off. The other half are to defend the gates, They will come by battering ram, Be ready for them. We only have to keep them at bay. Our king will not forsake us. Go.” With that the villagers in a crazed state busied them selves with finding make shift weapon before hurrying to their designated posts: trembling in horror. “Come Isabelle” said Miriam taking up a bow and passing it to Isabelle. “Their is little time” the two women. Hurried to the gate house, and pointed their heavy bows which they could hardly carry , let alone hold up, out of the small slits in the stone fortification. LET THEM COME” shouted Miriam.
And thus the men started to gather in their formations and after much waiting the order came “fifty RIGHT! fifty LEFT !the other hundred advance on the gates , we shall flank them.!” Before the town folk new it the hordes were upon them arrows blackened the sky and, horrid screams echoed through the mountains as the careighnians, climbed siege ladders only to be thrown off to their deaths, and those that were courageous enough to get up and try again where greeted with the scalding oil that villagers threw off the walls. One brave careighnian soldier managed to fight his way onto the walls only to be stabbed through the stomach by a burly man wielding a pitch folk. In the gatehouse the women tried arduously to support their husbands, firing randomly into the air with their bows, in the hopes that by some stroke of luck they might hit a soldier but they tried in vein. Down at the bottom of the gatehouse a huge log was been rammed into the gates. “Again! Again! Again!” was the order until the gate was smashed. The men inside the gates now started charging at the soldiers but they where ill equipped and under prepared. The soldiers carved them down like trees and then began to run up the steps to the battlements, grabbing and disarming women and men alike. The remaining male villagers were finally herded into the town meeting place screaming and squawking , the door was locked from the outside and the hall was burned to the ground. The women were thrown over horse back and carried away back to the camp.
Episode 3
At Hazzleme're the armies of the king where gathered and as he rode into the valley, shivering in the cold wind, He looked up and was pleased to see his childhood companion the duke of Tzarauel, A tall and clean shaven man with hazel brown hair and uncommonly blue eyes, He had broad shoulders adorned by a plated Armour vest, that reflected what little light protruded through the dark ominous clouds, and in his chain mail clad elbows he wedged a helmet, clutching the visor with his stout fingers he rolled it down his wrist and their it hung. “My King” he said with what would have been a smirk had he not resolved himself to hold back the laughter. “Speak not of Kingship but of friendship, your loyalty has not gone unrecognized old friend. Tell me of Tzarauel. How are your sisters”. The duke laughed “They are very well my younger sister illouise was very disturbed to hear of her favorite king as she calls you to be going to war, she has instructed me to give you this favor”.he jested and with that he took out a picture encumbered with stick figurines. “Ha he said her governess tells me the one on the left is you and the one on the right is me.” he laughed. “Hahaha ah yess” The king replied I can definitely see the likeness, shes got your shaggy hair and bulbous chest down to a tea. But what is this at the side of me.” “I think that may be a dragon he laughed, but I cant be sure. I thought it may amuse you Sire” said the youth, faced duke. “And your mother is happy in her new marriage” inquired the king. “Very much so” said the duke . “And what of YOUR lovely new wife I hear she is quite the beauty”. “She is very happy as am I my king”. “Then all is well in the world” said the king. “Come let us inspect the men”. “News came this morning the Careighnians were sighted in the lower valleys surrounding Cathagaras. They have made camp their.” The king laughed. “such brave men and yet little is their bravery when confronted with a little rain, I wonder how they will fare against the armies of meridig.” “It is not your armies I fear will let us down” said the duke. “Surely you suspect not the cudorian” said the king they are a ferocious race, The Khan of cudoria has given me his word that they will fight to their deaths for the glory of Meridig and for the right to take back their own lands from the careighnian scum, and yet you doubt them”. “Sire they have already suffered defeat at the hands of the enemy. I seriously doubt they would fight to our untimely deaths let alone to their own bloody end ,they are treacherous by nature. I don’t trust them. I don’t trust them at all”.
The Careighnain having taken a more scenic route round the back of the mountain had emerged, finally on the long awaited Meridighan border and had encamped on a rocky eastward facing hill just above cathagaras. “My Khan” said the General. “What are your orders” The Khan replied “ let one of your lieutenants take a small task force of about two hundred. These are simple people they wont put up much fight. Show no mercy, let this be a message to King Bolvodose of what we do to those who betray us, burn their houses to the ground with the peasants within them. All but the women. Save the women! They shall be lined up for my inspection”said the Khan remembering the Shah-mans instructions.
A women cradled a baby in her arms lovingly her long auburn hair fell to her shoulders and her pasty and flawless complexion highlighted her pale red lips, long eyelashes adorned her eyelids and cast shadows on her rose red cheeks and as she gazed down at her beloved baby boy her dark green eyes seemed to twinkle like unrefined gemstones. She gazed up to appreciate the beautiful home provided by her doting husband, a humble shack with two small rooms and a window with shutters that overlooked the grazing horses in the valleys to the west, where her husband worked as a horse dealer and a second window overlooking the hill opposing cathagaras, also with shutters. The smell of fresh wood filled her senses and gave her a warm glow in her heart. As she sat up she heard a knock on the door it was her friend Miriam a tall and frail women of about twenty five she had dark hair and olive skin with dark brown eyes to match, and behind her legs hid a small child of about seven, it was the woman’s daughter Esther, little need be explained about the young girl only that her appearance mimicked that of her mother except for the addition of a slightly more pointed nose and black hair rather then brown. “Isabelle. Isabelle. Why do you dither here” said Miriam. Isabelle looked confused and wondered why her friend disturbed her at this ungodly hour of the morning. “Have you not been out today.”said Miriam. “NO! Miriam I have not it is not long since sun up why?”. Miriam threw back the shutters of the second window to reveal an encampment of about one hundred thousand soldiers. “We must get the children to the paddock and inform the men in the western valley that we will be under siege by nightfall!. “But how the road is blocked” said Isabelle. “A curiously dressed man arrived in the village last night not long before the soldiers arrival and told of a narrow pass down the mountain to the west he said he will advise us of this passage and in exchange I have given him some less conspicuous apparel” said Miriam. “But who is he” said Isabelle. “More then lightly an outlaw ” said Miriam. “But beggars cant be choosers .Its our only hope. Pack food and water. Your baby is he weened?” said Miriam “He is” said Isabelle knowing what was about to come. “The men in this town are few, after last years great sickness and they will need our help. “strap him to my daughter we will load her horse with food and supplies, she is already a good rider. We will send them to hazzleme're and instruct them to notify the kings army, While we hold of the Careighnian marauders, and when the kings army arrive we will go to hazzleme're and retrieve them.” Isabelle looked worried, but began throwing food and other supplies into a bag she used as a swaddling cloth to tightly secure her baby to the little girl whom she then put over her shoulders. Then a knock on the door! It was the Shah-man. “Come. Come quickly we must make hast”.
An hour had gone passed and the women and the shah-man where now in the western valley. “A horse. A horse” cried Isabelle to her husband. Miriam at this point threw herself in front of the nearest horse and grabbed it by the reigns the horse reared up and then stomped its front hooves on the floor while letting of a terrible “neigh”. Isabelle kissed her baby and stroked his head tearfully. Then he was ripped away by a panicking Miriam who hastily loaded her little girl and the baby onto the stout horse. “Ride! Ride! As hard as you can head southward and when you are in safety and the soldiers are but a dot in the distance make your way carefully to the north till you reach hazzleme're, Tell the soldiers, They'll tell the king, be as quick as you can but take care my flower. Go. Go now! And with that the children were gone! On hearing this the men raced back to the town with the two women guiding them up the perilous road, It was a quarter past nine in the morning by the time the two women and the men of the village returned from the valleys and the other town folk where just starting to wake up. Camp fires began to spring up on the hill and Isabelle Husband feared that the careighnians would be upon them soon. Shrill cries began to echo through the valley as the people in the neighboring shacks arose to find this vast army encamped on their doorstep. The village was in chaos and the people in uproar . One of the town elders seeing how little time they had,mounted a speakers box. The villagers gathered round. “ The women are to take up bows find a safe place in the battlements and pick off as many of the incoming soldiers as possible”shouted the Man. “Half the men are to defend the walls take up swords ,pitch folks anything you can find to hold them off. The other half are to defend the gates, They will come by battering ram, Be ready for them. We only have to keep them at bay. Our king will not forsake us. Go.” With that the villagers in a crazed state busied them selves with finding make shift weapon before hurrying to their designated posts: trembling in horror. “Come Isabelle” said Miriam taking up a bow and passing it to Isabelle. “Their is little time” the two women. Hurried to the gate house, and pointed their heavy bows which they could hardly carry , let alone hold up, out of the small slits in the stone fortification. LET THEM COME” shouted Miriam.
And thus the men started to gather in their formations and after much waiting the order came “fifty RIGHT! fifty LEFT !the other hundred advance on the gates , we shall flank them.!” Before the town folk new it the hordes were upon them arrows blackened the sky and, horrid screams echoed through the mountains as the careighnians, climbed siege ladders only to be thrown off to their deaths, and those that were courageous enough to get up and try again where greeted with the scalding oil that villagers threw off the walls. One brave careighnian soldier managed to fight his way onto the walls only to be stabbed through the stomach by a burly man wielding a pitch folk. In the gatehouse the women tried arduously to support their husbands, firing randomly into the air with their bows, in the hopes that by some stroke of luck they might hit a soldier but they tried in vein. Down at the bottom of the gatehouse a huge log was been rammed into the gates. “Again! Again! Again!” was the order until the gate was smashed. The men inside the gates now started charging at the soldiers but they where ill equipped and under prepared. The soldiers carved them down like trees and then began to run up the steps to the battlements, grabbing and disarming women and men alike. The remaining male villagers were finally herded into the town meeting place screaming and squawking , the door was locked from the outside and the hall was burned to the ground. The women were thrown over horse back and carried away back to the camp.