Knights of Rohan

Notice: I've moved the prologue in the same message as Chapter 1, to keep this little overview in the first post.


Dear readers,
this is my third AAR after 2 other short AAR's. This time will be different, as I've learned a lot from the previous AAR's and this one will be significant longer than those. Expect around 50 chapters, and if it goes as well it might even grow.

And please, tell me what you think. I like new ideas too, so if you want to say something, or something pops up in your mind while reading, just post it! If you say, that faction has to be destroyed, and you give me some good arguments, I'll see what I can do for you. As for me, I'm not planning anything, I'm just letting the game do it's thing.
Maybe I'll make my own kingdom one day, maybe i'll stay a loyal vassal. But one thing I can promise you all, there will be many battles, lot of medieval romance, betrayal, and more.


Concept:
A veteran fighter from previous game were he conquered parts of Kergits and Sarranids comes in an entire new world.
This world is also new for me, first time I play this mod, so I'll be able to write what the character feels.
It's the character itself that tells the story.
My base idea is based on 'the Lord of the Rings' as you can see at the names i use: Aragorn, Knights of Rohan, Kingdom of Rohan,... .
I've learned from the mistakes I made in my previous AAR's, so i hope you'll like this one better.
Expect this AAR to be a long one, the game devellops great and it'll take a while before my character can get to the wars as he has to equip and train companions and get to know them. He has to get to know the new troops he's facing. And starting over again to gain good relations with the lords. This will be my first Big AAR.

Difficulty:
Damage to Player: Normal
Damage to Friends: Normal
Combat AI: Good
Campaign AI: Good
Combat Speed: Normal
Battle Size: 150

Mods:
Prologue:
Age of Change

Story:
Sword Song

Added:
- Since chapter 2 I use the Better Banners Mod.
- Since chapter 2 I use the Historic Castles Project - the British Isles, in which nine castles have been replaced by very good replicas of old British castles, pretty nice for a Brithish mod.
- Since chapter 2 I use the More Metal Sound Mod V2.1, where the battle sounds are enriched with more metal sounds.
- Since chapter 3 I modded the game so I had disposal of the war horse and the charger again as they were left out in the mod. The entire modding is descriped in medieval ways in chapter 3 itself, together with all my faults and errors.
- Since chapter 13 I'm using my own Rohan trooptree.




Overview of the chapters:
Prologue, The King
Getting Settled
Chapter 1, The Mercenary
Chapter 2, The Vassal
Chapter 3, The Rise Of The Horse
Chapter 4, Finishing The Church
Chapter 5, Poem Hunting
Chapter 6, Deadly Pikes
The Battles Never Stop
Chapter 7, Canturbury
Chapter 8, Questing
Chapter 9, The Great Battle Of Lincoln
Chapter 10, The Time Has Come
A Kingdom Established
Chapter 11, The End Of All Things
Chapter 12, Lady Elina

Knights of Rohan

Prologue
My hair began to turn gray when this story started, no, not a story, it’s more like a flight. You might think great kings don’t need to run away, but we do. It all happened the day I gave a party for my 16 royal knights, my best soldiers, my local-counterpart. Their names have to be remembered forever!
Alayen, Ymira, Jeremus, Bunduk, Bahestur, Firentis, Deshavi, Matheld, Nizar, Borcha, Klethi, Katrin, Artimenner, Marnid, Rolf, Lezalit. One by one fine soldiers and friends. All held a piece of land in my kingdom.


My old kingdom, from Bariyye till Ichamur.

The party was one of the best ever given, abundance of food and wine, lots of things to talk about. This would be a party to remember! And remembering we will. A tradition in the Kingdom of Rohan was that knights could wear their favourable weapon during a feast, that was our luck that night. I stood up to bring a toast to these fine knights as all of a sudden the door was taken down, and before us we saw 36 men, all dressed in black clothing and black coats. As they stood in the shadow nobody would be able to see them, so black their clothes were. I knew who they were, I knew what they came to do. These men were mercenaries, hired to kill kings and great knights. They are the Dark Army, nobody knows their numbers, nobody knows their whereabouts. But we knew we were outnumbered 2:1, and if these men were just normal soldiers they would be killed in a minute. Although these men weren’t normal soldiers, they were trained to kill. The battle started quickly after they ran into the hall. I told my wife to run away and go to somewhere else, another town even. Bariyye wasn’t save anymore. The leader of the squad came towards me, followed by a soldier that looked alike. Soon I would find out this was a relative of him. In my entire career from knight to mercenary to vassal to king I never met any soldier that was a challenge to beat. That night I would be experience the challenge still existed.


My loyal knights.

The youngest of them started his attack, it looked like he wanted to impress his leader. His blows were tough to block due to his size, but he wasn’t a good fighter. I blocked all his attacks and after 3 blows I found an undefended spot, I turned out to my left to evade his attack and I stroke. It was a perfect hit, his entire right flank was split open, and he felt to the ground. Dead. My other opponent became furious, and he started his attack as soon as I was in his reach. The speed with which he wielded his sword was never seen and I had for the first time in my life problems with defeating an opponent. The fight kept going on till my arm became heavy; my enemy seemed to be as fit as in the beginning of the fight. When I blocked an overhead blow I saw Artimenner fall. He had a sword right in his chest. He was the oldest of us all. Nobody knew his exact age, but he had to be around 70 or even more. The fact that he felt took down my guard and I was hit in my left leg. A small wound in the upper leg, nothing mortal but very annoying. Nizar, Borcha and Rolf would go down next, followed by Firentis and Marnid.

I felt a strange feeling. I never thought I would lose one of these guys. I turned out to my right this time and started my own series of blows towards my enemy. Whatever I did, he always parried or blocked my attacks. Bahestur and Lezalit were killed soon after I started my attacks. The only male knights left were Alayen, Bunduk and Jeremus. My best knights. I started wondering why only the male knights were killed already and the women were still standing. I wish every day again I didn’t had to witness the answer on that question. The last 3 male knights were captured by the enemy and stripped from all their clothing and weapons.  My opponent pushed my back to the corner of the room, I was stuck. More Dark Soldiers came towards me and soon I was overwhelmed. They took  me captive but made a simple mistake, they didn’t stripped me from my clothing as small token of respect. They couldn’t know I had a dagger under my shirt. But my plan to use him was quickly disrupted when they putted my in front of Alayen, Bunduk and Jeremus, face to face. They decapitated them right in my face! I saw them die! Too depressed to be able to do something I let myself be taken away.


In my head I see all my achievements again.

They took me to the upper part of the hall. A place from where you could see everything that happened down there. I was my wife fighting too, she used my single-handed sword. Unfortunately I also saw how she was defeated in battle and captured. The other women would follow the same faith. All six women were cuffed and their weapons taken. I thought it was all over now, as the enemy soldiers started to clean up the mess they made. Soon they would kill me and the women. My kingdom was destroyed. I could have conquered the rest of Calradia without a problem. The current kings were weak, and so were their armies. ‘Keep your eyes open.’ That’s what one of my guards told me. I didn’t understand why as there was nothing more to see. That changed quickly. I saw the leader of the enemy entering the hall again, together with 5 other soldiers. That moment I would know why the women were spared during the battle. The enemy became wild when they came closer to the women. I should have closed my eyes, but one way or the other I couldn’t. My wife and my 5 female knights were raped like they were nothing more than animals. It wouldn’t take long or they started to moan from pain. The enemy didn’t mind it, they continued like what they did was just a walk in the park. I couldn’t take it anymore.

I pulled my dagger and killed my two guards in an eyewink. My sword I found not far away, on a table, with sheath and all. I gasped it on and went down. This time it was the enemy who was surprised and I killed 5 of them before they knew what happened. They all came towards with me with their swords ready to strike. I noticed I didn’t hear the women anymore. I tried to see what happened, but all I saw was blood. Lots of blood. Their torture had finally ended. I had nothing left here but death. So I ran away, I ran to the stables. The stables were empty! Our attacker knew what they were doing. I kept running through the streets like a fool. I ran to the town tavern, The Galloping Pony. The bartender was a good friend of mine. I asked If he had a horse for me. He had. He gave it to me, I mounted and took off. The enemy was close behind me. I could see them. We rode through the streets of Bariyye. The gate came in sight. I shouted to the guards to open it. It went to slow! It would never be open by the time I reached it!


The journey was long.

Like I miracle the gate was open far enough for me and my horse. Now we were in the wilderness. The pursuit didn’t end. The enemy kept following, and I kept rushing my horse. We rode through the entire desert. We came into Swadian territory. Praven! Praven would be my rescue. There I could get on a ship! But what if these men still followed me? That would be troubles for later, first we had to make it to Praven. It became noon, I was riding towards a big hill, but if I remembered well there was an open field behind it, followed by a forest. There I would try to lose my pursuers. Unwanted we rode right into a battle between the Swadians and the Nords. Chaos is the only word that would give it the right imagination.

After a hard time I was in the forest, I didn’t looked back. I feared even more pursuers were behind me since one of the Nord warlords thought I was a Swadian night. I had to kill him. Nord Svenners started to chase me down. I kept riding, night felt over the country. If I was lucky I would be able to reach Praven before tomorrow night. I was tired; I didn’t sleep for 48 hours already. If I could stay awake till tomorrow night was a mystery.

After a long journey I finally arrived in Praven, I asked to harbourmaster which ship would be the first to leave. ‘The Golden Hawk’ he said. I went to The Golden Hawk and shipped in. The next 30 minutes would be the longest of my life, looking to the horizon whether I saw riders coming or not.
Nothing happened and my voyage began. A veteran knight and king who lost everything was now sailing to Britannia, a barbarian island. I didn’t know what to expect.


And off we go!


Notes


This is the inspiration for my character's look.


This is the character when I started it.


This is the character once i had my Kingdom of Rohan.


This is the detail of the character.







Chapter 1

After many days the long awaited cry from the crow’s nest was heard over the entire ship, ‘land in sight! Land in sight!’ We finally arrived at our destination. I went to the front of the ship looking for the shore. Long I didn’t had to wait, the shore was rocky and gray. But after some yards I saw green, the king of green I always wanted to see. The grass and trees were untamed, this land was indeed a wilderness. I desperately hope there aren’t savages like everybody says, but noble knights and kings with great authority. Old and wrinkled I might be, but my arms were still strong and my mind was developed. I should be able to get myself a nice title once again. Maybe not the title of king, but who knows. We’ll see what the time brings.


The story begins in Lundene

We went to the Thames and harboured in Lundene, my prays weren’t heard, and my greatest fear became hard reality. I was aground in a barbarian society! I was already attacked by a robber when I was going to the tavern! Unfortunately for him my sword was sharp and his leather armour was weakened by the weather. His body would be found in the morning, and I had to be out of town by then as my reputation from in Calradia didn’t come with me. It was left in Calradia, dead, like my friends and wife. I saw I was close to a tavern and I noticed I was thirsty. Hopefully this people know how to make beer.

I went inside and ordered myself the specialty of the house, exept from two young ladies there were no other people in the tavern. I decided to go and make a little talk with them, it would be best if I got to know more about this strange country. These ladies called Saskia and Hild, and made me think of Ymira and Klethi, only younger. The stories were the same except from some little details. They met each other on a trip and stayed together. They were interested in my story, and looked honourable. I started talking, from how my father was a great soldier and thought me how to wield a sword to when I met and trained 16 fine people with stories and histories, looking for a place to stay. How I hired them, payed and feed them, till how I made them into the finest soldiers ever known in Calradia. From the mercenary work I had done till how I became a vassal of Sanjar Khan and how I rebelled against him, finding my own kingdom. I ended with the things that happened in the great hall of Bariyye.


Me and my sword

They wanted to accompany me on my journey, I told them about the payment and training they would get. But also about the equipment I would buy for them personally, like I did in Calradia. Only the best would be good enough. They were happily surprised by this and promised me to follow my lead wherever I go. Hild had also a brother named Gunnar who she promised to pick up for the next journey. He should be in Oxford. We went to Oxford and found the brother together with a friend of his, Bran. The ladies told them about me and afterwards they came to me. Gunnar told me who he was and said that he had promised the girls to protect them till they found a safe place to stay. He would still accompany them because he didn’t trust me. He and his friend would be travelling with us as long as the girls did. I truly respected his integrity.

The next day we went to the local market to buy ourselves armour, weapons and horses. I was disappointed when I saw the horse market, it were all just normal horses used by auxiliaries. No heavy warhorses. I asked Hild if we could find them somewhere else but she started laughing at me. ‘Horses with mail upon them? I don’t know how you get that idea, but that’s just silly!’ Those were the words she said to me. I explained them the difference between light cavalry and heavy cavalry. They couldn’t understand as for them cavalry is cavalry. They are just an auxiliary force or the generals themselves. We bought some of the fastest horses, 3 celtic shields, 1 handed swords and 2 handed swords and some scale armours. Our voyage began.

I learned fast, and so did my companions. A lord in this part of the realm was called ‘Ealdorman’. Infantry was the most important part of the army (In my own opinion this had to change very quickly, nothing goes above the Rohirrim I’ve trained back in Calradia.), and last but not least, war is always going on somewhere. That part was interesting, especially when we ran into Ealdorman Ceolwulf.


A dedicated vassal of the King

I told my companions they shouldn’t tell him about my pasted. They shouldn’t tell him about their past. They just didn’t have to say anything. Ceolwulf let us in, curious to our inducements. I told them we were a band of mercenaries, looking for money and war. The Ealdorman’s face began to shine. ‘Well, you are lucky sir ...?’
‘The name is Aragorn.’
‘Well sir Aragorn, I’ve promised my king to hire some mercenaries for his upcoming campaigns. We’ll pay you 50 denars for accepting the contract, after that you get a monthly pay according to our parties strength. The contract was a 3-months contract and could be prolonged month for month after that. I gladly accepted this offer and went looking for some recruits to form the backbone of our army.

I found 35 peasants willing to fight for me, I started the training a few days after we left Oxford. They didn’t made as much progress as the once I trained in Calradia, but you can’t have everything. I hired 5 temporary bowmen, mercenaries till the bone. I offered them a contract for a couple of weeks. They could end it when they liked and would get paid after every week service. In order to get the skill level or my recruits higher I started fighting outlaws. But these outlaws were almost hardened soldiers, sea riders they called themselves. Heavily armoured, sharp weapons, groups from 20 to 40 men strong. My men had a hard time, I took down most of the enemy so the ratio became 4 to 1 in our favour. That way the recruits could overwhelm their opponent and they learned to co-operate. None the less we lost 5 men after a few battles, 2 of them were the mercenary bowmen I hired. The 3 who were left thanked me for the money and went back on the road. They didn’t wanted to die yet. My recruits developed to veteran infantry men. I followed the countries soldiers line, Wessex veteran fyrdmen they were called now. Wessex was the country I was in, the country that paid me for my services.


Disappointing, I'll prove him he'll need me in the future.

I went back to Lundene to speak with the king. He didn’t had any tasks for me. I went back to the wilderness, chasing down outlaws and earning some extra money. That was during the days, in the evenings I trained my soldiers, my companions I learned how to fight from horseback. After a couple of days I received a message from the marshal, I had to join his army with at least 8 units. He was close to Guildford castle. We went to that area and after a day searching we found him. The marshal was Ealdorman Aethelwold. The army left the next day towards Bexhill, a small village close the Hastings castle.

It was raided, and I could do little, so I asked Aethelwold if he had another task for me. ‘Yes, I need somebody who can scout some villages of The Church, we have to little intel on them.’
‘You found your man, which villages have to be scouted?’
‘Folkstone and Canterbury’
‘I’ll inform my men and leave as soon as possible, look out for me the second morning, I’ll be arriving from the Nord.’
And so I went on my first assignment.


Me during the battle against the Arch Bishop, described later on.

The villages were scout quickly, no enemy was seen. I wanted to attack some sea riders but time didn’t allow me. So I went back to Bexhill. Aethelwold already waited for me, the entire army ready of departure. I give him my report. He was most pleased with the result and ordered the army to ride for Folkstone. The village would be raided. I gave my men a little break to eat. A few seconds later Hild came to me: ‘I’m sorry to tell you this Aragorn, but there is no more food.’
I completely forgot the food. That was stupid, and army with empty stomachs doesn’t fight.
I couldn’t go back to a village of our own to buy food as I had to follow the marshal. So I ordered my men to pack. We would go for Folkstone, we had to arrive before the marshal and buy some bread there.


Aethelwold praises me right before the siege.

The trip was hard and longer than the first time, but we made it to the village. At the horizon I saw the Wessex’ army approach. I quickly bought 100 breads from the villagers. We putted up camp in the forest to the Nord of the camp. Once the village was burning I joined the army again. The village Dover would be raided too. Margat was the next target, but The Church gathered its army and they protected that area. Together with the marshal and 2 other lords we attacked the Arch bishop who was leading the army himself. 250 men on each side, most of them infantry. It would be a battle I never saw before. Both sides made long lines and marched towards eachother. Bowmen started firing their missiles. The infantry charged frontal. Complete chaos broke out. This wasn’t what I called a battle! This was hacking and smashing! Not a single tactic was used.

I ordered my men to charge from the right flank while I went ahead of them. I killed many men that day, the marshal was most pleased with me. That night I was invited to eat in his tent. He asked me how it came I was such a good fighter, at my older age. I trusted him enough to tell him my story. He ensured me he would tell the king of my performance that day, and I would be rewarded. The next day the Christian army had disappeared and we went to Stamford castle in the Nord. The siege was short because the marshal feared a counter strike from the Bishops. We would use a siege tower, and we were lucky, there were only 66 defenders in the castle. I went up the siege tower as one of the first soldiers and cleared the way for many others. After a fierce battle the castle was taken. Our campaign was successful and Ealdorman Aethelwold gave everybody a break. He called me with him a last time, he needed somebody to collect taxes in Oxford. I would be given ¼ of the tax. I accepted the mission and went to Oxford.

It took me 3 days to get the entire city pay the taxes. During those 3 days I wondered how I could continue. Back in Calradia I had killed around 1500 man. Beloved fathers, sons, husbands. Here, in Britannia I already killed 200 men. How many lives a man can take before it becomes too much? How many lives I would take before mine was taken? These 2 simple questions wouldn’t let me go. I went towards Guildford castle to give the money of Oxford to Aethelwold. He was content about the amount and give me even a few denars more. Not that I needed them as I had enough money, I was able to take some of my gold on my flight. 100k it was. But that was just a piece of what I had back in Calradia. But it helped to pay the armour and weapons needed for my party. It was comforting to have somebody like Aethelwold as a friend so soon.


Notes


Brother and sister, how nice.

Installed the more metalsound mod.
Now trying to get the more warhorses mod working too, but that gives some problems. I've done everything like it was told in the .txt file, but they don't appear ingame. I've tried it on native and that worked. I've tried with the files from Age of Change, nothing. I'll be contacting the headmodder of Sword Song to ask if he blocked off something about horses. In the mean while I would appreciate all help of you guys, what's a Knight's faction without horses xD it's like football without a ball!

sweet man, just sweet.

BTW what mod did you use for that map of Medievil england?

Sword Song

The mod is still develloping, but it's great already. But if you are a horse-freak, you'll have to mod a bit as there are only coursers, hunters and saddled horses. In a minute I gonna continue my modding to try and get the More Warhorse pack on it.

Nice AAR, Im looking forward to the next part. lord of the rings ftw!!!!!!!!

Thanx buddy!

I know it does, I'm a great fan of Aragorn .

About the modding: I've done it! It's not what i had in mind, I wanted all the extra warhorses in the game, but that didn't worked out. I'm going to use this day work as chapter 3 in this AAR, I have some nice ideas and I hope I can work them out.

Chapter 2 will be written by tonight or tomorow morning GT time.

The next chapter arrives!
I'm trying to finish the BONUS chapter 3 today.
Have fun reading, and please tell me your thoughts, I always see what I can do to make things better.


Chapter 2

The war with The Church kept going on, although we, Wessex, were winning. Since we took Stamford castle and Hastings castle, King Alfred was pleased with the results of the war and sent a messenger to the Arch Bishop to conclude a peace treaty.
 
The night after we gave 4/5 of the taxes of Oxford to Aethelwold I took my men into town. During the collecting I saw a nice tavern, it was big but still cosy. It had 50 beds and seemed to started only a couple of days ago. The wood was still shiny, the beds were still soft. I went to the bartender and told him me and my men wanted to rest here for the night. ‘For 25 denars a night you can stay as long as you want,’ the bartended said.
‘Make sure you keep my men amused and we’ll keep coming back, if not, you will never see us again and lose a good costumer. Am I clear?’ I couldn’t help it, but I had to think about The Galloping Pony back home.
‘Your men will have a king’s treatment, if you catch me.’
‘You should know the truth.’ How could that poor bartended know who I was back in Calradia.


My men didn't mind our stay.

That night I and my companions went to my room right after diner. They still didn’t knew what I meant with horse warfare. An army of horses is the best thing there is, they are fast, manoeuvrable, and most of all! They were deathly! Lances or swords, it didn’t matter. The speed at which they ride towards the enemy is so high they can smash his head of his body without any problem. At the end of the meeting they were getting the idea.
 
‘There is only 1 problem.’ That was Gunnar, he proved himself in the field and showed valour during the fights. I could make him in a fine fighter. ‘Here in Britannia we don’t have what you call mailed cavalry. That’s pure blasphemy for the local lords!’
He had a point, without the armour and craftsmen I could do nothing. Unless I, no, no! That will only happen when all hope has fainted.


That night I dreamed of how it could be if my plan succeeded.

The next morning I gathered my men. Some got into their beds, with company of course, others were less lucky and laid drunk on the wooden table in the taverns hall. After a few minutes they were all awake, fresh water is even in Britannia a great cure! An hour later we were ready to go for some outlaw hunting. We rode to the eastern gates when we arrived I saw Aethelwold had gone the same route just a few minutes ago. I could still see him. I ordered my men to move a bit faster, we were going to accompany this Ealdorman for today.
 
It didn’t take too long to run in on the army, but I noticed they weren’t going to the forests but towards the river Thames. That meant he would go towards Stamford castle. I gave Gunnar control over the army and rode to the marshal as fast as my horse could. When I asked Aethelwold what he and his men were doing he told me that as marshal he needed to protect the lands of Wessex and he had to lead the armies of Wessex to victory. He was setting route towards Stamford castle to break the siege, during the night The Church gathered his army again and besieged the castle. The garrison is still weak, and won’t hold it for much longer. I volunteered to ride towards Stamford castle, ahead of the main army. I would hold the castle till they arrived. Aethelwold didn’t want to let me go first, but I persuaded him. Trust me, I said, I know what I do. And I gave him a quick wink. I rode back to my little army to inform them our next mission.


The battle was though, but we survived.

We entered the castle from behind, a backdoor is always useful. We took position down the stairs; we would chop the enemy’s legs from under their bodies while our archers shot at their eggy heads. One would always hit! We held our position but overwhelming wasn’t far away anymore. Luckily for us Aethelwold divided the national army into 2, a fast and a slow part. The king would lead the slow one while Aethelwold would bring the fast one to the caste before night.
 
It was late afternoon when Aethelwold arrived; we drove the Christians back, but lost a lot of brave man ourselves too. Once the king arrived it became a real massacre, many elite troops joined the battle and not long after dawn the enemy was utterly crushed. Stamford castle was successfully defended.
 
Obviously I took hard hits, I left my helmet at home, underestimating the Britain archers. I was heavily wounded, but I had a new idea in my head, archers would be pretty nice while I prepared myself for the mailed knights. They would be useful in sieges too, and winning sieges makes you stand great with your king. I asked around with the soldiers of the Ealdormen, mostly the archers, informing where I could find the finest archers people. Welsh territory or SherWood would be the best places. The Welsh would have the archers with the best range, SherWood with the best aim.


Welsh territory.

Me and my men recovered from our wounds in Stamford castle and after 2 days of rest we rode towards Welsh territory. We recruited peasants from LLanidlos, Quay, Lyndley, took the nights rest at Monalarch were I met Godric, a trader who lost everything. As king I knew trade was very important to make money, and after the wars I would certainly start with it. Then I would be very handy to have somebody with native knowledge. I told him about the fighting, but he didn’t care. We finished our Welsh trip by a visit at Brecon, we had ourselves some Welsh peasants who were ready to train. It should have been around 12 of them. Together with 18 horseman that made a nice army. But I planned to hire 10 more SherWood peasants.
 
The trip through the forests of Nottingham were exhausting, and I decided to go straight to Nottingham and leave SherWood for the next day. that was a good move, as in SherWood I met Bedwyr, who told me he was great with bow and spear, and had experience with training men how to use bows. Fortune smiled at me that day, and I was most pleased to hire him. The next day we took off to hire 10 SherWood peasants, we were right on time as the next day was the kings monthly enlistments day. after that nobody would have wanted to follow us anymore.
 
I went looking for the marshal army, and found it need Beomflot, they were travelling towards the village of Margat as they were reported there would be enemy armies assembling. As we arrived the reports seemed to be right and we engaged the enemy. Once again I showed my valour in the battlefield and rode ride towards the enemy commanders. Till now I was able to take the leaders of the enemy out myself, today would be a difference. And so it happened, I took down the enemy generals, no wait that’s wrong! It aren’t generals, it are just some holy men who think God will protect them against my sword! How silly, they would soon find out that their God had abandoned them.


Pictures were taken by a stunt man.

During the battle I saw a great part of the enemy including complete armies windrowed from the battle. I went looking for Aethelwold and told him about this matter but he told me we should finish this battle first. And so I did. I ordered my cavalry to go lose and kill as many enemies as they could. I trained them well it seemed ‘cause the enemy was defeated in no time.
 
Once again I told Aethelwold about the running armies, this time he listened closely and gave me the privilege to track them down, the army would follow me without hesitation, but if anything would go wrong, my head would be hanging on the bridges of the Thames the next day. A truly barbarian way of letting the people know what happens if you do things against the law or are indicted for treason. But my head would stay where it was for a little while longer as I led the army to the army that had their camp near Hastings castle. We attacked immediately, on my request. The odds were once again in our favour and the enemy army that had run the first time we defeated the Arch Bishop near Margat was crushed. Rest would return over the country for a little while.


My honour rocked towards the sky!

That evening the king himself invited me in his field post. I was very surprised and dressed up as good as possible. When I arrived I got wine to drink and strangely large pork to eat. He told me he was impressed by my achievement on the battlefield. He wanted to know how that came. Damned, if I tell him my story he’ll be suspicion the entire time, I had already overthrone a king, and I could do it again. I lied, I said I was one of the knights of the king, myself. King Alfred looked up, ‘But if you followed a traitor, how do I know you won’t do it again?’
 
I expected that question, but this time I could answer with the truth. ‘That won’t happen, as I followed my father back then.’ Followed by a little lie, ‘Now my father is death,’ as it wasn’t the father but the son who died. Alayen, a fine soldier and an honourable heir. A bastard from back in the days, when I didn’t know that the army would grow to a kingdom. Back in the days Ymira was only 20, and I was 25. Alayen was quickly grown up, to quick. At the age of 10 he already had the posture and force of a 20 year old guy. And when he reached the age of 15 he was a man in all ways. He would became the best of my 16 knights. My heir. Lady Arjis didn’t made a problem of my long gone passion with Ymira. Besides the nightly meetings we held we kept it completely professional. Although we did those meetings as professionals too, but that was another meaning of the word.
 
I was back in the kings tent when King Alfred asked me if I wanted to became his faithful vassal. I would get the fief of Bexhill, and be a respected lord. I accepted without hesitation, I would need a place to work on my cavalry force.


Finally I'm allowed to wield my own banner again!

I rode to Oxford to get myself a fitting armour for my new title. Or should I say old regained title? The bartender was most pleased when I asked him if he had some beds for me and my men. My men deserved it! In the early morning I went looking for an armourer. I found one 2 blocks away from the tavern, and when I asked him whether he could make me a fitting heraldic mail with my banner on it he told me he could do it, but that it would double the price to make it fitting. Never the less I accepted it without bargaining. It would be ready in 2 days. Finally I could rest for 2 full days, maybe I could get to know Hild and Saskia a bit better. It has been a long time since I had a woman.
 
The heraldic mail was just perfect, my day couldn’t be better wasn’t it that I received word that The Dane Law declared war against us. This night they besieged Lydford. After picking up my new armour I went to the market to buy some more food for our journey. But on my way to there I had the feeling I was followed. 3 blocks further I had to go through a small alley, there my chaser attacked me. He was just a street brat. It was clear he didn’t follow the latest imperial new and didn’t know I was a vassal now. I wanted to knock him out and hand him over to the court but then I remembered the heads at the bridges of the Thames. I decided nobody deserved such a death, so I killed the man fast and without too much pain. Even if he didn’t know it, he would be grateful to me in the next world.


The land of the Danes, don't expect it to last long once i have my cavalry force.

With new food we rode to Lydford and joined the defence of the castle. It seemed like we were undefeatable as we won yet another battle. This was a faction that could rule the entire Britannia, if they had the right ruler. King Alfred was too soft, after taking 2 castles he is pleased and asks for a cease fire. He could have taken at least another city before asking. The Dane Jarls, as the Lords were called, fled to all directions. Aethelwold divides us in pairs to hunt down the enemy. At me he gave to honour of hunting Jarl Faarn in my own.
 
When I ran into them they were already prepared to fight and charged right towards us. I ordered a frontal charge, the huscarls and other axe wielding soldiers would be to slow to hit us by the time we ran right through them. My tactic proved useful and after a short skirmish the entire Dane army was eliminated, but there was no trail of Jarl Faarn. When I walked over the battlefield I found track. I studied them and came to the conclusion Jarl Faarn ran away with his Elite units, leaving a part of his army behind to keep us busy for some time. By the time we would be able to catch up with him he would be far in Dane territory, a place I didn’t wanted to go yet. Till I had my cavalry army though.


Notes


Spies report they saw Jarl Faarn fly with a part of his army.

Chapter 3

It was time to get myself horses, heavy horses, warhorses. Every horse that had protection would do. I had great plans, heraldic horses, colourful horses, so I stood up early and went to Bexhill. By the time we arrived the sun began to rise. I called together all townsmen, ‘For the coming weeks you won’t need to work on the field, I won’t tax you, and I will send you grain. The better the work the more grain you will receive. During those weeks I’ll be protecting all of you against those so called sea raiders.’ The people were happy, although they didn’t know what they had to make yet. So I explained them the concept of Mounted Warfare. These villagers were smart and got my message.
I ordered my men to bring all the needed materials to an open place, today we would build a production house in this village.
 
Once the production house was ready me and my men putted all needed tools in it, and made them work. I called the villagers in, explained them how the tools worked and how they had to make the mails and plate armour I needed to the men. The women would be on the other side, making the surcoats for the armour. I made sure we had the best equipment; we even had things other man never saw. Half-automatic tools! It would take many more centuries before anybody else would be using them, this was my secret.
 

The smithy at the left side of the production house.


The weaver at the right side of the production house.
 
Everybody started their work, and all went well. But after a few hours the master smith came to me. Saying things I just couldn’t understand! Things like:
‘SCRIPT WARNING ON OPCODE 1718: Invalid Agent ID: 24; LINE NO: 65:
At script: agent_troop_get_banner_mesh.
At script: agent_troop_get_banner_mesh.’
 

 I don't get a word of this jabbish talk!

When I went inside to see what happened I saw a disaster! The armour I brought in to make it stronger with our own technologie and as example for these peasants was completely gone. Instead there were new armours and weapons even! New weapons and new armour! It could be funnier, there even were strange coloured cloths/uniforms. It was a complete disaster, I asked the men what they did. Just as you told us sir. We took the resources from the thing were the mail already was present and combined it with the resources of our own world. You could say copy and paste if you like.
 

 At least there is also progress, we have 2 mailed horses!

I ordered them to reset everything, hoping they had a back-up plan as I didn’t. After hours of hard work they called me in. They looked terrified. And with reason! When I came in I saw, no that’s not true. I saw nothing of it. But I saw that the shields we left behind, were all turned invisible. Only the iron in it was still visible. Now I knew what caused that explosion an hour earlier. This time my head weaver came to me, saying the exact same crap as the master smith did half a day earlier:
‘‘SCRIPT WARNING ON OPCODE 1718: Invalid Agent ID: 24; LINE NO: 65:
At script: agent_troop_get_banner_mesh.
At script: agent_troop_get_banner_mesh.’
 

 I wonder if they would still take blows during battle.

As that wasn’t enough I noticed there were strange drawings on my pay list, a list where I note which unit get how much money. Drawings of me as a monk and my men as mailed soldiers without a body! As that wasn’t enough yet, I saw some man were having fun with their new clothing. The coloured one. They were pretending to be royal huscarls, but huscarls with strange armour and invisible shields.
 



 A bad joke, me as a monk, my soldiers without a body and a huscarl with that silly uniform!

But long I wouldn’t be able to stay, I ordered the peasants to reset everything they had done, we would start all over again, from scratch but with the current knowledge. I had to go hunting some sea raiders. It looked like the explosion we caused made them completely mad. They had stolen horses from the local lord together with some nice plate armours. That while half my cavalry was fighting without body armour because they didn’t had any anymore. We took the outlaws down, and went back to the production house as soon as we could.
 



 I know it looks silly, those sea raiders should have died from laughing at us.

When we returned I saw the peasants had reset everything. I gave them a break and a good warm meal. In the meantime I thought about what could be our problem. And then I had it! Our problem was we wanted to keep the existing horses. What we did was ADDING the ‘new’ horses to our list of items. But what we needed to do was just CHANGE some of the horses, REPLACING the old once with the new once. It weren’t the horses that had to be added, but the armour. We changed the settings of our tools, and started to work again, me included. Changing some of the old hunters to war horses and chargers. This time it went all well, we had our new horses. It took us an entire day, while it was done within an hour!
 
Now we finally have heavy horses. The next day’s I’ll be busy with equipping them to my men.


Notes


 Other Ealdormen are already interested in those invissible armours.

Sorry for the delay, normaly posted half a day earlier. But I was to busy with my political map of Britannia which I'll introduce in Chapter 6.


Chapter 4

I went back to Oxford to take a drink in the tavern, nothing special you would say. And I have to admit that it wasn’t the drink but the girl that made my head spin. I hoped I wouldn’t have a hangover the next day.
The lady’s name was Adriah, she claimed she saw me in one of her dreams. I would be the Saviour off the people. I had to follow the prophesy and hire her so she can stand by me during this quest. I could do little but accept her offer. She looked like a fine girl and she had potential with weapons.



I admit she's a bit strange, but as long as she kills  enemies and serves me she's welcome.

Before we left Oxford again I dismissed all bowmen in my company, I wouldn’t need them anymore. The time of cavalry came once again! But before this cavalry was ready for big battles they had to train as war horses are way different from other horses. War horses can be used as a weapon. Once again I took my men to the sea raiders and let them slaughter them. After 5 parties of them a messenger came to me. Ealdorman Aethelwold requested me to rejoin his marshal army within 4 days. When this message was sent he was raiding Retford.

The trip to Retford went slow as we had to go through the Nottingham forests, very dense woods I can tell you. When we arrived at our destination it was burning already, no sign of any army in the next miles. So I went riding around a bit, when I had to run for some gathered Bishops I ran straight into our army, what a relieve it was. I was once again lucky, very lucky. Together we started the chase of these 3 Bishops.

Bishop Aelred was the first one to be defeated, by our entire army. After him, me and Aethelwold took out Bishop Wulfhere as he was to fast moving for the other armies. The rest of the army would put up a trap for Bishop Whitan. When Wulfhere was defeated me and Aethelwold made the circle of our army complete, a circle around Bishop Whitan. He had nowhere to go and his army was eliminated on the spot.


2 fine catches.

That night I saw a messenger going into Aethelwold’s tent, a few minutes later Aethelwold came outside. Prepare to defend your homeland, the Danes besieged Hereford castle; this was his declaration. An hour later we were all moving towards Hereford castle, me and Aethelwold ahead of the others. But there was less we could do, the enemy army was too big for us, so we waited for the rest of our army. By the time they arrived the Danes started to fly and only their Earl (king), Yvar the Boneless, was left. We took him on with our entire army; the honour of taking him down was for me again. He was a tough guy, shields in front of him and on his back, but his flank wasn’t secured. My sword went into his flesh like it would go through water, without difficulty. The Dane king was slain, but after the battle he was nowhere on the battlefield. Routing enemies must have taken him with them.


We'll meet again.

Our mashal didn’t want to go any deeper into Dane land until he had more intelligence about it. He was looking for a scout. I was most happy to volunteer since my men were tired of the many fights and the Dane axes were sharper then the Khergit Sabres back in Calradia. I had to scout the area around Rochdale castle and its village Bury; afterwards I had to get a report of Clipstone too. I decided to start with the castle and finish the assignment with the Church’s village.

Right between Rochdale castle and Bury I was attacked by an army of the Danes, it went so quickly I didn’t knew which lord they served, and after the battle I was left with nothing but that question. There was not a single trail of their commander, it looked like there wasn’t one. I had no more time to think about it or to track this ghost down. At the horizon I saw a 70-80 men strong army approaching, with my 47 soldiers (16 mounted thanes, 7 Companions, 24 Wessex fyrdmen) I wouldn’t stand a chance against them.


My new pride!

Running away into the woods seemed like a good idea at that time, and it seemed to stay that way. Until everything changed a few miles before we reached Clipstone. We were ambushed by deserter, 68 mercenary horsemen to be precise. They gave me 2 choices, fight to death or pay for passage. If we fought we would die, that was certain. If we paid we might die too, but that didn’t matter, it was worth the try because if we were killed it didn’t mattered if it was with all our money or some hundreds less. The price they asked was a bit higher than I had feared, it seemed like they saw our small number and the fact that we were exhausted from walking more than 12 hours through the woods of Nottingham. 4223 denars and we would go free. I paid them and a minute later they were already gone. We continued our journey to Clipstone and scouted the area. That night we bought ourselves some beds in a tavern of Nottingham.

Next morning we rode for Stroud were we met Ealdorman Osric, we asked him where we could find our marshal. Somewhere around Selbya I guess, he answered. It appeared to me we took the wrong route that morning and so another long journey through the forests of Nottingham began. By the time we reached Aethelwold he told us he resolved the Wessex army forces. Bad luck for me, he didn’t need my scout report anymore. But there was some good luck too! Two times even. The first one was when Harald Fairhair ran right into our armies right before we would split up, it turned out to be a suicidal action of him, and we gave it to him. The second one was that the king would hold a feast in Lundene to celebrate our numerous victories over our enemies.


It seems like I'm losing it.

I went to Lundene and on my way there I met King Alfred again. He wanted to know how I was doing.
‘Well, everything goes just fine. The village you gave me is very prosperious, and my men are strong. It seems that when allied soldiers see my banner on the battlefield they don’t know any fear, and fight even harder than before.’
‘They do, and I’ll tell you why. Aethelwold is full of good words about you, all you do is good for him. The fact you ride into battle as first one and take out the enemy commanders single handed is a big bonus to your cause too. In the beginning people thought you were just another rascal coming from a far away country, running for the law, and fooling around you were a veteran soldier or a vassal or whatever. But now they saw you spoke the truth, continue what you are doing and you’ll make many friends, included mine. But let your power grow to strong and you’ll get even more enemies.’ With those last words his eyes flamed up for a split second. He would be one of those enemies.

I would think about his words a lot the next days, but now I didn’t had any time. The king was reported there was enemy activity near Lundene. He asked me to go there and secure the area at all cost. When I arrived at Rushden I saw it was being raided. But the raiders consisted of 3 parties. 70-80 men strong parties. I knew I couldn’t defeat them on my own, not yet, so I went looking for help.


Only bravery gave us this victory.

That help was given by Raedmund, we attacked the enemy but were outnumbered 3 to 5. 123 of us against 204 of them. Luckily for us these Bishops were defeated not long ago by the marshal’s army and had not much more then militia and peasants. We lost almost no man, our party lost 1 mounted thane, a good guy. He always kept smiling, even when an spear had pinned him to a tree once. it was just with his left arm, but it was enough to be stuck. I saw him fighting against 3 Dane veteran soldiers at that time. I came right on time that time, killed the Dane soldiers and rescued him. This time I wasn’t there to save him. I was at the other side of the battlefield. Saskia did what she could to save him, but it couldn’t be. He died fast and without too much pain. The throwing axe in his chest was buried with him.


Even after losing a good soldier i stay honourable.


We continued our trip to Lundene, but I heard grumbling between my companions. That never happened to me before. In Calradia I had 16 more companions and they never complaint. So I went looking what I was. They shouted without listening to the others. Chaos in my own army, that was unacceptable! I told them that I would invite all of them in my tent to tell me what was on their mind.

Here’s a quick overview of their thoughts:
Hild: (made me think about Klethi)



Happy about choice of companions.
Happy about my style of leadership.
Happy about the current state of affairs.

Saskia: (made me think about Ymira)



Happy about choice of companions.
Happy about my style of leadership.
Happy about the current state of affairs.
Disliked Bedwyr.

Gunnar: (made me think about Bahestur)



Happy about choice of companions.
Happy about my style of leadership.
Happy about the current state of affairs.

Bran: (made me think about Borcha)



Happy about choice of companions.
Happy about my style of leadership.
Happy about the current state of affairs.
Disliked Godric.

Godric: (made me think about Marnid)



Downright appalled about choice of companions.
Happy about my style of leadership.
Not at all happy about the current state of affairs.
Disliked Bran.

Bedwyr: (made me think about Lezalit)



Downright appalled about choice of companions.
Happy about my style of leadership.
Concerned about the current state of affairs.
Disliked Saskia.

Adriah: (made me think about Deshavi)



Happy about choice of companions.
Happy about my style of leadership.
Happy about the current state of affairs.


Notes:


I'm a man of my word, no taxes for Bexhill. They deserved it.


Some love me, some hate me. But hey, that's live!


Building friendly relations.


Wars improved my fighting skills, being a king made me a great leader.

I'm trying to finish the pictures for chapter 6 today, including the political map of Britannia, so i can upload it tonight.

Enjoy reading.


Chapter 5
When I looked into my purse the next morning I saw I lost 70k denars since I arrived. It’s curious I didn’t mention currency earlier. One way or the other these barbarians paid with the same money as we did in Calradia. Luckily for me, otherwise I would have absolutely nothing! Money means power, and powerful I’ll become. But it would take a bit longer than back in Calradia. First I had to refill my pockets those mounted thanes cost me a fortune.
 

I need to make money, quickly.
 
I went to the market of Lundene, I noticed there was a lot of grain. If there is a big offer of something the prices have to be low. I bought grain for 1847 denars, gathered my tiny army and rode towards oxfords. I didn’t saw a single sea raider company, what a pity! I had hoped to train some more men during this rather boring trading trip. I know my father had become rich by trading, before he joined the army. But it was nothing for me; I rather had the loot of an epic battle. Long it took us to reach Oxford, or at least it seemed so. I sold the grain for 2706 denars, which meant I spend a half day to make less than 1000 denars. That was just ridiculous!
 
I had to temper my anger on something, so I went looking for sea raiders. Once we found them they felt my anger. My body was full of their blood, my face was red, I looked like a demon my men said. Those men I would never forget, once they saw me fight, once they saw my fury, they fought harder than ever before. I had 36 of the best mounted thanes of the Wessex kingdom. Let my enemies start to grow suspicious, as Aragorn would rise once again. Thirsty for power!
 

Like my father before me, I'll protect the villagers!
 
Back in Oxford a villager came to me, I had to rescue his village from murdering bandits. I asked him which of the Wessex’ villages was his. ‘Croes, my honourable lord.’ I knew that village, they always provided me with nice new recruits, now it was time to pay them for it. I rode to the village with my new Rohirrim. Those bandits were killed as quickly as I can say ‘Charge!’ and the villager wanted to give me some of their belongings, as token of devotion to me for saving them. I couldn’t accept it, they needed it way more than me. And I took some of their sons with me, many would never return to their village again. War is a bloody business.
 
I didn’t had to wait long in Oxford for another battle. A messenger came to me, declaring that the Kingdom of the Scots declared war against us. This was the third time a messenger came to tell me this. Not only me of course, also the other vassals of King Alfred. We were at war with three factions, that was way too much. The Church didn’t want to make peace since they felt they still had some strength in their bones. Maybe it was time to squeeze them a little bit harder. Harsh as I was I rode to NorWich, to spend the night there and use it as my base of operation. The Kingdom of Mercia was a banner between us and our enemies; let’s hope they don’t declare war on us.
 

To many fronts, are you serious?
 
I decided to take a late walk over the walls, the stars already shone brightly at the heaven and the moon was full. The surroundings looked really beautiful. Way better than the desert and steppes I had back in Calradia. The green here was way better, it looked like it was still ... young, like it was painted on the landscape right before I looked at it. It looked so pure.
 

We rode into battle.
 
But also pure things can get disrupted, at the horizon I saw an army marching, towards Lundene. I saw white with red armors, and brown monk clothing. I ran back to the tavern as fast as I could, these soldiers wouldn’t see daylight again! My men mocked because they felt they never got rest. I promised them they all would get holidays when the wars were over. Right before dawn we attacked, the sun threw her first light in our faces right after the battle was fought. These monks were so weak they only knocked some men unconscious. It could get funny the next days.
 
When we were back in our tavern the bartender told me he had a message from me. I read it. It could be worse. How was it possible? Everything I put my hopes on was gone. It was all over! The war with The Church ended! A truce was formed! Luckily for me I destroyed Bishop Wolfhere’s and Bishop Cuthbert’s army this night, at least not all my effort of coming this far was wasted. A farmer came inside the tavern, running like the devil himself was on his heels. The door went open for a second time. The villager was followed! But it wasn’t the devil, it was a forest bandit. I took him out quickly; he was on a bad place on a bad time. I asked the villager why this man followed him.
 

Honourable as always.

‘I ran away from my village, my lord. Forest bandits invaded it some time ago, making slaves of us, if you get me my lord. We had to work for them, give all we had to them, my lord. We had to sleep between the animals, if you get me my lord. This morning I ran away, but they noticed it, my lord. This man followed me and wanted to kill me, if you get me my lord. But you saved my life, my lord.’
Is it me or was this guy talking pretty strange and annoying? I asked to lead me to his village. He was contented I wanted to help his family and friends. IpsWich was the village’s name. A small village, mostly fishers and grain farmers.
 
The bandits started to run once they saw us, but nothing could stop my Rohirrim from killing them all. Some would say it was massacre and murder, I would call it justice. Justice didn’t knew titles or ranks. Even kings had to be brought to it sometimes. But let’s not get ourselves distracted. A villager came to me, he claimed to be a Wandering skald. He wanted to teach me a poem in exchange for saving his live. I asked him which poem he wanted to teach me. Helgrad and Kara he said. Why not, I said.
 

How beautiful, how romantic!

After this wonderful moment of peace of mind we were back in the hard life of reality. And it was time to fulfill an old promise I made the Danes: I would invade their country!
First I wanted to go by Oxford, I didn’t know why but that city attracted my one way or the other. It was a pity it was already granted to Ealdorman Aethelwold. On the roads I heard rumors that the Kingdom of Northumbria was completely vanished. Although I never visited that country or one of their castles I felt sorry for them. In Oxford I found out that the Mercians took their settlements and that some of the Northumbrian lords were talking with our king in order to pledge loyalty to him.
 

They weren't worth it.
 
I went to the tavern to take a drink after this news, it seemed like the Mercians were planning to expand their kingdom, and they did it quickly. From my own experience I started to fear they’d attack us very soon. If they conquered us, they had a shore behind them, and a side they didn’t had to protect that much as now. On one of the tables I saw another wandering bard, since the previous poem was so beautiful I decided to ask him if he could learn me a poem too. Of course he could, but only if I paid him 300 denars. 300 denars wasn’t that much for a king, but for a normal vassal it became pretty much. After a second thought I decided to do it. The musing feeling of it was worth the 300 denars.
 

Why did it have to end, it was like a dream.

2 days passed before we left Oxford again, into Danish territory. Right before we entered the woods of Nottingham we encountered Sven the Tall, 91 units against 44 of ours. I took the risk. My troops were trained well, and finished the enemy without any problems. Only 3 mounted thanes were killed, 1 was wounded. The enemy was less lucky, 88 of them died, 1 was captured and 2 lived to tell their story.
 
We continued our campaign towards Rochdale castle, but nobody was present there, we rested in a tavern in Carlisle to ride for Neucastle the next day. I was looking for a good axe to break through those heavy shields of this realm. In Neucastle I found what I was looking for, a balanced great axe. It looked beautiful and looked very powerful. It would be tested very soon.
 

Practising with my new axe.
 
Before we left I hired a guy named Leofric, he didn’t had anywhere to go, and told me he had fighting experience. I hired him, with a temporary contract that could be prolonged later. And so we took off for Yorik. Near Yorik Earl Ivor the Boneless came to welcome us, it was such a great honour! The sound of our swords against their axes, weapon against shield and mail, horses trampling men, it was the perfect music for me. Ivor was even willing to fight a duel with me in the heat of battle. We would go stand against eachother, half a battlefield between us, and ride towards each other. Somehow that was a British sport, so I accepted it.
 
Once we were ready I moved my horse forward, slowly. I took my new axe, this would be the first time I used it in battle. During the training fights I had the axe felt heavier than my sword and it seemed to swing slower. I hoped I didn’t made a mistake by using it. The enemy king made his horse run at full speed, I answered by doing the same. For a moment the battle stopped, friend and foe stood by each other, in peace. No backstabbing, no more fighting, everybody was watching us.
 
Ivor was hanging over to his left side, experienced as I was I knew he would try to hit me with a incline swing. The insult couldn’t be greater! You only strike traitors or scum backs in the back when you approach them frontal! If I wanted to live another day I would have to accelerate my horse on the last moment, making him swing into the air, and giving my blow more power. It was only 15 foot and I would reach him. I gave my horse the spurs. Like I thought Ivor couldn’t react on this move and was taken by surprise, my axe went right through his armor. King Ivor the Boneless was unhorsed right away.
 

That was heavy.

The Dane soldiers were furious to see their king lose and the battle exploded again, the fury of the Danes was devastating! The king’s elite guard of 30 Sword Danes (43% of his army) were a truer opponent than any other entire Danish army we had met. 10 of our Rohirrim were killed, 10 other were killed, if I include Leofric, Hild and Adriah. Our losses were pretty high, and our number was down to 16 soldiers ready to fight, hopefully those 10 wounded soldiers would heal quickly. I don’t want to lose more men, not after this sour victory. The king was even saved from captivity by routing Danes!
 
We rest at Lincoln until everybody was ready for the second part of our journey. After a day and half we were ready to leave. We progressed well, we would reach Lundene before nightfall. But that was without counting another battle. Jarl Marayirr was sent out by the Dane king to finish us off. The future didn’t look bright with 49 enemies blocking our path. Before we went to battle I resembled my men. I would speak to them like I did back in Calradia, I would fill their hearts with courage and strengthen their arms.
 

My men fought like never before after hearing this, now I do it before every battle.
 
My speech didn’t fail on me. In the entire battle only 1 mounted thane was killed. And the enemy? Well, how can I best express it? Let me see, they ran like little girls, screaming like pigs on fire! We hunted them down and killed them all. Nobody blocks the path of Aragorn! Their commander was taken captive by my men, but I released him again.
 
Once I arrived in NorWich I took Bedwyr and Godric apart. I asked them to hand over their weapons, armour and horse. Their contract would be stopped. They caused to many problems within my party. They both understood it and knew what would be the next move in their lives. I was happy they took it so well. I would have thought it would be harder. This was something I never had to do before. If somebody was no longer in my party before, he was killed in battle, honourable. But this was different. If I kept them, people would start deserting. I couldn’t let that happen.
 

They didn't had to disturbe o ur peace.
 
After a good night’s rest we went back to Lundene, I wanted to talk with the king about my progress. We talked for hours, as I arrived in his room right after noon, and now it was already evening. All the king did was praise my victories and my honour and bravery. Only good things I hear about you, he said. That was a big relieve for me, if I wanted to become powerful again I had to be friends with my king and his vassals. At the end of our conversation I asked King Alfred where I could find our mashal Aethelwold. It seemed he was in the area of Bristol castle, but he was moving around.
 
The next day we left for Oxford, their I visited the arms merchant again. I heard he had some good stuff from time to time. I was lucky today, I saw a nice heavy round shield. It would be perfect as it would be able to carry my banner on it. I bought it right away.
 

Now I carry my banner on my shield again, that feels good.
 
We continued our trip to Bristol castle but near Carterton I found tracks of Aethelwold’s army. 3 men strong, him included. It had to be a tough fight since he last recruited some new troops. After a few hours I catched up with him, he had made camp for today and asked me and my men to join him. The camp was so empty with only 3 men. He told me that two new lords joined our kingdom, they were from the defeated Nurthumbrians. He showed me their faces.
 


Let's see what they are worth.

He also told me his brother, Coenraed. He was held prisoner in Dublin. I promised I would rescue his brother and bring him back in one piece. How I would be doing it, I didn’t know. I would have to sneak into the enemy town unseen. But that were troubles for later. Now I wanted to ask Aethelwold if it was possible to strengthen our bands, with a blood band. Unfortunately Aethelwold didn’t agree, his daughter was already been courted by another lord, who was a better party for her since he had a castle, and I had only a small village. Well, so be it. But I won’t give up so quickly.
 

I'll make him see I'm way better than that little boy.
 
I went to Nottingham the next day, there I would wait for some time and train my troops before I continued my journey to Dublin. Not much later I received word that King Alfred gave a feast in Lundene. I thought it was best to go.
When I reached the castle of Lundene I went to the king, asking if he needed one of my services. He did. He needed somebody to train him 5 mounted thanes. I told him he could have 5 of mine right away, if he gave me 5 new recruits. The king was most pleased with this gesture of mine.
 
When I walked in the streets of Lundene I met a wandering skald, just like some days ago I asked him if he knew some poems he could teach me.
‘Of course I can my lord, pay me 300 denars and I’ll teach you -An argument in the garden-. A most pleasant poem!’
He was right, I enjoyed it just as much as the two previous ones. By the time I knew it by hard, 2 days later, Coenraed was released and Aethelwold sent me a message saying I didn’t need to do the job anymore, Coenraed is save.
 

That was a great story.
 
That same night I heard people talking about a monk with some of the best surgery skills in whole Britannia. I listened closely, he would be called Padraid, and travelling around looking for somebody who was willing to pay him for his service. I knew a good surgeon can save the lives of your men, so I planned to go and look for that man. I would pay him whatever he asked.

Chapter 6
Warfare in this land is so different than back home. But it remembers me at the stories my father told me, about the Nords. Fighters with sharp axes and huge shields, brave in battle, drunk in the taverns. He fought on foot too, that would be the only difference between the two of us. But maybe I had to get myself some foot soldiers too. What is better than facing the enemy with its own strength. The elite infantry of Wessex was called Saxon huscarls, I would train some men to be like that, and see if they really are as good as they say. Although I can tell you the most dangerous battles I fought against the Danes, almost a copy from the Calradian Nords.
 
I hired 64 new recruits in the Wessex’ villages, 21 to become mounted thanes, 43 to become Saxon huscarls. The training would cost me a lot of time, time I didn’t want to waste. I would have to do what bored me the most, trading. I would try to see if NorWich had some moneymaking business. During our journey I would try to enjoy the untamed nature of Britannia. And if I would go through the woods of Nottingham, I would enjoy their peace. Now I mention the word, I didn’t knew a lot of peace since I came here. All I’ve done was fighting, day after day. When a truce was formed, another faction already declared war on us. Would it have to do something with our king?
 

Even more money was lost since the last time I checked it.
 
In Nottingham I could only find some grain, that was way below my rank to trade, but why wouldn’t I take a look at the price. It was put at 21 per 50 pounds. It wasn’t very low, I saw towns with only 17 for 50 pounds. I went to Nottingham, that town was a thriving city; trade had to be flourishing over there. But nothing was less true, I couldn’t find a good deal in this town except from some olives. I would try my luck with buying 60 pieces of them for 432 denars.
 
Although I would never become a good trader, I sold the olives left, 50 because my men had eaten 10 on our way over Moralarch. I sold them for 406 denars. I went to the tavern to drink some beer, maybe the world like nicer after some pints. Not long after I ordered my second two guys came inside, introducing themselves as Uhtred and Osbert. They told me they both knew a lot about warfire, Uhtred about hand to hand combat, Osbert about sieges, and they were looking for a job. If I may believe them they were looking for me days and crossed the entire country already.
 

Nice to come, but the feeling of the next day isn't as nice.
 
After having a nice chat with some more beers we carried each other back to the camp. We wouldn’t leave Moralarch tonight. And tomorrow I would have a terrible hang over, but that would be my own fault.
The predicted became reality and the trip to Caernarvon was a torture for me and my two new companions. But after a long route of redemption we finally reached the city, I would never drink that much again!
 
Since there was no good trade in Caernarvon I immediately continued my journey towards Carlisle. On our way there we rode into a caravan of Earl Ivar, the opportunity was there and the temptation was to big! I had to rob it! And so we did. The caravan guards were weak, and killed quickly. None of my men went down, it would be a shame if they did. But the loot wasn’t that big, just some minor stuff.
 
After the battle Adriah came to me, she had something to say.
‘Lord Aragorn,’ she said, ‘Uthred is a traitor, he pretends to be a nobleman, but in fact he’s just a robber baron. He’ll sneak up on you at night, and steel all your money, maybe even kill you. I don’t want to be a rat, but I felt I had to tell you this for your own sake.’
‘It’s good you did that Adriah, I’ll take care of it right away.’
And so Uthred could give me his weapons, armour and horse, he was dismissed.
 

 This happens when you try to betrail me.

I went back to Aethelwold, I had a feeling he had a mayor task for me. I would try Oxford first, as there would be a good chance he was resting there with his men. My intuition was right, he was sitting in his hall, eating some of those strange huge porks. I asked him if that were normal porks, and he started laughing, ‘This aren’t porks! This are wild boars! Pork is for woman and children, real men hunt and eat wild boar.’
‘Back in my country we don’t have those boars. But why I came here, do you need any of my services, sir?’
‘Yes, I need somebody to capture a Scottish lord for me, than I can exchange him for one of our captured men. Are you up for this job?’
‘Yes I am!’
 
I just couldn’t know what ****ty position I placed myself in. If I would have known it, I would never accepted this quest. But I couldn’t know it, so I went to Scottish territory. I had to look pretty long before I found my first Scottish opponent, his name was Lord Muhnir. The battle was fearce, 4 of my Fyrdmen were killed, 1 wounded, 6 mounted thanes died, 2 were wounded. Osberth and Leofric were heavily wounded too. But the enemy was eliminated, 76 enemies were killed, 2 wounded, 5 had routed. Unfortunately Lord MuhniR escaped.
 

 [/i]Just some bad luck[/i]

But I wouldn’t have to wait to long for the next battle. Lord Mac Alpin was very happy to fight me. during this battle something that never happened before happened. My greatest fear! I felt unconscious in the last minutes of the battle due to my many wounds. 4 of my mounted thanes were killed, 1 wounded, and 1 fyrdman was killed. The enemy was less lucky, 94 men killed, 3 capture, only the lord escaped. I would train all my fyrdmen to become infantry units. The Scots were masters when fighting with pikes and my cavalry was slaughtered almost every battle. I couldn’t just murder these men. That would destroy my moral.
 
I went to Ullapool to recover and sell my loot. After a half day rest I took my soldiers to the tavern, we would drink all together and remember our fallen friends. The gods smiled at me that day. in the tavern I ran into Padraig, the surgeon. I started talking to him, my men joined the conversation and soon Padraig felt accepted. He asked if I wanted to hire him. ‘Say your price!’ I said.
‘Well, I don’t ask much, just 5 denars a week, and the better of service I am, the more I get paid.’
I accepted this offer immediately. Or this man was a very devoted priest, or he couldn’t handle the beer. But that didn’t bother me, I made a great deal.
 

 Doesn't he look great in his new armour?

Padraig looked out the wounds of all of us and soon we were all back to full health. I went to the market to sell my loot, all broadswords, a special type of sword the Scots used. I earned 4068 denars, 3 breads and still had half of my loot. We had to travel to Inverness to sell the rest of the loot for 5113 denars. I asked the bartender which day it was today. 24th of may he said. I couldn’t believe my ears; I was here already for two months. That was a long time already, but at least I didn’t do nothing. I was a vassal of the king, had a good standing in our faction, a powerful friend, and many other connections. I was pretty pleased of myself.
 
The next morning I heard the Kingdom of Mercia declared war on us. The greatest kingdom of the realm declared war on us! This would be fun. But this also meant that if I wanted to return home, I had to cross enemy land for almost the entire time. That could became a problem. If I ever captured a Scottish lord at least, they always slip away! I granted my men some days rest, to get the moral up, that proves always.
 
2 days later we engaged Lord Lairn, we lost 1 mounted thane, another was wounded, 1 Wessex veteran thane was wounded and so were Padraig, Osbert, Leofric and Saskia. 90 enemies were killed, 5 routed. Lord Lairn managed to escape, what a surprise. Now I know why everybody else hates the Scots! Sneaky bastards it are, yes, sneaky. By now I had almost no mounted thanes left, I would punish those Scots one day. But I wasn’t strong enough yet to attack their castles. That would kill all of us.
 

This is no longer bad luck, this is a punishment of the gods!
 
Lord Domnall was our next aggressor, the fight was though, but we got ourselves a clear victory. 1 mounted thane got wounded, 2 were killed, 2 Wessex veteran thanes were wounded, 3 were killed.
The enemy lost 75 brave men, 3 routed and 1 was captured. Lord Domnall ran away with his tail between his legs.
 
I decided to go back to Ullapool and sell my loot. This loot delivered me 4836 denars, than the merchants didn’t want to buy anymore of these swords. In Inverness I sold the rest and got myself a nice 3520 denars and some of dried meat and smoked fish. The wandering troubadour in the tavern told me ‘The storming of the castle of love’, a story I would never forget.
 

I need to find myself a lady to court, but then I need a castle or town.
 
We continued our campaign against the Scots, our next victim was Lord Mac Clyd. It was one of the most epic fights I fought since my arrival. The enemy outnumbered us more than 2 to 1, and was led well. Their position was perfect and the spearmen stood everywhere. A cavalry charge would be deathly for my men. So I decided to lead my cavalry around with me. The infantry would have to do the work of the cavalry now, destroying the enemy formation. The cavalry would charge in later.
 
The losses of my infantry were higher than other times. 8 Wessex veteran thanes were killed, 1 was wounded, 2 mounted thanes were wounded during battle, one of them death not much later, Padraig couldn’t save him. The enemy was eliminated, 95 men died that day, 4 ran away, and their leader, Lord Mac Clyd was taken captive by me. Normally I didn’t take lords captive, so now I had to do it, I let him eat at my table, and let him ride on a horse while we marched. I would treat him well.
 

The gods listened to my prayers.
 
To go home was a task as big as taking a Scottish lord captive. I discussed the possible routs with my companions. After a while we all agreed that taking a boot to Ireland at night and then travelling the shore of Ireland, to an harbour near Dublin and take a boot to Welsh territory would be the safest. That way we only had to travel I few miles in enemy territory, near Dublin. And so we did. But when we came near Dublin word reached me and my men that the Dane Law signed a truce with the Kingdom of Wessex. Now our journey to home was completely safe.
 
Ealdorman Hrothgar had send a messenger to look for me, as he wanted to invite me on his feast in Hastings castle. I would go there, but first I had to deliver a prisoner to Aethelwold. When I rode by Hereford castle I was scared to death, I almost ran right into the enemy marshal army! They were sieging Hereford castle. 1500 I guessed against 140 defenders. I didn’t bother joining as this battle was lost before it began. Sometimes it’s better to lose land but field a stronger army. I continued my journey to Oxford, hopefully Aethelwold was still there and not riding around gathering the army.
 

War makes good money.
 
As I feared Aethelwold wasn’t present in Oxford, I asked Eawulf if he knew where Aethelwold was. He reacted very surprised: ‘Don’t you know Ealdorman Aethelwold was taken captive by the Mercians?’ This was new for me, and I had only 12 days left to finish my quest for him. Than the prisoner would be decapitated. I went back to Hereford castle, maybe Aethelwold was there too. I sent a scout into the enemy camp. He reported to me with exact the next words: ‘My lord, our marshal is the captive of Ealdorman Burghred, marshal of the Mercian army, owner of 3 castles.’
 

He looks very succesful to me, maybe I can use him later.
 
I sent an intercessor to him, maybe I could ransom Aethelwold. But all I got back from this poor man was his head followed by a horde of Mercian cavalry. We retreated to Stroud. The villagers kept us hidden. From there I saw the horsemen following us carried Burghred’s banner, if we were lucky we could trap his army here. But nothing was less true. The horsemen returned to the siege, Hereford castle was taken that night.
 
I kept following the marshal army for 3 days, than I saw my opportunity, Burghred was riding ahead of his army, I could cut off his retreat and take him down. 1 of my mounted thanes was killed, 3 Saxon huscarls were killed, 2 wounded. They were indeed strong fighters, the Scottish highlands strengthened them. The enemy army was completely killed, 60 men died within 2 hours. Aethelwold was happy to see me again. He had hoped that I would receive word of his defeat and that I would return to save his ass. Now he had to hunt down Burghred first, after that he would return to Oxford, there we could continue our talk. And then he left, just like that.
 

My elite infantry.
 
I went recruiting some new peasants, my Saxon huscarls were back to their previous number as I rescued and hired 3 of them from Burgred’s party. After a couple of days I returned to Oxford. Aethelwold had just arrived and was talking with Eawulf about his captivity. When he saw me he called me closer. He asked me how it went in the Scottish mountains, I told him the entire story, finishing with the fact that I had brought him his prisoner. ‘I knew you could do it!’ He said.
 

Ealdorman Aethelwold is most pleased with the result.
 
Hrotghar was marshal now, because Aethelwold was captive and the Kingdom needed a new military leader. I thought about the feast I completely forgot, well, if Hrotghar didn’t understood the fact I had to rescue a friend I knew what kind of a men he was. I sent him my apology for missing the party.
He answered me: ‘Don’t worry Aragorn, the party was replaced. We heard you were trying to rescue Aethelwold, Eawulf informed me. We didn’t want you to miss this feast after your campaign against those Scottish highlanders. Come to Exeter castle tomorrow, than we can talk a bit and feast!
 
The rest of the day I spend training my men and visiting some ransom brokers. I never liked that kind of man, paying for other people’s live like it were just pigs or cows. But they gave me good money, not enough for my meaning, but it was something. That day I earned 496 denars for my Scottish prisoners. I should have earned double, as these men were hard workers, but the guy I sold them too was the only one who wanted them.
 

If I can continue this, I’ll be able to finance a great army soon.
 
The feast in Exeter wasn’t that big as there were almost no other lords. I made a quick chat with all of them, and then me and Hrotghar went to another chamber, we had some things to discuss.
Hrotghar was most pleased with my victories against the Scots, but now he needed me back here, in the fights against the Kingdom of Mercia. They were getting the better of them, and right now the moral of the lords was too low for another campaign. With other words, there was no campaign in progress, no organisation! This couldn’t continue, once again I would start my own campaign against those Mercian dogs! We would see who was getting the better of who!
 

Notes
 

 The long awaited map has arrived!

Good day to you all. I've been working hard last days, felling trees encetera, so I hadn't as much time as the other days. I appologize for the delay. In this chapter I've made the images a bit smaller, I'll be resizing the images of the next chapter too. I try to do as much as I can today, but it'll be hard as i started to sort them since chapter 5, but the other 5 are all in 1 big map.
For this part, 'Winning a woman's heart', I'm planning to combine medieval romance with medieval warfare, I'm known with my friends as a romantic writer and they all love my poems, maybe I'll put some of them in the AAR instead of the all well-known standard.

Chapter 7
If I wanted to go on my own campaign, I would need more men. I can’t go fighting lords with 80 to 100 men with an army of 60. That would be too risky; too many good soldiers and friends would die. I visited all Wessex villages, trying to recruit as many men as possible. The villages weren’t that happy about all the gatherings recent. Many young men were taken. But for every soldier I recruit I gave the parents 10 denars. I know it’s not enough, but I couldn’t give them much more, I had to buy equipment too.
 
After a week of recruiting I went back to Oxford, to see if Ealdorman Aethelwold was willing to follow me. Unfortunately he had other business that needed his attention. I understand it, what was I? Notting! I didn’t even have my own keep! I rode out of Oxford, but then I heard a beautifull sound, the sound of iron against iron. A battle was fought somewhere close. It had to come from over the river one of my soldiers said. ‘How can you be so sure?’ I asked.
‘Well, my lord, the sound is different when it comes from over the river.’
‘Ok, I’ll follow your advice, don’t fear if it’s wrong as I won’t punish you. I don’t know where it is from either, but if you are right, I’ll reward you with gold!
 

The strategy I jused during the following battle.
 
The man would be rewarded with lots of gold soon, he brought us right to the battle. King Alfred, and some Ealdormen (Egfrith, Penda and Osric) were fighting Ealdorman Burghred, Sighere, Feofweld, Guthere and Aethelred. You wouldn’t say it if you looked at the participators, but with my units we outnumbered the enemy 2 to 1, 603 against 290. I went to the king and asked if I could take command of the entire army. I had a plan to minimize our casualties. After a long discussion with the other lords my request was granted.
 
Since we had the most men, I told the infantry to hold a line, the archers would stand right before them and fire at the enemy once in range. The cavalry would be led by me in person. We went to the flank of our army and rode behind the enemy lines. It was when we charged the enemy noticed us, and panic broke out. Our achers were firing, our infantry was shouting at the enemy and knocking on their shields (Roman tactic, this makes a hell of a sound, most of the time the enemy gets very frightened of it.). Me and my Rohirrim would kill the enemy commanders while the others would kill as many archers as possible. The commanders were all taken out before I could say ‘Knights of Rohan!’ and the cavalry retreated like I ordered them. The infantry noticed our move and charged towards the enemy, shouting even harder! The cavalry turned and charged for a last time, our allies were having some trouble with this move, they aren’t so trained in mounted warfare as my men.
Only 10 of our men were killed in battle, 6 were wounded. A few days later a peace treaty would be signed.
 
I rode back to Oxford to sell my loot and prisoners, but at the horizon I saw black clouds, a storm I thought. I hurried my men up, nothings is more annoying than a wet armour. As we came closer to Oxford I saw this cloud came from the ground, like a fire. Then I knew it, Branbury was burning! I ordered my men to leave their baggage behind for now, we would pick it up later. As for now we had to travel light and fast. Branbury was still multiple miles away. I ordered Padraig and Leofric to stay with the infantry and follow our tracks. I would take the rest of my Rohirrim to the fight already. We rode as fast as we could, which was the only reason we came on time. We rode into the village at full speed, I can assure you it wasn’t easy. The raiders were taken by surprise and completely overwhelmed. It were Scotsmen, and they recovered quickly from their surprise. The fight would be hard. Many of the villagers came to our aid, wielding pitchforks or butchering knifes. 12 Saxon huscarls died, 9 were wounded, 3 Wessex veteran fyrdmen were killed, 2 others had heavy injuries. Of the villagers 11 were killed, double that number was wounded. But the army of Lord Mac Fergus was crushed, 125 Scottish soldiers lie death in the village and on the fields, Lord Mac Fergus was nowhere to see. I would see him later, and then he want escape me.
 

 Today it was the blood of our enemy that flew.

Another load of recruits had to be gathered and trained. In the Christian city of Canturbury I spotted some nice trade goods, salt and spice at very low prices. This looked like a copy of Calradia’s Tulga! I bought all of their spice and salt and took off to Oxford. I was lucky, Oxford needed bought goods, and they needed a lot of them. So I sold my entire inventory, and bought an heraldic mail with surcoat for Hild. At the Oxford merchant I asked whether he had a job for me to do. A caravan had to be escorted to Maghera castle. The trip towards and back again was boring, but the training of my men continued.
 

One day I'll be lord of this town.

The second task I had to perform was to rescue a nobleman’s daughter from kidnappers. The place of meeting was Cavan, I got 5000 denars to ransom the girl. I took my army to there and demanded the kidnappers would release the girl. They had only 48 men while I had 106, but still they were too stubborn to know they weren’t a match for us. they forced us to give the money, all the got that day was death. The girl was saved and taken to Oxford.
 

 Discussing the terms of agreement on the next job.
 
I went back to Canturbury to buy some more salt and spice. Soon I was known in the entire area for my salt and spice rather than my military achievements. I sold the goods at Lundene, Oxford and Wintchestre. Nobody knew the true reason of this trading, I still disliked it, but it was a good excuse to walk through Canturbury. I would start a war with the Church again, and take this city for my own. Hopefully the kings grants it to me. But it was so long since I fought a battle on foot.
 
The next days I kept chasing bands of sea raiders consisting of 15 men. My army I let hold position while I rode 30 feet forward. Dismounted and sent my horse back. With my shield and one-handed sword ready I waited for the enemy. Some of them tried to throw their axes to me, but that didn’t help them. One I took with my shield, the two others I avoided. After that I started killing them one by one. Awaiting their strike and then striking just that little bit faster. I wasn’t even wounded after those battles. 4 of them I fought, but then it became boring. I still had some troops who needed to be trained to Saxon huscarls. I took on bigger groups again, but only with my infantry. I joined them on foot too, and soon we all felt ready to go siege Canturbury. My men knew about my reasons for this trade, many have provided me with additional intelligence about the surroundings and garrison of Canturbury.
 

 Drills were bloodless battles and battles were bloody trainings.
 
Than the decisive day arrived, I had to provoke them before I could siege the city. A non-written rule of nobility. A demanded toll from a caravan not far away from Canturbury. More wasn’t needed. I prepared the ladders to assault the walls a mile away from the walls. I would attack at night, around 4 o’clock, when the guard was changing. If all went well the city would be ours when the sun came up. Bishop Berrington and Hugh had to make trouble and attacked our camp when we were still preparing for the siege. Even while they outnumbered us they weren’t a match for my trained soldiers. Priest weren’t meant to fight, even not when they thought so. Unfortunately they both escaped. But the shame would be too big to go to Canturbury right away. They would have to gather a new army first. A few hours later our ladders were finished, but we had to wait till nightfall.
 
When it was dark we came closer to the city, and hided ourselves in the bushes not far from the walls. When the moon said it was 4 o’clock we began our assault, we carried the latter to the wall and placed it right between two towers. I went up as fast as I could and caught the guards of guard. But that didn’t change the fact somebody else blew on the horn and reinforcements would be coming soon. We cleared the wall and took a strong foothold for ourselves. The reinforcements came in waves of thirty men a time. It proved this wasn’t enough and by dawn the city was ours.
 

 The city is ours, the battle was hard, but the joy is greater.
 
I sent a messenger to the king informing him I asked that Canturbury was rewarded to me. the next 3 days would be waiting for answer of the king. In the mean time I took my men to a tavern, they deserved it, and our victory had to be celebrated. In a dark corner I saw a men in black with a cape over his head. I couldn’t see his face, so I asked the bartender who this person was. ‘Nobody here knows his name, but everybody calls him ‘Rider’. He comes and goes as he pleases, doesn’t say a lot while he is here. When I looked at the corner again he was gone. I hoped I would see him again, he looked like me, before I became king of course. I wandered through the wilderness too.
 
In another corner I saw a wandering troubadour, I went to him and bought him a drink. The man thanked me and asked for what reason he deserved this generosity. ‘I want you to tell me what you know about Lady Elina.’
‘They say that Lady Elina is determined to marry well and make her mark in the world. She may be a tremendous asset for her husband – provided he can satisfy her ambition!’
‘Thank you very much, I’ll let the bartender put your drinks on my account.’
‘Thank you, my lord.’
And so it was done, I paid this man’s drinks, but he did me a great favour. The door flew open when I went back to my companions. A messenger was looking for Lord Aragorn. I didn’t knew a Lord Aragorn, but I did knew Aragorn. Once I saw the message I understood the new title, I was named lord of Canturbury!
 

 My own city, how adorable!
 
The next days we stayed in the city, the garrison had to be trained and I needed to take a look around in my new estate.


Notes


Behold 'Aragorn Lord of Canturbury'


The Danes took some Irish territory too.

I've redone the pictures. I hope it's better now.

I'm starting a poll for the sizes of the maps, cause it's a map few people know, and I have the feeling it's not quite visible sometimes. Now I need your opinion.

Dude, this is really good! 

Keep it up man!

COGlory said:

Dude, this is really good! 

Keep it up man!

Click to expand...

Thank you very much sir. I will, but next 3 days I won't be able to make as much progress as I have some outstanding family business to take care off.

I'll try to get the work done today, hopefully it works.

Im so sorry for bothering you and asking noobs questions.i will delete post after you answer me,its really big thread and yeah im lazy to read all of it , i just read the title and i dont see wtf Rohan have to do with British island? and what is this overall? it seems col but im so lazy please explain me .Thanks.

Crussader said:

Im so sorry for bothering you and asking noobs questions.i will delete post after you answer me,its really big thread and yeah im lazy to read all of it , i just read the title and i dont see wtf Rohan have to do with British island? and what is this overall? it seems col but im so lazy please explain me .Thanks.

Click to expand...

Don't appologize, you don't bother me

You know LoTR don't you? Than you know that Rohan had the finest horsemen. My character looks like Aragorn, and I wanted a horse-kingdom.
This Brititsh isles are perfect since in this area (mod of 600-900 in Britannia) they had 90% infantry armies. So I found it pleasent to try this out.
But I advice you to read it, than you'll understand.

I'm back again, hopefully I can start playing and writing again, I missed it last 2 days.

Chapter 8
It was great news, every Ealdorman was shocked by it, but I wasn’t. I knew it would happen. I provoked it. Now the Church answered and declared war on the Kingdom of Wessex. This was a good moment to get a bigger garrison in Canturbury, a combination of archers and infantry would do. The Church had archers that were trained very quickly. 4 power draw, only 2 tiers up the ladder. If I combined them with Wessex thanes my city would be safe.

I took a little holiday and wandered through my new home. All of a sudden 4 men blocked my path, they were dressed in old clothing, but armed. They wanted my money or my life. Clearly they didn’t knew who I was. I would bet all my money on it these men were extreme religious Christians. There blows were strengthened by anger, but they lacked the speed and precision of soldiers. I blocked all of their attacks with ease and killed them one by one.

They messed with the wrong guy

I went to my castle, it looked awesome now it was decorated by my own banner. It was a high building, the highest of Canturbury, but I had a clear view of my surroundings. I went inside, took the stair up and came in my open air room. Also there I had my own banner. I went further up, and came on the top of my castle. I looked around. Not far from the city gates I saw villagers running away from something. I looked closer, they were running for Welsh cattle thieves! I went back down and gathered my Rohirrim, riding out towards the enemy.

How beautiful it is to have your own place again.

The cattle thieves ran before us, but couldn’t escape. All of them were murdered, and their hats were put on sticks. They would stay here as a sign to others, this is what happens if you attack my villagers! I got back to Canturbury to pick up my Saxon Huscarls. Lincoln was besieged by our marshal army and I would join them as soon as possible. We rode out, and came past another battlefield. One of our caravans was attacked by Bishop Whitan, Neric and Edmund. They outnumbered them hard, as together they had 174 units. We came right on time to save the caravan from defeat. Bishop Whitan and Edmund were captured and released again. After they got a giant speech of me about the fact that nobody touches one of my caravans without experiencing my vengeance. Sindon was safe too now, since the Bishops left before finishing their job.

I stopped in Lundene, there I bought new helmets for my companions. In total it costed me 10260 denars! But it was worth it, my companions are my officers, without them I wouldn’t be able to accomplish what I already did, or what I would be doing in the future. After this little break we went to Lincoln without any detour, and arrived just on time to kill the last 100 defender. Not an hour later Lincoln was in our hands, me and my men were fresh, and eager to fight while the defenders were tired of tremendously long fighting.

Only the very best is good enough for my officers.

In Lincoln the traders hadn’t been able to sell their goods for the last days, that’s the reason why they had a large stock. When the offer is huge, the prices are low. And so I bought 52 sacks of salt for 5012 denars; that’s an average of 96 per sack! I knew I could make a major profit with this. Since we had conquered 2 Christian towns in very short time the king invited us all for a feast in Lundene. Only a few Ealdorman were present, I talked with them about the past wars, I ate, I drunk. But I didn’t stayed long, I had to go to Oxford, to Aethelwold. But before I would leave Lundene I sold my salt at the market for 7577 denars and bought a think winged great helmet. Hild I had to leave behind, the king needed her services for a week. Well, she’ll bring me some good information about our king when she’s back.

My first taxes with my new town.

Aethelwold was pleased by my visit, I didn’t want to prolong my suffering, I asked him if I was allowed to see his daughter. What do you have to offer my good friend, he asked me.
‘I have pleased many woman before, but when I pledge my loyalty to one, I stay with her. I am a veteran soldier and a favoured lord of our King, that’s why he granted me Canturbury. I can give her riches and passion, I promise you my friend, I’ll make her happy.’
‘In that case you have my blessing to pay suit to her, so long as your intentions are honourable, of course. Depending on how things proceed between you two, we may have more to discuss at a later date.’

That was one of my happiest days of my life. I went to her room, full of confidence. When I arrived I was shocked by her appearance, she was even more beautiful than the rumours say. I asked if I had the honour of knowing more about her. She told me all there was to know, but after that she said: ‘Now, if you will excuse me...’
I was disappointed, but I wouldn’t let myself been thrown aside that easily. I would come back, and win her heart! The next tournament held, I’ll make sure I win it, and I’ll win it for her!

This isn't how it was planned.

Like a whipped dog I went back to Canturbury. In the tavern I ordered the bartender to give every man that entered the tavern free beer in my name. I paid him 1000 denars to cover his expenses.
After that I went looking for the guild master of the town, I had to make this town love me, that would always be handy. The guild master told me a shepherd was sick, but his herd needed to be brought to NorWich. I told him I would bring the herd there, he just had to tell the shepherd his herd was in good hands and had ultimate protection against cattle thieves and other bandits.

A great warrior has to drive cattle, how ironic.

When I came back in Canturbury arfter 2 days the shepherd was better already and thanked me for my help. He told me there were troublesome bandits in the area, attacking travellers and caravans in this area. Everybody was talking about it, and everybody would be grateful to the one that took them down. ‘You no longer have to worry, I’ll hunt them up. Just tell me where they were last seen, than I might be able to pick up their track.’
‘A mile West of Canturbury, 3 hours ago.’

I went to the West of Canturbury, after searching for some time I found tracks. 48 men strong, all on foot. We followed the track into Folkstone forest, there the bandits attacked us. In the dark they thought we were just a great caravan. They asked us all our money. I answered I only brought them cold steel. The next 15 minutes the peace and quietness of the forest was disturbed, the bandits were slaughtered like pigs. No tactics, just a slaughtering.

Back in Canturbury I hired myself a clerk, he would take note of all my actions, with the dates on which they happen. That way I will be able to write everything down even more accurate than now. That day was the 24th of july 1257, 4 months after my arrival.


Notes

I like my new look, it gives my person more appearance.

The taxes are extremely high the second week.

Nice new chapter!