Atamaran Writings/Issue 4

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Price: 1 gold Creator: Atamaran Writers Association Issue 4

The Crusade to Beziers

"Riders, on your horses, and ride home!" Kerwyn's Elite Lancers jumped on their horses -- God have mercy on those horses, those men, armours included, don't weigh few, especially not if they jump on their horses' backs, but then again a long selection of Duke Screndt has resulted in the best horses for his Black Knights. The 32 cavaliers, lead by their commander started heading to the southwest in trot. They gained a nice speed in the fields, but they had to slow down when they arrived at the dimwoods, the dark forest in the southwest of Dimwood.

The forest was large in the longitude, but narrow in the latitude, and the latitude was what the riders had to cross. They were near the Beziersian border, which lay right behind the forest. But they still had to go through the gruesome forest. It was not really the darkness of the forest that made the people fear this place, but it were the stories of gangs having their hideout here in the woods and robbing every passenger that made this border between Dimwood and Beziers be barely used. But long and widely known, the courage of Kerwyn's lancers had no boundaries, and to serve Maelg -- Kerwyn wondered whether he should call him just Maelg or King Maelg -- Kerwyn wanted to take out the gangs. Well, actually you can't state it like that. It would be correcter to say that this forest lay on the shortest route between Dimwood and Beziers, and as he was too lazy that day to ride around, and he didn't want to look like a coward, he went through the forest. He was hoping the gangs would be feared by his heavily equipped squad, and would not pop up, for he didn't want to shed blood on his nice swords. As the lancers proceeded, they heard strange sounds from the woods. The creepy noices made the horses restless, but the riders stayed calm. Some however drew their swords, as did Kerwyn.

Suddenly an arrow hushed by, right in front of Kerwyn's horse. More of Kerwyn's men drew their horses: the gangs would attack. They heard a warcry, and suddenly many men came running out of the bushes -- some of the riders were surprised to see a man where he had seen a bush just a few seconds ago. A man came flying over the path on a rope, trying to kick Kerwyn off his horse, but Kerwyn moved backwards just in time, and with a quick move he cut the rope. The man fell down on the path and was killed by a nearby horse.

The men were no match for Kerwyn's riders, soon they were all killed out. As Kerwyn oversaw his troops, he was glad to see that his men had taken no casualties, but then again he would've infilcted casualties to his men himself if anyone would've dared to get wounded. Yet one of his men was yelling loudly. It was Mackros, an impulsive young boy who could show courage sometimes, but could hide it deeply at other times. Mackros had an arrow in his chest. Kerwyn sighed, rode to Mackros and drew the arrow out of the armour. "Mackros, why do you think I let you wear such an expensive armour? It's supposed to hold the arrows, and it does. Don't start yelling if an arrow is stuck in your chainmail!" Mackros' face visible cleared up, and Kerwyn rode on, laying his hand on Mackros' shoulder for a second. "Elite Lancers, we move on!" The squad continued and reached the border of the forest, and the border of Beziers.

As soon as Kerwyn had crossed the border, he saw a flag on a long distance. There were Ibladeshians here. Kerwyn was decisive to vanquish this evil. "Prepare for battle! Set up in a wedge and follow me!" The riders approached, and saw 16 Ibladeshian Riders in front of them. Some of the Elite Lancers were looking fierce to see if there were no other Ibladeshians, but it seemed like Abacus from Ibladesh was left alone. Kerwyn's men grinned. Kerwyn drew his swords and put it in the air, followed by his warcry. "To battle, and victory!" The lancers charged into the Ibaldeshians, and a heavy battle began. It was a quick battle, but painful on both sides. Kerwyn lost 3 of his fine riders, and 5 were wounded. Abacus on the other hand had 7 of his men killed, and the remaining 9 were all wounded.

Kerwyn and his other men brought the three dead men to the graveyard, and buried them. The five woundeds were brought to the local house of healing, where they are to be cured soon. Then Kerwyn approached to Abacus, who was afraid that Kerwyn was going to kill him. "I want to see you in my office tonight. If you do not show up, I will follow you and hunt you down, even if it were the last thing I will do in my life." Kerwyn's Elite Lancers went back to the town, and established themselves in the governor's house. Kerwyn was selfsure that Abacus would come to the office the other day, so he told his men to go to bed. It was late and they were tired.

In the middle of the night Kerwyn was awaken by the yelling of his guards. He quickly dressed and asked the guards what happened. "We have spotted an infiltrator, Sir, she was..." Kerwyn interrupted him. "She?" The guard smiled. "Yes Sir, she. it is Alexandria from Ibladesh. She tried to sneak into your room but she was spotted and arrested. Would you like to see her?" Kerwyn shaked his head. "No, take care of an escorte and bring her to Lady Naira." Kerwyn yawned. It was only 3 o'clock in the morning. He went back to bed.

The next morning Abacus came to his office. "Welcome, Abacus! How do you do? That was a nice battle the other day, but I advice the next time to play it fair, and to not send an infiltrator to take me out. Yes, Alexandria was captured and is on her way to the dungeons." He turned around and shed himself a glass of ale. "I'll keep this short. You are an intruder, and you are not welcome here. Next time I see you here I will hunt you down. Be gone." Kerwyn turned around and saw that Abacus had already left his office. He immediately realised that there was something wrong, but it took him a few minutes to find out what it was. As he walked to the desk to grab his sword -- he always wears his full armour when he goes inspecting his troops -- he noticed that it was gone. Angrily he slammed his head on his desk, took another, older sword from a nearby chest, ran outside with big steps and ordered 5 of his men to follow him. Some civilians looked around when they saw their lord running by, swearing and yellin. "Abacus, you're a dead man and I will hunt you down!"

Kerwyn and his companions were riding through Beziers quickly. They knew every path and managed to find some of Abacus' men soon. A group of 5 riders, some still with bandages, was met. Their morale was very low, for they were lost in enemy lands and all alone. They chose to be taken in custody with at least food and protection in a cell or a working camp rather than to fight and die. So the men were brought to the Beziersian cells, where Kerwyn would decide about their faith later.

They returned to where they had found the five men, and Kerwyn caught the trail of Abacus' remaining men. A few minutes later they saw a cross on the side of the road. One of Abacus' Riders had passed out and he was too much of a trouble to take with them, so they had buried them.

Suddenly a small river crossed their path, and somehow the trail got lost. The men were also hungry, so they returned to have supper at the Beziersian local inn. After the meal Kerwyn assembled his companions again. "Men, that sword is precious to me. I still need to find back Abacus and time is running, for any minute he can reach the border. We will keep on hunting, until we have found him." And so the men walked outside again, back to their horse, and jumped on them again with a sigh, ready for another hunt.

In the second hunt, the remaining three men of Abacus were found. The coward had left his men alone with their wounds in their bandages and had taken the route to continue running alone. As Kerwyn and his Lancers approached the three men, sitting there by a tree, oblivious to the world because of the pain they were enduring, Kerwyn had to bring up his humanity and escort the wounded men to his house of healing.

Kerwyn was so desparate to find back his stolen sword, that he almost forgot to look at an important message he had received from his scout report. At last he looked at it, and it made him change his mind. "Them bastards! For that one idiot guy who stole my sword, those godforsaken Ibladeshians now send a force ten times as strong as my unit? And our army is too far away to support us... This is frustrating," he spoke to his scout. "I would love to stay here to fight that scum, but I cannot risk that. I would die without fear, just for Beziers, but I cannot ask my men to do the same. The hunt ends here, Lendreyn, Abacus has won... Tell the men to get ready and to move to Aix with me. We cannot face them here alone, we will watch them from inside the fortress. And then I can finally see my dear Duke again..."


From Easy T-style, Assisting editor-in-chief of AWA


Editors Words

Thank you for purchasing the fourth issue of Atamaran Writings, a publication of Atamaran Writers Association.

During the last month, we've gotten back on track, at least somewhat. Old writers have returned and a new one has appeared. We will be publishing a series of articles by Onliana Vellos that delve deeper into her book, The Summa. Look forward to them in future issues.

No hard feelings for the song, right Easy?

I hope you enjoy this issue of Atamaran Writings.


Amaarent Vasata, Editor-in-chief of AWA



More On Commerce

Note: Sections of "The Apologia" will correspond to sections in "The Summa", minus one. i.e. Section 2 in The Summa is Section I in The Apologia.

The Apologia, Section I- More On Commerce (corresponding to "On Commerce" in The Summa)

As I said in this section in the Summa, there are, basically, three kinds of traders. They vary in that one of them is materialistic, one is charitable, and one is malicious. Materialism, while unfortunate, is by no means an ultimate evil. Materialism does cause greed, which starts many wars, but materialism is an ABSOLUTE. A materialist may crave gold, but at least it is a positive and absolute thing; gold; which he craves. While we might call materialism "bad", we would not call it evil. Charity is by definition a virtue; the virtue of compassion. When you do trading merely to make sure that people are fed, it is surely a virtue, and a good thing. While materialism can be a bad action, charity can never be a bad action. But, just like materialism, charity can have bad effects. It would be better to teach a man to grow corn than to constantly keep him reliant on you for corn! Charity is a virtue, but do not let it go to your head, and keep in mind that charity, true charity, sometimes means things other than selling discount food. Malice is, by definition, a vice. It is the opposite of charity, and the extreme of materialism. Where as we would possibly call materialism "bad", malice is evil. The malicious trader will sell food to a starving region at enormous prices, to cut a huge profit. Yet, if you look closely, you will find that that profit does not give the merchant pleasure. As with all evil, malice corrupts all standards, to where even the desired gold no longer fulfills. The only thing which fulfills and satisfies is the act of evil itself; the cheating and the lying involved in swindling. Materialism can result in malice when it has been fully corrupoted, but malice is by no means a n automatic result of materialism.

Taxes should be levied fairly. Tax a percentage, not a fixed amount. Tax only those who have the ability to pay AND STILL LIVE. If people are unable to prosper, you are taxing too much. Why would you tax a widow? No, you should show charity on a widow. Yet do not only tax the rich! For to do so, you destroy business, and you hurt the poor even more because the whole economy will collapse. Show mercy in taxation, and remember that you rely on the people as much as they on you. You are better than them, yes, by virtue of your blood, but you are in a symbiotic relationship with them. Tax only what the realm needs; do not squeeze every last drop out.

Use your money wisely. Do not invest in a cause sure to fail, do not give to evil causes. If you do so, you have betrayed the peasants you rule. Just as you should tax as virtuously as possible, you must also make best use of the money you tax. Remember to give to charities, for one day you may be in need yourself. Remember to support your friends, for a man without friends is a man quick to fall. Remember to make sure the land you own is well tended, for a man who cares not for his land is a man quickly removed from power. Remember to defend that which is yours, for a man who does not defend himself is a man who will be taken advantage of. Remember to give to the authorities above you that which is due and, if you can, a bit more, for you will be remembered for your loyalty and generosity, and promoted to a higher rank.

Money is an issue people don't like to be advised about. But it is one that MUST be talked about a moral level, for the world is run by money. If the world is to become a better place to live in, a morally sound place, then the money which runs it must be directed by right morals.


From Onliana Vellos, Writer for the AWA


Story of Easy

Let me tell you a story
Story of a Easy
Who wants to beat Winters
Winters of Saler
He dressed to brown
Brown leather clothes
He used a sharp pencil
And ate mushrooms
He lived in the woods
There trees are huge
Only friends were trolls
Who were all the time drunk
He saw nightmare
There big bad Winters
Ran behind him
And shouted these words:

[Chorus:]
If you want to live long
You need to beat me
If you want to be save
You have beat me
If you want to see tomorrow
You must beat me
If you want to beat me

You must be like me, must be like ME!

From Winters Hylian, A friend of AWA


The Lone Traveler

He had been in the port city of Azzal for the past few days. On the travel to Azzal from Sullenport, he had seen many nobles, ruthless, compassionate, friendly, kind and downright evil. He had seen double-faced nobles who would backstab you if given the opportunity. It was a long and dangerous journey. Bandits and monsters were frequent. But yet he travelled, for the sake of delivering a letter of great importance. So here he was, in Azzal.

He spotted an old man walking towards him. There seemed to be an aura surrounding him, and the traveller knew he was a prophet looking for him, just like the prophecy had forseen. His message, however, was short but gruelling.

"If you value your life, do not take the ship to the Beluaterra." He had said.

"My family's honor and survival relies on this message, I cannot do as you say."

"Then your fate is sealed, take the ship and die on the way there. I shall meet you in the netherworld, soon enough." So saying, the prophet turned into a bird and flew off.

The traveller stopped at an inn for a glass of beer, then headed into the ship which would take him to the Beluaterra.

"Ship sailing in 1 minute!" The seamen shouted.

Sitting in his cabin, the traveller was thinking.

The traveller looked up as the ship began to set sail.

"It is done, there is no turning back." He said.

Around 5 minutes to the Beluaterra, a few days later, a crash could be heard and water could be heard rushing into the ship. What happened, he did not know and would never be able to find out. Even as the ship began to sink, the traveller knew that no one would survive. He knew that someone would come along one day and deliver his message.

He saw the prophet beckoning to him. He followed - into the netherworld.


From Crimson Strika, Writer for the AWA