Fantasy & Sci-Fi

Albinor Chronicles Chapter 24
"Battle of Fort Death"

By Marcus Pan

February 1, 005

It was a cold and nippy day. Fisherman were pulling their lines into their small dinghies that dotted the sea. The Minrothad Guild's outpost, the only largely populated area on the small island, was Fort Death, a large, walled and guarded fortress which protected the populace of this small island in the sea. The country and liege in which this island belonged was clearly traced on the shoulders of the 25 knights who resided in this fort. The symbol was a white shield upon which was written a grey "M", the livery of Minrothad.

It was quite early, still hours before the sun's peak, when a cry went up in Fort Death. "Galley sighted eastward!" was the cry from the guard atop the wall. And indeed there was. The fishermen were quickly putting in to port for fear of the formidable ship, a large war galley. And it bore a fiendish livery, that of a blue-sailed, wooden ship upon a sea-blue field Ierendi. It is well known that this evil country has aligned with Entropia, a country that has dedicated itself to the taking over of Karameikos, a peaceful country on the near shore. But to openly attack another country, namely Minrothad, clearly showed that Ierendi had built up their forces to fear no terrible retaliation.

Women and children packed into the fort, huddling in the cold air with but few possessions and fearing the worst. Only 25 men, soldiers of Minrothad, guarded this small island. However, nearly 200 men assembled before the gates of Death with such rude weapons as picks, hoes and other crude farming tools. The knights did their best to assemble them into ranks, but they had already worked themselves up into a frenzy while awaiting the galley.

When the galley touched shore against the island, two hundred shining knights embarked upon the land to the onslaught of the villagers who threw themselves at them. The 25 men of Minrothad did what they could, slashing here, swinging there and doing they're best. The villagers fought viciously, with hatred in their every stroke, and slowly the knights of Ierendi fell yet they advanced. But Ierendi made a grave mistake when they sent this force. Other than the king, Zeckar Ierendi himself, the only commanding officer was John Skurge, his captain. But he was at Entropia, within Fort Doom, with Hector Aasgard, it's king. And he himself was too busy to command these forces. And without a commanding officer to guide them their morale was rather low. But the people of Minrothad, seeing their protecting knights fight well and strike down the opposing knights, fought more valiantly and cheered every time an Ierendi knight fell. And many cheers there were. Ill-trained the villagers were, but they were valiant.

After nearly fifteen minutes, the rear two rows of Ierendi soldiers began to fly back to their ship. The first row of knights was nearly extinguished. The people lost many valiant men, ut only a single Minrothad knight fell before a dark blade. The people saw the back two ranks of men, nearly a hundred knights, start for the ship at a crazy rout. They cheered, pressed on and now Ierendi was losing ground. The knights of Minrothad tried to take down the flying knights with archer fire, content that their people would soon rout the 25 or so knights of Ierendi still at battle. They were correct. The entire battalion of dark knights broke, flying swiftly for their ship. The people cheered, many running after them to trip and beat the running knights who were slower due to the armor they wore. 'Twas a god-sending day for Minrothad and cheers went up as the dark vessel of Ierendi passed through the waves.