The Only Defense

The Godwars are bleeding us dry. The king has ordered Conscription. All legal adults (over the age of eighteen) were taken to war. There was no ifs or buts. If you were able, you fought. Our village (named Graiguenamanagh) is struggling to make it by. The Smithing, farming, mining, woodcutting, cooking, medicinal work, all has to be done by the women and older children. Right now, you either starve or watch your neighbours starve. Compassion is all but gone, friendships offering the only warmth in the cold. The old men who used to tend to the village's furnace have all died in the war, meaning that winter, rather then creeping in, is choking us with it's icy grip. And that's the least of our worries

In this war, warriors are killing villages. They take it by force, raid it's suplies for food, steal it's women for............pleasure. Saradominist warriors will take over saradomist villages. The kings actualy encourage this behaviour. They leave instructions, so I'm told, that read "If suplies cannot be found from the land, villages will be more than happy to contribute their bountiful food stocks". They're encouraging trained knights to kill untrained teenagers that try to protect their villages.

Untrained teenager. That's me. Although I'm not totaly untrained. My dad, who is a general of war, thought me how to handle a sword. I'm the best in the village, which means I'm leading the front guard. Basicaly, Graiguenamanagh is a vally village. There's mountains all around us, which means that there's only one route to us. It also means that there's no where to run if they do come in...So, anyway, the only way in is a bottleneck, which gives us an advantage (though I still don't fancy out chances).

So me, and all the other untrained teenagers are up here, on our little makeshift blockade. A few days back, I had the idea of cutting down all the trees and using them to block the pass. After about three days, we've made a decent blockade. Our archers (the twelve to fourteen year olds) will stand on the top of this barricade, and pick off the soldiers as they scramble across the logs, defensless. The kids aren't miracle workers, however, so when the soldiers eventualy make it to the top, the kid'll slide down and leave the fighting to us. At least, that was the plan. It's a pity that it didn't turn out like that..........