Author's Notes

This is very loosely based on both reality and M&B: WFAS. If anything is not correct historically, I have either changed it, or have made a mistake.

Disclaimer: Any copyright material is not of my creation and is the property of their respective owners. I own nothing. :(

April 17, 1655

The field was messy.

The dead littered the green, rolling fields and carrion birds feasted upon the dead flesh.

A man astride a horse trotted through the carnage. His face presented no emotion to those who saw it, but underneath his stoic mask he was immensly pleased. Not pleased because he had won this battle, this most important of battles, but because he had simply taken part in it. He relished the clash of steel, the thunder of hooves and the blast of gunpowder. He was a madman.

But he was also, in fact, a King.


May 05, 1651

Allenstein Castle, Poland

Here the army of King Carl Gustaf X of Sweden amassed. Thousands of troops prepared for the oncoming storm. The campaign that would carve out a Swedish nation amongst the Poles and Russians. Amongst the Swedes were several different nationalities: Poles, Russians, Scots, French and even Germans. The Poles were mostly slaves forced to fight, or used for manual labour. The Russians fought as Marksmen, Scots as a type of dragoons, but armed with a claymore rather than a conventional saber. The French fought as Lancers and Marksmen. Finally, the Germans fought as Pike infantry, Marksmen and even some Reiters.

The Swedes were greater in number than any of the other nationalities in Gustaf's army. They fought as the second line of Pikes, The Third line of Marksmen and they claimed the glory as Reiters and Dragoons. The structure of Gustaf's army was so that the Swedes would be the last to die. The first lines held all of the foreigners while the Swedes held back, until wounds and weariness had taken their toll. The Swedes thought of the foreigners as lesser than themselves, after all, had the Swedes not landed upon their lands? Taken their lives, their loves?

This had bloated the Swedes pride, and as they marched to battle they had a false sense of security, and they believed that they could not lose.


May 07 1651

Lodz Castle, Poland

Here marched the mighty Swedes. Here they laid seige to the home of Count Kazimierz Tyszkiewicz, who had anticipated their arrival and had prepared for it. He had laid traps all around the area, with caltrops and pits disguised beneath undergrowth and grass. This meant that the Swedes could not get close enough to properly encircle the castle, and they set up camp around the castle, preferring to starve the Poles, rather than fight them. The Poles however, planned an ambush.


May 08 1651

Dawn

Josef had only joined the Swedish army because of his wife, who was pregnant and he needed money to ensure their survival. He regretted his decision almost immediately, for he was a Pole and Swedes hated Poles. He was treated as dirt and forced to degrade himself for his "masters". He was forced to stay awake for countless hours to perform sentry duty to protect the Swedes who disrespected him. However, when his thoughts turned too bleak he forced himself to think of his wife and soon to be child who he had joined up for. He pondered how long he would have to fight for until he could retire, when a lance broke his skull.


"Are they all dead?" Jan asked Anatol.

"Yes, they're all dead. You can stop your worrying now, Jan." Anatol replied. Anatol and Jan were part of the 17th Polish King's Hussars, and they performed their duties as scouts and heavy cavalry, switching their equipment between black clothes, a lance and a saber to heavy armour with majestic feathers attached to the back to the plate. However, they always carried their lances with them, whatever duties they had to carried out from latrine duty to scouting.

They had been tasked by their Count, Kazimierz Tyszkiewicz, to kill any and all Swedish patrols or sentrys to, presumably, enable the Count to ambush the Swedes and rout them from the field.

"Good, let's get back to the castle" Jan said. Jan and Anatol rode back like the very demons of hell themselves ran behind them, as their Count had informed them, that time was of the essence to ensure the destruction of the invaders.


This is my first fic and I hope to continue it, but only if I get some interest in it, so please R&R and help me to improve your reading experience. Thanks for reading, and if you do like it please review it.