BoH2: The Chronicle of the Citadel

[2000AD]

Cool, especially the little joke for the WH40K fans.

[Lonestar]

Interim chapter. Sorry for the length between chapters, adapting to civilian life and all...



Chapter Eight: Time of Death



The Doge of Veneto was a skinny, weasel-like man who put me in the mind of a fantasy character named “Snape”. In the past when I met him, he had a perpetual sneer on his face, and he glared down at everyone.

With Myself, General Tapping, Colonel Jegs, Colonel Lufberry of Languedoc and Colonel Knife in his parlor, the sneer was gone and replaced with one of a mix of fear and rage. I was walking around picking up keepsakes at random and inspecting them, while General Tapping was explaining the facts of life to the Doge and the Ruling Council of the Most Serene Republic(try saying that three times fast). Sherman was following me around happily.

To this day it amazes me the speed and ease with which we drove the Templars and their Venetian allies before us, with little to know casualties. The field artillery we had introduced to warfare on Terra had, in one fell swoop, put the fear of God in the fearless Templars. The relief force of Languedoc did not lose one single soldier while the siege was being lifted, while well over a thousand of the enemy met their end. The one-two-three punch of combined arms drove them from the field in a victory unseen since antiquity.

The Campaign for Veneto went a little differently, with Godfrey apparently having taken command and taking care to attack isolated units rather than seek a decisive battle. The raids had stymied our army’s movement, and the Calvary Battalions(which is to say, me) had been working overtime. Even worse, Knife had promoted me to run 2nd Calvery Battalion(2 companies per battalion, 4 companies) and the urge to micromanage was almost overwhelming.

Then Godfrey got overruled, and Capet took direct control again by order of Robert Charles the 2nd. As Capet gathered his forces(while we were chuckling with glee) our army made the 120mile dash west to Veneto. Then, 15 miles east of Veneto…


-----

The Templars and the Venetians had marched out to face us, our host swollen with Languedoc Pikemen and Longbowmen. Our manpower had increased almost 50% with the liberation of Languedoc, and the Masons had taken our training to heart during the siege. Our artillery shot was full up, and SVPD promised to “Bring iron rain” down on the enemy.

Myself, I sat on my mount, with a gleaming gold oak where two silver bars had before. I couldn’t help but think it would be a damn good target. The new CO of my old company, Publius, was off to the side, while I was standing next to Julhelm. 1st Battalion was on the right wing, while we were on the left. It made the armies that we cut our teeth on and got our reputations with here on Terra look tiny.

“Alright,” I said “Let’s just wait and see…”

The Templars and Venetians began to march forward, with the Knights hanging back. Apparently Capet had decided he didn’t want to risk his ass getting shot off again.

Within minutes a barrage of cannon fire and rockets landed on the loose, undisciplined formations of the enemy. To my great surprise, they kept coming, instead of breaking and running. The casualties they were taking were enormous, and soon Arrows fired from our longbowmen joined in. Still they came, and with a shot, our Pikemen lurched forward. Artillery lessened as our infantry closed with theirs, and Capet took the opportunity to lead his knights up, around the crash of infantry towards the artillery and longbowmen. Knife ordered the bugler to give the “Charge” call, and our cavalry swept out from the flanks, and tried to enclose them. Once again, anything other than straight on attack seems to confuse Capet and the Templars, and soon it degenerated into a free-for-all.

Over the noise of battle, I could hear our Pikemen yelling out cadence intended to give them unity of purpose. Deftly pushing aside Templar Knights, I tried my best to reach Capet. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Knife, Publius, and Coyote doing the same. Capet looked around wildly, seeing the four of us fighting our way towards him. While I could not see behind his visor, his expression must have been one of panic, because he started to shout in the Antioch Dialect:

“Retreat! Retreat! Fall back!”

And the Templar Knights tried to disentangle themselves from our cavalry. Having much lighter armour, and long trained for scouting and raiding rather than matching heavy cavalry, we let them go. We could already see the enemy men-at-arms breaking ranks, dropping their shields and weapons, and running.

Like most of the battles so far in this war, it was surprisingly brief with little casualties on our side.


---------


Picking up a gold falcon, I chuckled and tossed it up in the air a little. The Doge was now purple. “Put that down! That is from old Earth!” I looked at him, at General Tapping and the other colonels, Knife kinda just nodded slightly, and I shrugged. I dropped it on the deck with a “clang” and walked over to a sofa and sat down. Knife turned around and faced the wall, his shoulders shaking with barely concealed laughter.

“He can’t do that!” The Doge raged.

“I think,” Tapping said, mildly, “That you’ll find we can do whatever the bloody Hell we want. We were the conquerors, you are the conquered. That is why we are here and you are not in New London or Avalon.”

“Really,” Jegs said in a calm tone, “Your exit from the alliance pissed off everyone, and it was only through damn fool luck” (At the time we hadn’t publicized that Marina’s death was intentional) “that General O’Leary died. Her plans for the occupation of Veneto included burning all the food and destroying the cities infrastructure as punishment. Fortunately for you, we are a bit more light handed.”

“So, here’s the deal. We cannot afford to leave the troops here to police your city. By that same token, we cannot trust any soldiers you place under our command, with regards to loyalty or,” Tapping smirked “Quality. Mr. Bucher?”

At that I stood up and walked over and opened the door to the foyer. Leaning out I said to Lt. Colonel Coyote “Sir? They’re ready for you.” And with that, Coyote and his men dragged 2 dozen or so family members of the Doge and the Ruling Council into the room. The Venetians started to yell at once, Knife threw down a flash-bang made of magnesium which shocked everyone into silence.

“Thank you Colonel Croft. Gentlemen, here is the deal: Colonel Lufberry is going to deliver to you a list of goods and services that we will be requiring for the duration of the war. In order to insure that you deliver, and not try anything tricky, we will be taking your family members with us on campaign. So long as you behave, they will be treated correctly. If not…” Tapping shrugged.

Now, this had been a matter of some debate amongst the higher-ups. Not so much the morality, mind(although the shit was sure to hit the fan once it got back to Sir Nitram what the terms of their surrender were, we were betting he wouldn’t undermine us after the fact), but whether or not the Doge would care about his kids. And so, the decision was to nab the next two heirs of every member of the ruling council. Since these were mostly kids, the idea was that a enough councilmen would care enough about their kids to not try anything. Or at least tip us off if others were trying to pull a fast one.

“What if…what if we are unable to deliver?” One of the council members asked, in almost a whisper.

Tapping shrugged again. “We are not unreasonable, and some of the quartermaster corps will be left behind to assess the issue. If the committee we leave behind agrees that you are intentionally obstructing, then Bad Things will happen to your family members.”

The Doge was silent for a moment, then turned to the rest of the council. Most nodded their heads. A few shook them. (We would later mark those as troublemakers to be dealt with separately) The Doge sighed and said “We accept your generous terms.”

--------


We stayed in Veneto for another month, sending patrols out to now-abandoned Lübeck, and clearing it of brigands so the citizens could return safely. Even so, many Lübeck mariners chose to remain in Avalon and California.

A month after Veneto agreed to our terms, we set out North, reaching the Rhine fairly quickly. The Templars had destroyed all the crossings, even the hastily repaired fortified bridge to hinder our movement. With a smirk that was audible, our engineers got to work building a bridge that spanned the Rhine within two weeks. Soon, the host of the Alliance of Avalon was well inside the Kingdom of Antioch, clearing out Saxony. It was there I met Beldegg for the first time.


Beldegg, as you may recall, was the Saxon guerilla leader that Knife had encountered during the mass cavalry raid while I was escorting caravans. The man was massive, over 7ft tall wielding a tower shield and a spear whose tip was made from meteor iron. He Held a “short” sword at his side when combat got too close. He was astonishingly charismatic, and had the scalps or 3 dozen or so Templar Knights adorning his belt.

It was whispered among his men that he had the blood of the Alfadur flowing through him.

It was at a hill fort Northeast of the Terror Wood that he made camp and planned for the siege of Château de Coucy , Kolossi Castle, and, of course, Antioch itself.

I was in one of the great halls when I one of the many, anonymous Saxons tugged my shoulder. Annoyed, I turned and to my astonishment Wiglaf, Godfrey’s Manservant was standing before me. Still wearing finery, rather than the tough hide and leather that the “field Saxons” wore.

“Wiglaf! Have you left Godfrey to join the war effort?” I said.

“Not, quite.” He responded, in halting English. “Godfrey de Périgord has been executed, by order of His Majesty Robert Charles II. As were all the men under his protection. I am sorry, only a few members of his retinue escaped; And none of the guests that were under his protection.”

[Noble Ire]

God damn, I really liked Godfrey.

Well, needless to say, the upcoming siege will not be pleasant; the good king eliminated his only competent general and infuriated one of his chief opponents in a single swoop.

[CmdrWilkens]

YAY BotH2 is back again. Though I will second the sentiment that I really liked Godfrey yet his death is certainly very understandable story-wise so I commend you for the boldness to kill off your most original character.

[consequences]

Presuming he was innocent, may he have better luck wooing the Duchess in the next life. As in, any luck at all. Being the right gender next time around might help.

Did you have to kill RI, presuming that you really did? And why hasn't anyone put in the ten seconds of writing effort to type 'Matt, pretentiously known as 'consequences', slipped on a rock, hit his head, and died'?

[Knife]

Wow, I'm surprised you killed of Godfrey too. Good stuff.

[Mayabird]

Update!

To add to what everyone else said, Godfrey wasn't just killed, but killed quietly and in a meaningless fashion. Most authors just can't do that to their characters even though it's something that happens in life, and yet that's how several have gone.

When can we expect the next update?

[Lonestar]

Presuming he was innocent, may he have better luck wooing the Duchess in the next life. As in, any luck at all. Being the right gender next time around might help.

Did you have to kill RI, presuming that you really did? And why hasn't anyone put in the ten seconds of writing effort to type 'Matt, pretentiously known as 'consequences', slipped on a rock, hit his head, and died'?

I couldn't remember if you were dead or not from Knifes story, and I'm a lazy researcher.

[consequences]

And why hasn't anyone put in the ten seconds of writing effort to type 'Matt, pretentiously known as 'consequences', slipped on a rock, hit his head, and died'?

I couldn't remember if you were dead or not from Knifes story, and I'm a lazy researcher.

He said he was going to kill me, but never got around to it. Unless I actually managed to die completely offscreen and unmentioned. I think there was one line acknowledging my existence, which gave me hope for my imminent demise, but then nothing.

[Lonestar]

If you want, I'll have a Cyclopes eat you.

[consequences]

If you want, I'll have a Cyclopes eat you.

That's- *sniff* -the nicest thing anyone's ever offered to do to me in a fic. You, Friend.

[Knife]

Presuming he was innocent, may he have better luck wooing the Duchess in the next life. As in, any luck at all. Being the right gender next time around might help.

Did you have to kill RI, presuming that you really did? And why hasn't anyone put in the ten seconds of writing effort to type 'Matt, pretentiously known as 'consequences', slipped on a rock, hit his head, and died'?

I couldn't remember if you were dead or not from Knifes story, and I'm a lazy researcher.

I don't remember either. He was supposed to die, and I remember I had plans to mention as much, that he went down with Greg at the end, but I forgot to add that bit in at the end......

[CmdrWilkens]

I couldn't remember if you were dead or not from Knifes story, and I'm a lazy researcher.

I don't remember either. He was supposed to die, and I remember I had plans to mention as much, that he went down with Greg at the end, but I forgot to add that bit in at the end......

So he either died with my group or he was one of the ones who managed to keep the pile of bodies around me clear long enough for me to avoid having my body hacked to bits. Excellent.

[Stuart Mackey]

Oh, this is good....

To echo Strow..'Not enough me' though

[Lonestar]

Chapter Nine: Battle of Antioch Fields



The Lord of the shattered remains of what had once been Château de Coucy came out of the gates of the Fortress. For two weeks we had rained hell down on the massive structure, utilizing the big guns on our naval vessels to battered down and destroy the walls of his keep.

“C’mon Major. Sergeant. “ Colonel Jegs said. Sergeant Fisher, who’s story of escape at the hands of the Templars deserves it’s own telling, nodded solemnly and trotted his Taun alongside ours. Duke Coucy and his Herald were waiting a fair distance form the walls, but close enough to run back in should negotiations turn sour. Once the three of use had come into speaking distance, the Herald began to go through his spiel.

“In the name of…”

“There will be none of that. “ Jegs cut him off. The Herald and Duke Coucy looked stunned for a Moment, and then Coucy cleared his throat. “My terms for the surrender of Château de Coucy are…”


“No Terms. Unconditional.” Jegs said. Coucy looked as if he’d been punched in the stomach.

“I must have terms.”

“Why?” Jegs voice was like ice. I was trembling with rage, I knew what Coucy was going to say.

“Only Barbarians demand terms. Terms insure that prisoners are treated correctly.” The man was completely oblivious to the rage that was building within myself and Fisher. Jegs’ mouth quirked up a little.

“Civilized. Major, would you or the Sergeant care to field that one?”

“I’ll be happy to take it, Colonel.” My mouth was dry, and a took a swig of my wineskin. “ Duke, would you categorize the Templars as civilized? “

The Duke, who had not recognized me because of my helm, now cursed at my distinct speech impediment. “I did not know your son was executed until after the fact, Mr. Bucher.”

“See, Duke, the reason I don’t believe you is because Godfrey’s Manservant, and man by the name of Wiglaf, very clearly placed you as the one who led the detail that executed Godfrey and my son, and the other Avalonian prisoners. Of course, let’s say I’m wrong and you had no part in that, then I believe Sergeant Fisher has some words on the subject of civilized behavior on your Behalf. Sergeant?”

“Of course, Major. Duke Coucy, I say that I did see you order every Saxon male over 13 killed in the northern towns. I did see thousands of dead killed in an attempt to quell the Saxon partisans, of which I had the honor of serving with. Of course, you may not consider them bound by civilized laws, as they are ‘Barbarians’, which brings us to your participation in the sack of Lübeck.”

“You see, Duke,” Jegs said in a hard voice. “We are really under no obligation to offer guarantees. So, you have two Options. Three, actually, but I’ll get to the third one in a moment. Option one: You surrender unconditionally, and deal with the consequences, whatever they may be. Option two: You turn around, and run back into your castle, where you will slowly starve to death unless a lucky cannon ball kills you. We will not be storming it. Option three…” Jegs reached into his bag hanging off his Taun. He pulled the device out and with a snap-click of the mechanism activated it. A look of total confusion appeared on Coucy’s face.

“What is that?”

“Just goes to show you that being ‘civilized’ isn’t all that it’s made out to be. Beldegg and his Huskarls immediately figured it out, just on the resemblance to the cannon in our army.”

Coucy frowned again, then his eyes widened with panic. Jegs brought the wheel-lock pistol up and aimed it at Coucy.

“Option Three: We kill you now and be done with it. I have been authorized by the Alliance leadership, that is, to say, General Tapping and Thane Beldegg, to shoot you if you don’t accept option one, or try to carry out option two. What is it going to be?”

Coucy swallowed.

“Option One.”


----------


Duke Coucy was tried, found Guilty of war crimes, and executed by way of hanging until dead by the end of the week. Most of his Men-at-arms were granted amnesty.

As you can tell by now, we from the 21st Century had grown as hard and brutal as the opposition since our arrival on Terra. In a land without mechanized agriculture or industry, the resources for big expensive prisons was simply not to be had, and the anti-capital punishment brigade had lost all impetus within the first year or so on Terra. Many lament this, and called it a descent into savagery. Maybe. Compared to the Morlocks, the Templars, the Lords of the Fire-worshippers or the priests of the Feathered Serpent we were still by far the more civilized.

The decision had been made to bring this war to a close, and simply ignore Kolossi Castle and go straight for Antioch itself. The Templar leadership had seen the destruction of Château de Coucy, and even then was subjected to daily bombardments from Admiral Hipper’s squadron. With the Southern bay secured, we had ships to free up and implement a successful blockade of the peninsula on which Antioch sat on.

Soon, our Army, now almost evenly divided with the “Civilized” cities south of the Rhine, and the Saxon army led by Beldegg, whose blood, it was said, flowed with the power of the Alfadur.

Leaving a paltry force to occupy the ruins of Château de Coucy, we swung North until we were in the vast fields in front of the towering walls of Antioch. Immediately the sieges lines were constructed, and Capet and Robert Charles had to have known that the endgame was open them. They could die a slow death of siege, or they could take one last stab at decisive battle. They opt to go out in a blaze of glory.

Less than a week after the siege lines had been laid, the Host of Antioch exited the city, thousands and thousands strong, many peasants handed a short spear and taught the rudiments of stabbing. The host formed up in front of the walls, and the Patriarch Joseph marched out, issuing blessings to all his men. They had to have been nearly a kilometer away.

The Patriarch Joseph, for those of you who read Stravo’s more complete history may recall, had issued an edict saying that slaying a Saxon was a sure way into Heaven. He was not well-liked by Beldegg.

Beldegg took ten paces out in front of our lines(which were still forming, ours being more precise than the Templars) Screamed something about the Alfadur in Saxon, and hurled his Spear. Nearly a Kilometer. Straight through Patriarch Joseph.

There was a stunned silence, and even the birds had stopped chirping, except for two large Ravens that circle overhead. The Saxons then cheered, while many of the rest of us from the towns looked at each other nervously. Once more, I was reminded that we were in a realm where mythology had the potential to be very real.

“Alright assholes,” Knife began, “Don’t fuck this up. Take charge of your posts.” He lifted his helm and put it on, myself and the other cavalry offices did the same, then we went to our posts. I nodded to Publius and Julhelm.

“I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for this to be over.” As I sad this I realized just how tired I was. It had been over a year since I’d last seen Avalon…and with that thought I felt something like a shock, it was the first real time, in my decades on Terra, that I considered Avalon home.

The Templar force moved forward at a double time, no doubt trying to get under the range of fire from our bowmand and field cannon. Indeed, there seemed to be a real danger of no where near sufficient damage being done to the enemy before the army collided with our. I heard Julhelm mutter “fuck” as they closed. The Pikemen lowered into “phalanx” formation, preparing to receive the onrushing charge. The Templar Knights swerved and veered, clearly trying get in between our formations. This was new, and the first time the leadership had shown any sort of adaptation. There were muttered curses along the line, and then I heard the “Cavalry, Charge!” trumpet blow.

Swearing and cursing, I turned to my two company commanders and said “You heard it, Charge!” And off we went. Unlike the Templar Knights in full plate, we were banded armor and really were not meant to engage the Knights one-on-one. Our two forces collided. For the next ten minutes I was hacking and fighting with Templar Knights, while Arrows and shot soared overhead into the Templar Infantry. I saw Roger Capet, fighting Publius. Charging I brought Yellow Rose down, hacking into his left thigh. With a roar of contempt he knocked me flat on my ass. Bright circles blinded me, and all I could hear was metal hitting metal. I stumbled up onto my knees when a foot in metal greaves slammed into my chin, and I could feel teeth breaking and blood splurting from my mouth.

Well, this is it. Forgive me, God…. Despair overtaking me, I glanced up, seeing Roger Capet, without his helm, bringing holding his sword over his head, madness in his eyes.

And right about then Publius brought Memory of Earth down into his head. He hopped off his Taun, marched forward and held out his hand ”Need help, Matt?”

“Puh-puh-please.” Blood still leaking, I could see white flecks in it. “Than…thank you.”

“Don’t mention it.”

“Die you Dogs!” Knife’s voice could be heard like thunder, and in truth he was only 20 feet away, obscured by the mass of bodies. Myself and Publius turned and ran, and saw Knife fighting the King, Robert Charles II. His armor was smeared with blood and mud, looking like some mad god. There were cuts in several places, and Robert Charles’ bodyguard kept stepping in, one after another falling.

We rushed into the fray. Knife took the head off the King. Too late we intervened, because he was overwhelmed by the guard shortly thereafter. Publius and I fought our way through, slashing and hacking. A towering shadow appeared, and Beldegg cleared out the rest.

Knife looked up at me.

“You look like shit, Lonestar.”

“Now isn’t the time for funny, Sir.” Publius said.

“Fuck ‘em if they can’t take a joke.” The life left his eyes forever.

All around me, the battle raged.

[Agent Fisher]

And there it is! I live! Yay!

[Noble Ire]

I suppose one couldn't ask for a better death.
A very well put together finale, all in all. I still can't quite get over Godfrey's execution, but it does fit with the overall themes of the tale.

[Master of Cards]

Where's Stravos story?

[Knife]

seemed a bit rushed at the end. But that's just me, but I'm a dead man so what do I know?

So does that mean I can't write BotH3?

[Lonestar]

Where's Stravos story?

As far as I know, he has not written one set in Knife's universe. That was a nod to the reference to "Stravo's Red Book" in the original BotH

[CmdrWilkens]

Damn and double damn with a helping of of yay for BoH2 being back. Its almost amazing in itself that the best part of the story so far has been just how in the story and true to the characters the deaths have been, they have come often and violently as oft happens in war and yet it makes all the greater impact when someone such as Fisher appears to return from the dead. Awesome story man and kudos.

[Knife]

One of the cool things, I tried to do and Matt seems to be doing too, is staying away from the notion that the narrirator being a wank/rambo/superman character. My descriptions of the BotH, I hope, were of other people being heroic and I was an observer.

Lonestar seems to be going in that same line, in that even if history says that Matt himself was a hero of the battle of Antioc, he himself describes it as him getting his teeth kicked in, and on multiple times about to die when some one else steps in and saves him.

In my meager experience, I've found those who earn such medals of bravery tend to think they don't deserve them and others, there at the battle should get them instead.

[Knife]

Where's Stravos story?

As far as I know, he has not written one set in Knife's universe. That was a nod to the reference to "Stravo's Red Book" in the original BotH

Which, of course, was a wink and nod to LotR's.