An Ashlanders Tale chapter 1 Options

[jonajosa]

First of all thank you Treydog, Alexander and minque for directing me to this website and helping with my troubles.
Well here it goes. Hope yall like it.


An Ashlanders Tale
Chapter 1


Why is the weather so Dark and gloomy here. I thought. I had just woke up and was preparing for the Yearly hunt. The hunt might be canceled if the weather kept up like this. That I wished can never happen. I’m going this time and no one can stop me. I grabbed my stuff and walked outside and headed towards the other end of the camp where the other hunters were gathering.
“Ashibalk what are doing”? My brother Ash’am had walked up beside me with his hunting stuff.
“ I am going on the hunt today” I replied
“Ashibalk you know there not going to let you go right”? He said matter of factly.
“Ash’ am I’m going and that’s final.”
“No your not” He yelled
“Yes I am” I shot back
“STOP both of you. Never in my entire life have seen brothers fight like this so much.” Our Ashkan Sult’an said in a demanding voice that would shut anyone up
“Ash’ am go to the other hunters and get ready.”
“Yes Ashkan” he said and ran off
“Ashibalk…” he stopped as if considering what he was going to say was a bad idea. “You know I cannot let you go. You may be old enough but there is still much you do not understand.”
“But--.” I started
“No buts. You must not go with us. Go to the wise woman’s yurt she will tell you what you need to hear. Hopefully you will take her advice.”
“Yes Ashkan.” I mumbled as he walked off waving farewell.
Why am I left behind while others go? I know as much as the other hunters do. These thoughts haunted my mind as I walked towards the wise woman’s yurt.
I walked in.
“Ahh Ashibalk I have been expecting you. There is much you need to understand before you can participate in the hunts with the others.” She said.

“I do not understand what do I need to know. I know as much as the others do and they got to go on the hunt with the Ashkan.” I said in a pleading voice
“What they have that you do not have is the love for this camp and its people. I have watched you for a long time and you if given the chance would leave this camp and its people forever.”
“I have wondered what it is like beyond those mountains on the horizon.”
“That is why you cannot go. For if met someone on the hunt and he or she invited you to travel with them you would leave us. You will do amazing things if you would just wait for the time to present itself. Now go I need my rest.”
“Yes wise woman” I left. With her parting words “You will do amazing things if you wait for the time to present itself.”
Waiting… but for how long shall I wait for this to happen?
How long?

Aahibalk! Wake up!
“What is it”? I jumped up. It was the second sundown since I had spoken to the wise woman.
The wise woman wants to speak with you. The child then ran out.
“What is it now”? I wondered
I hurried to the wise woman’s yurt and found her sitting on her mat waiting for me to arrive.
“You called for me”?
“I have a quest for you. Since you want to go adventuring so much I am going to send you after your fellow hunters to hunt with them. Go now and gather your things.”
“Thank you.” I rushed out and grabbed my already packed stuff and ran in the direction the hunters went. I followed the path until I saw their camp and their fire in the horizon. I ran up to the camp and stopped dead in my tracks. Their fire was actually my fellow hunters dead burning.
“No.” I cried
“No… No, No this can’t be happening.
My brother… he was dead. My Ashkan, he was dead too.
Anger swelled up in me I yelled curses at the people who had done this. I grabbed my father’s sword from my brother’s belt and burnt my hand. It was red hot!

I jumped up and stared at the bodies and the sword. My heart raced. I wanted to grab the sword no matter how hot it was and hunt down the people who had killed my family and friends and slay them. It seemed like forever I stood there standing looking at the sword waiting for it to cool down so I could grab it rush after the attackers.
What was that?
I turned around quickly. Searching the rocks.
“Probably an animal.” I mumbled
I turned around to see if the sword had cooled down yet.
As soon as I turned around I heard running behind me I twirled around and saw an Armored Gauntlet fly at me face. Then Blackness.
Part 2

I was standing at my camp along with all my other clansmen looking up at the huge mountain that loomed over our camp. It was surrounded with red clouds. Then they all disappeared and the sky turned blue and white. It was something I had never seen before. It was amazing. A blue Sky with white clouds, we had heard of such things from travelers but choose not to believe them and here I was looking up at them.

“Huh!” I said waking up fast.
I looked around. I was in a room with other people in beds moaning. I started to get up but someone laid a hand on my shoulder and pushed me back down.
“Stop, what is going on here?” I cried,
“You need to rest.” The person pushing me back down said.
I complied only because of the extreme pain that shot up my arm when I tried to move it.
“Your hand is in very bad condition. It looks like a bad burn. I think it might have got infected during the trip back to here from the patrol the Ordinators went on.”
“My family and friends were killed!” I cried.
“Things like that happen in the war.” She replied.
“What war?” I asked.
“You don’t know? There has been a war going on for about a month or two now. The Nords from Skrimm have invaded the northern coast of Vardenfell. All the great houses have united and are trying to regain the northwestern shores near Gnisis.” She explained.
“I didn’t know that.” I said.
“Where are you from?” she asked puzzled about my lack of knowledge of recent events.
“Many places, my people are nomadic. But we tend to stay near the slopes of the Big Mountain.” I said proudly.
The woman that was standing near me suddenly put on a face of fear.
“You must not tell anyone else where you live. All Ashlanders when caught or faced are supposed to be put to death.”
“Why?” I asked
“Ashlanders like yourself practice the worship of a Neravar returning and freeing Vardenfell from the outlanders and for that you must be killed.”

“I don’t want to die.” I cried.
“You won’t, I will tell you how to escape when your hand and health returns to normal” she said in a hurry while looking around as she talked.
“Why not now?” I said.
“I fear someone might find out if I tell you what to do to soon. I must go to my other duties now. I will not see you until you are released from this hospital.” She replied.
“Okay.” I said.
I laid my head down resting. That is why they are dead then. Killed because of our religion. I drifted off to sleep.

“Finally I’m out of that place.” I said to myself. It was 2 weeks since I first awakened from the hospital in Ald’Ruhn. The ash storms where blowing in the distance. I began to look around for the woman that said she would meet me once I got out of the hospital. A hand was laid on my shoulder.
“Yes?” I asked
It was the woman that had helped me in the hospital the first time.

“Come walk with me.” She said. We began to walk away from the hospital and towards the middle of town.
“How’s your arm?” she asked.
“Fine” I replied.
“Good you’ll need it where you’ll be going.” She said.
“May I ask where I’m going?”
“To the recruiting post in the center of town. The plan is for you to sign up for the war.”
“How will this help me escape?”
“You can’t get out of this town unless you’re a trooper. The only men in this town are the nobles and the Merchants. They can avoid the draft for men. But you can’t.”
“I have to sign up to leave here?” I said more to myself than to her.
“Yes. Now there it is. Go and sign up so you can leave this place.”
“Thank you. Before you go what is your name?” I asked.
She smiled and walked away and disappeared into the morning haze.
“Strange.” I said.
I walked up to the recruiting posts.
“Hello, I’m here to sign up for the army” I said proudly
“What’s your name kid?” he asked.
“Ashibalk” I replied.
“Age?”
“17.”
“Place of birth?”
I thought fast. I remembered a traveler passing our camp talking about a city called Vivec.
“Vivec.” I replied.

“The Armory is that way. Get your gear and head for the Storage house. Maybe you can catch a ride to the front lines. Once you get there find Captain Darius and ask to be put in the ranks.” He said pointing.
“Thanks.” I said
I walked off towards the Armory, got my stuff and headed for the Storage House and caught a ride on a cart carrying food to the front lines. My luck I thought. I fell asleep.

I woke up suddenly. Instead of the quiet atmosphere I fell asleep to was now replaced with the sounds of metal clanging against each other and the whistling of arrows flying through the sky. I got up and looked ahead of the cart. I saw a large barricade of wood and stone stretch as far as the eye could see manned by men with spears and swords. The cart I was on was passing a large group of Archers firing time after time again over the wall in front of them. The cart stopped. I jumped off and began looking for the command tent. I found it. A rough looking bunch of tents in a circle behind the wall. I walked towards it. A bunch of men ran past me but one stopped.
“Hey you! I’m Captain Darius. You must be new.”
I nodded.
“Come on I’ve got a spot for you on the lines.” He said and then ran off.
I ran after him.
He came to a stop behind the wall.
“New guy, stay here and kill anything that tries to get past this wall.” He handed me a spear and then ran off to instruct some other men.
Simple orders I wondered.
“Should be easy enough to do.” I said to myself. Then I heard a horn in the distance. Then loud chanting. I looked towards the horizon. A black mass of something was coming our way! I heard shouts along the wall and the orders for the archers to fire on command. The black mass got closer to where you could tell that mass was thousands of people running at us shouting. The order for Arrows to fire came and hundreds of arrows flew over our heads and into the mass. You could see the impact. Dozens of Nords went down but more just filled their places. The order came to hold our spears out over the wall. Right after that the first groups of Nords started to hit the wall of spears.




Part 3

Hack… parry… counter…parry… hack. The main moves I had been taught to fight with since I was a child and I must say after 16 years of training with my fellow clans men I was an expert at it. When a nord got through the spear wall and charged with his huge axe I was able to quickly move out of his way, the nords momentum carried him by while I smacked him in the back with my short sword. He fell. I turned around to see the same thing happening again to me. But this time with 3 nords!

“You die now!” they screamed. I thought quickly, when out numbered… fight dirty. I charged, much to their surprise also. I used their hesitation to my advantage and quickly swiped the legs out from one of the nords and stabbed him in the heart. I turned around to see another nord coming at me. He swung his large claymore and I blocked it with my short sword. I started to counter his blow when I realized my short sword had broken and all I had was my Sword hilt! I threw it at him and tackled him and pinned him to the ground. The nord (known for their unparalleled strength) threw me off him like a rag doll. I got up and he swung his claymore at my head. I ducked and struck with all my strength at his groin. The nords face suddenly lit up with surprise and he stopped right in the middle of bringing his sword back up. He doubled over and dropped his sword. I picked it up and quickly brought it down on his neck. I looked for the third nord and saw that he had fallen from an arrow to the chest.

“NEW GUY!” someone shouted behind me. I spun around to see Darius with blood all over him.
I ran to him.
“How much of that blood is yours?” I asked. He smiled but continued with what he was trying to say.
“We have to push the nords back. They’ve taken the first line of defense.” I remembered the men I saw in front of the wall when I first got there and realized they must all be dead. “I need you to lead some men over the wall to take it back.”
“Right. Where are the men?” I replied.
“Here they come now.”
Fifty men came running up from behind the third line of defense. I was shocked. “You want me to command all these men?” I said surprised.
“Yes, now go! We don’t have much more time. When you’ve got the wall down there back I’ll send you some more troops.” After that he ran off to address someone else. I looked back to see if any more nords had come through my space on the wall. I saw some other men had taken my place. I turned to my new men. “I’m not going to make a long speech since we don’t have much time.” An arrow flew over me and hit one of my men in the head. “Forget it! Lets go kill some nords!” I shouted. They returned my cry and charged with me towards the opening in the wall our other men had made for us. We surged through and came face to face with a line of well-organized nords coming up the hill. The nords were surprised to see us rushing down on them. We crashed into them and completely destroyed their first two lines of men before they could even react to our sudden appearance. Hacking and slashing my down the hill I ran into something hard. It was the wall! I shouted encouragement to my men and we stormed over the wall and into the next wave of nords. As promised about 100 more dunmer spearmen came running down the hill after we had taken the wall. As we pushed the nords back the spearmen behind us set up another spear wall (phalanx). They opened a small way through their lines and allowed us to retreat back into our own lines. The nords charged again but they died quickly against the unbroken wall of spears. They started to panic after losing men in the dozens against the spear wall and run away. With the rest of my men (about 25) I watched as the rest of our force routed the remaining nords along the line. I shouted a victory cry. My men saw me and copied. Soon the entire front was shouting curses and shouting victory cries at the fleeing nords.

“We win! We have showed the nords today that Vardenfell will not be taken as easily as they thought! I shouted. Then Darius showed up.
“Today we have won a great victory against the nords. All of us have showed great courage in this battle and war. But none have showed the greatest courage and skill as this man right here.” He said pointing at me. “What’s your name?” he whispered. “Ashibalk.” I replied.
“This man Ashibalk will soon be known to all of you for he is now my second in command. He has been promoted to 2nd General!” Shouts rang out in congratulations for me. “Hoped you liked commanding those men because now you have command over 10,000 soldiers and auxiliary troops.” He laughed.
“I accept and will gladly follow you.” I managed to croak out. I was shocked. 10,000 men under my command. That’s half of this force. I needed to think about this.
“Darius, I need to know what my force is capable of right now and the entire situation for this battle field.” I said.
“That will come to you in near time, Right now you need all the rest you can get, for tomorrow we attack.
I can’t wait to get home and tell my friends about this one.

I walked back to the main camp and found a guard to tell me where I would be staying. He pointed at a huge tent. The temptation of resting in there far away from the wall was strong but instead I ordered it taken down and moved closer to the front line where darius’s tent was. I found him sleeping with his soldiers on the ground and decided to copy him. I told the men I led that day to stay in my tent and they quickly accepted. I took a bedroll and some food and found a place against the wall where I had fought and I laid down and quickly drifted off to sleep.


I woke to the sound of battle in the background. I got up from my mat and grabbed my sword. I looked outward and saw… no one.
“Sir.” Someone said. I turned around to see a guard standing behind me.
“Sir General Darius would like to see you at his command tent.”
“Of course. I’m right behind you.”
“That fighting, where is it?” I asked after a while of walking.
“The nords have launched a attack on our eastern front but Vivec’s regiment is dealing with that.”
Vivec, I had heard that name somewhere before. “Isn’t Vivec a city?” I asked.
“Yes. Vivec is a person and a city. The city is named after him.” At that point the guard started to go off on all the great things this man named vivec had done and how he was all-powerful. I listened faintly only saying this like yes and right at pauses in the conversation. I was more concentrated on the wellness of my new troops. They all looked like they had gotten no sleep the night before. They needed more rest or someone to tell them everything will be ok. I asked the guard to hold on a minute.

I walked over to group of men who looked like they were ready to kill anything that came near them. I approached them carefully.
“Hey how are you guys doing?” I asked. They immediately sat up strait when they saw me and put on smiles.
“Fine sir. Just a little nervous before today’s attack.” One of them replied.
“Don’t worry. As long as you’re under my command you’ll be fine. You all will be greatly awarded for fighting in this war. You will live lives of luxury when were done here. Trust me.”
I got up and started to leave when one of the soldiers who sat there silently started to talk.
“S-ss-ir.”
“Yes?” I asked
“Are we really going to make it?”
“Of course soldier. If you stay with me you’ll pull through all right. Don’t worry. I’ll be fighting with you when the time comes. I will share the same pain everyone experiences except harder because when a leaders men fall in battle it’s like losing a part of yourself.”
“Thanks sir.” He said. He sounded a little better now.
I got up and walked the rest of the way to Darius tent. When I walked in I saw about 6 men standing around a map of the region.
“2nd General Ashibalk reporting sir.”
“Good everyone’s here.” Darius said.
“Ashibalk this is General Vivec and General Telas.” He announced. They nodded.
“These are their 2nd in commands 2nd generals Relan and Surans. They nodded also.
“ Ok now that everyone knows each other lets assess our situation. The nords have built walls all around the outer area of Gninis. The hard part is when we have to attack this we have to cross a river, go up a hill and then fight our way over several defenses. This will cause major casualties (this struck me hard, I had just told some of my men that they would pull through now lots of them were about to die) but if this succeeds this part of the fighting will be over. Vivec will lead 30,000 men around the bend towards the northwestern shore to cut off their retreat. Telas and I will be leading the attack on the Defenses around Gninis with 40,000 men. Telas you and Relan lead the attack on the southern defenses while Ashibalk and me attack the eastern. Any questions?” There were none.
“Good now lets go.” The other generals left.
“Darius, what’s the causality estimate for this attack?” I asked when the other men had left.
Darius sighed. “Causalities should be about 60% at the most.”
I stared at him. That’s crazy. But then I realized why he was doing this. If it could be done the war would basically be over. Those men would not have died for nothing. I understood.
“Yes sir I see why this must happen. It’s just that I told some of my men that they would pull through this.”
“Telling your men that is probably what will keep them going till the end. They now have hope. Even if you know most of them will die you still have to show courage for the sake of your men.” He said.
“I know… Its just hard to lie to the men I’m sending to their deaths.” I said
“I know how you feel. You have to do it sometimes. Now lets go get our gear and head north towards the river.”

We walked out and towards the armory where I picked up my new gear. It was gold and it had designs all over it. The new sword was longer and stronger.
“I hope this one wont break.” I laughed.
I headed outside and towards Darius. We were given horses and food. Darius led both our personal guards and me towards a hill where we could watch the march. It was breath taking. I could see a large black mass moving northeast and guessed it was Vivec’s army moving into position. I looked down at the camp and saw an even larger mass of men moving towards the river. I watched them and imagined 60% of them invisible.
“So that’s what it will look like after the battle.” I whispered to myself.
After they had gone a ways from the camp we headed after them.


We reached the river. It was crazy already. The nords had siege equipment set on the hill over the river and were firing onto the other side. There was skirmishing between the nord archers and the Dunmer archers below me. Darius got off his horse and told me to get to a boat.
I got off my horse and raced to a boat on the shore. My 5 personal guards jumped in a boat with me. The sight of Darius and me jumping into the boats encouraged the men to do the same. Soon the river was filled with so many boats they could hardly move left and right to avoid the rocks the siege equipment were firing. Every time a rock was flung into the air it landed on a boat.
The first boats were landing on the other shore now and the men that came out of them were now fighting hand to hand. I looked into the sky by pure luck probably and saw a rock flung up into the air and come strait at my boat! I yelled for everyone to get out. My guards jumped out and so did I. The rock hit right where I was sitting and broke the boat in half. The splinters from my boat went strait through one of my guards and the water soon turned red. I had to reach the surface but the boats above me were blocking the surface I had to find a way out and soon.

“General!”…
“General Ashibalk you need to g-…”
I was directing my men towards the other end of the river when it all went black. What happened? Where am I?
“General!”
I opened my eyes to a gray sky. Another black and discolored day. Except why is there a man shouting in my face?
“What?” I said.
I suddenly realized I was on the ground and not downing in the water. The man began mouthing words again.
“I can’t hear you!” I said annoyed.
The man stared at me and then got up and rushed off. I got up from the ground and looked around. The river was red… and there were things floating in the water. I looked behind me and saw the hill covered with dead men. Most of them were shirtless and covered with tattoos though. I began to hear faint noises now. I found my sword lying next to me and picked it up. It gave me comfort to hold my sword again. I started to walk up the hill where the noises were coming from. Men came running up beside me and fell into step also.
“Glad you could make it.” I said. They nodded.
We marched up the hill past a wall and more dead men. About 300 yards from the shore a man came up to me and asked him to follow him. He brought horses for all my guards and myself.
We raced off towards a tent behind a old ruined house. I dismounted at the tent and strode in.
“Ashibalk, are you ok. I didn’t see you on the beach.” Darius asked. I told him a brief story of what happened. He didn’t seem surprised at it though.
“As long as you’re ok that’s what matters. Now that you’re here we need to discuss our next move.”
“Exactly sir is the position were in right now?” I asked.
“We’ve taken the entire southern and eastern defenses around Gninis and are fixing to move in on the city. I want you to lead the 5000 men attacking the city now. Ill follow up with 5000 more men. Telas will attack with you and you 2 will pincer the force in the city.”
“How is Vivec doing?” I asked.
“He is effectively beat off any relief force sent by the nords so far. So he’s done his part.”
“The attack on the city has already started so hurry up and get there.”
“Yes sir.” I stepped out of the tent and began to walk to my horse. I got on and headed towards Gninis.

Street fighting has always been hard. That’s how it was for this battle. Street by street, House by house. I have already lost 300 men to ambushes on the streets.
“Keep the flanking forces out jenick. I can’t have them nords sneaking up on us anymore.”
“Yes sir.“ He said.
“I also need someone to-“ I began.
“Watch out!” someone shouted. A large rock had been flung at our position and hit a large 3-storied building to our right. The building quickly fell and buried some soldiers.
“Here they come!” someone else shouted.
Nords began rushing down street shouting battle cries. Their front rows dropped to their knees and pulled out crossbows. They fired and dropped my first row of soldiers. I ordered my men to take cover and to start to skirmish with them while I got a flanking force behind them. I grabbed a bow from a dead archer and rushed to the street the nords were on.
“You three. Come with me.” I said. I guided them up some stairs and to a room where a busted out window was and told them to drop any nord that came into sight. I ran off to the next room and dropped in front of its window. I got an arrow from my pouch I picked up and began picking off the nords I saw. I worked with deadly precision for about 3 minutes before I heard cries from the room behind be. I turned around to see some nords rush by the door. I grabbed my sword and ran towards the doorway. I turned the corner and saw 2 nords finish off the archer I had posted there. I rushed out and stabbed one of them in the back. The other sprung at me and released a series of very skilled attacks. I realized I was dealing with a professional. I drove my sword at his chest put he quickly parried and stuck his sword into my left arm. I cried out in pain and rage. I hit him so many times in a row his sword broke and he fell down. I thrust my sword into his chest and pulled it back out kicking him at the same time. I leaned out the window.
“Jenick!” I shouted
“Sir?” he shouted from the street.
“I need some help up here.”
“I’ve sending 5 men to you now sir.”
I put a tourniquet on my wounded arm and sat down waiting for the men to come.
5 heavily armored men came through the door. “We need to take out that Siege weapon behind their lines. Lets go get it.” I said. They nodded and began to file out the back door. I followed.
How are we going to do this? I asked myself.


60% causalities at the most, I told my men they would all make it through ok... Is it all right to lie to your men to give them hope because you want them to just kill a few more before they die themselves? –2nd General Ashibalk before the crossing of the river below Gninis.

Sometimes Losing men to accomplish something is all right. You must sacrifice to gain in this world. The Death of one man or 20,000 men can save the lives of as many as 5 times that number. –General Eisenhower, July 5, 1942



Thanks for reading it.

[minque]

Great work! I love Ashlander-stories, they are so unusual and there are so many possibilities to create new views...

So keep it coming to us....... :goodjob:

[Soulseeker3.0]

great job i liked the part with the professional lol keep up the good work.

[treydog]

Outstanding "mass-battle" scenes- something we don't see in MW. Takes a different kind of writing and a different kind of experience to do these well. Good stuff.

"Haaka Paale!"

[jonajosa]

“Its finally dark.” I sighed. We had been waiting for a few hours to get our chance to penetrate the nord lines. So far the plan to pincer the Nordic force in the city had gone completely wrong. The nords had apparently anticipated our maneuver to surround them and had broken a hole in our lines and had retreated towards the center of the city. Now I had been put in charge of pushing their force into a more compact area and eliminating them. The bad part of it was no one else could support me in this attack. Apparently Vivec had run into an army of about 50,000 nords and was forced to move into a defensive. Telas and Darius were leading their army’s to support Vivec. So here I am again, trying to get something done by myself again. Lets see, what to do now? I called Jenick over to me.
“Jenick, I need you to make a diversion on the street over there so I can slip about 5 men through their lines.” I said pointing.
“Can do sir.” Jenick said. He ran off to tell the men about the plan.
I walked over to the men I had selected for tonight’s operation. “OK guys, were fixing to go so get in position.” They quickly moved to the rubble on the side of the street and crouched behind it. I waved my hand to get Jenicks attention.
“Were ready. Give the order as soon as you get back. By the way, try and gain a few more streets in the process.” I said when he arrived.
“Yes sir.” He ran off.
I started to psyche myself for the operation. I checked sword and knife to make sure they were strapped in tight. After checking my gear I scanned the area ahead of me for any sign of the enemy. I was starting to plan the route through the rubble when the cries of alarm were sounded over to my right. “Here we go.” I told myself.
“Alright we wait for about a minute before we cross.” I told the men.
The sounds of battle urged me to get up and run towards where the fighting was going on. I restrained myself getting up and focused my attention on the area ahead of me again, but with difficultly. It was time to cross. “Go.” I said. We all got up and began to run across the street. We made it. We started to go across the next street when a group of nord spearmen came running by us. They looked fear stricken. After they passed we started to cross again and made it into a large building. We crossed streets and plazas like this for more than an hour, stopping only to avoid patrols and sentries.
“Stop.” I said. “We need to take a break.” The other men looked relived by that order. They sat down and began to pull out food. We had all fixed some rat meat sandwiches when we heard a loud noise somewhere down the street. I got up to look out the window to see what it was; when I peered around the corner I saw some nords loading some rubble on a cart. I watched them carefully for about a minute before I saw the tip of a catapult rise up above the houses and throw a rock in the direction my men were. “Looks like we found our objective men” I said grinning. They all got up and peered around the doorway. “Lets go get that thing.” I said. We grabbed our gear and slowly snuck our way up the street. As we got closer we could hear the nords talking among themselves.
“Lets get in this building and get above them.” Once we got up there we could see the whole area. There was a huge catapult in the middle of the street with a pile of rock beside it. There were also about 10 nords around the catapult. Five were loading rocks while the others sat around a fire they’d made and talked among themselves.
“Five on ten.” I whispered. I looked at my men. They looked back at me grinning. They were ready. We will all kill at least one person from up here before we go down there to kill the rest.” They nodded and drew their bows and took places along the windows. “Ready… FIRE!”
The arrows dropped three men by the catapult and two others by the fire. However one of the nords hit by an arrow by the catapult fell down and hit the fire lever before the catapult could readjust its aim and a rock flew forward and hit the building across the street raising a huge dust cloud. “That’s going to bring some company.” I said. We rushed down and easily slew the shocked nords before they could even reach for their weapons. “How to we destroy this thing sir?” One of the men asked. I looked at the catapult and asked myself the same question. I looked around and saw the campfire. “Hurry up and grab some of those sticks in the fire.” I ordered. They ran over grabbed some burning sticks and came back. “Put them under the catapult and hurry before someone comes to see what happened.” They put the burning wood under the catapult and it slowly caught fire. “Alright. Lets head back.” I turned around and started to jog back to the building we came from when an arrow hit one of my men. I whirled around to see what happened when I saw more arrows come at my men. Three more of my men dropped to the ground. I heard screaming from behind me and saw 4 nords running at my companion and me. I pulled my sword but it was too late. They hit me in the head with a club and then… Blackness.

This ends Chapter 1

©2005 Jonajosa

[Dantrag]

Wow. As treygod has laready stated, great full-scale war descriptions and planning, as well as battles of smaller scales. Thanks for sharing your story!

[Burnt Sierra]

I like this story, and I've been meaning to comment on it for quite a while. What's fascinating, to me, is that the sense of Ashibalk's character that I get, comes from his actions and thought's in the thick of battle, an unusual approach, that starts of slowly, and then grows throughout the story. And the battle scenes... What can I say. They are what seperates this story from everyone else's. Huge in scope, and frantic in pace, the action never seems to let up. Absolutely fascinating, and hugely entertaining. Keep it up. :goodjob:

[minque]

[quote]rat meat sandwiches[/quote] eeek..yummy?? :evil14:


really great story....I must remember to consult you if I´ll include some battle-scenes in my story, because you are sooo talented in describing those, and Ashibalk has developed a great deal by now. It´s very nice to read about ashlanders...iI´ve told you that before



S.G.M