The Trappings of War: Volume XXII
An UnOrthOdOx View of the Glory of War
Master Zen had a broad smile on his face, reveling in the thrill of the charging mass he led down off the mountain. Pulling the horn up, he let one last blast out from it and the countryside rang out in response. I could only imagine the commotion that must be going on in the village, with those still asleep believing this to be some kind of raid, perhaps even panicking and seeking some place to hide.
Glancing over my shoulder, I could see all the children of town, some of them carrying their Ravens, out and wide eyed at what was going on. Many of them had been isolated within Camulodunum their whole lives, some had never seen any military force other than the town guard before. None of them were prepared for a full charge of horsemen coming off a mountain. You could see on their faces that they could not wait for the day they would mount up themselves, riding through the fields and over foes. It was a desire we were born with in the Glory of War.
Master Zen calmly approached. “Well, ‘dOx, here you are.” He said with a smile. My eyes, however, were fixed upon the horn which had heralded his charge down the mountain.
“Yes, quite a piece of work, isn’t it? We hollowed out one of those monstrous rib bones of the Dragon after they had dried, then coated the whole thing in bronze to make it resonate properly. There’s even one waiting for you back in Imperial City.”
“Great! Come, tell me what goes on in the world. It seems I have been caught up in my own little corner of responsibility for too long. Aro, you care to show these worthless maggots what this is all about?”
“With pleasure oh Mr. Lazy *******!” Aro shot back.
I just smiled, recognizing the humor in his voice. He had obviously been uplifted in seeing Eira return as well as I and would relish this opportunity to train his own son. I watched as Aro first demonstrated the stirrups and began them all working on sword drills from the saddle. These were horsemen, the charge would come naturally, but teaching them swordsmanship was nearly as difficult as teaching foot soldiers to ride a horse.
Master Zen and I sat together underneath a nearby tree and caught up on the happenings of the world. I told him of my trip to Gathering Storm, of the strange counsel and of the strange folks that I met there. I even promised to introduce him to my guest once we returned to town. Master Zen in turn told me of many difficulties which he had been going through with handling the other nations. It was a great burden on one man. He also told me that I could be expecting another visitor in a few days, which I gladly accepted. It seemed that word of the Dragon had reached far, and many wished to see such things with their own eyes.
The clanging of swords resounded well into the evening when sign was finally given to break and make camp. As Camulodunum was not equipped for such an event, each soldier would be roughing it as if they were on campaign. And, each man was therefore in charge of their own quarters for the evening. I did manage to give them somewhat of a break as I ordered a meal prepared with what was left of the Dragon’s meat to feed the contingent that had come to join our fair little city. Perhaps the greatest challenge of the day, though was in getting all the children off to bed. So excited they were to have the military so close where they could all dream of what would await them in the future.
And so passed the rest of the week as well. Training all through the day finally began to pay off, and the contingent was broken into small groups that would return to train individual units. Eira was given a few days to stay on and visit his father before returning to train his own unit, and it was good to have him back as a part of the family. Even schIsmAtIc would give him no rest, questioning his service and the sights he had seen.
Aro had returned to his work on the massive new ship of his. The Ribs of the Lego material had been completed, and the hull was all but finished, all that remained was to spread pitch along the hull to make it watertight and to attach the ballistae before it was given it’s maiden voyage.
I was sitting upon the shore contemplating how well things seemed to be going when off in the distance I spied a strange looking ship approaching. This must be the visitor that Master Zen had warned me would be coming. Standing up, and brushing myself off, I went back to town to prepare everyone to meet our guest.
If poly remains up, you will likely see XXIII later today, if not, check
MZO.
Oh, and the filter caught A s s hole up there....for unfiltered stories see MZO as well.
