Shadows drifting within the interior planes of the crystal orb. Places and people.
“Ah, this is the event I wanted to study closer. Let’s view it from the Horde Leader’s perspective … ”* * * Between an aisle of fighters, a man in blouse and pants, striding next to a man wearing a blouse under a chainmail shirt and a kilt strides toward a rock outcropping ...
* * * On a level plain two horde forces come to a stop facing one another. Four riders peel off one force and gallop towards the center between the two forces. Five riders peel off the other force and race to meet the first four riders. The nine riders meet and a brief conference takes place. Eight of them pair up and ride toward points between the two forces. The ninth rider unfurls a white banner ...
* * * A Regal man, wearing the Crown of Caid, stands up and decrees that the Horde Chief will be a “Guest” of the Kingdom for the duration of the emergency.
* * * Eight ladies in a circle holding their crystals to the sky. Two purple, two green, two yellow, and two blue. At the command of a lady holding a blue crystal, the man in the center stabs his crystal topped staff into the ground; a bolt of lightning streaks from his crystal skyward, a ring of light and wind flashes outwards from the crystal knocking the ladies to the ground ...
* * * A man, gray haired, with a scar. Standing and searching the evening sky.
* * * A young lady, her dress torn and bloody, stands with a sword in her hands, a tree at her back.
* * *
* * * Running, fourteen men left after the ambush. Who were these impostors that were dressed as my Horde Brothers? There’s fighting up ahead. Why were these impostors fighting the Knights of the West? Continue running, follow the main path and group. Gesture to a Horde Brother who diverges to help a Knight fighting three other impostors. More fighting ahead.
Another gesture and two more Brothers diverge to help another Knight. Continue down the path. Passing a clearing with many impostors fighting a small group of armed men, a gesture and four more Brothers diverge.
Round the corner of some boulders. Stop, then gesture the rest of the Brothers forward. They run to attack the impostors who seem to be guarding some action ahead. Slip around the battle and continue on into another clearing.
Slowing only a moment to see what is ahead. A young lady of about 14, her dress torn and bloody, stands with a sword in her hands, a tree to her back. Before her is a dying Knight who is fending off two impostors. Running in as the Knight kills an impostor and goes down himself.
The remaining impostor has spotted me. He has paused. He looks puzzled. Good, that gives me time to grab the dead Knight’s sword.
Block ... Swing ... Swing ... Swing ... that impostor is no more. The lady keeps her sword up.
Gently return the sword to the Knight’s body. Turn toward the lady with empty hands visible …
Shadows drifting within the interior planes of the crystal orb as the light fades. The silver haired man holding it pauses, thinking.
“Thank you, my lady," he says to a woman standing nearby.
Carefully putting the crystal down, he pulls forward a new sheet of parchment and a pen. Dipping the pen in the ink he starts to write a history:
A man, silver haired, a scar under his eye, looking into the sky, knowing something cosmic just happened. Shaking himself he turns and starts for the fire and his audience. Walking through the crowd of people, laughing, saying hello, shaking hands, trading jokes, he approaches a water barrel and stops and stares at the water for a minute.Hanging his bow on the wall of the pavilion behind him he sits down. Looking out over the crowd as he waits. He has at least twice the number as the night before. And he notes once again a number of special visitors to the story circle.
With a rustle of wings a large hawk lands on the log next to him and his audience quiets. Standing he takes a deep breath and begins …
“Looking out over the battle towards the Horde Chief, Archer sends up a silent prayer, pulls the bow back, closes his eyes, and releases ...”
Looking out over the battle towards the Horde Chief, Archer utters his standard prayer upon losing an arrow. “May you fly straight and true,” and then adds “to your destiny.”
Running after her prey, the Goddess Diana mutters “That’s different” and turns, watching the Archer’s arrow.
Smoke drifts by …
As the arrow floats over the battlefield, a number of warriors of both armies note the lone arrow and wonder about its destination..
The captured Honoré has been taken to the Horde's Chief. While sitting on a rock the Chief motions for Honoré to sit on a sack of grain opposite. The Chief offers water and as the two of them drink Honoré details his reasons for attempting to fulfill his brother Arimis’ mission.
Suddenly leaning forward, the Chief pushes Honoré off of the sack. An arrow flashes through where Honoré had been sitting, cutting the Chief on the cheek. The Horde Chief stands and helps Honoré up. Then motions to his guards as a hawk lands on his shoulder. Upon his word a runner heads for the drums.
Archer notes a brief stirring at the end of the arrows flight.
A heavy roll of drums, a staccato beat, and the Horde fighters start to withdraw from the battle. The Horde commanders signal their acceptance of the terms, and the opposing generals call for their fighters to withdraw as well. The fighting grinds to a stop.
Next to a ring of benches, a large pile of firewood stands ready to light. Both are encircled by unlit torches. Beyond them lies a large hollow log.
Two parallel rows of unlit torches make a path between the two rings.
The largest of the stone benches is intricately carved with dragons, lightning bolts, trees, and ravens.
The moon rises behind that bench.
The Western nobles are very displeased that the Crown of the West is making peace with the Horde. While some of the noble houses use Horde members for manual labor around their estates, most are keeping their distance from the Horde and its members.
More and more of the nobles are making their displeasure about the peace accord known with their votes in the Kingdom Council.
In Atenveldt a great council meets to study a scroll that details the Horde’s new working relationships with the Western kingdoms, and how the Horde members are starting to become incorporated into the Western Kingdoms’ citizenry. Animated discussion breaks out over whether this is a good or bad thing.
Back in Caid, Archer needed a quiet place. He found it in a small tower on the 3rd floor of the Royal Castle. A small room with a small window. He dragged in a few pillows and he sat.
Had he lost his archery skills? Was he unable to kill another human? Or had the shot been too great for his skills? How could he be “Archer” if he couldn’t shoot?
To calm his anguish, he started a mantra and slowly slipped into a meditative trance ...
The light from his staff’s crystal glints off his white hair as he steps forward. Voicing a command and pointing his staff at the pile of firewood, he causes the bonfire to light.
He pauses to stare into the fire. Then turns and carefully places his staff upright in brackets by the large stone bench. Facing the bench he raises his hands to the Moon. Then upon his mental command a ring of light explodes outwards from the staff.
The meeting has been called.
In the Kingdom of the West the dissident nobles are causing more and more problems because most of them are not willing to forgive the Horad’s attack on the kingdom. The Kingdom Council meetings are unable to come to agreements on even the smallest issues. Kingdom business is coming to a halt.
Within the Kingdom of An Tir, the Horde is working very hard to repair the damage their attacks caused to towns, roads, and in several cases, social structure. Thereby bringing the kingdom back from the brink of anarchy that their attack had plunged it into
A number of the Horde clans realized that they could easily fit into Caid's system of clans and households with little restructuring of the Horde customs.
Honoré very much disliked the fact that the Kingdoms were treating the Horde not like an enemy they had been, but as special guests.
The woman nods to the central bench and vanishes.
The man nods to the central bench, the Focuser who called the meeting, walks out to the log, picks up a stick, and brings the stick down on the log ...
BOOooommmmm …
About two days' ride from the castle, the West Kingdom Royal family is picnicking. As the Queen looks out over her family she is startled as one of the crystals she is wearing starts vibrating. She looks out over her family once again and notes that her youngest daughter has stopped moving and seems to be listening to something.
The girl suddenly yells a warning and starts moving to the woods, disappearing into them. The queen smiles sadly in understanding, glad that her daughter has a chance for safety and retaliation. Then a large group of Horde fighters emerge from the trees. As the King and his family are attacked and killed, he notices that the attackers are actually dissident Westerners dressed as Horde fighters.
The day after the Royal family’s funeral, two Dukes and a Count file into a council chamber. A number of heralds and functionaries file in after them. With the Royal family and the young Princess missing, no one is sure how to proceed. The majority of nobles dispute this council’s authority, but something needs to be done to ensure that all of the various ministries continue to run.
As more and more nobles and populace members request information about the state of the missing princess the council is forced to open an official investigation. But over the next several months the problems in the Kingdom slowly take precedence, and so the investigation fades away.
After that first meeting, all council meetings and courtly activities take place in the castle’s outdoor plaza, with trappings designed to give the impression these are Royal functions. During the next several months of meetings, various laws are passed to keep the Kingdom functioning; regulations are put into place to restrict the Horde’s activities; and much time is spent discussing creating a replacement government vs. creating a new royal family.
BOOooommmmm ... “Why is there thunder with a sunny and cloudless sky?”
The man in front of the log now uses two sticks for a double drum beat.
Ba-booomm-ooom!
Ladies of the Crystal start farrying in the Freehold Chiefs who are attending the meeting. Each Chief lights one of the unlit standing torches from the bonfire before finding their seat.
Stopping their horses on a hilltop, Honoré and the Freehold patrol he is leading see:
The Horde Chief grabbing a sword from a fallen knight. A young lady, her dress torn and bloody, backed against a tree with a sword in her hands. Another Horde member advancing on the lady.Honoré gives instructions to the patrol to protect the lady and capture the attackers.
The Horde member charges toward the lady with his sword raised, and the Horde Chief steps between the two, blocking the blow. He kills the attacker with three very swift swings, the last a solid blow.
While the lady keeps her sword pointed at the Horde Chief, he puts the borrowed sword back into the hands of the dead knight.
At the same time Honoré and his mounted patrol sweep down and surround the Horde Chief and the lady.
Ba-booomm-ooom! Everyone looks at the sky with puzzlement.
Walking to the great stone bench he turns and, with his hands on the carved dragon head, says:
“I hereby declare this conclave open. We shall look at the world from outside of time so close the circle and bind it.”
The Focuser, still standing with arms outstretched: bows to the full moon, positions his hands above the moon, then pushes his hands toward the ground.
A ring of light flashes from the horizon streaking toward the focus of its power -- the staff.
Putting a hand out, the Focuser causes the ring of light to slow and then stop just outside of the torches.
At each cardinal point around the circle stands a Lady of the Crystal, one of each color. They bring their crystals in tune with the Focuser’s crystal and, with a flash of color ...
A hemisphere of light springs from the ring of light … and the meeting site vanishes from sight.
The moon now overlooks an empty plain.
Several thousand people are lining the streets leading to Caid’s packed Royal Square. The square is noisy and colorful as people converse, yell, brawl, and play.
The Horde Chief, in a formal but muted tunic of light black and red, is riding a black horse and making signs of respect to various people that he passes in the crowd. His captors made up the rest of the mounted contingent: with four lightly armored Royal Militiamen leading and six armored Caidian Knights following.
The lead riders stop thirty feet from the stairway to the royal stage. Pages run out to deal with the horses as the men dismount. The knights station themselves below the front of the stage while the militia takes the Horde Chief up the stairs as the Herald announces the captive’s arrival.
King Guilliume is thin but muscular, of average height. He has hawk-like features, but a ready smile. Queen Felinah, is taller than the King, graceful with a fighter's body. She has long brown hair, a ready smile, and a necklace of different colored crystals.
Off to the side, behind the thrones each monarch’s armor is sitting displayed on a stand. Behind the armor, stands four Crystal Ladies, one of each color.
Between the King and Queen stood the girl that he and Archer had rescued in the woods. She is wearing a small coronet, and a blue crystal pendant, and she claims to be the long missing Western Princess.
The Chief drops to one knee in respect of the three royals. He is surprised when the King and Queen reach down, raise him from his knees, and embrace him.
She walks past a very large round domed granite building, Chalice’s major governing building, which makes the surrounding three story buildings look small.
The Caidan Crown’s investigation of the rescued lady’s claims are ongoing, and have raised questions about what they thought they knew about the Western Crown’s demise. If her claims are true then this child is the Heir to the Throne of the West and apparently still has people looking to kill her.
She is assigned a protection detail of a Militia Sergeant and eight Men-at-Arms. And her quarters are deep inside the castle, out of the main flow of traffic, in a section that can be well protected against attempts on her life. The unit is quartered next door to her chambers and there will be two men stationed outside her door at all times. Members of the unit will accompany her whenever she leaves her rooms.
Inside her chambers she finds a very nice sitting room, a little library, a small work room, a bedroom, and a grated window that looks down into a small interior courtyard.
The Horde Chief, and his guard detail, take to dropping by and visiting the young lady when she isn't busy with classes and training. They would fill her in on the court gossip, play games, and sometimes work together on her class assignments. During one of those moments he somehow caused her white crystal bracelet to glow for a moment, this was promptly brought to the attention of his “captors”.
Having learned more about the circumstances of the Western Royal family’s slaughter, Honoré decides he may be wrong about the Horde. So he heads north to find work as a mercenary in the Kingdom of the West, hoping to find evidence of what the Princess has said.
The report of the Horde Chief activating the white crystal has quick results. Anyone who can access Crystal Magic comes under the regulation of Chalice. And so the Caidian Crystal Ladies begin his training by introducing him to all five crystals, giving him the basics of the rules and theory of the crystals and their magical properties.
The Crystal Ladies are also quietly investigating the Princess because, although she hasn’t made any crystals glow, several of their crystals have vibrated in her presence. In any other circumstance she would receive training, but for the last thousand years women have been excluded from roles in government if they have crystal magic. If she is to step up to the Western throne her abilities must not be publicly known.
As Caid’s investigations conclude, the Princess’ version of the massacre is verified and the Caidian Crown acknowledges her as Heir to the Western throne. The Kingdom of the West’s investigation, however, is still ongoing; it has been delayed by ongoing errors and obstructions.
The Princess’ classes now include information she will need when she steps up to The Western throne. She usually has lunch with the Horde Chief as they discuss politics and their different studies.
At a cooking demo held by the Dragon Knife Chefs, the Princess is amazed by the seeming chaos. Knives and tools tossed every which way are suddenly caught by a chef or land right next to the ingredient they are needed for. The prep work looked almost like magic.
Suddenly ten fighters enter the kitchen, three of them run toward the small dais where the Princess stands with her two guards, the other fighters head for the chefs.
The six chefs hold off the assassins with their knives and other kitchen utensils, but are not able to come to the Princess’ aid.
Hearing the noise, five members of the militia rush into the room heading toward the Princess. Her two guards have kept her safe at the price of their lives, and the militia members arrive just in time to defeat the three assassins on the dais.
Two of her rescuers whisk the Princess to safety while the other three go to the aid of the chefs. All of the assassins die rather than be taken captive.
Intersecting a smaller street she passes a general store, a tavern, and an armory.
Turning left at the next large street she passes through a large number of small huts, apartments, barracks, and houses.
She is always amazed at how much Chalice has grown over the thousand years of its existence. From the few founding women teaching new magic users and experimenting with crystal powers, to a large, thriving city of thousands working to use Crystal Magic for the good of society.
The West kingdom Regency Council’s investigation into what actually happened to the Royal family has been declared a failure and they turn to an outside agency. An investigator from the city’s constabulary has been made a Regency Investigator. His papers allow him to choose his own team and proceed as he sees fit.
Quite rapidly his team turns up evidence that the attackers were only disguised as Horde members, although they don’t yet know who they really were.
The attack is now looking less like an attack by an outside influence and more like a coup. The Regency Council is now under suspicion of being responsible for seizing power.
This causes a large tug of war for control of the investigation, members argue about how to interpret the new information and how to go forward toward seeing the guilty punished.
The Council’s investigation into the legitimacy of the “Princess” and why she is in Caid under protection is also now suspect. Are there members of the council working against her?
As a result of the kitchen attack, the Freehold sends three fighting units to protect her as an addition to her personal guard.
The Horde Chief’s crystal abilities are proving to be quite strong. The Ladies of the Crystal decide it is best to send him to Chalice for more advanced training as a Focuser.
Before her are the various gates that allow transit throughout the world.
Over the past few weeks the Western Regency Council has seen much turmoil and has been completely restructured. It now consists of the KIngdom’s top four military leaders, the top six business owners, and the Count who had been in the original Regency Council and was instrumental in creating the new Council makeup. This group is working hard to keep the kingdom in order and functional. However, their work is imperiled when four of the Regency Investigator’s team are assassinated.
Over the three years since the Western Kingdoms and the Horde had that the Horde invaders declared a truce, Horde members have settled into their Western lands. They have slowly moved into non-agricultural areas and became contributing and accepted members of the West Kingdom’s society.
The Caid Crown spends more time talking to representatives of the Horde, and have decided to release the Horde Chief.
During the court event releasing the Horde Chief from custody, another assassination attempt on the Princess occurs.
The Chief moves between the Princess and the knife wielding assassins. The Freehold bodyguards jump in quickly and between them and the Chief the assassins are dispatched.
The Chief declares that the Horde is now part of the Princesses' guard contingent and over the next seven days 243 Horde fighters arrive to join the 81 Freehold fighters already on her bodyguard.
Small flashes of light from two of the doors precede incoming visitors. They nod to the waiting trio as they leave the gate area.
Finally one of the large gates goes mercuric and a man wearing the attire of a Horde leader steps through.
Then a young lady with a coronet and crystal pendant steps through.
They are followed by twenty five armored men wearing Horde or Freehold devices.
The two Crystal Ladies and the Master Fighter realize that things have changed and that this does not bode well for the harmony of Chalice. The Master Fighter hurries off to assign guards to watch the gates for uninvited visitors.
While studying at Chalice, the Horde Chief has three daily runners sending updates between himself, the Caid Crown, and the Horde Chieftains.
The events in The West are worrying and cause the Chief to task several of his Horde members with helping the investigation team and relaying information to him.
Sending the Princess to Chalice was unorthodox, but the Crystal Ladies had convinced the Caid Royals that it was the best way to protect her from the assassin attacks. They didn’t tell the Royals that it would also then allow her to train in Crystal Magic.
She is set a number of classes that allow her to learn the basics of the different Crystal Art forms. And of course, there are many courses on politics, and how to rule a nation. By her request, she is also being trained in sword and shield, and rapier combat.
On her breaks, she visits the Horde Chief, comparing their different crystal training classes. The two of them sometimes explore Chalice together; often visiting Twin Castle Inn for ale, wine, and stew, or visiting the Salamander Armory.
One such issue is the Regents' use of the army to remove the Horde members from the more populated areas of the kingdom.
After three months of hard work the Horde Chief has been trained and calibrated as a Focuser, he now awaits his attuning ceremony.
The Princess is mastering her training and is proving to be an exceptional blue crystal user, and that presents a problem for the Crystal Ladies.
They have been careful not to show the full extent of their powers in public. And with the ban prohibiting women with crystal powers from holding public office, those who do hold office have to keep their powers a complete secret.
Since the Princess is destined to rule the Kingdom of The West, her abilities as a crystal user can not be shared outside of Chalice.
Additionally, the Ladies have started an investigation into the background of her family. For her to have crystal power would require a genetic background in her family.
At the command of the Blue Crystal Lady he stabs his staff into the ground.
With a crack of thunder, a bolt of lightning streaks from the crystal skywards, a ring of light and wind flashes outwards from the crystal, knocking all the Ladies to the ground.
The Ladies slowly pick themselves up with expressions of horror, surprise and astonishment. This changes to perplexion as they discover that their crystals are all hovering 3 feet above the ground crackling with static discharges. The newly made Focuser is slowly turning in place looking at all the crystals.
The Crystal Lady’s research has brought to light that three generations of Western Kingdom Queens have each worn necklaces made with several different colored crystals.
Widening their research, they note that the same is true for two generations of the Queens of Caid, and the current Queen of Burdu.
None of these queens were trained as crystal users, and apparently did not intentionally use the crystal’s magic. However, it was possible that the repeated exposure to the crystals sparked some very low key abilities that they were able to use unconsciously. They then made sure their daughters, the heirs to the throne, had similar “lucky” necklaces to ensure a successful reign.
Despite the Western Regents attempts to discourage Horde members settling in the kingdom, the Western populace was finding that the Horde members are good neighbors: helping each other build, sharing, bartering at the marketplace, and becoming an asset to the community.
To help bring new insights to the investigation they also hire Horde members to look at things in a different light.
Additionally, they use a special fund to hire mercenaries bodyguards to provide a certain amount of safety for the team members.
The Regency Council sessions are now mostly just arguments about what they should be doing, how they should be doing it, what items have priority, and where they should be taking the Kingdom. The Count is unable to keep the Council on track. He tries to build bridges between the different factions, but somehow those bridges create more problems instead of solving them.
The Kingdom army has become very heavy handed in their attempts to move the Horde members. The populace is getting very agitated, they are questioning the Council and their actions, or lack of action, and rumors of rebellion are starting to circulate.
As Honoré circulates through his positions and postings he overhears a number of interesting things:
– The Regency Council members have had several replacements in their ranks. While there had originally been a majority of members who thought that the Royal Family was ruling well, there is now a majority that were dissatisfied with the political changes the Royal Family were starting to bring about in the Kingdom.
– The Council is very agitated and angry as the info about the Horde settling in and helping their neighbors circulates.
– The populace seems to be in fear of the Council and the heavy handed tactics they have empoweredthe army to use.
– There are also quiet discussions that the Council does not want to give up power and that is why the investigation is not getting anywhere.
The Crystal Ladies' research is finding more kingdoms with generations of their Queen’s lineage wearing the similar multicolored crystal necklaces. They find no evidence of magic use by those Royals but it seems too widespread to be a benign coincidence. Could it be that they are secretly using crystal power and training their daughters to do the same?
Honoré notes that several small groups have created a rebel underground. They are working against the Council and its enforcers by getting the Investigator’s findings out to the populace, sharing information with the Investigators, helping displaced Horde members, and doing their best to keep the kingdom together. Honoré helps by dropping information their way.
The Council offers a reward for information leading to the arrest of members of the underground group. Soon Honoré notices that fewer people are talking openly about the Council. He also notes that it seems people are disappearing.
Honoré starts sending messages to the Caid Royals with the information he is collecting about the investigation and the Regency Council.
In an attempt to regain his archery confidence, Archer has set out on an excursion along the Caid / West border. In each town he stops he teaches archery classes, along with how to shoot, he teaches bow making, and arrow fletching. Before leaving each town he holds a shooting competition putting up a prize for the winner.
They sent a team of Investigators to bring him in for questioning. On the way back, the Investigators escorting him were killed and he escaped.
While still teaching archery Archer starts to put on exhibition shoots. Shots at extreme range. Some skilled close up shots. There were also several fun trick specialty shots.
With the Western army appearing to be increasingly out of control and belligerent, the armed forces of Caid, Atenvelt, and the Freehold are sending forces to the Caid / West border to prevent any incursions from the West.
While setting up stations on the border, a unit saw Archer at one of the exhibitions, and he was instantly drafted.
The Crown of Caid is in discussion with other kingdoms as to what needs to be done to get the Princess back on her throne.
The Princess feels very unprepared to become Queen. She was the youngest of her sisters, with no expectation of inheriting the throne and so no real training before coming to Caid. Even with the training she has received in the past year and a half, she knows that she will need help, advice and protection.
Whenever she leaves Chalice for meetings with the Caid Royals, there is a bodyguard made up of Freeholders and Hordesmen with her at all times.
On those occasions she wears a new silver coronet decorated with blue stones and a blue crystal up front.
The Horde Chief spends most of his free time with the Princess, serving as an advisor, guard, and companion.
Captain Honoré is now in charge of five 10-man teams, which include 10 Hordesmen, attempting to locate the Count. With one unit looking over the Counts offices and another unit going through his house, quite a bit of the details leading to the coup and during come to light.
The Regency Council is in shambles and the Royal Investigator's office declares them disbanded and steps in to replace them. The Royal Investigator issues a writ to capture the Count dead or alive.
Honoré is in communication with the Caid Royals, the leaders of the Horde and the Freehold, keeping everyone up to date on the Search for the Count.
The Princess is putting together an Advisory Council made up of seated royals and knowledgeable nobles to help with the decisions she must make about how she should step back in as ruler of the West, and to advise her on how to mend the kingdom.
In addition the Focuser and the Crystal Ladies form a tight group of advisors helping her negotiate the forbidden path she is taking as a royal and a crystal user.
Now that she spends most of her time outside of Chalice, she has a permanent guard made up of Caidan, Freehold, and Horde fighters.
In that encampment the members of this are meeting to discuss a number of topics. What is the status of the search for the Count? Should a new interim government be put in place to replace the disbanded Regency Council? Is it safe to install the Princess as Queen? When and how should the Princess be installed? And what is the Horde’s status in the Kingdoms?
Catching up with Honoré over dinner, a feeling of unease starts to creep over Archer.
Cutting the dinner short, Archer climbs the nearest guard signal tower to once again look over the princess encampment.
A Horde horn sounds an alarm.
Honoré runs toward the Princess pavilion collecting guards and militia on the way.
Archer nocks an arrow as he looks towards where the horn sounded and notes a force of freeholders running to investigate.
Looking around he sees a ring of Hordesmen firming up around the Princess pavilion.
Scanning the area between those two spots he sees the Count. Archer curses, lifts his bow and fires.
The hawk stirs as the storyteller looks out over his audience and puts down his mug.
Smiling he says, “That ends this evening’s story session.”
Several of his younger listeners object: “You left off the end!”, “Was there another battle?” “What happens to the Count?” “Did Archer’s arrow kill him?”
Laughing, the storyteller says, “Stories are like life. There are no endings, just new stories beginning.”
While chatting with them, he looks out over his audience and nods to several of the special visitors.
The hawk spreads its wings, launches into the air, and soars over the military encampment camp.
On the far side of the pavilion men with lanterns are finishing setting up a pell yard.
A little further on, in a clearing filled with tables, a number of men and runners are studying maps. Runners are leaving and arriving, their footfalls adding to the sounds of the encampments being set up.
Among the pavilions and yurts already set up, soldiers are talking around campfires, cooking a late dinner, and going about the business of preparing for battle.
in an area between various armies encampments, a large pavilion hall is slowly being prepped to be set up.
Off to one side is an encampment populated with many ladies wearing colored crystals, one of them waves to the hawk.
Alone on the nearby hilltop, stands a large pavilion surrounded by banners of Caid, the West, the Horde, the Freehold, Artemisia, and Atenveldt.
The cry of a hawk |
NOTE: Although these stories are set in a fictionalized SCA world using SCA geography and a loose version of some SCA personas, the stories in no way depict actual people, personas, places, organizations, or events.
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