Post by gear on Sept 1, 2011 12:10:40 GMT 10
Title: The Fall of Tortall
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 405
Card: Summer
Bingo: Sun + Water + Air + Fresh + Holiday
Summary: An AU in which Kel was captured and executed for trying to kill Blayce the Gallan and rescue the civilians from New Hope and the Scanrans took Tortall soon after. (Warnings: war, implied character death and implied violence)
Towards the later years of the Scanran war, the fighting no longer lessened in the winter. The passes were closed, yes, but all that meant was that the Tortallans could not get supplies from the south. The fighting got nasty and brutal – well, more nasty and brutal than it had been before – and men and women died by the dozen. The only thing that was worse than fighting in the winter, with the ice and the mud and the frost and the men freezing to death and falling dead from sheer exhaustion, was fighting in the summer. Comparatively, the winters were a holiday.
The weather mages had predicted a vicious summer, but even they had not expected it to be as bad as it turned out. Men died in droves on the battle field of dehydration and sun stroke and all of the other nasty things that summer heralded. The dehydration in particular caused a horrid dilemma. Stopping for a drink of water was deadly. Fighting on was just as surely a meeting with the Black God. There was no happy compromise. None at all. In the early months of the summer the commanders managed to keep troops in steady rotation, relieving exhausted soldiers with fresh ones, but by July, it was no longer possible – not without sacrificing land to the Scanrans.
The heat sapped strength from the men, on sides, the animals, the civilians and mages and the smiths and the runners alike. The knights with their heavy armor were worst off, the metal acting as a virtual furnace. The air became hard to breathe, so thick was it with humidity and moisture. The healing tents were ovens, and they became breeding places for disease and pestilence. And the healers were suffering from the heat too. All of these factors were affecting both sides, keeping the playing ground level, if rather deflated. Perhaps Tortall might even have won if not for the one missing piece – the killing devices. Only the metal insects remained unaffected by the heat. They slaughtered the already weak Tortallans with ease, like a sleek wolf pack taking down an ailing, elderly deer.
Later, when historians looked back at the Scanran conquest of Tortall, they pinpointed that summer, along with the capture and subsequent execution of Lady Knight Keladry of Mindelan and her men in the attempt to kill Blayce the Gallan as the two major turning points in the war.
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 405
Card: Summer
Bingo: Sun + Water + Air + Fresh + Holiday
Summary: An AU in which Kel was captured and executed for trying to kill Blayce the Gallan and rescue the civilians from New Hope and the Scanrans took Tortall soon after. (Warnings: war, implied character death and implied violence)
Towards the later years of the Scanran war, the fighting no longer lessened in the winter. The passes were closed, yes, but all that meant was that the Tortallans could not get supplies from the south. The fighting got nasty and brutal – well, more nasty and brutal than it had been before – and men and women died by the dozen. The only thing that was worse than fighting in the winter, with the ice and the mud and the frost and the men freezing to death and falling dead from sheer exhaustion, was fighting in the summer. Comparatively, the winters were a holiday.
The weather mages had predicted a vicious summer, but even they had not expected it to be as bad as it turned out. Men died in droves on the battle field of dehydration and sun stroke and all of the other nasty things that summer heralded. The dehydration in particular caused a horrid dilemma. Stopping for a drink of water was deadly. Fighting on was just as surely a meeting with the Black God. There was no happy compromise. None at all. In the early months of the summer the commanders managed to keep troops in steady rotation, relieving exhausted soldiers with fresh ones, but by July, it was no longer possible – not without sacrificing land to the Scanrans.
The heat sapped strength from the men, on sides, the animals, the civilians and mages and the smiths and the runners alike. The knights with their heavy armor were worst off, the metal acting as a virtual furnace. The air became hard to breathe, so thick was it with humidity and moisture. The healing tents were ovens, and they became breeding places for disease and pestilence. And the healers were suffering from the heat too. All of these factors were affecting both sides, keeping the playing ground level, if rather deflated. Perhaps Tortall might even have won if not for the one missing piece – the killing devices. Only the metal insects remained unaffected by the heat. They slaughtered the already weak Tortallans with ease, like a sleek wolf pack taking down an ailing, elderly deer.
Later, when historians looked back at the Scanran conquest of Tortall, they pinpointed that summer, along with the capture and subsequent execution of Lady Knight Keladry of Mindelan and her men in the attempt to kill Blayce the Gallan as the two major turning points in the war.