Thread: To [Divide] .and. ` c o n q u e r -

To say that King Edward II wasn't really popular among common people is to exaggerate at the very least. While being the favorite of rich, noble families of the Kingdom he was hated among common people. Now it was the dawn of his 21st year of his unjust, tyrannical rule. The first to rebel were those who were oppressed the most- the peasants. At first it was just the matter of few runaway serfs here and there, which was a pain in the ass for the local nobles but nothing the local militia couldn't handle. But the taxes kept rising and soon, several mayor merchant companies withdrew from the land. This was a disaster for the economics- the merchant companies provided roughly 23 of all the trade in the Kingdom. Cut off from, sometimes, even the most basic resources, cities started falling down and the famine and disease followed. Some citizens turned to crime, other choose to hide in the forests and live like the primitive barbarians of East. Unable to retake the control of his own country, the King declared full mobilization of his troops and death penalty for even the slightest crime. But the rebellion kept going, and in the 21st year of His Merciful Rule it seemed it was far from over. Rebel, both the bandits and those just hiding from the crowncalled Refugees, manged to form some kind of strange alliance. The Refuges were providing the food ad working as a lumberjacks and workers for the bandits, while the bandits protected them from the army. One of such hideout cities, as they were popularly called, was the old mining complex deep in the Northern Woods called by it's inhabitants The Camp. The Camp was governed by a bandit chieftan Tork, a 35 year old mercenary who became the leader by killing the previous chieftain in a sword duel few months ago. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- John of Tamberlot,Tork's second in command, stood in front of his troops, preparing for the battle against the Royal Battalion itself. Though, these weren't really his troops. In fact, this weren't troops at all. The cowardly bunch standing behind him were refuges armed with bunch of sticks and armored in an old, damaged leather armors which was quite useless. But from far away the looked like warriors and that's all Tork need. Tork, being a mercenary for many years, knew the way many armies fought- Kingdom's army included. He was more then certain that the enemy commander will send heavy cavalry first. Bold, proud knights, half of which would have sooner died then fled from battle. Especially when the enemy was routing. The plan was that the refugees will retarded back to forest as soon as soon as the enemy cavalry will appear. The enemy is supposed to follow them there, where the bandits and Tork himself awaited, armed with spears and muskets await. Course, Tork needed someone competent to oversee the first stage of operation. And who is more competent then his second in command? The knights appeared in the distance. Bold, in a shining corny armors of theirs. If they won't make it back to forests in time, they are dead. If they will start retreating too soon, he is dead cause the operation will fail and Tork will kill him personally. The latter was definitely worse. John noticed a sudden movement in a crowd behind him. Wait, whores! Even if you are not warriors yourself mat least pretend that you are ones! You'll run away on MY orders, do you under.... suddenly he noticed that the knights were moving faster then he predicted. What's their problem? Aww, fuck the speech! RUN!! he screamed and started running as fast as he could to the theoretically safe forest. The battle had begun.