Message from Sir Riccardo di Pisa

[Keith Ewing]

Greetings friends.
The following is a message that Riccardo asked me to put on line. I 
will forward any responses to him. Thanks.

Kein
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The War That Got Away
by Sir Riccardo di Pisa

What a great time it was! The weather was not good, but not entirely 
bad either. Just right for fighting and sleeping. It was nice to see 
old friends, sit around and talk, check up on what they’d been doing 
since last we met, throw back a beer or two…. Yes sir, it was fun. At 
least for the third of the kingdom that bothered to show up. As close 
as I can figure, it was about one third of the kingdom. Where was 
everybody else? I know some could not attend due to work, some because 
of school, some may have had family problems. I just find it hard to 
believe that two thirds of the kingdom falls into one of these three 
categories. 

By the way, we did not win! It was a tie again. Thank God for the 
people who competed in the static and performing arts, because they 
smoked the competition. All glory to them; for if glory was to be found 
it was with the Arts & Sciences and the light weapons fighters. THEY 
saved the kingdom from certain defeat!!

Where oh where have the heavy weapons fighters gone? In all the kingdom 
there are four hundred plus heavy weapons fighters.  Where were they?  
We may have had 150 fighters. Our allies outnumbered our own fighters.  
What kind of army is it that has only one third of its’ forces show up 
for a war? How can we expect our allies to continue to show up and 
fight for us when our forces won’t show up?

I can remember when the Ansteorran army was a fearsome thing. When that 
army went to war,  the entire force attended… all of it. No one could 
stand before us. Opposing kingdoms and their armies melted like ice 
before the roaring flame that was the sun of Ansteorra. What glory 
days! Day I’ll never forget. Our fighters went to other kingdoms’ wars. 
They were held in high regard and kingdoms would vie for our services, 
offering gifts of food, drink and…. trinkets.

I cannot take anything away from those knights and fighters who did go 
to the war. They did their best, but with two-to-one odds (or more) 
there was not much hope of winning. Much valor was displayed by our 
fighters and much individual glory was won. Just one case in point; 
William the Bear. I’ll try to tell you about it, but you had to be 
there to see for yourself. Imagine being in a big wind storm. Things 
flying all about, men shouting, some screaming in pain, some cursing, 
swords striking shields,  pole arms swing in deadly arcs; it was like 
being in a mad house. The only things missing were the blood and gore 
that you would have in a real war. But if you looked hard enough, you 
found some of that  too. In the middle of al this you find Sir William, 
laying about him the left and right, striking down whoever came before 
him. He was like a man possessed. I swear  could see smoke coming from 
his helm… or maybe it was condensation of his sweat in the cool air. 
What valor, what glory he won in that battle. Ten of the enemy did he 
lay low before he was cut down!  Had we but ten more like him we could 
have won they day.  Many more deeds of honor did I observe in other 
fighters, much individual honor was won by more fighters than I can 
name here. But it was all for nothing. When the army came off the field 
after the battle, no matter the individual glory won by them, you could 
see the disappointment in their eyes, disappointment in giving their 
all and it not being enough to save the day.

When we go to war, we go to have fun, do some fighting, party a little, 
but most of all, I think, to win glory for the kingdom. To show the 
Known World that we have the biggest, baddest boys and girls on the 
block. Well, not this year. Maybe next, but only if the other two 
thirds of the kingdom decide to show up. I’m sure that the ones that 
attended this year will be there next year, they always seem to be. For 
those of you who could have come and did not, shame on you. You missed 
all the fun and a chance for individual glory. And to get right down to 
it, isn’t having fun the reason we do what we do? I’ll be there next 
year. Think about that. Next year, plenty of time to make plans. Why 
don’t all of you make plans to be there, maybe we could win next time. 
If you have missed the point of what I have been trying to say, let me 
make it clear… where the hell were you, and wh
y were you not there?