[MR] War of the Wings II - a missive from Black Diamond

[Baron Angus Farquhar]

A most warm and thankful greeting to Their Imperial Majesties Lucius Aurelius Valharic and Arielle the Golden from Black Diamond.
   
  His Excellency Angus Farquhar has bid me send you this missive while he is away furthering your call to war.  He sends his thanks for your recent visit to your Barony of Black Diamond.  He bid me to convey our utmost appreciation for your kind words and the awards you did bestow upon your populace – the recognition and inspiration your presence did bring is paramount to the health of your Barony, and the continued expansion of your armies.
   
  To the matter of business at hand:
  
We have recently seen a message passed to us by a friend of Black Diamond.  It is apparently another missive from Jonathan Blackbow to Your Imperial Majesties, who are doubtless as shocked as we are.


  For we are shocked – SHOCKED, we say – that Blackbow, of whose perfidy we need no longer speak, says that he finds it odd that Baron Angus was the sole representative of Black Diamond’s fighting force at this past Sapphire Joust.  Odd, indeed, that our fighting force stayed home, watching with horror as Sacred Stone’s 58th Legion passed through our land on their way to the Joust in fair Caer Mear, swords drawn and crying for blood.  At least we thought at the time it was blood they wanted.  Little could we imagine what they really desired.  Odd, indeed, that our men and women stayed home to mend their fences, or that the children stayed home to weep for their livestock. 
   
  The poor, despoiled livestock. 
   
  Honestly, the sheep haven’t left their pens for more than a month.  Woe betides the family of a man who speaks of a stone, whether sacred or profane, near a grazing sheep in Black Diamond.  The bleating won’t quit for a week.  
    
 
  And as for their claim of ambush and hypothermia, that is too absurd to credit. Who ever suffered from hypothermia, travelling from Caer Mear to Sacred Stone in May?
   
  No, our armies did not march forth to tourney for stones in Caer Mear.  Indeed, His Excellency and I, along with our son Alex, and daughter, the Most Innocent Samantha, made the long journey across ravaged lands to survey the damaged countryside, to comfort and aid the wounded populace, and to show the people of Atlantia that Black Diamond will not be cowed. 
   
  For these invaders, who treat our lands as their highway, our farms as their provisionary, and our livestock - well, the less said about that, the better - these menacing bullies who would deny our Baronial daughter the dreams of her innocence, who would threaten our populace, these legionnaires who puff themselves up so proudly, will know defeat.  Of course, after the acts we witnessed during their passage, it would not surprise us if the vanishing of the 58th was due to the delirium of syphilis!
   
  For, while our people recovered from the shocking depredations of the 58th Legion’s passing, His Excellency was not idle. He was campaigning for his people even as he defended their honor on the field, but with words and deeds, rather than with bloody sword. For even as Sacred Stone masses for battle, the friends of Black Diamond have heard her cry. Our friends from all around Atlantia, yea! and beyond! are rallying to His Excellency’s war horn clarion call. 
   
  Many are those who join our ranks, storied warriors from across the known world. Even Prince Logan, Your Majesties’ own Heir, has vowed to throw in his shield in our defense. 
   
  Indeed, there are many stories, of many warriors, but the one that most touched our hearts, Your Majesties, is the one closest to our home.
   
  At Sapphire more than a year ago, two tourneys gone now, our Baronial daughter Samantha bore water for the weary combatants. Many brave warriors took comfort in her kindness and innocence that day, but one fighter took notice that she was sad, that people dismissed her because she was small. William Thomas, squire to Sir Bryce de Byram, said to her, “Tell me, innocent Samantha; why do you weep?”
   
  “No one sees me, my lord, for I am small and have no great voice. I cry water, but no one hears. I can only dream that one day I will fly above all this, and people will notice me.”
   
  Righteous William, that brave squire, replied, “I hear you Samantha, and I declare this day that so shall all the land! Tell me, your parents are Baron and Baroness of Black Diamond, shining jewel of the mountains, are they not?”
   
  “They are,” she sniffed.
   
  “There is no finer land, save perhaps my own Knight’s. But no, Caer Mear has no one of your innocence and kindness. You are not heard, but hear me now. Your example is an inspiration. May I fight in your name, today?”
   
  So humble a man is William Thomas, so great a soul, that he fought for this innocent child, Samantha, that day, and even Duke Ragnarr, Prince at the time, was heard publicly to ask Squire William who had been his inspiration, for whom had he fought so bravely, achieving feats so far above his station as a lowly squire.
   
  “It was Samantha the Innocent,” was William’s reply. “May her dreams lift us all, as if on wings.”
   
  That was a year ago, now, and more.  It was, however, at this Sapphire Joust past, that Samantha asked William Thomas to aid Black Diamond now, in her darkest hour.
   
  “Please, fight for us, Squire William,” she said. “My father needs your blade. My people need your bravery. Please don’t let Sacred Stone despoil Fluffy, my sheep.” 
   
  A single tear rolled down her cheek, and William Thomas knelt.
   
  “Innocent Samantha, while I have breath, your sheep is safe,” he solemnly intoned. “Your dream of flight has moved my soul. If you will have me, I will champion your name when we push Sacred Stone back to her own lands, and with the help of Atlantia’s will, crush all her legions!”
   
  “Squire William, you are brave,” sobbed innocent Samantha, “I have made this favor with my own hands at Children’s Corner. It is a bell, hand-braided in the kumihimo style. Will you wear it?”
   
  Redoubtable William Thomas will indeed fight for our barony wearing Samantha’s bell, we are pleased to report. As for the miracle of the wings appearing on the Black Diamond standard that Baron Angus bore, what can be said about that? The innocence of children will accomplish mighty, sometimes inexplicable, things.
   
  Now, majesties, again we turn to you, but not to ask for the aid of Your armies. It is not our wish that Your Imperial wrath descend on the barony of Sacred Stone, for we know their populace is not to blame for this wrong they do our daughter. It is not our wish that You send us Your treasure, or even that You fight for our cause. You would do us too much honor.
   
  No, we ask only for Your Imperial indulgence that we beg a boon from Your populace.
   
  Soon, the winds of war will be upon us again! The Bell of Samantha, that token of her innocence, will be worn by William Thomas, Samantha’s champion. But we pray that if you love justice, and if you love freedom, the freedom to soar like a child on the wings of a dream, that you will come to Black Diamond’s aid in her hour of need. 
   
  Samantha wanted wings, just wings. Is it so wrong for a little girl to dream of flying? Is it so wrong to soar on the airy fancies of childhood? We say it is not, Atlantia. It is not.
   
  Let Sacred Stone hear the tolling of Samantha’s bell on the helms of her warriors! Let the bell of a child’s dream ring throughout Atlantia, that all might remember why we are here, and for what purposes and pleasures do we attend Your Majesties!
  
We say again Black Diamond will have her justice! We say again Samantha will have her wings!
   
  Your Servant,
   
  Nastasiia Rosenzweig,
  Baroness of Black Diamond