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Castle / James Brown / blankshields / chap2 | |
| The History of the Blank Shields Chapter 2: The Quest for a Home Late in the fall of 615, some of the scouts that Dhugal had out reported a huge army approaching from the south. He found out in short order that the army was loyal to someone called “The Holy Empress”, who claimed that her ancesters were from this area, and that the fortress the Blank Shields had taken up residence in was the ancient seat of their Empire. Naturally, they wanted it back, and weren’t too interested in discussion. The events of that battle are recorded elsewhere, so we will restrict this history to saying that the Blank Shields were evicted, and had another winter ahead with no home to shelter in. Fortunately, they had their friendships with local villages to carry them through this time, and they made it to the next spring uneventfully. Dhugal was determined not to let this happen again, so he sent out scouts with two goals: To find a temporary fortress, and to find unclaimed land, where the Blank Shields could build a home of their own. The first was found in an interesting sort of way. After the first Mercenary Mountain (as it has become known) fell, Dhugal knew he needed air support. So, in the summer of 616, he wandered off into the mountains. No one is quite sure how he did it, but he came back out two months later with Fred. By this time, his scouts had mostly returned, with mixed news. One, that they had found an ideal site for a permanent HQ, in an out-of-the-way box canyon. Two, they hadn’t found anything suitable for a stronghold until the HQ got built. This is where Dhugal’s new-found friendship with Fred paid off. Fred knew of an abandoned keep that was quite out of the way, and unlike the first mountain, was unlikely to have anyone come back to claim it. Fred was positive about this, since his current lair was just up the mountain a bit from the ruined keep, and he was quite familiar with it... Much cheered by this news, the mercenaries moved into their temporary home, and set about cleaning with a gusto. It was evident that this fortress had been abandoned for much longer than the first, and it was the work of more than a year before it was livable. Dhugal himself co-ordinated the work here, and was often found up to his elbows in it alongside the men. This is just one indication of what made him such a popular leader. He dispatched Martin with most of the Blank Shields’ hard-earned money to arrange for stone to be quarried and brought to the site of the new headquarters. Fred went along to co-ordinate the building, since as everyone knows, dragons are skilled engineers. Besides, Fred was the only one who knew exactly what Dhugal wanted built. Prev Up |
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