ANST - The Lion Stands (pensic battle)

[DAFPIG at aol.com]

Greetings everyone,

I wrote this for my own personal papers but has decided to share this one
story with Ansteorra.  I'm NOT a bard and this is NOT an unbiase story. This
is the story I will read and remember when Daffydd and I are 70 and in our
rocking chairs.  It is from My point of view with MY opinions and how I saw
it. :)  There are parts were I revel in personal glory, but I orginally ment
for only a few to read this.  Everyone will see this battle through different
eyes and tell it differently each time.   This is a long piece, so be
prepared. 

Saturday morning broke clear and humid, most of the Ansteorra camp was packing
to travel homeward.  The War was over for them. Between the busy packing of
wagons and the harried look of gentles attempting to make everything fit, a
few diehard (crazy) warriors donned thier armor and made thier way to the
battlefield.  There were 2 battles scheduled for that last day.  A 1hr
resurrection mountain pass battle and a final open field battle with archery
and face thrust allowed.  The East kindom & allies  won the 1st battle
chanting the battle cry " Everybody fights, Nobody quits".  (I'm sure you'll
find the irony of this latter.)  Ansteorra helped defend the middle banner
after fighting most the battle on the right flank, Though the Middle had a
large force in reserve, they didn't make a big push in the end of the
battle.......(I think if the Middle had pushed, we might not have held the
banner)...
     There were 11 of us in the first battle, We lost 3 before the start of
the last battle.  HL Johnthon injured his ankle during the first battle so was
unable to fight anymore,much to his chagrin, I haven't a clue were the other 2
fighters went.  By the time the 2nd battle FINALLY started, Ansteorra had only
8 fighters.  There was 
Sir Daffyd Whittaker,his 2 squires, HL Acef and Ld Cameron, Ld Fanir, his Lady
Etain, myself and 2 others whom I didn't know.  I want to point out that 5 of
the 8 fighters were all from the tiny SHIRE of BRAD LEAH!  

This is were the Story Really begins, I will try to keep the events straight. 

After the completion of the 1st battle, there was a meeting between the crowns
of the East and Middle kingdoms.  As most have already read, there seem to be
a disagreement on the outcome of the bridge battle from the previous day.  I
don't know all the details, and to be honest, don't really care.  We were all
sprawled out on the haybales that marked the field bountries.  Hot and tired,
we watched the big gathering of fighters in the middle of the field with only
mild interest at this point. After some time, fighters were drifting back with
rumors that the last battle was called off.  It was then, that we saw the
great Eastern army and her Allies lining up on the far side of the field.
( that was the farthest side from the road).  SIr Daffydd had decided to
inquire about the use of combat archery in the next battle,so he went to the
Altantian contingent to ask.  It was there that the Knights of Altantia
informed our Knight that the Altantian Army was leaving the field. Sir
Daffyd,somewhat shocked, stated that Ansteorra was NOT!. With that said, He
simple turned and came to inform us of the happenings.  
     The Mighty army of Ansteorra( read in 8 of us) gathered together on a
small ridge and watched the Great Armies of the East process out. I must say,
it was a inspiring sight to see, All the banners fluttering, Kindoms filing
out in rank and order..  I did see one eastern count(I believe) weeping tears
of fustration and disappointed at having to leave the field. I felt bad for
him, as he followed his king off the field...sigh.....  

     "As the Eastern Tiger strode off the field, the Ansteorra Lion stood it's
ground"

Sir Daffydd stated he didn't drive 1200miles to NOT fight.  I must say,
Daffydd was in a rare Mood. He has often said that he is not a politician nor
a diplomat but simply a Fighting Peer, a warrior, and what do warriors do
best?  Make War!!  ..lol..... We were all in agreement with him, we wanted to
fight.  At this point, If Daffydd had decided that Ansteorra should leave the
field with our Altantian Allies,he would of had to order us off the field, and
we would have gone.  He is a Knight of Ansteorra, therefore,in my eyes at
least, stood for the Crown and Kingdom. But true to his fighting heart, we
stayed. We opted to make our stand on the top of a small hill.  We were meet
by the Conferedration, about 15 or so of them.  Thier comander stated that HRM
Barn had asked him to "take care of his boys". Now, I have to say that I
raised my eyebrows over that statement...Since when did warriors of Ansteorra
need to be taken care of? Much less a Knight of our Kingdom? hmmm.  That
statement hit me wrong, I guess. I'm sure it was ment with good intentions.

     I remember standing at the top of that hill looking down at the 500 or so
fighters of the Middle army, thinking boy, this is gonna hurt!  I was more
than a tad bit worried. To my left, Daffydd stood, struck the butt-end of his
glave on the hill. then stared down on the army below.  Then along with some
of the Confederation fighters and his squire Acef, they strode down the hill
to the Middle Army.  I'll never forget the sight of them striding across the
battle ground to make our challenge.  That is one feeling I can't really put
down on paper.,, the pride, yes,lots of pride, in my husband, in our kingdom.
and some fear.:)  I don't really know exactly what was said.  I do know that
it was stated that Ansteorra and the Confederation would hold the field for
the East kingdom, and that we wanted to fight.  Many of the Middle Army heard
this challenge and starting cheering.  They slapped our boys on the back,
congradulating them on thier bravery and honor.  It was a sight to see.
.
     As with every major melee, there was about 15min.of milling about time.
During this time, a slow trickel of fighters from the Middle Army began to
make thier way to us.  We were very surprised when they asked if they could
fight for us.  Yes, We had extra blue tape!!  Ld Cameron had a bunch of blue
tape on the inside of his shield.  Fighters were using it to cover the red
tape on thier helms.  The West kingdom had marched off the field with the
East, but thier fighters returned to fight the last battle.  We did not speak
to them, So I'm not sure what thier politcs were. The biggest boost to us was
when the Calentior line broke from the middle and formed up on the center of
the field, On our side. They sent a fighter to inform us that they would be
honored to join our "army".  We were cheered by the sight of the purple wall,
protecting us instead of keeping us at bay!  Our ranks swelled and grew as
more fighters joined us.  By the time Lay On was called, The 2 Armies were
about even.  Now, I believe the Middle sent all its Allies to our side to make
it more of a fair battle, But I know for a fact that the 25 or so of the
orginal "Army" WAS ready to take them all on.  We had thought  that they would
send out small units to give us a fighting chance.  But in the end, We really
didn't expect to win.  I had planned on losing a majority of the bolts I had
brought. Being an archer, I would have been lunch meat REAL quick in a small
battle.  I don't believe in having fighters assigned to protect archers in
this kind of a senerio.  We need all the fighters to were they are really
needed..fighting. Archers have to take care of themselves.

 ((My moment of glory... during this milling about period before the battle
began, I was attempting to locate a marshal to see if combat archery was still
going to be allowed.  It was. Since I was the only archer from Ansteorra, I
elected myself the archery marshel for that battle and ,of course, promptly
passed all my gear.:).  On my way back to our hill, I had to pass in front of
the shield wall.  I was almost by them when a fighter told me to shoot him..
Well, I really wasn't in the mood to deal with him, so I told him that I
didn't want to shoot into the crowd. well, he made a "interesting" comment
about my skill level, then moved to stand in front of the shield wall.
OoooK, I though.  1 bolt, straight into his grill, I scooped up my arrow
without a word and struted away,  my point was made. If I can hit you there, I
can hit you were it hurts:)))))))))  I was asked to shoot many fighters before
the battle.  Not many had been shot with a baldar blunt, and were curiosy to
see how the hit.  I only had the one guy sneer ,bieifly, at me.

The mountain conferderation had brought a small tenis ball shooting cannon.
Well, It didn't work as the had hoped, it only shoot about 20ft. I saw 2 other
archers on our side and about 4 on the red side.  I believe I was the only one
using baldar blunts and thistle missles..  When the battle finally started, it
went VERY quick!  Ansteorra was on the right flank  and quickly moved to
engage.  A small unit of the red army on the right broke off and tried to
flank us on the top of the hill.  I dropped back with the conferderation unit
to stop them. I only shot once into this group of fighters, the confed.unit
mopped them up quite nicely. After seeing I was not needed, I swung down the
hill with the rest of the blue army.  I shot twice more with killing shots.
Our line had stood up the red army in the middle of the field and was
proceding to decimate them.  The fighting quickly focused back up the hill
were the last of the red army fought.  It was plain to see that our army was
quickly winning the battle, so I wandered around the backfield looking for
more targets.  Its then I noticed a lone red archer, causally picking off
fighters at his whim.  Fighters were running by him, not even paying
attention.  This archer killed 2 guys before I was able to line up a
shoot....He never knew what hit him. hehehe......I love the looks on thier
faces when they look down to see the arrow at thier feet....

Well, I managed 4 shots with as many kills, Sir Daffydd and HL Acef never got
to engage with anyone ..LOL...  It was very amusing to witness thier
fustration over the fact that after all that hurah, they didn't even get to
swing thier galves!!!!  It was over too fast.  As for the rest of Ansteorra,
you'd have to ask them how they fared.  It was indeed a good day to fight.
and a better day to be an Ansteorran!

As I remember it,
Octavia 
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