Metaxuheimir: The Between World

By Keith Croze

The Thriverold Histories are the three-part biographical story of Ren Lioghtfinna. His story is one interwoven with the events that consume three different worlds. This first book recounts how Ren comes of age and finds his place in a world that stands between those of light and darkness, a world called Metaxuheimir. Ren must navigate the events surrounding the final collapse of the Ancient Order, as both a bystander and key participant in the history of Metaxuheimir. As new powers emerge, political and social chaos is inevitable. This chaos is used by the emerging political power called the Mountain, but also by a more ancient power. However, this ancient power that seeks to once again enslave humans, he must contend with another rising power, that of The Kingdom of Eternal Light. As a soldier in the Skotian empire Ren must fight political forces that seek to destroy his world, forces that wield awesome powers emanating from the Rift, known as Riptek, . The power of the Rift is a terrible power used by humans to enslave the weak, enrich themselves, and destroy their political enemies. But these powers come at a price, one that could once again transform Metaxuheimir into a world enslaved by powerful ancient forces from beyond the Rift.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Nov 19, 2023
• ISBN: 9798823015271

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THE THRIVEROLD HISTORIES

(THE THREE WORLD HISTORIES)

BOOK 1

METAXUHEIMIR

(THE BETWEEN WORLD)

KEITH CROZE

AuthorHouse™

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Bloomington, IN 47403

www.authorhouse.com

Phone: [phone]

© 2023 Keith Croze. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 11/16/2023

ISBN: 979-8-8230-1528-8 (sc)

ISBN: 979-8-8230-1527-1 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023918288

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

CONTENTS

Dedicationi

Chapter 1 Origins

Chapter 2 The Gersh

Chapter 3 Inexorable Fate

Chapter 4 Superlative Soldier and Thankless Thaumaturge

Chapter 5 The Wars of the Skotian Empire

Chapter 6 New Beginnings with Old Enemies

Chapter 7 The Political Persuasion of Singular Savagery

Chapter 8 New Enemies and the Triumph of Truculence

Chapter 9 Loyalties Lamented and Ignorance Informed

Chapter 10 New Relations with Old Allies

Chapter 11 Love Lost in Brilliant Brutality

Chapter 12 Renewed Resolution Amid Closing Chaos

Chapter 13 Obvious Opulence and Conspicuous Caste

Chapter 14 Gathering Perfidy and Coruscating Par Amour

Chapter 15 Tender Commiseration and Condescending indifference Juxtaposed

Chapter 16 The Apogee of Ambition and the Subjugation of Sublimity

Chapter 17 The Astonishing Alacrity of Complicit Conflagration

Chapter 18 Desperate Defenestration and Courageous Carnage

Chapter 19 Devouring Darkness and Repulsing Resplendence

Chapter 20 From Triumph to Tragedy in the Vicissitude of Victory

Authors Note

DEDICATION

T his book is dedicated to all the young men, past present and future, who had made Western Civilization great. There is good reason why insurance companies charge a lot more to young men under the age of 25, they are reckless, aggressive, and impulsive. But it is precisely this reckless and aggressive energy that no society or civilization can long endure without. It is this reckless energy that held the line at the battle of Thermopylae, charged down the hill and saved Vienna in 1683, forged a trail over the Cumberland gap, and stormed the beaches at Normandy. There are countless other examples of this reckless energy being harnessed for the safety and prosperity of all Western Civiliza tion.

As a young man serving in the Marine Corps, I was ordered to lay down over concertina wire so my comrades could walk on my back like a bridge, something I did without hesitation. As an older man, I would think long and hard if someone asked me to do that again. Older men hesitate and count the cost, young men leap into the fray regardless of the cost and completely confident in their ability. It is that very confidence and reckless courage that every great civilization heavily depends upon for its survival. I echo the sentiments of Lt. Colonel Hal Moore as he spoke of the young American fighting man after the battle in the IA Drang valley… they are without equal.

Our contemporary society is safe and becoming more decrepit every year. It is vital that we reverse this trend and rekindle our appreciation and respect for the reckless energy of young men. Imagine the DEI trainer from the HR department (undoubtedly a passive-aggressive poltroon) conducting the diversity and inclusion seminar for the young Viking warriors before they set out on the raid of Lindisfarne. Or the OSHA inspector overseeing the construction of the Empire State Building; chastising steel workers for walking on narrow I beams 1000 feet in the air with no safety harness. These absurd contrasts of history with our contemporary society highlight a simple but powerful truth. Our society is safe and docile compared to those of the past, but it is not better. Instead of demonizing and marginalizing the reckless energy of young men in our society, we should instead seek to harness and celebrate it.

We need young men and their reckless energy to survive as a civilization, without it and them we are doomed to be conquered. In the timeless words of Conan the Barbarian, we will be crushed and driven before our enemies, and we will hear the lamentation of our women…

CHAPTER 1

Origins

I , Ren Liohtfinna, son of Kith Liohtfinna, loyal citizen of the Skotian empire, Withyun family Praefect, House Xaraxus Priorii, Deca-Tribuna of the Imperial Guard, initiate of the Order of the Way, Knight of the Order of the Way, Defender of the sacred city of Paxborg, Paladin of the fifth seal, husband to the Lady Neran ve’Chandra of the Order of Life, and follower of The Sacred Light do undertake to tell the story of the first Kingdom war which was waged in the twenty-fourth year of the emperor Festus XVI and in the 1327 th year of The Sacred Light. This war was to define the age we lived in and was to transform the land and people on both sides of the conflict. I was not a willing participant in all the events that I witnessed and took part in, but my story is without regret or sorrow. Being mortal, as I am, I do not claim to have perfect recollection or to be infallible in memory, what I offer is my honest recollections and observations, untarnished by ideology or passi on. ¹

The recollections of my early years are not very distinct or clear and so I will offer only my remembered impressions and most vivid memories. Later in life when I was taught to read and write I began to keep a daily journal of all that happened in order to practice my writing. It is therefore necessary to warn the reader that at a certain point in my story my memories are supplemented by actual written records that I kept and that provided a higher level of detail and recall. I also attest to the simple fact that all I have undertaken to write is true in spirit and faithful to the ideas if not the actual facts. I do not claim that this testimony is inerrant, being wholly without error, but that it is wholly true and therefore the reader must use it how they will.

My father was a minor noble of the house of Finna, having fallen on hard times the family name was all that he had of any real value. He worked as a keeper of bees and producer of honey because, even though poor, he still possessed a large tract of swamp land that had belonged to his father. This land was mostly swamp and bog but it did have a lot of very large flowering vines that produced excellent honey. My mother had married my father for his name and position of authority among the greater family of Finna. She came from a long line of wood cutters and carpenters and was fond of morning walks with the sunrise. She gave me the name Lioht which came from her side of the family. My father and mother had seven other children before me, four brothers and three sisters, but the wars with the Kurgan had taken all my brothers but one, and sickness had taken one sister before I could remember any of them. I was by all accounts an unexpected and unwanted child that had come in the winter of the third year of the emperor Festus XVI, during the great migration of that year from Thaon to Rataun.²

My family had settled into the small village of Geth just outside the capitol city of Badahoth. There my family eked out a meager existence like many of the other refugee families. After some years of working to farm a small tract of land and restart his bee keeping business my father decided that for that sake of the larger family of Finna something drastic had to done. My father was the head of a small extended Finna family that included my aunt and her two daughters, a cousin that had four children, and my brother and sisters. This small extended family, though few, had been stable and somewhat prosperous before the Kurgan wars. After my family had migrated to Rataun ten years had passed without any real improvement of the family’s status and wealth. While many who had emigrated with us from Thaon were busy making the capital city prosperous, and the envy of the province, my family continued to languish in destitution.

So it was that when I was ten my father took me to the capital and registered me into the annual honor gifting roles. I knew little in those days about the ways of the great Rift and all its mysteries, but I did know that my family was grateful and excited for the prosperity that my gift would provide. For one whole year I was set upon my destiny and learned all I could about what would be expected of me once I joined the great Rift. I needed this time to learn all I could about the Rift and its mysteries and how to bring about the maximum benefit to my family. As a boy of eleven years of age I can tell you that I was extremely proud and excited to be providing such a benefit to my family. My father, mother, siblings, and extended family all showed me the deference and honor due someone who joins the great Rift for the benefit of all.

It was in the third lunar cycle of my eleventh year that I went to the capital with my father and the entire extended family to fulfill my destiny and join the Rift. When we arrived in the provincial capital city of Badahoth I was excited beyond anything I had ever experienced in my short life. The family was immensely proud of me and excited at the prospect of their greater prosperity. When we arrived at the gates of the capital citadel we were greeted with some unexpected and devastating news.

During my entire life the empire had been at war with the Kurgan kingdom, indeed it was this war that had caused my parents to immigrate to the province of Rataun. What was totally unknown to my family was that the war with Kurgan had been going badly and the empire was hard pressed to maintain its eastern border. The difficulty on the empires eastern border had made it absolutely imperative that the western border be secured. The Kingdom³ had mysteriously appeared on the western border of the empire almost two hundred years prior to my birth and, for the most part, had lived in peace with the empire, but that could change at any moment. Even after two hundred years the empire knew very little about The Kingdom. Envoys had established peaceful relations and even trade with The Kingdom, nevertheless the people of The Kingdom were secretive and enigmatic.

Just six lunar cycles prior to my expected joining with the rift the emperor had sent new envoys to The Kingdom, the first that had been sent in over fifty years. The emperor was desperate to secure a pact of non-aggression with The Kingdom and had instructed his envoys to make significant concessions, if necessary, to bring the pact about. The Kingdom agreed to a non-aggression pact that would last for 10 years, but demanded some concessions that would have a profound impact on my life, as well as the lives of many others.

The Kingdom considers the great Rift, and anything connected to it, repugnant and strange. Several of the more minor demands from the empire involved the expansion of trade and commerce, The Kingdom wanted to trade goods and resources that had previously been outlawed by the empire. This new and expanded trade deal with the Skotian empire, and in particular Rataun, came with some stringent demands, however. The Kingdom demanded that in the province of Rataun many Rift practices be severely curtailed. All Honor gifting was to cease at once, all denizens of the Rift were to be removed from Rataun province, all Ripatekhne⁴ was to be curtailed, and all Rift melding was to be publicly discouraged.

The emperor, in his desire and haste to secure his western boarder readily agreed with the demands from the Kingdom; after all, the emperor had never even visited the province of Rataun and certainly did not overly care for it. The curtailing of certain, small, and largely insignificant rights in the province of Rataun was a small price to pay for the security of his western border.

So it was that in the eleventh year of my life the needs of the empire brought my world crashing down about me. My father sat stunned and in silence for a full hour after the guard of the citadel had informed him of the new laws governing Rataun. On the journey back to our village no one in my family spoke to me, and I began to see the looks of reproach and contempt. What I did not fully understand at my young age was that for the previous year my entire family had sacrificed many things for me that they believed would be turned into blessings once I had joined the Rift. Now that I would not be allowed to pass through the fires of the Rift, all the sacrifices my family had made were meaningless.

For the next three years my life was one of monotony and despair. My family, including my father, would barely even talk to me. For them my life should have ended on the day of my joining and the lack of blessing from this event was felt keenly by all, especially my father. I was slow to realize what had happened and how my father really felt, for me the pain of loss was not immediate but slowly grew over this three-year period. Eventually I came to realize that my destiny had been cut short, that I had been cheated out of a cherished dream. At first, I blamed the emperor for robbing me of the opportunity to be of great service to my family. After much reflection on the matter, however, I eventually came to the realization that the true source of my growing misery was The Kingdom.

For my family the real cause of their sinking prospects and growing poverty was much closer to home. As my anger and resentment at The Kingdom grew so too did my family’s anger and resentment grow towards me. I was slow to see it but after several years it came to a head when my father approached me one day saying, food is short this winter, we cannot afford to feed you any longer. It is time for you to seek your fortune on your own..

At first, I was not certain what my father meant, I could hardly believe that my family would turn me out at the age of fourteen. When my father told me that I could take enough food and water to make it to the provincial capital of Badahoth I realized the full gravity of what was happening to me.

I have never, in the years since my family asked me to leave, given them much thought. I have never seen any of them again and I know not what their ultimate fate was. The only thoughts I had for my father for many years were ones of contempt and disgust. Over the next several years as the story of my life unfolded, I came to see my father as a helpless and pathetic victim of the larger political forces that governed my world. During this period of life my loathing and antagonism towards The Kingdom grew and I committed myself to the prosecution of The Kingdom for what they had taken from me and my family.

My desire to have a reckoning with the Kingdom was not to be realized for my years, however, as many other concerns were to cloud out and almost completely erase my hatred of them altogether. To my great fortune the empire was in desperate need of men to fight in its many wars and conflicts; to this end the empire had been recruiting many young men who were of able body, some even as young as myself.

My journey to the provincial capital proved uneventful and my only real concern on my arrival was my lack of food. When you are hungry it is quite surprising how much time you devote to the thought of food. After two days of eating nothing and drinking very little I was sitting on one of the main thoroughfares, observing the many vagabonds and beggars in the hope that I too could obtain some scraps of food, when I chanced to see a large body of men marching in order through the street. At first, I thought this was a group of prisoners, being marched by their jailors, when I realized that they belonged to some type of military procession.

I pushed my way down the street after this strange group of men that were moving in formation towards one of the many small city squares. My mistake of thinking them prisoners was once again reinforced when I got closer to the group and observed how closely guarded they were by four men in red tabards. Soon, however, this group came to a halt in the middle of the square and a spectacularly dressed older man stood on the edge of a small fountain and began speaking to the assembling crowd. This man spoke in guttural tones that I found hard to understand, and his accent was heavy and abrasive. My doubt was turned to sudden curiosity when I saw this strange and mesmerizing fellow spear a large cake of bread with a sword and hold aloft for all to see.

As I watched in rapt attention, I saw a young man step forward in the crowd and speak to the funny sounding fellow on the fountain. With a sudden flourish and loud cheer from the crowd the fellow in the fine red tabard lowered the sword so the bread cake came sliding off into the eager hands of the young dirty man. I quickly realized that this strange procession was a recruiting detachment of one of the many military companies that were being raised from all twelve provinces. The rumbling in my stomach and my total lack of any other prospects soon made me realize that this was a chance that I needed to avail myself of. I quickly pushed my way towards the center of the crowd and yelled, I will volunteer if you will have me!

I later came to greatly resent the provost, whose name I do not remember, that tricked me into enlisting into the company of the red tabard. I do not remember much of those first few days marching through the streets of Badahoth, other than the constant vigilance of our guards and the miserable nights spent chained to a company wagon and each other. What I do recall from this time is that the desertion rate of young starving men who had mostly enlisted for the food, which was of surprising quality, was very high. The provost and his four companions spent all day marching us through the streets and all night drinking and watching over their hard earned catch.

I later learned that the fraud and graft surrounding recruiting was terrible and quite pervasive, and that because of this much time and energy was wasted making secure any hard-won recruits. After a week of being well fed, and well-guarded, our small little company of about ten recruits made our way to the citadel for processing into our chosen company, in my case the Company of the Red Tabard. The Company of the Red Tabard was a small company of perhaps 150 men and officers led by an obscure and rather cantankerous man named Sej Withyun.

It would be perhaps helpful of me to recount the nature and organization of the military machine that the empire had come to rely on during these years of constant warfare.

Technically the Emperor was the head of every warrior and soldier, every company and legion, and every army and provincial guard in the empire. In practice, however, the emperor had very little to do with the mundane operations of the army, and nothing whatsoever to do with the recruiting of its soldiers. Most of the decisions were made by bureaucrats that had achieved status and notoriety within the empire. This small group of men, known as the Imperial Council, made all the important strategic decisions about how any particular campaign was fought and which units participated and who would be in command.

The Imperial Council, and most of the various company commanders, were all practitioners of Ripatekhne and all were men to be feared by their enemies and the men under their command. The head of the Imperial Council at the time that I enlisted in the army was a man named Kiriath Waylen. Under Waylen were two other men of great power and cunning who had murdered and bribed their way onto the council. This council of three was not only responsible for the strategic planning of the various campaigns of the army but also very integral in the recruiting process of the armies of the empire.

The basic unit of the empire was the company, comprised of about 150 men called Pelotons, and each peloton was composed of various elements that allowed it to act in an autonomous nature. Every peloton of the army in the empire was a private commercial endeavor, they were raised by private individuals who had the means and knowledge to form a Peloton for the express reason of generating profit. If a particular individual, usually a practitioner of Ripatekhne from one of the noble houses, had the funds to pay for a company of men they would then petition the Imperial Council for approval to establish a new company.⁵ Each company would then be paid by the empire until such time as they were not needed. Because of the graft and corruption at the company level and the absolute authority of the company commander the individual soldier rarely, if ever, saw all the money that the empire was supposed to pay him. In this way, the company commander could make quite a tidy profit at very little risk to his own finances.

Companies could also be formed into larger units to facilitate the prosecution of larger campaigns. Ten companies could form a Decian and ten Decians could, in turn, form a legion. The commander of a Decian or legion was appointed by the Imperial Council, usually based on seniority of the company, and were graded from one through ten. The first company commander of a Decian was in command, the second company commander of a Decian was second in command and so on down to the tenth. This same organization was also used, theoretically, in a legion. Many times, however, a staff of command was formed by the commander of a legion that formed the chain of command. A named army, such as the Army of the South, would be formed by as many legions as the Imperial Council deemed necessary and given an overall commander, who was appointed until death or the disbanding the army.

In my fourteenth solar cycle I was recruited by the Company of the Red Tabard, so called because of the lack of imagination of our commander, commanded by the miserly and repugnant fool Sej Withyun. Commander Withyun was a dimwitted and greedy man of about 40 years of age who came from a prominent family in the empires capital city of Luttetia. He was the third son of a prominent family, not very bright or ambitious, and like most of his kind a practitioner of Ripatekhne (also called a Riptek user). Beyond this I do not remember much about our wayward commander because he spent much of his time in the city of Badahoth. I do recall that he was seventh in our Decian, the Decian of the province of Rataun.

---

¹ The language used during the Ancient Order was difficult to conjugate and speak for some, and it was called Skota; in that tongue Liohtfinna was spoken as Lee-oat-fee-na, the name for the Empire was spoken as Sko-tee-an, Xaraxus was spoken as Zar-ax-us, and Priorii as Pre-or-ee-i.

² Thaon was spoken as Thay-on, and was a small province on the border with the Kurgan kingdom. Rataun was spoken as Ra-tawn.

³ I shall omit the full and recognized title of The Kingdom of Eternal Light and simply use The Kingdom in its place.

⁴ The power that came from the Rift was spoken as Ree-pa-tek-nay.

⁵ Once a peloton was given official status it became a company.

CHAPTER 2

The Gersh

A t this time the strain on the empire’s army was very great, the vast majority of its forces were spread very thin in the ever-growing war with the Kurgan. The Imperial Council could only spare one Decian for the defense and security of its most western province, a fact that led to the political settlement with the Kingdom that had been the genesis of my personal career. The Rataun Decian was responsible for the defense and policing of the entire province, a task that in the solar cycle that I joined was proving to be increasingly diffi cult.

The Gersh, or the dogmen as we called them, had been largely quiet for over a century, and very few in my day had ever even seen one, let alone know what they looked or acted like. This primitive and reclusive species had a nasty reputation for the eating of human flesh and capturing of human children as slaves. A large band of the Gersh had been reported in the south of Rataun and most of my Decian was being prepared to mount an offensive to push these creatures back into the ground from which they had crawled. The main force of the Gersh had taken a large village on the border between the empire and the Kingdom and our Decian, my company in particular, had been recruiting and training men to bring itself to full strength as quickly as possible. My little group of ten recruits was the last to be enlisted and we were trained on the road as we marched south with six other companies of the Decian.

As we marched south, I was drilled and instructed on my duties as a soldier in the empires army. At my young age I was hardly able to comprehend what it meant to be a soldier or fight in a battle, but my young mind was very much impressed with the knowledge of my betters. I was trained by my company’s senior officer, the prima-feohtan, quite literally meaning first to fight, who was named Dek Treban. Our company’s prima-feohtan, or prime as we called him, was indeed a truly professional soldier, having fought in several campaigns against the Kurgan and in the employ of the empire as a soldier for over fifteen years. Prime Treban was a hard and relentless taskmaster who wanted to ensure that we were all prepared for the coming violence.

The officers of my company were all professional soldiers in the service of the empire, and all capable warriors. Every company in the empire was allowed to have ten officers on the company roster, starting with the prime, who was senior, and ending with the deca who was last. The Red tabards, however, being a haphazard and poorly equipped company, thanks to our company commander Sej, only had seven officers. There was Prime Treban, the Secundus whose name I do not recall, and the others who I cannot remember any details about, except the Triben-feohtan. Our companies Triben-feohtan was named Redacar Barca. Triben Barca was a singular man or rare talent and hard demeanor who had little mercy for others, especially raw recruits.

It took our Decian three weeks to march south to the village that we were tasked with taking back from the Gersh. At the end of ten days of brutal marches and relentless training I was assigned to the squad commanded by Triben Barca. This squad was made up of mostly raw recruits, but all had been a part of the Red Tabards for months and so I was the newest and most raw and therefore the most despised. Every night I was tasked by Triben Barca to fetch the water and light the fire for the entire squad. Every night I was given middle watch, which meant I only slept three consecutive hours at one time. The training I had received at the hands of Prima Treban was mild compared to the harsh and rough treatment I received at the hands of my squad mates.

After three weeks of marching and training on the road our Decian arrived at the village we were to rescue from the Gersh. On our arrival, we found the village deserted, having been mostly burned to the ground and devoid of anything living. I never actually saw anything of the village, except the smoking ruins from a distance, I later learned that some charred and half eaten human remains had been found among the ruins by our first company who been tasked with entering the village. The Red Tabards were fortunate that we did not have to bury the dead or clean up the village, this task was given to other elements of Decian. During the week that we lingered in the vicinity of the village I was able to hone my skills and adjust to my new life and equipment.

Soldiers of the empire were not issued standard equipment, they were instead equipped based on the needs of their task and at the desire, and cost, of their company commander. The soldiers in the Red Tabards were issued one pair of poorly made sandals, one pair of rough spun trousers, one linen tunic that was also from rough and poorly spun fabric, and one thick cloth tabard made of Jhida cloth that acted as armor.⁶ We were given no gloves, no helmet, and no metal or leather armor, as many other companies in our Decian were. Our only weapon was a thick and sharp spear with a six foots shaft of very hard wood, about two fingers thick, and a spearhead made of crude hard steel that was a foot long and perhaps three fingers at its widest point. These spears were a part of the legendary weapons crafted by the empire, cheap to make and quite deadly in their construction and quality.

Thus equipped I met the enemy for the first time on the fourth week after having been transformed from a wide-eyed youth of just fifteen solar cycles into a soldier of the empire. The Gersh had attacked elements of the fourth company in the middle of the night about a week after we arrived at the village. Some 20 men were killed or wounded and about half that many carried off as prisoners, presumably to be eaten as food for our enemy. One of the advantages the Gersh had over us was that they did not scruple about provisions for their soldiers, they instead allowed their warriors to eat what they could capture thus decreasing their load and encouraging them to be more savage and aggressive at the same time.

After that first night attack our Decian waited in nervous anticipation of the Gersh and their next move. I realized many years later that our officers had made a deliberate decision to stay in one place and not look for the Gersh or go on the offensive. This decision was made with the knowledge that the Gersh would eventually get hungry and come to us in the search for more food. The Gersh were not interested in acquiring land, their only goal was to hunt for human flesh and to plunder human treasure such as metal and other shiny objects.

The Gersh were a cave dwelling hunter gatherer creature who prized human flesh and human weapons above all else. Some less scrupulous people had been known to trade with the Gersh for both flesh and weapons in order to acquire precious minerals that the Gersh had no use for, at very great profit. This trade, we later found out, had been in recent months been firmly stopped by The Kingdom who had been killing all they could find who traded with the Gersh. Thus, the Gersh, who had rarely ventured above ground in the preceding decades, had come forth to take by force what they could no longer trade for. Of course, the Gersh had no idea about the workings of human international political struggles and agreements, and so did not know that it was really The Kingdom they should target in their revenge and greed. They merely lashed out at the nearest and most available humans, those of the province of Rataun and most recently the Decian that the empire had sent to defeat them.

Three days after the initial night raid, the Gersh finally came for more of what they really prized, our flesh and our weapons. We knew the Gersh would attack at night, they always did, and the commander of our Decian had formed our eight companies into a defensive square of about one hundred men on each side and two men deep. During the nights, the officers had about one quarter of the men awake and on guard and the other three quarters of the 800 men asleep in the middle of the square. Our Decian had built many fires that ringed our position and were continually fed by wood that scavenging parties collected during the day.

The first alarm was given after the twentieth hour of the day, as the men on watch heard the sound of many feet running in the night. We were hastily awakened by our officers and pushed into our lines with little noise and quiet commands. I found myself somewhere in the middle of my side of the square in the second line nervously awaiting my fate.

The attack came suddenly. After several minutes of listening to the growing sound and the stamp of thousands of feet running towards us, the man in front of me began to nervously inch his way back towards me as the noise coming towards us grew louder and louder. I yelled at him that if he did not stand his ground I would put my spear into his back and kill him myself. These words that I spoke out of fear and desperation were taken by my officer, Triben Barca who was several paces to my left, as a sign of my courage and resoluteness.

At last the Gersh crashed upon our lines and the impact was felt as a slow and growing wave because the Gersh did not attack with any coordination. I heard more than saw that first battle of my life, the first of many battles that I would come to fight and certainly one of the shortest. I heard men up and down the line being impacted by the running Gersh and wielding their weapons in defense, and after about 30 seconds of this I began to hear the screams of the men who had fallen before the Gersh and were being consumed on the spot by their hungry enemy. Soon I saw the man to my left being shoved backwards into the man behind him and I made the mistake of turning to help when the man in front of me slammed into my head and pushed me to the ground. I could hear him scream on top of me as he struggled with two Gersh warriors, and I was struck by the smell of blood and beast mingled together.

Before I could react, I saw Triben Barca take off the arm off one of the Gersh warriors with a mighty swing of his sword. He then pushed the howling Gersh with his foot, shoving him off the pile of man and beast of which I occupied the bottom. Before the other Gersh warrior knew what was happening his head was cloven down to his snout by another tremendous blow from the sword of Triben Barca. Barca then grabbed the man on top of me and yelled at him to reform the line, but he made no response as his throat had already been torn out and his eyes were wide in shock as his own life ebbed out in slow motion. Barca then grabbed me and shoved me into the line and yelled at me to hold my ground, and with that he moved down the line and I did not see him again until after the battle. A few more heart beats went by, and I saw another Gersh wielding a club with sharp metal edges running straight at me, I could barely make out its shape in the dim firelight. I knew what I had to do at once and braced my spear under my arm and with both hands held tight and angled it up so it would be level with my assailant’s eyes.

This act on my part had probably saved my life as the oncoming Gersh Warrior had closed his eyes in an instinctive reaction and so did not see my spear tip as it tore out his throat and came out the back of his neck. I assume all of this because I was knocked clean out by the impact and lay with a dead Gersh warrior on top of me for some time. I was told later that the line nearly collapsed in several places, and this would have been a disaster for our whole Decian. But our lines held and many Gersh warriors perished that night amidst much screaming and howling.

The Gersh never did learn, to my knowledge, the use of cunning and tactics in warfare, they simply attack with savage ferocity and hope for the best. They are noted for believing that their primitive Cave deity determines who lives and who dies and that the dead, of all species, satiates his lust for blood and so is pleased at all death.

The next day we burned the dead and tended the wounded. Most of the wounded also had bite marks on their bodies that could lead to nasty infection if not treated. This is where I first saw Ripatekhne used; I was astonished that wounds could be healed, and torn flesh restored by the power of those who could wield the blessing of the great Rift.

The use of Ripatekhne and the soul cost of wielding the blessing of the great Rift is well known and is unnecessary to repeat here. What I will say, however, is that my first encounter with the Rift blessing was wondrous and comforting. To see men restored and healed was a truly marvelous thing to behold.

My Company had lost three men killed and twenty wounded, with wounds ranging from bite marks to deep gashes from the crude Gersh weapons, more designed to maim than to kill. Our company, however, did not benefit from the blessings of the Rift as our company commander, Sej, was unwilling to pay the soul-cost for the benefit of the men under his command. Our men were forced to use more conventional methods of healing and as a result two more died of infection in the coming days, a loss to the profit potential of the Red Tabards as Prime Treban angrily pointed out to his miserly company owner and commander.

My squad had lost only one man, the unfortunate man who had bled out on top of me, and we were now a squad of just nine plus our leader Triben Barca. After my exchange with the dead man my status in my squad had increased significantly, I was now fully accepted as someone who had been battle tested. Triben Barca, or Barca as I came to call him, approached me the next day to inquire after my health. I had received no real injuries and told him so. Barca then gave me a curious look and told me that I had performed better than most of the raw recruits who had been recently recruited. To this day I cannot say why I chose to stand my ground and not turn and flee; perhaps the sight of my companions remaining steady in the face of danger gave me just enough courage.

Our Decian now moved in pursuit of the Gersh hoard that had been so decisively defeated. As we marched in pursuit of the Gersh we came across many dead corpses of our Gersh adversaries, many of whom had been clearly gnawed upon. Apparently the Gersh see death or injury as a sign of weakness, and while they certainly prefer to kill and feast upon their adversaries, they are not above eating their own wounded or dead if given the time. Fortunately, our Decian was not giving them the time as we marched relentlessly in pursuit of our enemy. At last, after three days of hard marching, we closed with the Gersh at the foot of a low set of hills that hugged the coastline of the southern Rataun.

The flight of the Gersh from their encounter with our square was haphazard at best. Lasting several days and spanning several leagues. They fled in small groups or individuals nor with any recognizable cohesion. As hours wore on the Gersh slowly began to coalesce into larger and larger groups. Eventually the Gersh came into their home territory and were beginning to slow their retreat and coalesce into one large group once again. The commander of our Decian knew that once the Gersh achieved sufficient numbers they would attack again in the hopes of procuring fresh meat for consumption.

Our Decian halted just two leagues from a large cave opening on the northern side of some low hills that gradually rose about half a league above sea level. We once again formed our camp into a large square with the officers and baggage in the middle. We waited for two days in our impromptu camp when on the early morning of the third day we were attacked once again by the ravenousness Gersh. In this attack, however, the Gersh did not coordinate to attack all four sides of the square as they had on their previous attack. Instead, this time they only attacked the side of the square facing South, with very large numbers. My squad was on the opposite side of the attack and so all we could do was glance over our shoulders to see the unfolding carnage.

After about ten minutes of fighting, I began to see the officers tap men on the shoulder from the other three sides of our square and push them into the widening gaps of the southern face. The Gersh were attacking in greater numbers this time and on only one side of our square, resulting in many more human casualties, and this tactic proved more effective than before. Eventually over hundred men from the other faces of our square were shoved into gaps to prevent the Gersh from overrunning us.

After about an hour the fighting subsided and the Gersh slowed their attack and began to retreat into the night. This retreat was seen by our whole Decian and we knew they must be retreating into their home cave and back towards any potential loot and profit from the venture.

Seeing that our company was furthest from the cave entrance and would be last in the attack, and thus last to the loot, our company commander ordered our company to leave our place in the square and advance into the enemy cave. Prime Theban immediately protested that our move out of place in the square would not only put the company at greater risk of increased casualties but would also put the whole of the Decian at risk. Commander Sej replied that he was giving Prime Theban a direct order to move our company in an attack position immediately. Reluctantly the company Prime gave the order and the rest of the officers began shouting orders at their individual squads.

The Red Tabards began to wheel left across the face of the fifth company to move around the square and advance on the retreating Gersh. Once we had moved passed the remnants of the square Sej gave the order to quickstep, and we began to jog in a loose wedge formation towards the sound of the retreating enemy. I could hear the distinct yelling coming from behind us, from the soldiers of the companies of our Decian who remained in a tight packed square formation.

After about 5 minutes of moving rapidly away from the fires of our Decian, and towards the growing darkness, the noise of the retreating Gersh warriors stopped. All at once we could only hear the sound of our own rhythmic quickstep jog and the jingle of our arms an armor, meager as they were. Then all at once one of the officers from another squad went down in a sudden crash, and from out of the dark two Gersh warriors were on top of him. One of this man’s legs had almost been completely severed as a Gersh warrior had swung his crude wood sword, with jagged metal teeth, from a concealed position on the ground. Almost on cue our company was assailed from every side by Gersh warriors who came rushing out of the dark in a savage and concerted assault.

In the first few moments over a dozen of our company were on the ground either maimed or knocked down. Then the screaming began. From the center of our company, I heard prime Theban yell to form a circle with our backs to the middle. I was roughly pushed into a shrinking mass of men who were now almost shoulder to shoulder with weapons at the ready. The man next to me suddenly gave a low cry and raised his spear and a Gersh was on top of him. I quickly slapped the Gersh in the head with the butt of my spear allowing my fellow solider to push the Gersh away and slam the spear into his face, tearing a massive hole in the mouth of the attacking Gersh and spraying both of us with blood. More Gersh were coming and the noise of rushing feet grew louder and our circle grew tighter; there were now over twenty of our company on the ground either being consumed right in front of us or struggling to get free from their assailants when suddenly there was a loud noise like nothing I have ever heard.

In the years since I first joined the armies of the empire, I have been exposed to Ripatekhne many times and I came to respect and admire those who could wield this power. It