Welcome to Cove

Staring up at the wooden ceiling of his house Ryan smiled faintly. He could feel the cold night air creep through the open window and tickle his chest as he lay on top of his bed thinking about the events that had happened that day.

Guardsmen had been lazy that afternoon , all of them sleeping out in their beds because it was weekend and filling the empty halls of the barracks with their loud snoring.
Glancing to his right Ryan stared at his loudly snoring roommate and shook his head.

Things hadn’t changed that much since morning except for one little thing. Himself and a handful of guardsmen could call themselves heroes for what they did that afternoon.
Of course nobody believed Ryan as he proudly explained the things that he did but he didn’t care.
He had a nice bag full of money and a good feeling about himself and that was all he needed for the day.

Closing his eyes Ryan kept the smile on his face as he tried to imagine the battle that took place that warm uneventful day.

**************************

Sir!! Sir!!

Ryan looked to his left and placed a hand over his mouth to cover the smile on his face as his eyes caught sight of recruit Kas Valentine running towards him and tripping over almost every stone that littered the ground.
Lady luck seemed to take her eyes off the young spell caster for just a moment because when he almost reached Ryan with the news he was so eager to bring his left foot met with a stone sticking up from the ground causing his face to speed towards the ground and end in a sudden stop.

Ryan couldn’t help himself anymore as he looked down at the cursing spell caster rubbing his nose and burst out into laughter.

Bloodi ‘ell Kas! I knew ye liked meh but I would ’ave nay disappeared with ye nay ran towards meh like a ’eadless mongbat.

Ryan tried to stop his laughter but failed , especially after Kas crawled up and shot him a angry look.
After Ryan was finally able to calm his laughter down he rubbed his aching chest and looks towards Kas who was still staring at Ryan with the same angry look as before and tapping his left foot impatiently on the soft wet grass.

Shaking his head Kas finally started speaking to Ryan as the last dying chuckles faded from the air.

What I was going to tell you boss is that I have news from Britain about a large force of people gathering to push back the monsters who've been laying siege on Britain for months now.

Rubbing his chin Ryan thought of the information Kas had just given him as the warm wind from the east started blowing his hair in front of his eyes again.
These people inside Britain were loyalists serving the king and everything and Ryan wasn’t very sure anymore if the Baron still wanted to help the king.
But then again letting those innocent people suffer just because they believed in something else wasn’t right either.. That and he could make some nice money off the spoils of war.

Smirking faintly Ryan caught the old mercenary decease known as greed again. The spoils of war sure sounded tempting and the Baron wasn’t going to miss a hand full of men for a few hours.
Nodding towards Kas Ryan smiled and pointed a finger towards the barrack entrance.

Kas.. Ye get yerself a ‘and full of men out of em barracks.. Drag em out of there fer all I care! But make sure ye get em lazy gits out of bed.

Sitting down on the grass Ryan watched the young red headed man stumble up the barrack stairs preparing to drag a few lazy recruits out of their beds.
A few minutes after Kas had disappeared into the barracks Ryan could hear muffled curses and yells which seemed to be directed towards Kas and his mother.

Sniggering Ryan placed his hands behind his head and lay down on the soft wet grass in front of the barracks.
It sure was good being a Junior , you hardly ever had to do the dirty work yourself since there was always a recruit around to do it for you.

Not long after laying down on the grass Ryan could hear the footsteps of at least four men coming down the barracks stairs followed by plenty of muttering and yawning.
Ryan quickly crawled up and wiped some of the grass off his kilt , he didn’t want to be caught lying down and relaxing  by the hand full of people who just lost their lazy Saturday morning because of him.

As the mumbling crowd appeared Ryan identified the faces of Marie Le Blanc , Alkerin Oederys and a very upset looking Kas Valentine.

I…I couldn‘t get anymore boss these were the only two who nay tried to stab me as I woke them up.

Muttering faintly Ryan stared over the group. He knew he wouldn’t get too many men but this was ridiculous. But they would have to do and it was pretty sure that the Baron wouldn’t miss a group this size!
As Ryan opened his mouth and raised his left hand in the air to explain the situation to the group he could feel a metal clad hand being placed on his shoulder.

Swinging around Ryan was greeted by the slightly frowning face of the church sentinel William Edenfort.
If it was any other member of the church Ryan would have been shaking on his knees but Ryan and William had known each other since his time as a mercenary and they had become friends over the years.

And... What exactly are you doing Ryan?

Ryan stared at William for a while before sniggering faintly at his friends attempt to sound like a serious church member.
Pointing a thumb over his shoulder Ryan grinned and looked towards William

Well… ye see I ‘eard about this ‘ere invasion goin’ on in Britain… and I thought I would do somethin’ roit fer a change eh? I mean… there be innocent folk dyin’ and everythin’ in that there town.. And.. Err.. Well ye know em attackin’ folk might be carryin’ some spoils of war.

Shaking his head to himself William stepped into the line that had formed in front of Ryan causing a slight smirk to appear on Ryan’s face.
William always was a sucker for helping people and he could used all the swords he could get for this because from what he heard the army was at least twice the size of the whole Covian army!

Ryan took a final breath of the Covian air before shoving on his helmet and turning towards Kas.

Alroit then Kas… ye open one of em wytchy things towards Britain.. And the rest of ye put on yer ’elmets and draw yer swords! Because this is nay goin’ to be pretty!

As soon as Kas opened the blue tingling portal in front of himself the group started jumping in and disappearing from Ryan’s view with a loud sizzle and sparks coming from the portal.
Taking another deep breath Ryan jumped through the gate himself and was greeted with the sight of men and women fighting huge monsters towering above them and the smell of blood.

As soon as the gate closed behind the group their swords were raised into the air and the battle cry of Cove filled the air as they charged towards the huge monstrous army.

(http://img91.echo.cx/img91/7175/invasion17pc.jpg)

Ryan screamed for the group to stay together but the chaos of the battle caused them to lose sight of each other.
Cursing loudly Ryan raised his sword and charged the lizzardman taking bites out of the neck of a peasant armed with a pitchfork causing a fountain of blood to spray from it.

Swinging his sword down on the lizzardmans head it screamed in agony as a spray of its own sticky blood shot from the wound hitting Ryan in his helmet causing his lunch to travel half way up before settling down again.
As soon as the lizzardman slumped down on the ground Ryan turned around and was greeted by the sight of a huge club swinging towards him causing him to fly through the air and crash into a nearby ogre.

Crawling up Ryan could just make out Kas shooting lightning from his hand towards a nearby ettin causing it to blow up in a thousand pieces.

(http://img91.echo.cx/img91/9104/invasion29ng.jpg)

The battle seemed to last for hours and hours , men were cut down by the hundreds but reinforcements just kept on streaming out of Britain to meet the invasion.
Sometimes it wasn’t more then men and women armed with farming tools or even cooking tools.

Even Cove had to cut its losses , after an hour of fighting both Marie and the newly arrived Jorn were breathing heavily and covered in blood like the rest of us and asked to be dismissed.
Mumbling faintly Ryan nodded and saluted them off. He didn’t blame them for wanting to get the hell out of there because the chaos didn’t seem to end.

The sun was starting to set behind the mountains and the last ogre general covered in heavy armour and armed with a spiked club was overwhelmed by the people of Britain and fell down dead on the blood stained grass.

An deadly silence filled the air of Britain for no longer then three minutes before screams and victory and joy burst out.
Men and women were crying and shouting over the victory they had achieved today.

Even the group from Cove couldn’t happen but cheer in victory. It was a victory for Britain.. A victory they helped bring forth.

(http://img219.echo.cx/img219/7321/invasion39ol.jpg)

The cheers of victory and joy lasted in the air for more then half an hour until things settled down and the peasants and soldiers seemed to line up for something or someone.
As the people lined up Ryan and his group just stared blankly at the sudden action not understanding what was going on until Ryan’s eyes caught sight of a old man dressed in a black golden gilded robe approached the line while being guarded by a few royal guards.

(http://img75.echo.cx/img75/8039/invasion41rg.jpg)

As the man came closer the troops of Cove quickly stepped into the line along with the other soldiers who defended Britain.
After the man passed the line waving his hand towards it and smiling ever so slightly under his hooded robe he stepped towards a small hill in front of the cave where the army had been pouring out of.

The crowd started to gather around him as the man started holding a speech about how the commander of Britain would be very pleased with the victory and other things like that.
The only thing Ryan could do at the moment was stare blankly at the hooded man and mumble under his breath

Ohh… ‘e be fancy lookin‘….
 
 As the man finished his speech he looked across the crowd one last time and waved his hand in the air to say goodbye to all the warriors that had fought to protect Britain.
Expecting the man to simply walk off the hill and go back the way he came Ryan gasped as the robed man burst out into flames and disappeared.

Blinking a few times he turned towards his Covian brothers in arms and whispered

I tell ye… never wear a black robe and talk to large crowds! Ye‘ll ignite!

(http://img219.echo.cx/img219/3648/invasion55dm.jpg)

Nodding along and chuckling faintly the Covian men gathered their weapons and set off towards home with their pockets filled with coins and their hearts filled with pride.

A grand and enjoyable adventure; well told too! *grins*

Commander Eason,
Cove Militia & Baronship Council