Board Thread:Lore Texts/@comment-27200931-20170602210622

This is the second part of Longbow Etiquette. Mevans, if you decided to implement this one, could you also add a "v1" to the first text's title?

[ http://www.filedropper.com/dragonovithlongbow2Download link]

 The fiefdoms which stand alongside the Redwater River were part of a harsh land, because, at the other side of that river, there was no law or civilization, only savage Easterling barbarians who cross the shallow fords to raid and to steal cattle. Since the throne of King Brand was in the other side of the kingdom, the nobles of Redwater, my homeland, had a certain degree of independence, and that means waging wars against themselves when problems arise.
 * 1) Written by Dragonovith
 * 2) title:Longbow Etiquette, v2
 * 3) author:Asger of Redwater
 * 4) types:dale

That was the road we, the mercenary company of Captain Gunnar, followed, to Redwater. Arriving there, we met a local shepherd tending to his sheep. Questioning him, we found out that two fiefs were on the brink of war. The nobles, Lord Hagen and Lady Gudrun, could not reach an agreement about which of them was going to be the one responsible for charging the toll on a recently built bridge that connected the two fiefs; both of them wanted the gold.

Of the two nobles, Lord Hagen was the wealthiest and most powerful. And as Captain Gunnar would never risk joining a conflict he could not win, the company joined Hagen's side.

Four days after the mercenary contract negotiation, we marched to Riverhall, the house of Lady Gudrun, our new enemy. We were a small warband comprised of two hundred men, and we stole and raided the farms and estates on our way. That was a terrible practice! But as Gunnar explained to me, that was common in war times. It both weakens the enemy and reinforces the morale of your own men, because the raiding spoils of rich estates and farmsteads were usually treasure and food.

We reached the home of Lady Gudrun without any kind of opposition. Riverhall was a wooden fort, which sat upon a hill protected by a round and low stone wall with several towers. A mighty army would easily take those fortifications, but we were few, and many men would perish before the obstacles had been crossed.

The leader of our host chosen by Lord Hagen, a minor noble called Dag, had a parley with the defenders, but the negotiations were short; Lady Gudrun had other plans, Riverhall was not going to surrender easily. And so we decided to occupy the village on the foothills of the fort, a place to live while we waited for the defenders to be overcome by famine, but we had no idea how large were the food stocks inside the wall.

In the meantime I tried to learn the longbow. That weapon, which was as tall as me, proved to be an impossible challenge! I did not have enough strength to pull the bow string, meanwhile the archers of Gunnar, which laughed at my pathetic attempts, were able to shoot the bow many times during a battle. They start learning the archery trade ever since they were just small boys, and so their muscles were wrought by time to allow them to be extremely efficient with the longbow.

Winter arrived two months later, and Riverhall had not fallen yet; its defenders were steadfast.

Most of Hagen's warriors were simple farmers and shepherds, and they were constantly complaining about the cold and wishing to return home to their families. They wanted for the siege to be lifted, and to perhaps try again in the summer, when the weather was warm and better. But if that indeed happened, their farms would suffer much more than they were already suffering with their absence. Fearing mass desertion, Commander Dag of Hagen's host decided to launch a decisive nightly attack. Swords, spears and axes were sharpened, strings attached to bows, and a battering ram built; the whole camp around the occupied village was busy with the preparatives for the coming battle.

But something curious happened, our company was visited by a man loyal to Lady Gudrun. He told us that he sneaked out of the fort without being seen to deliver a message to Gunnar, our captain. Some men among the defenders knew my employer's company, and that if we betrayed Dag's host during the assault, their lady would pay us double the coin Lord Hagen was currently paying us. Their plan, as the messenger explained, was to sally out from the front gate as soon as we started shooting our allies.

When the night came, Dag sounded the attack by blowing a horn, and his warriors ran to Riverhall's gate carrying a battering ram made from a tree log. Our company's task was to drive off the enemy from the towers with our arrows, but Gunnar was persuaded by the messenger's offer and decided to switch his loyalty, and so he ordered his longbowmen to shoot instead against Dag's men.

We were around fifty men, while the warband sent by Hagen was close to a hundred fifty. When our missiles started to rain down on our old allies, Commander Dag ordered his rearguard to drive us off from their backs. And that was the moment when the gate of Riverhall opened, pouring out the army of Lady Gudrun. Those men were not just fighting for a lord, they were fighting for justice! They wanted revenge for what we did to their farms, to their land. Encircled by two enemies, the two unexpected and sudden attacks were enough to terminate with what little morale remained among Dag's men. Our old allies dropped their weapons and retreated, while our new allies chased them away.

After the battle we were pardoned by Gudrun, and she faithfully paid for our betrayal as well. On top of that, we also carried the gold paid to us monthly by Lord Hagen, so in the end we were the only real winners of that war. We then left the fiefdoms of Redwater with our purses and pockets filled with gold.

I did not know how to fight, I was just a simple chronicler, but that was a life I was getting used to! We were free and answered to no one, and we had the means to pay for good food and good beverage! But the one who lives by the sword, dies by the sword, and not long thereafter, when we travelled to the land of Dorwinion, our misfortunes started to happen.  