The Bladesmen at the Village (1425)
Between 1405 and 1460 Emperor Jorun VI was enacting a bloody campaign across Tullis to consolidate his control across the outer regions.
In 1425, a town was under siege by a vanguard of the Tullisan Army, the town's inner keep had withstood weeks of attempted scaling, sapping, and barrage. In anger, the commander of the siege and the vanguard at large, ordered an infantry regiment to attack the nearby unguarded village, killing any remaining civilians and razing the houses.
The infantry regiment, 500 strong, disgusted by the order instead attacked the Commander and fled into the forests until dark. When night fell they returned to the camp to steal the cavalry horses to ride to the village to protect it. While they were taking horses, a cavalry Sergeant saw one of them and drew his sword to interrogate him, alone, the infantryman told the Sergeant of the heinous order he was issued, that he and his entire regiment we going to protect the village from whatever more obedient force he ordered next. Disgusted too, the Sergeant helped them round up mounts to take and gathered up his own force of 100 to join them.
Now numbering 600, mounted in pairs on 300 horses, they rode to the village and arrayed along the approach to the village from the camp and waited for sunrise, blade in hand and shield opposite.
As dawn approached, so too did the clouds, and with the clouds, hammering rain. Each defender donned his cloak and lifted the hood, but still waited for the oncoming assault.
They did not have to wait long.
The grey skies brightened to a dull white and the first soldier came into view from out of the western woods, 1,700 men, 150 horse, at the head, the Commander, still bloodied from his assault. A dead silence between them even as they marched against each other, only the trudging through the deep mud and beating of the rain.
At last, they closed, a roar rose from the Bladesmen as they charged. Half stampeded forward, half stayed to ensure the village was guarded. In the fight, a whirling melee, two shieldbearing men to a horse, each allowed them to protect both their flanks as they waded through the massed infantry but still they pressed on. Breaking the first line of infantry they made it to the true target: the cavalry, which, in number, they matched, but doubled in blades.
Break the cavalry, chase off the infantry.
The 300 still guarding the village watched the chaos closely, they were to hold fast until a full retreat was clear. As yet, things seemed to be going as well as they could.
Breaking through to the cavalry, the first blow was struck, with the power of the horse behind his arm, a whole sword pierced through the chest and plate of a Captain. His pained scream echoed across the field, a bloody trumpet call for the cavalry to scatter. Keeping the whole 150 together, they chased down the split and smaller cavalry force and cut them down with little issue, even with two men to a horse, they were still faster than the fully-armoured horses in flight. They then wheeled around the infantry, taking shots of opportunity at the infantry line as they charged to catch the other half of the cavalry.
As the 150 passed, some infantry realised the breakdown and began charging to the village, to secure something close to an objective. An infantry captain ran ahead, more than 200 men following, some under his command, most just carried with the current of the charge.
The guards at the village braced, knowing that as a force on the ground they wouldn't be able to stand against the armour, but if they attacked as cavalry they could easily be slipped past and they couldn't fight well in the village, and they would slaughter the villagers as if they weren't there. Their solution: To be outnumbered and to attack as cavalry. One Bladesman from each horse would dismount and form a shield wall and the cavalry would move to the wings to corral the infantry into engaging the shield wall then to fan out and encircle once they were pinned.
The Bladesmen in the field, though, had a harder challenge. While chasing down fleeing cavalry was a hunting trip, they were now charging head-to-head against armoured cavalry, quick to react, they peeled off but their haste reversed their position and now they were being chased and with them, the mass of the infantry was pulled toward the village. Still, they had the speed. Galloping hard as the rain still weakened the ground beneath them, they wheeled back around behind the infantry line, and the cavalry followed. Halting the move towards the village.
Keeping them away was much needed, as the 200 infantry crashed against the shields of the dismounted Bladesman and immediately the line began to buckle, but their feet held firm and the cavalry on the wings took flight and began the crush, swift encirclement, and slaughter, each one fell against the shield wall and the pressure was relieved. Some managed to drop their swords and ran, and cavalry let them. Lifting the men on the ground back onto horseback, they took stock of the situation of the Bladesmen in the field and charged in to join them.
Still leading the armoured cavalry around the infantry, but facing away, the 150 in the field were unaware of the aid on the way. Until they heard the commotion in the ranks they were baiting. Seeing the rear of the cavalry being enclosed, they kept up the pace and began focusing on the infantry. To surround and put them to flight, as in a direct fight, they would be surrounded and overwhelmed.
In short order, the rest of the cavalry was killed or immobilised, one of them being the siege commander, bright plumage above a bloodied helmet, and justice was at last done. Racing back around to form a line between the infantry and the village, leaving a long gap between the infantry and the Bladesmen.
Still an absolutely overwhelming force but also rendered leaderless, the infantry began to falter. The Bladesmen noticed this and half dismounted and began to walk and those still mounted followed slowly. Again, in dead silence, and the rain, and the mud. The wet black cloaks, swords stained with blood, the hot and heavy breathing of the exhausted horses were like thick smoke in the cold. The infantry crumbled, from the front at first but as soon as the first man ran that panic spread, and the rest followed.
The village protected and the fight won, the Bladesmen rallied and fell back only 50 people were left in the village that hadn't fled or made it into the keep, but those that remained had been watching them and they came out to thank them, with what little they had left, but they were refused, the Bladesmen rounded up in the middle of the village to camp and recuperate their injuries, also to keep watch just in case.
Five days passed and the Bladesmen talked over the reality of what they had just done around their fires and in the abandoned houses they were offered to stay in. While some wanted to stay around the village and become its dedicated guardians, no one wanted to disband. Unable to return to civilian life and certainly never a military life, while not unanimous, a vast majority saw the best future in doing the same for anywhere that needed it. While it would only worsen their reputation with the Imperium of Tullis, the people they protect would protect them in turn.
Altogether, they took an oath, and all together, they mounted their horses to ride to protect again. Formally adopting their title: The Bladesman, faceless, nameless, and free. The Free Bladesmen.
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