their kingdom, turns out more than two fifths of the Unodite soldiers were eager to leave and once I said that, they headed straight for the kingdom of Unodos. I am sorry sire that I could not stop them” said Capurnicus. “No worries, we cannot hold them back against their will, they are not our men they are men who have been given to us to temporarily command for the greater good of their kingdom, they can walk away. Walk away from progress” said Allan. Allan turned to look at the rear once again only to see those Unodite men continuing to do nothing and he also saw a Troll mother carrying a child on her back while carrying more than the others were in her arms. Angered and displeased with the attitude these Unodite soldiers were displaying, Allan mustered up the courage to ride back there and confront them. “Capurnicus, I have something to consider at the rear, continue on the correct course, I will be back to the front shortly” said Allan as he rode off to the rear. “Yes sire” said Capurnicus as he worriedly watched Allan ride to the rear. The closer and closer Allan got to the rear, the face he could identify were all too familiar, it was Valek again and his usual group. They could see him approaching as Allan could see them waiting for him. Allan thought to himself what he would say other than to tell them to help the Trolls. Even Allan was helping, his horse had three heavy planks suspended on each side of its flanks while Allan was horizontally carrying three planks on his back suspended by his shoulders. So, there was no way these rebellious Unodite nationalists would be able to say Allan himself was not helping. He started getting a flashback of when Elis was with him during the campaign, of how he would ride across the army and restore order and discipline to every soldier he deemed did not have. He was doing exactly what his brother was doing and realized, Elis was correct and it was the only way to rule an army and that is to do it with an iron fist.
Allan and his horse reached the group in the rear and Allan paused to look down on them from his horse before saying “it’s time the lot of you pulled your own weight, help these Trolls, their lives and our future depend on what we do now” said Allan trying to keep as calm as he possibly could. “That’s a great idea, lets speed up our deaths” said one of the men sarcastically. Valek then said “why don’t you dismount and we can talk this out like real men. You cannot see the true outcome of what you are doing and like I said before to you, you need to be though a lesson. Allan felt in danger again but he faced it head on and dismounted from his horse. Valek then walked up to him, like their previous encounter. “Being a man? You must be kidding me, go, and show that you’re a man by fighting the elements with planks on your backs. I have been thought my lessons and they have led me to this point and I am not turning back. It is not me who cannot see, it is you and the rest of you who refuse to open your eyes, stop dwelling in the past” said Allan angrily. Before Allan gave them a chance to hurt him, he ran to the Troll mother and transferred three of the planks she was carrying into his arms. He and his horse Copper went back to the front on foot as fast as they could. Valek then said “don’t worry guys we’ll straighten all of this out when the Trolls are building their settlement in the Ranicus Peninsula with Allan’s help” said Valek in a rough and sinister tone as they watched Allan move off. The fact that Allan moved off on foot showed that Allan had something to prove, that he was tough and wanted to indirectly say to those men who were not contributing that just because they were not on horseback does not mean that they have an excuse, there was no exception.
However, Allan was not the one to enforce labour on his men, he never has; he was not your typical army commander. Allan indirectly enforces labour on his men by showing and displaying to them he has the willpower and strength to tough it out like any regular soldier. He is no exception either. Once Allan got well past them he mounted his horse and to decrease the burden on his hoses back, he lifted the planks he had with his own strength, not allowing the horse to withstand his weight and the weight of the newly added planks. He finally reached where Capurnicus was and Capurnicus was shocked to see Allan carrying even more planks. “Allan let me take those for you” said Capurnicus. “No, no. Ill carry them Capurnicus and don’t worry if I slow down just continue to guide the army in the right direction. “Sire, are you sure you don’t need my help?” asked Capurnicus. “Affirmative” responded Allan. “Sire you do not have to do this, you are already doing more than most of the other Human soldiers. If you need help just ask, nobody will judge you” said Capurnicus. “Don’t think I will” said Allan in a friendly tone with a smile. “You sure do make an advisor’s job easy, Sire” responded Capurnicus in a friendlier tone. Allan knew he had to keep an eye on those Unodite men. He was thinking of what he would have to do if they decided to really take matters into their own hands. Allan tuned back one more time to look, he knew the events here would spell disaster.
By the end of the day the army was at its first stopping point. They had finally reached the western coast, fertile, mysterious and a place to rest for the night. Grassland surrounded the area, it was a stone’s throw away from the marsh they had recently had to face. Men and beasts dropped their loads and planks and went swimming and fishing, to cool off, drink and eat. The water of the Stunt Sea was really god sent, there was something that had at last given the Human army and the Trolls a break. The majority spent over an hour in recreation and the gathering of freshly caught fish for dinner and the rest of the journey. Allan after eating dinner went close to the shore to lay his mattress and sleep. His muscles were aching from what he had carried earlier, it was truly painful but Allan had toughed it out and made it. With his head firmly rested and his mind ready for sleep, Allan looked over at the shore and beyond it, he just had a feeling that there was more to see out there in the west than just a vast sea. And if this sea was so vast and or endless wouldn’t it be known as something more than a sea like the waters at the edges of the world like the Livonian Ocean and Doomenheimian Ocean that respectively surrounds the north and the south. Something else was also puzzling the lands that surround the Stunt Sea are always so fertile. Ready for settlements to spring up along the coast. Yet no one has settled out there and if there were lands to the west, settlements will do more than just thrive thanks to the gift of life brought upon by the Stunt Sea. So, it was highly possible that if there were lands on the other side of the Stunt Sea there would be thriving populations and communities.
The next day reinvigorated men and Trolls continued the march lead by Allan and Serai. They now had Mount Ranicus in their sights, they were so close. Allan was there on his horse with the same number of planks, same amount of determination and without an ounce of change to his plans. Capurnicus, his advisor turned to him and said “Sire, this is a really historic place. You know what happened here don’t you?” “Yes, the battle of Mount Ranicus during the Great Tri War, decades earlier” said Allan. “I saw it all Sire, I was there and I know the bodies still remain” said Capurnicus. Suddenly Allan is flooded with lessons and stories from his childhood about the Great Tri war, he reminded only with conflict between Humans and beasts. “You were there?” asked Allan. “Yes, I was there, first time I had ever seen war before. I was a teenager, little younger than you are now. I had only recently been drafted into a militia force that was to safeguard Ranicus area. Although nobody inhabited the area, it was still an important place to secure as it was crossroad into Livonia if you’re an army coming from the north” said Capurnicus. “Wow, I can’t believe you survived that battle Capurnicus” said Allan who was taken aback by his advisor’s statement. “Many good people died that day, their faces still haunt me, I just cannot forget. But I was spared from death because I ran away with some others but subsequently I proved my worth and became more distinguished in the army. And you know coming back to this place is just overwhelming for me” said Capurnicus. “The corpses, they still remain?” asked Allan. “Yes, they pursued us through the pass until we decided to hold it and we counter-attacked the beasts. In the years that followed, we never reclaimed the bodies” said Capurnicus. The army eventuall
y reached the pass, it was dark, rocky, and mysterious but it was the only quick way to get to the Ranicus peninsula other than sailing from the coast but it would take too long to construct boats and they simply did not have enough resources.
The army entered the pass, there was a very ominous presence in the, you just did not feel right. There were dead trees from lack of light and skeletons strewn across the floor. Humans, Orcs, Trolls, and Goblins lay dead, their skeletons hardly identical thus easy to identify. To the Trolls and men, this was quite a sight. Their people had died at the hands of those who they have just made peace with. This was the horrific war those Unodite men could not walk away from. There was nothing physically challenging about going through that pass but there was some psychological and emotional trauma that accompanied all the men and Trolls throughout going through that pass. Thankfully, this was the last trial for the army before they could access the Ranicus Peninsula. After taking a sharp turn