Battle of the Hymn. (a second look.)

consequences · Post by **consequences** » 2004-12-24 07:17pm

I exist, and I don't appear to be dead.

Crappy Christmas present you got for Darth Wong though.

Grand Moff Yenchin · Post by **Grand Moff Yenchin** » 2004-12-24 09:53pm

Knife wrote: “Wong is dead.”

frigidmagi · Post by **frigidmagi** » 2004-12-24 10:34pm

Damn people really do say nice things about you when you're dead. Thanks Knife, this chapter kicked ass and took names.

Rogue 9 · Post by **Rogue 9** » 2004-12-24 10:36pm

Lonestar · Post by **Lonestar** » 2004-12-25 12:12am

Looks pretty good Knife.

But how will our Civilization be able to recover? Who shall be our leader now?

Knife · Post by **Knife** » 2004-12-25 12:57am

the dark before the dawn.

Knife · Post by **Knife** » 2004-12-25 12:58am

frigidmagi wrote:Damn people really do say nice things about you when you're dead. Thanks Knife, this chapter kicked ass and took names.

You really didn't think you'd be the only one? Did you?

Agent Fisher · Post by **Agent Fisher** » 2004-12-25 01:03am

Very nice. Oh, and I request that if I die, I go out like I lived. Kicking ass and taking names.

or as a coward hiding. Not really.

Knife · Post by **Knife** » 2004-12-25 01:10am

darthdavid wrote:We need a jaw drop emoticon...

So you're saying you don't like it?

Agent Fisher · Post by **Agent Fisher** » 2004-12-25 01:12am

Knife wrote:
darthdavid wrote:We need a jaw drop emoticon...
So you're saying you don't like it?

I believe he means for awesomeness. But what we really need is one that says "We're not worthy!"

Knife · Post by **Knife** » 2004-12-25 01:16am

Next cphp on the way.

Knife · Post by **Knife** » 2004-12-25 01:19am

Seriously, in terms of tactics or warfare, I'd like to hear opinions. Characters are.......well there, but if you have a problem with how shit goes down, say it.

I'm listening.

CmdrWilkens · Post by **CmdrWilkens** » 2004-12-25 01:26am

Knife wrote:Next cphp on the way.

Well hurry up already

Post by **RogueIce** » 2004-12-25 01:26am

Rob's gone... Mike's gone. I wonder who's gonna replace 'em...

Ah well. We'll wait and see. I like the ending though. Out of all the death, destruction, and the losses, that shining ray of hope.

We're going to need one helluva memorial after this war, though.

Knife · Post by **Knife** » 2004-12-25 01:28am

RogueIce wrote:Rob's gone... Mike's gone. I wonder who's gonna replace 'em...

Ah well. We'll wait and see. I like the ending though. Out of all the death, destruction, and the losses, that shining ray of hope.

We're going to need one helluva memorial after this war, though.

On all Wars, IMO.

Thats the point of the story

Temjin · Post by **Temjin** » 2004-12-25 01:30am

How much battle experience does the Home Guard have? We never heard of the Home Guard before the sixth chapter and we don't know which battles they have been in.

The story has you joining The Duchess' unit because they were inexperienced. This obviously means that other Home Guard units do have combat experience, but where from?

Knife · Post by **Knife** » 2004-12-25 01:34am

Temjin wrote:How much battle experience does the Home Guard have? We never heard of the Home Guard before the sixth chapter and we don't know which battles they have been in.

The story has you joining The Duchess' unit because they were inexperienced. This obviously means that other Home Guard units do have combat experience, but where from?

Not really. The Home Guard was formed because of the need of the City. The Watch was saturated with recruits, but the Watch was a light Calvary and light infantry unit.

The Home Guard, while heavy infantry, was also a reserve unit and only stationed in the City.

Knife · Post by **Knife** » 2004-12-25 01:36am

Temjin wrote:How much battle experience does the Home Guard have? We never heard of the Home Guard before the sixth chapter and we don't know which battles they have been in.

The story has you joining The Duchess' unit because they were inexperienced. This obviously means that other Home Guard units do have combat experience, but where from?

Since the growning conflict with the Morlocks, 2/3rds of the population has become militarized.

Temjin · Post by **Temjin** » 2004-12-25 01:46am

2/3rds? That going to have large consequences down the road...

consequences · Post by **consequences** » 2004-12-25 07:25pm

Temjin wrote:2/3rds? That going to have large consequences down the road...

*insert usual joke on my name here*

Let the other human civilisations provide the food for a while, sinc ethey haven't been taking the casualties.

frigidmagi · Post by **frigidmagi** » 2004-12-25 10:46pm

We've been dying, they can feed us for a bit. Although I wonder what a newly militarized city state in need of food would do if it's so called allies refused it's just demands for substance...

Knife · Post by **Knife** » 2004-12-25 11:46pm

Temjin wrote:2/3rds? That going to have large consequences down the road...

Well, look at in context. 1000 people at the city. At first, only about 100 people were part of the Watch. The Watch were military and explores and hunters. Thats why their light calvary and light infantry.

When the threat of the Morlocks arose, the Watch trippled in size to about 300. The City still felt underdefened and the Watch felt over extended. Thus the Home Guard. Heavy Infantry, but reservist. The 300 or so Guardsmen bring the total military up to ~600 out of the thousand or so in the city, but half of em are reservists.

Supposedly, after the war, those members of the Guard will go back to what every job and life they had before the Morlock war.

Mark S · Post by **Mark S** » 2004-12-26 12:38pm

I'm just waiting to see what happens when these Westerners show up...

Post by **RogueIce** » 2004-12-26 06:04pm

Knife wrote:Supposedly, after the war, those members of the Guard will go back to what every job and life they had before the Morlock war.

Stop-loss and extended deployment.

Knife · Post by **Knife** » 2005-05-04 04:35pm

Might as well finish up some projects while I'm broken;

Chapter Eight

The Battle of the Hymn

I took me years, dear reader, to pry from my son the story of his long patrol. Bits and pieces of the tale of his march from the Riverlands back to the City.

Such modesty is not rare in soldiers, I must admit, but damn maddening when I view it from my standpoint. My boy would bow his head, as if saddened, and shrug off my questions.

Finally, though, and after a lot of effort, I can piece together the events of his march that long night. My youngest son, newly part of the Watch, had been sent off as escort with the children day’s before. He and his companions were also to sound the alarm and bring back the Western Army as help to our embattled city.

Christmas Eve had found him and the five hundred strong, Western Army in the forests west of the Valley. They had marched hard for two days days, fearing our survival, though some had counseled to make camp shy of the valley and approach at dawn.

Fearing for us, my son and his leader, Yenchin had convinced the heads of the Western Army to continue through the night. So it was, while I and others fought on the Wall and desperately grasped at hope at the Gate, one hundred Taun mounted warriors and four hundred heavily clad infantry hurried through the Western Forest.

My son told me that they feared the worst, as dawn approached and columns of black smoke could be seen through the great tress. His worry grew without end, and without word the pace of the army increased so as by the time they approached the edge of the forest, they were all but in a run.

Yenchin, once told me that not knowing what they’d find, they slowed as they came upon the edge of the forest and formed into battle lines. In the center of the lines, he and his three other Watchmen rode on their Tauns. They expected the worse when they were going to break through the tree line and view our fate, but just before they moved out, before they resigned themselves to view the carnage of their loved ones, the young Watchman that was my son yelled out.

“Listen!” He cried over the bustle of the forming lines.

I was told there was a wave of silence that washed over the army. Men stopped moving and even the beasts of the cavalry grew quite.

A soft melody spilled over the trees and into the group of men as the eastern sky lightened. A soft whisper, fragile, came through them from its long away origin. A simple song, but in the eyes of the men of the Watch, a beautiful song, a song that rang out to the heavens that the City still stood.

“They’re still alive.” Said Yenchin in a deadpan voice.

As I heard it sometime later, the solid Watchman blinked back tears before tuning to his allies from the West.

“They’re still alive. Men of the West, it is not too late. The City still stands! On wards!” He cried.

A few scant miles away, I stood upon the Wall, listening to the dying notes of the Hymn as the morning light washed my face in warmth. Most of the Watch sang with the song as it drifted down from the Great Hall and all the people who stood there. Some like myself just stood there, bathing in its beauty.

It wasn’t until after the end of the Hymn, that the significance of the quiet that had gripped the Valley came apparent. For two days, the Valley had been the site of the screams of horror and death. War Thrums and war cries had traveled across the Valley, marking the desperate battles within. Now, in stark contrast, it lay in a comforting silence as the last notes of the Hymn faded into the hills.

Out in front of the City, the jumbled mass of the Morlock Hoard stood as silent as the defenders of the City as if the magic of the Hymn had entranced them. The gnarly creatures stood stunned, they stood transfixed, as the fluttering of the Hymn reached them and even after the end of the song, they seemed tamed by it’s beauty.

The silence lasted a few moments until a Guardsman shouted, breaking the quiet, “Upon the forest’s edge! Look!”

All eyes on the Wall moved to the west. At this distance, detail was impossible, yet I could still make out hundreds and hundreds of glints of metal appear from out of the violet trees. The dawn’s early light reflecting from an army of metal armor.

Shouts went up, and gauntleted hands pointed towards the west, “They’ve come!” Many shouted. “We are saved!” Others continued.

The enemy was quick to follow out stares and with a growl, the host of blue grey creatures snapped out of their trance at our music and started to move. The large, dark formations began to move towards the west and to the new threat.

Cheers were still ringing out from the Wall when Jegs, the Commander, stood up upon the broken tower of the Gate and rallied his Watch, yelling “To your mounts, Watchmen. With the light of day, our fortunes change. To your mounts!”

A great cheer went up and black armored men started leaving the wall, sliding down ladders and running for the stables as if they were fresh and well rested instead of bone tired and battle weary that I knew most to be.

As the Morlock fixed their gaze upon the coming Western Army, the Watch and some of the Home Guard mounted up on all the Tauns we had left in the City. I reflected momentarily that there were now more Tauns than Watchmen, as a hundred or so Home Guard filled out our depleted ranks.

To my honor, my own Company which was now at half it’s original number, was filled in by those remarkable warriors of the Home Guard who had fought as one of us the night before. The Battle Maiden, Marina, trotted up next to me on a Taun. She said nothing, but her movements were almost as if one asking permission.

To answer her and all with such questions I smiled and waved my hand in signal and called my Company, “Watchmen, Guard. Those who ride into battle this morning, no matter what the end may be, I stand with you and am honored to fight with you this morning. The virtues of all who have fought and suffered last night have erased such distinctions such as Watchmen and Guard for me.”

Here I paused for a drama, little did I know it’s effect.

“Brothers! Sisters! We are one of the sword, and we will take that sword to the enemy!”

There was a huge roar, men and women. Watchmen and Guard. Those mounted for battle and those standing upon the wall. All cried out in one great roar of support and comradely that its strength echoed off the walls of the far off foot hills of the valley.

The Gate opened and two hundred and sixty rides flowed through it like a dark river. The surviving Watchmen with their black mail and black stained leather and cloaks. The brave members of the Home Guard, bright with their bronze armor, catching glints of sunshine filling out our ranks.

We formed a half a dozen wedges upon the entry of the Gate and face our enemy for the last time. The Morlock hoard was moving towards the Western Forest to engage the new threat of the Western Army and was paying us little notice, thinking us to weak to threaten them.

From above, I heard the order to loose and six Onager’s rang out in the morning, their armament streaking out to the Morlock formations. It was under this fire that we charged.

As we crossed the river at the bottom of the ramp, the wedges spread out to increase our deadliness. After the battle, I have heard those that stayed on the wall say that we looked like the Black Death spreading out over the valley. A wall of dark riders moving right for the enemy in front of us.

I rode with Wilkens and Lonestar, my trusted Sergeants, as well as Edi who had come back to the wall during the Hymn, recovered enough from his wounds to retake his lance in our most desperate hour. I rode with the Battle Maiden and her trusted men, Rogue9 and Valdemar. We rode straight and true for the enemy. By the time the combined strength of the Watch and the Guard hit the enemy flanks, some of the eastern most wedges wrapped around to the Morlock rear, we stretched across the valley so.

West, the front of the Morlock Host had engaged the Western Army. The men of the Riverlands took the crunch of the enemy on their large shields and the spears of the men started to slash at the creatures. Their phalanxes standing true. The men of the West had an army to defend against the Citadel, and as such their spearmen were trained to fight against cavalry. But the big, brutish monsters of the Morlock host fell just as well to their spears and pikes.

With a roar of confidence, the Western Army planted their feet and threw off the Morlock assault. The fresh troops took the battering of the enemy and stood firm.

For my part, with my spear clutched in front of me, my wedge tore into the dark endless mass of the enemy. I know I cried out a war cry when we engaged, but I do not remember what it was. In my memory, the charge into the Morlock army was once of silence. Mute. I don’t remember any sound, as I and my brothers and sisters in arms sliced out way through them.

My spear shattered in a monster and I immediately drew Hellsbane. I slashed and cut down Morlock after Morlock. They came and I slaughtered them but all in silence as my mind remembers it.

I do not know how long I fought like that, but I remember killing a Morlock with a quick down stroke of my sword and as I raised my sword again to kill yet another, I noticed that there were none.

Sound flooded back to me and screams and cries as well as the sound of Taun and the ring of sword on mace and club rang all through the valley. I looked around and saw that I and perhaps a few dozen riders had cleaved our way entirely through the Morlock formations and was now on the south side of the Valley.

Rallying those dozens to me we spun about to reengage the enemy. Taking this time to view the battlefield, I saw the masses of riders speckled through out the hoard. Wilkens and a small group were still struggling in the center of the enemy formation. As my forces reformed, I watched Warmonger slash and cleave Morlock after brutal Morlock as his Taun fought for space and those around him fought like demons.

I looked west and saw a cavalry charge from the Western Army cut through the right flank of the forward Morlock units and the infantry following up and moving forward. The Westerners seemed to be faring well, their larger pikes giving them an advantage against the brutes.

The Morlocks had lost their advantage in numbers with the arrival of the Western Army but were still flinging themselves into battle as if they still did. The men from the west had made their line on the edge of the forest using the trees as a protection from flanking Morlocks and the cavalry struck from there. Using the tree’s to mask their positioning, the Tauns of the west lashed out once from the north, then from the south, tearing open the Morlock line for the Western infantry to exploit with their pikemen.

As the last of the stragglers around me reformed into a wedge, I glance back towards the center of the Morlock army and I watched in horror as Wilken’s Taun was struck and the beast went down. There was a roar from the enemy and the creatures massed at his location.

I cried his name as if it was a war cry and again my battered company plunged into war. The mass of my Tauns tore through the south flank of the enemy who even now were starting to break, and headed straight for where my friend had fallen.

Lonestar and a small group of Taun broke out of the mass and headed for where Wilkens was as well. Our two groups met and scattered the waning Morlock strength, some of our group giving chase as I and Lonestar dismounted to kill the final few enemy that lay upon our brother.

In the center of a pile of dead monsters, Wilkens lay with his sword still clutched in his hand. The mighty Sergeant who had won so many battles, who had rallied men and inspired his friends, now lay at peace on the field of battle.

I roared in anger and remounted. The Morlocks were broken and running east. Passing by us as I reformed my group and began to run them down were elements of Coyote’s and Perinquus’ forces. In a red rage, I tore into the enemy and it wasn’t until I reached the Eastern Approach that I paused.

With me were the battered remains of the riders. Over two hundred riders chased down the fleeing Morlocks to our boarders. It was there, with the sun now fully in the sky, the cheers of the city at our backs that our rage passed and we stood there on our mounts watching what was left of the Morlock Host run into the Great Plains.

Epilogue

And so the war ended. We counted the enemy dead on the valley floor just as we counted our own. Of the five thousand Morlocks who streamed into the valley that long day before Christmas, only one thousand, eight hundred were able to flee east the next morning. Three thousand Morlocks met their end between the Eastern Approaches and the edge of the Western Forest.

As for our own, the Watch was decimated. Of the three hundred proud warriors who stood to face the enemy, only one hundred and thirty two remained. Over a hundred Home Guard gave their life in order to defend our City. A score of civilians were killed as well.

Seen from the distance of time and pure hindsight, we had slaughtered the enemy. But we had paid dearly for it.

In time, things settled back into a normal routine. Two weeks after the battle, a convoy from the west returned our children and those who could not or would not fight. Some of those stayed in the West, but then some of the Westerners came to live with us.

Over the course of the next few years, more and more Westerners immigrated to the City and our numbers swelled again.

A month after the Battle, a group of men from the Citadel passed through the Valley. They made no attempt to talk to us, though a lone member of their group saluted us as he passed. The armored knights of the Citadel passed east out of the Valley and we never saw them return. Some think the Morlocks killed them, others that there is a northern pass back west we are unaware of.

I believe that the Citadel was scouting us as much as they were scouting the remains of the Morlocks. But the story of the Citadel is one for another time and for other people. Stravo’s Red Book chronicles our complete history far better than I and though I have had more than just this one adventure, my writings were just to capture our fight with the Morlocks.

I continued to serve the Watch for years to come. I rebuilt my Company and served as best I could in memory of the friends I lost. I saw many things until I retired, but never again did I see another Morlock.

Some believe that we destroyed their strength so badly that we will never again see them. Others thinks that the Citadel finished them off after we beat the Morlocks in battle. But no one knows for sure. We just know that not one Morlock to this day has been seen west of the Marshlands and we as a people do not travel east of them.

Sir Nitram took control of the Council and has ruled wisely for years, the City was rebuilt, it’s people rebound. And as always, the Mounds of the First One’s still grow but the littered plain of burial mounds now has a single monument within it.

Helped by the Masons of the west, the long low wall runs north to south in the center of the Mounds. Upon it are the names of all who have died with special note to those who died at the Battle of the Hymn. Whether it be Watchman or Home Guard. A citizen of the Valley or some one from the Riverlands, those inscribed on the wall who gave the ultimate sacrifice have the following inscription above their name.

‘Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends'

The End