Preparing for a Battle

[Jorgen]

*It had not taken him long to understand.......the villagers and Rangers alike held their arms up...demonstrating the high wooden structures......one held a chain and another one of the metal crafted spheres. Jorgen had nodded and grunted his eyes showing he knew what was expected of him.

He took the small axe from one of those familar to him and started to create small wooded nails. As fast as he and several other lads forged them...they were taken eagerly to the awaiting planks of wood.

He assumed the lads were villagers... they seemed nice enough but as always...he could neither hear nor speak to them. At first they had laughed at him.. their faces showed mocking and distrust... but as the days had come and gone.. there was a bond forming and he found he enjoyed their company.

The days months within the Ranger settlement had taught him much.......he honed his skills with the bow.... practiced with his short sword, and more than that...he learned to respect those that had taken him in. Never before had he been shown the ways of man without a beating...... he was humble and slight of mind, but his heart was true and sure.

The Loxley man had more than repaid him.....and now he was working with a group of men, strong men.... building something together.....sharing the same goal with an anticipation that interested Jorgan....but their faces showed they were expecting trouble of some kind.

He watched the sea...... remembering his roots.....and often he would stare in awe at the blond haired man.... his looks so similar to Jorgens.....were they of the same backgrounds he wondered, but this one was not as cruel as those of his own ship.......so long ago now... but distance memories.

Another batch of the crudely made nails were ready......he watched suddenly as the men stopped and turned their faces towards the higher cliffs........squinting against the sun...he saw the one from the Castle and instinctly lifted a hand to wave to him.*

[=Siya Maiden=]

She knew something was going on, but not exactly what was going on. She heard the gaurds speak while on duty, Gerben, walking around with his chest puffed out more than ever.

She poked a few jibes at him for it, but got really nothing back, she thought something serious is definatly going on. She also wondered why she had been told nothing of the sort.

She already performed her duties to her best abilities, but she increased her training, a two hour session in the morning, a run to the beach and back in the afternoon or when she wasn't on duty, and an hour session in the eve.

She would clean and prepare her weapons every morning when she woke, and check them over before she went to sleep. Still she did not know what was happening in the castle, with all the tenseness of late, but whatever it was she would make sure she was ready for whatever was coming.

That when and if she was told what was happening, it wouldn't take her by suprise, she would be prepared for whatever anyone needed her to do.

Her Ambassador travelling duties had take a short back seat to her intesified trainings, although she would soon need to travel again, she knew that was inevitable, unless she was told otherwise, she would prepare for her usual travel in just over a week.

She would not slacken off on her intense trainings on her travels, for she felt she did not want to faulter if something happens and she were called back to the castle.

She looked forward to her regular travel, seeing old friends and maybe making new ones, talks about trade and such, but also at the same time, in the pit of her stomach, this feeling, that something was going on, and she felt weird, almost regretful about the thought of leaving the castle when she felt like such.

But she was sure, that if she were needed, or if something were to happen, that she would be informed, well, that is what she hoped.

[Master Sergeant Gerben]

Gerbens hand rose, as in instinct, to wave back to Jorgen. Amidst the worries of battle, the tension of preparation, seeing the lad simply lightened his mood. There had been battle before. And the boy was the living testimony that from the most ugly could come the best! Oh aye, they had seen battle before, and would see battle again, no matter what the women hoped for. But his home would not fall while he still drew breath. And when the steel was silent, 't would be the Windstorm Way that found root again in the bloodsoaked earth. And 't would be the Windstorm Way that would right the wrongs.

His eyes strayed and afar he saw the Lady Siya riding. His hand rose up once more, and once more the horn blasted to alert her to his position. The Captains daughter. The Kings body guard. She needed to be prepared. 't was time to lay doubts aside and prepare in earnest. The reports were less then favorable from too many sides to tarry much longer.

[Sinold Bragasson]

He had heard the horn’s blow… looked up… Sinold recognized the man and waved his arm in greeting. Master Sergeant Gerben had by now become someone whom Sinold would trust with many things, even his life. For a moment he wondered if similar preparation had been taken when his own kin had come to visit… nay, they had the moment of surprise on their side, two years ago. How many Norse might Gerben have killed on that occasion? And how many of his men did Sinold and his friends kill? A sudden sadness came over Sinold as he kept looking up to watch the man on the cliffs. Many had died that time, on both sides – Sinold hoped this time would be different… or at least that the odds for getting killed would be screwed towards the damn Franks’ side.

His eyes caught another waving arm… the boy who didn’t speak. Sinold had tried to speak to the mute, but the boy had shied away from him. he smiled, and yet he would not let Sinold come too close. A good worker he was, that for sure, and right now that was all that counted. Maybe at some time Sinold would know why the boy was so shy around him, although he never was unfriendly. Maybe… the battles from two years ago had made him skiddish. Had he been born mute, or was that also a consequence of battle? Sinold had known s few men who had never spoken again after a particularly gruesome fight.

Be that as it may, the boy worked well and efficient, was a fast learner and good to have here on the beach. Sinold looked back up to Gerben, smiling at the man although he doubted he could see it from upop there. Two years ago… he would have killed him in a flash, without thinking or remorse. He was the enemy then… the same would have gone for Gerben himself, Sinold surely would have found no mercy at the tip of the sergeant’s blade.

How times changed! Now Sinold was glad to be on the same side as the crusty elder guardsman.

With a last wave Sinold turned his attention back to his own work at hand. The first platform boat was done, the catapult still needed to be fit onto its bulk. A second floater was well on its way to being finished and a third had been started a few days ago. He hoped they would work, and thus cut the wave of attackers short.

Unless the Franks were clever enough to come over ground … just as he would do.

“GERBEN! WAIT… I NEED TO SPEAK WITH YOU!!!”

Borrowing the horse of one of the men on the beach, Sinold swung himself into the saddle and drove the mare up the narrow path that led from the beach up to the cliffs. He hoped his fears were unfounded and that for once he worried too much, but appraising the Master Sergeant of his suspicions couldn’t hurt.