{"id":345,"date":"2010-11-02T09:11:44","date_gmt":"2010-11-02T13:11:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/?p=345"},"modified":"2010-11-02T09:11:44","modified_gmt":"2010-11-02T13:11:44","slug":"breaking-an-empire-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/?p=345","title":{"rendered":"Breaking an Empire #5"},"content":{"rendered":"

The fifth installment of a 30k word short story set in The Four Part Land. It takes place 400 years in the past from the time of Tarranau and Chloddio, and details the collapse of Hymerodraeth Heula, the Empire of the Sun.<\/em><\/p>\n

\t\u201cOkay, sarge, who’s the snotnose standing over there? He’s looking all bubbling and expectant, and it’s getting on my nerves.\u201d Gwyth growled at Rhyfelwyr when he arrived.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cThat’s Rhocas. He’s replaced Gwewyr.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tGwyth looked at his feet for a second, then nodded. \u201cLike that, was it? Yeah, we all saw it. Still, this fresh-face? Really? You couldn’t get us anyone worthwhile?\u201d<\/p>\n

\tRhy shrugged. \u201cTaflen recommended Rhocas. We’ll see if he’s worth anything. If he’s getting on your nerves enough, duel him, find out how good he is with a blade.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cWorthless, just look at him. His posture’s wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cWell beat it out of him then.\u201d Rhyfelwyr paused. \u201cJust not too hard, he’s only got a month to heal.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tGwyth grinned, and pulled his axe from over his shoulder, then unlimbered the shield onto his left arm. \u201cOi, Rhocas, we’re supposed to duel.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThe recruit looked up at that, then grabbed the sword from his belt and hefted his shield. \u201cAre you sure, sir?\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cOh yeah, positive. Just spoke to Sarge about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cOh, very well then.\u201d Rhocas attacked, without waiting for Gwyth to get into position. The veteran was barely able to get his shield up, and grunted at the presumption of the recruit. Catching three more successive blows onto his shield, Gwyth decided that it was time for him to go on the offensive, and leapt forward, bullrushing Rhocas with his shield out in front, then spinning into a slice at the ankles with the haft of the axe. A solid thunk sounded from the impact, and Rhocas fell to the ground, surprised. He struggled to his feet on a sore leg, and peered at the standing Gwyth.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cHow do you use that when you’re in a shield wall?\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cYou don’t. Or you pray the man next to you keeps his shield up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cRight. Again?\u201d<\/p>\n

\tGwyth growled again. \u201cPresumptuous lad.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThe two exchanged blows for a few seconds, and then Rhocas spun into the same ankle-breaking strike that Gwyth had just used. Gwyth had to jump high and back to stay out of the way of the sword, and nearly fell on the landing. Forced onto the defensive, it took him a little while to recover and push back against the recruit. Eventually, though, Gwyth was able to use his strength to knock the recruit down again.<\/p>\n

\tRhocas popped back up and assumed the stance once more, and Gwyth sighed. He’d just been looking to teach the recruit a lesson for looking so flaming cheerful, not get caught into a long running duel. The fighting continued for some time, during which the others slowly gathered. Rhyfelwyr leaned over and whispered to Taflen. \u201cIs Rhocas really a recruit? He’s got some moves in there that only the veterans know.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cThe boy is a sponge. Sucks up knowledge from everyone. Just needs to be shown a strike once or twice to learn how to do it. Given him enough training on the march, and he’ll fit right in with the rest of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tNodding appreciatively, Rhy watched the fighting continue, until both combatants called it off due to exhaustion. \u201cRhocas, I’m sergeant Rhyfelwyr. This is Llofruddiwr, Locsyn, Taflen, and you’ve met Gwyth. Rather a few times, I think. If you’ve moved into our room in the barracks, that’s all there is to it, just follow one of us around and train as best you can. We’re all teaching various squads at the moment, trying to make them worth something.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cI look forward to it, sir.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cI’m not a ‘sir’, that’s for your officers. Just call me Rhy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cYes, Rhy, sir.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tRhyfelwyr shook his head. \u201cYou’re dismissed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tRhocas trotted off, while Rhyfelwyr turned to the others in the squad. \u201cSo, he worthwhile?\u201d<\/p>\n

\tLlofruddiwr answered first, uncharacteristic of such a silent man. \u201cHe’ll do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThe next answer was from Locsyn. \u201cStill a bit rough, and his striking isn’t smooth enough. We’ll polish him up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tStill panting, Gwyth followed. \u201cI beat him every time, but he made me work for it by the end. We’ll keep him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tRhy grinned. \u201cAnd I know how you feel, Taflen. So that’s sorted. Good. Back to being trainers, now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThe soldiers grumbled as they departed. Any more training and they’d be ready to turn on their own officers. Especially the young, know-it-all ones who seemed to get every lieutenant spot in the army.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The fifth installment of a 30k word short story set in The Four Part Land. It takes place 400 years in the past from the time of Tarranau and Chloddio, and details the collapse of Hymerodraeth Heula, the Empire of the Sun. \u201cOkay, sarge, who’s the snotnose standing over there? He’s looking all bubbling and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[34,7],"tags":[32],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pRIK4-5z","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":433,"url":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/?p=433","url_meta":{"origin":345,"position":0},"title":"Breaking an Empire #18","date":"February 8, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The eighteenth installment of a 30k word short story set in The Four Part Land. It takes place 400 years in the past from the time of Tarranau and Chloddio, and details the collapse of Hymerodraeth Heula, the Empire of the Sun. The patrol gathered itself, and what little it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Four Part Land"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":411,"url":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/?p=411","url_meta":{"origin":345,"position":1},"title":"Breaking an Empire #15","date":"January 11, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The fifteenth installment of a 30k word short story set in The Four Part Land. It takes place 400 years in the past from the time of Tarranau and Chloddio, and details the collapse of Hymerodraeth Heula, the Empire of the Sun. Two days later, their turn came in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Four Part Land"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":41,"url":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/?p=41","url_meta":{"origin":345,"position":2},"title":"Breaking an Empire, Part #5","date":"January 31, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been posting slower than I would like to, but I'm glad to be able to put this slightly longer than usual update in place, and hopefully will be able to return to a more regular posting schedule. This one is about 2,000 words long, and covers a nice little\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Four Part Land"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":43,"url":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/?p=43","url_meta":{"origin":345,"position":3},"title":"Breaking an Empire, Part #6","date":"February 3, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Another 2000 word update, the next in the series. Before questioning the prisoner, Rhyfelwyr glanced over to where Taflen and Rhocas sat, talking quietly to one another. That was a mystery that would need to be explored, and quickly. Rhy saw Locsyn just shake his head, wondering at the new\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Four Part Land"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":417,"url":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/?p=417","url_meta":{"origin":345,"position":4},"title":"Breaking an Empire #16","date":"January 24, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The sixteenth installment of a 30k word short story set in The Four Part Land. It takes place 400 years in the past from the time of Tarranau and Chloddio, and details the collapse of Hymerodraeth Heula, the Empire of the Sun. Several minutes passed, and then Rhyfelwyr pulled the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Four Part Land"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":395,"url":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/?p=395","url_meta":{"origin":345,"position":5},"title":"Breaking an Empire#10","date":"December 7, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"The tenth installment of a 30k word short story set in The Four Part Land. It takes place 400 years in the past from the time of Tarranau and Chloddio, and details the collapse of Hymerodraeth Heula, the Empire of the Sun. Gwyth was breathing heavily now, his blade stained\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Four Part Land"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=345"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}