[Story Time] "The Fall of Swadia's Pride".

As a long time player of Warband and lurker of this subreddit I decided to finally post! So I was feeling creative and wanted to start writing again so I decided to make a short story revolving around my in-game character Edward Cliffwood who is a Swadian vassal and married to Lady Tidal. I am not sure if this is allowed or not, but I felt like posting it and please give me your feed back or even suggestions how to improve my story telling. The story starts now:

He wakes up groggily and tries to survey the field. All he sees are his close comrades, lads from villages that he had hired to form a mercenary band, being slaughtered. He was in pain his head was throbbing, his sides were ringing in pain and his chest now bore a hole thanks to a crossbow bolt. He finally stood up and looked around to his left he saw Garvin. Garvin was the first lad he hired from the village of Azgad. Garvin was his closest friend and grew from a village recruit to a Swadian Knight. He was proud of Garvin, but now all that was left of Garvin was a headless corpse. The man could not help, but let the tears stream down his face. He coughed out some blood and grabbed the bolt implanted on his chest. He then yanked it out with all his might and cursed whomever shot that bolt. Wait a minute the man realized he looked at the bolt and to his shock realized that it was a Swadian crossbow bolt! He was fighting a small band of Khergit horseman who use bows and arrows so what was a bolt doing here and why would an ally bolt hit him? He tries to recall what had happened moments earlier. Yes he was leading his army of 85 strong against a Khergit scout party consisting of 20 horseman and 25 archers. He remembers ordering his Swadian Knights to flank and crush the archers while his sharpshooters peppered the horseman before they fell victim to his Swadian infantry. It was a swift victory then why was his army in shambles? His head starts to ache, but he fights through it and looks at the battlefield again. To his dismay he sees the banners and colors of his king, King Harlaus. He falls to his knees and watches as his army consisting of his closest friends and comrades fall like wheat to scythe before King Harlaus’s troops. All he can gather and say is why? He was known as the Defender of Swadia, The People’s Champion and Swadia’s pride so why would his own king betray him. He sees a figure atop a hill in the distance and he makes it out to be King Harlaus himself! Infuriated the man grabs his sword and runs towards one of King Harlaus’s knights. The knight seems him and spurs his horse towards the man he plans to use his lance and knock the man’s head clean off his shoulders. The man anticipates this, jumps on the knight’s lance and with all his might swings his fabled two handed bastard sword decapitating the knight instantly. The knight’s lifeless corpse falls off the horse and the man mounts it and rides towards King Harlaus. Upon reaching the base of the hill he screams “King Harlaus, you damn traitor! Why?!?!?! Was I not a loyal vassal?”. King Harlaus laughs and says “Yes, indeed you were Sir Edward Cliffwood in fact you were too good which led to peasants rambling about how good it would be if you were a king! Bah bloody peasants and their mouths, but even ants banded to together can crush an empire which is why I decided to end you, so that day never arises!”. Edward looks at his king in disbelief and screams “You killed all my men because you feared baseless rumors!”. Not able to contain his anger anymore Edward charges and his king however the king’s guards intercept him and knock him of his horse. Edward stands up and grips his sword. He studies the two guards and he sees them smirking. He looks to the guard standing to the left, meets his eyes and says “Even you father-in-law? Why are you defending this cur that is trying to kill and take away your daughter’s livelihood!”. The guard laughs and says “Edward my boy this was a long time coming. You took my daughter from me. I had planned to marry her to King Harlaus’s son and advance my standing in the realm, but you had to come in and steal my daughter’s heart. No matter today you die!”. Edward charges and swings his sword. His father-in-law dodges and smacks Edward with his shield and brings down his sword towards Edward’s head. Edward rolls out of the way, grabs some dirt and throws it into his opponent’s eyes. Now that his father-in-law is blinded he thrusts his swords and runs it clean through his opponent’s chest. He watches has the life drains out his father-in-law’s eyes. Edward feels no remorse for the traitor and turns his attention towards the remaining guard. This guard was equipped with heavy armor and a helm that covers the face. He does not know whom this guard is, but he heard story of the guard’s deadly and horrific exploits. He charges towards the guard and feigns a swing before kicking the guard in the leg and uses the hilt of his sword to knock the guard out. That was easy Edward thinks to himself perhaps all those stories were just told to create a fear of the king’s guards. No matter he sees King Harlaus all alone and charges him. King Harlaus pleads “No wait! I am sorry! I’ll grant your every wish!”. Edwards holds his sword above his head as he is about to swing it down to vanquish King Harlaus he feels a sword impale him. His sword slips out his hand and he looks down and sees a sword piercing out of his chest. Edward falls to his knees and looks back. The armored guard stands behind him and walks to his front. Edward looks in horror when he sees the guard remove her helm. The guard was none other than his wife Lady Tidal! She looks down on Edward and says “You are nothing more than a commoner who was raised to nobility. It is time that you go back where you belong to the dirt!”. She proceeds to kick Edward in the face causing him to fall to the ground. Edward feels his eyes grow heavy. Everything is turning dark the last image he can see is of his wife smirking as he slowly loses his breath. Edward cannot help but chuckle when he thinks to himself how the only woman he loved and swore to die for took his life herself. Edward finally stops breathing and everything fades to black.

Submitted June 29, 2017 at 03:58PM by HenryCanmore http://ift.tt/2tuyyla