4:50 pm
MOOD: determined and subtley undermined
MUSIC: Stand By Me (Ben E. King)

Once upon a time there was a peasant couple, Robert and Louise, who lived peacefully in a rural village in a dale near a winding river. To them a son was born, who was given the name Robert also, after his father. The young lad was kidnapped as a youth, by a band of marauding mercenary nomads, who came from the desert lands far to the south.

The boy was taken and raised by the wandering tribes, and was taught to pillage and burn, and his skill with the axe and the crossbow was unmatched. By the time he was ten, he had mustered together his own followers and went off far to the south to the cold mountains, where he established his fiefdom, and became the mightiest conqueror of those lands than any before or since.

As his fiftieth year drew nigh, he set in his mind that he would conquer all lands that he possibly could, even those lands that lay across the southern ocean, belonging to the kings of Hogan. His armored fleets crossed the treacherous ocean by the thousands, and landing upon the shores of those lands, they were met by fierce opposition from the Hogans.

The battle of Hogan, which is still remembered in the old songs and tales of great warriors, was a messy bloodbath. Casualties rose to the millions. Finally King Robert rode on horseback to the rear of the enemy lines, in search of their finest soldier, perhaps their king. He met the Great Shadow Warrior, the leader of the Hogans and an unparalleled champion of skill in swords.

The two great foes fought for weeks, each pursuiung the other in turn, each dealing deadly blows and the other nimbly dodging, crossing the lands of Hogan, fiercely and savagely deuling, long past the end of the battle of Hogan. The troops of King Robert were defeated, but in the end King Robert was victorious in defeating the evil lord of darkness.