An Empire at War

[ChrisiusMaximus]

Great stuff, I cant wait to read the french campaign

[Prince Jason]

There was no front line in Egypt. The archers from Madrid and Barcelona was now known as 1st Company, and consisted of 1,000 archers, 500 spearmen, and 500 swordsmen. The spearmen, always in the front, were out of sight within minutes in the jungle density.

The humidity itself was choking Mario, not to mention the extreme lack of water. That's what the great Egypt lacked, the vital fresh water. They had ample jungle water, but it was usually contaminated by some disease. Water for the soldiers must be imported all the way from Spain, definitely leaving the rear trade routes very vital.

This was the least of Mario's worries, though. According to Egyptian reports, invading French forces numbering possibly more then twice of 1st Company was directly ahead of his soldiers. After a couple minutes when the spearmen left, Mario silently signaled the archers to split, and one half go to the right and the other to the left. This would hopefully encircle the French, and then the swordsmen would move in for the kill. These were the kinds of tactics Mario was famous for in Spain, and the reason why Ferdinand had sent him.

When he had lost sight of the archers, he and the swordsmen began to move forward. Soon catching up with the spearmen, Mario came up alongside LeParte, former commander of the 2nd Madrid archers, and now commander of the 1st Company spearmen. LeParte was breathing hard, and wore green paint that masked his face, with a full suit of leather armor.

"Any sign of the French?" Mario whispered. LeParte looked startled to see Mario. He didn't hear or see him creep up to him. The trees formed a sun block, and little light if any got through.

"Yes, see that?" He said, slowly pointing to a pink sliver in the dark trees. “My tree-climbers count more then 3,000 in the area between 1st Company. They haven’t shown any sign of seeing us." LeParte stopped, staring at Mario. He was obviously waiting for the order to attack.

Mario stood up, and signaled for the trumpeteer. He came running up, stumbling over roots and hitting branches.

"Sir!" he yelled. Mario's face went to fright as he brought his hand to meet the trumpeteer's face. What an idiot! he thought. He may of just gave away the lives of all his men. Mario jutted a glance at LeParte, who brought his finger and thumb to an "ok" sign.

"Blow the horn." The trumpeteer brought the golden trumpet to his lips, and out came the battle cry. It was met with a loud yell from the soldiers. The swordsmen began to run in, and with them came Mario.

The French turned to retreat so they could gather for a counter attack before the swordsmen reached them, but only to be met behind them with the archers.

"Fire!" Cried Simone as the archers let loose their first round of arrows. The whole front line of the French fell down, which made it more difficult for the second line to continue.

"Aim, Fire!" He cried again, and the archers let loose another round. By this time the Spanish had caught up with them began to slaughter the unprepared French. Mario ran into the midst of the battle, sliding his new long sword strait into a French, and right out again. The whole world went deaf to him, as he slashed another soldiers chest, spurting blood over his blue cape. A red haired man began running at him with an axe, and let it loose at an alarming rate. Mario instinctively ducked, the axe continuing onto finding the chest of a pink-coat (French). Hearing only his breathing now, Mario grew tired.

Arrows were everywhere, and if it weren't for the extensive training the Spanish went through, they would have certainly hit Mario by now. Forcing himself to continue fighting, Mario flung his sword up to block an incoming blow, and pushed a powerful kick into the man's stomach, leaving him on the ground. The sword slid in and out of his stomach easily.

Turning around there was yet another pink coat. This time the first swing came from the enemy as Mario ducked, he forced his own sword up into the belly of the man. He fell over, his face in utter pain. Just then another man came from Mario's side, swinging his sword hard and quick. Mario was just barely able to bring his own to meet the French. However, from the recent blood on Mario's sword, the French's slipped down the blade and sliced Mario's shoulder. The cold hard iron dug deeply into his flesh, bringing blood to gush out the wound. Winching in pain, Mario was forced to drop his sword and step back. He could only stare in pain at the oncoming man, his sword drawn and ready to slice into Mario and end all this.

An arrow whistled past Mario's ear and struck through the face of the swordsman. He fell backwards from the force the arrow gave. Mario looked back to see LeParte grinning at him, then turning away and delivering more arrow into the bodies of the French army. Mario quickly grabbed his sword and made his way to the safe spearmen. They were hidden underneath densely grown brush, their spears ready to jut upwards at an enemy appearance. Mario passed this fortification, to make his way to the Spanish camp. Cutting much leaves and greenery, he finally made his way to the meadow, the light burning his eyes. There he found it peaceful, with the occasional scream from the battle.

The medical tent was the largest tent in the camp - by far. In it he already found many wounded laying on the ground, and the few medicine men wondering around. An old man, his white hair lay like a bush on top of the wrinkled face. Though once he got close, Mario noticed the vibrant eyes. They were full of wisdom and youth, much like that of Michael's.

"Ahh, Commander, you are hurt?" He asked, while Mario pulled his hand away from the slash.

"Hmm, I see. Come, lay down over here." He led them to an empty space in the corner of the tent. Mario obeyed the man and laid down.

"Now, take off your armor." Mario complied, revealing his short white shirt, small enough for his wound to be fully exposed. The doctor had a quick glance at it and then yelled to a lady wondering the tent, "I need Plankan Herb now!" She immediately came too him with a small green leaf that had a bright brown lining all the way around. He rolled the leaf to the smallest it could get, then dipped it in a red sauce that lay at the side of the bed-roll.

"This may hurt a bit," he warned as the herb was stuffed into the wound. Mario lay back, sweat beads covering his face and his eyes starring at the top of the tent.

Riding up to the home, Mario got off his horse and began to walk towards the door. He appeared inside the living room, in which Michael was fixing a fire in the fireplace. His head swung around, a smile stretch from ear to ear. His blue eyes twinkled in their white clouds. He immediately jumped up and leaped to his father's arms. His small body pressed against Mario's brought the feeling of safety to Michael, and the return to normalcy for Mario. Still hugging his son, Mario turned to the opening that lead to Isabella's bedroom. Out came the most beautiful thing in Spain. Michael obviously got his eyes from his mother, as her bright blue eyes stood out from the mocha skin. Her warm smile brought a nothing but another smile to Mario, and they stood there starring at each other while Michael was laughing with so much happiness.

Mario awoke to see the white-haired man bent over him, his hands somewhere on his shoulders, and a faint pain coming from the slash wound. Again, his sight turned black.

Awaking for the second time, Mario was alone in a tent. After looking around, he noticed it was his. There was a small shrine to Lemen, the war god in the corner with a table at another side that had maps and books piled to the breaking point. His weapons and armor chest lay to the right of his bed roll. He went to raise himself with his arms to get up, but was immediately on the ground again. The pain in his shoulder was immense, and he felt nothing but anger towards the damned medicine man.

After being alone for a couple more hours, his hate slowly declined to better reasoning. He knew the doctor had saved his shoulder, and he should be in debt to his skills. Just then, LeParte and Simone walked in.

"Ahh, sir, your awake. How goes your shoulder?" Simone asked.

"It's a little sore, but it will pass. We won the battle then?" Mario asked anxiously.

"Of course, commander. 1st Company won with little casualties, only a dozen or so swordsmen and archers, thanks to your brilliant tactics. Three French companies, totaling 6,000 men, lie in the jungle, sir. This may be the turning point for the war with France." He explained, and Mario just let out a sigh of relief. He thought for sure this was the battle in which it was his turn to loose, the odds were so much against him.

"Gather our men, we will head towards Elephantine for a rest and further orders." Mario ordered, and the two lieutenants left the tent. Mario began packing.

----------------------

Keeping tack of 2,000 men while walking through the jungle was not an easy thing. Mario was constantly riding back and forth from the front to the back of the line to count his men. The men seemed to be having fun, which annoyed Mario at first, but soon he joined in. They were singing the original Spanish war song,

"Onto the hills of Portugal, or to the plains of Central, or to the grasslands of Madrid. Spain's army will deee-fend, Spain's army will deee-fend! Onto the gold of Celtia, or the Jungles of Eeee-gypt, or to the peaks of Germany, Spain's army will aaaa-tack, Spain's army will aaaa-tack. For the King and his family!"

[Prince Jason]

On and on, they would sing this song as they marched south. The Egyptian roads were not at all as confusing as the intertwining of the roads of Spain. There was simply one trail to one city, and one to another. If you knew what direction to go, there were generally only one trail to take. The trails were like huge snakes, swirling around in the dense jungle. A beacon of light within the crowded trees.

After singing the song the fortieth time, the front line soldiers took a large step that sent them face first into grainy hot sand. Mario soon trotted up to the men, and was immediately embraced in heat and light that stung both his eyes and his skin. It was instantly desert, and looking down the line he could see the direct change from jungle to desert. It was mind boggling how one could be struggling for breath, soaked in dew and moist, crowded between trees and vine, and then suddenly take one step and be in a totally opposite environment.

However, it wasn't a normal desert yet. Sure it was flat and hot, but for as long as the eye could see, there were small grooves in the desert ground. They were all parallel - obviously man-made. Through each small groove a little water trickled down On the mounds, one could barely see a small yellow stem protrude from the ground.

"Incense!" Yelled one of the soldiers. They then broke line and began a mad rush for the valuable luxury.

"1st Company, in rank!" Mario yelled over the excited voices. Instantaneously the soldier fell into line. Mario soon spotted the trail going through the plantations. The Company began again to march in line, and the songs began to fill the empty air again. While they were singing, Mario observed some dark-skinned Egyptians out in the fields, picking some large incense sticks. It brought Mario to remembering that more the 3 quarters of all this incense will most likely be shipped to trade.

The trade between Spain and Egypt is ancient, he thought. The Egyptians had always had the certain luxuries the Spanish citizens craved for. Spices were abundant in the Egyptian jungles, ivory in the Theban plains, and silks in the south. While Spain lacked most luxuries, out of the few it possessed it had furs in which the Egyptians didn't. Also, Spain was a large land with many gold mines that easily paid for heavy importing from Egypt. More then half of the Egyptian luxuries produced were sent to Spain in return for gold and furs. It was an age-old trade that dated back to the founding of Thebes and Madrid, and the first road. One could see, thought Mario, why the war with the Celts was so important – they controlled this vital trade route. However, that was over, the Celts forever paralyzed by the joint armies of Egypt and Spain. Now it was Spanish turn for helping the Egyptians after being brutally attacked by their northern French neighbors.

Snapping back to the desert air, he caught a glimpse of a few shadows in the horizon. Bringing his hands up to shade his eyes from the hot sun, he was sure it was the beautiful desert city of Elephantine. Another hour of walking brought them within the city gates.

The gates were quickly swung open after the guards were sure 1st Company was friendly. Mario had visited Elephantine before, but did not remember it this way. It was not at all like Madrid or Murcia, no, it was more fascinating. Instead of market stands, the merchants were housed in small mud-brick huts that were smaller then homes, but not too small. The shops lined the streets, as Egyptian shoppers kept to the sides and horses/carriages were able to pass in the center. The rest of 1st Company was just a surprised as Mario was, most of them stopped breathing and were looking on with awe and jaws dropped.

If Mario could remember, the barracks of the city was in the north east part of the city. Heading through the center, the Spanish foreigners made their way through the streets. The citizens watched, some with happy faces, and some with squinted eyes. Either way, the Spanish made their way to the barracks were a small wooden fence encircled it with a guard at the opening, much like at Madrid. Mario spoke with the guard, and to his surprise and luck the army stationed here had been summoned to the north, and so the barracks were open for the 1st Company to rest in.

It was weeks before Mario began to scratch out plans for the rest of the war. He had gotten no word of the ongoing war, and so he finally decided he would just go to the war and find a friendly company to group with. It was to his surprise that night, the Elephantine company came back into town. Mario learned news of how great his victory over the French that one battle was. It happened to be the only thing that lay in the way between Heliopolis and the rest of the Egyptian army. After Heliopolis was liberated, Spanish and Egyptian forces marched onto Lions and Orleans. Soon after, Bordeaux was captured which left Paris undefended. A joint strike between Spanish and Egyptian soldiers brought down the city, and soon came the peace treaty. The war had ended, winning the Egyptian much land.

That very day, Mario got word of his de-commission, and while the 1st Company would remain in Egypt for peace-keeping, Mario was able to return home if he so wanted too.

Mario returned to Murcia to grab his things. From his new fortune gained from the war, he was able to purchase a caravan where him and Relámpago followed to the Portugal city of Santiago. It was a peaceful, cool city along the Great Ocean coast. Striving off the Iron mines, the village was small where Mario purchased a mountain cottage. Him and Relámpago grew old together, Mario never remarrying or even dating. He soon joined his family in the afterlife at age 78.


There, that about does it. The last installments were at night, lol, and 6 page on word. I was tired by the end, and so I couldn’t really edit well. I did my best, lol.

Hope you have fun reading it, comments are appreciated so I can know if I did this good to right my next one.

Jason

[ChrisiusMaximus]

It was an excellent tale indeed and you must write more for us, you have a talent for doing so.

Im off to nominate this for the next contest.

[vovan]

Very nice. I second Chris' hopes that you write more, for I know for sure that every consecutive story by an author is usually better than the previous one. And since this here is one excellent piece of writing, I am sure the next one would be even better. I, for one, sure had fun reading it, and am looking for more from you eventually.