I am Montelo, Sergeant of what is left of the Exiled Red Brigade of guards. For the first time in our history, we have deposed our Captain and the factionalism within the brigade nearly destroyed us. The actions of many of us could be described as counter to our oaths but in fact most of them were performed from a deep desire to do the best for the brigade. The troubles arose principally from the debate over what was best for our future. Part of the difficulty comes from our evolving nature- had we remained a naval marine force we wouldn't have had all this debate about cavalry and infantry training and recruitment. Had the swordmaster been a bit older we might also have avoided much of the debate, but Sheeda did not have the experience to back up her orders. I myself was frequently over-ruled by Trehatos in our debates.
I warn all that come after me that the sergeant's principal job is to keep the men together and keep an eye out for trouble. A strong sergeant is a necessary foil to a secretive and aloof captain.
In the end, the company was so sickened by the constant wanderings, with no sign of employ and constant pursuit by the locals who believed the stories spread about us that we could no longer bear it. Trehatos never seemed to her th complaints, he was still stricken with wanderlust.
Tefra damned near left the brigade altogether. Several others did. I believe that it is only Tefra who really kept the core of us together, though it pains me to admit it. Tefra is a better sergeant than I will ever be and should probably have been made captain. The reason that she declined and that Aheeros is now in charge is purely politics, not something which in the past has had too much influence on the internal running of our brigade. I believe Tefra was too canny to stand for Captaincy after having been the prime mover in the removal of Trehatos. Aheeros won (against myself- although I never expected to win any votes, Tefra and I thought it better that there was an opposing candidate) and has now promised that for the next few years we work for ourselves but do what we do best- shipboard duties. Our strength is down to sixty brothers- fifteen or so left when Trehatos was deposed. Trehatos himself headed back up the Sungai Baik towards the ruins.
You're probably wondering what happened to Ipar, the previous author of these chronicles. It is my sad duty to record that he was slain in one of the numerous running battles we have had with the guards of Perak. He stayed behind as a single man to challenge their champion to a duel and allow the rest of us to slip away before they could catch sight of us. Vreeo reports that he won the duel although he was cut down by them immediately after his sword severed their champion's head. We later learned that that champion with Dimana's son, which probably hasn't increased our chances of re-employment in Perak.
We stole a boat at Safir (we made sure it belonged to some of the Perak cartel merchants) and sailed downriver past Cantik to the open sea. We have spent the last couple of months moonlighting (literally- we only operate at night) as pirates in order to build up supplies and keep ourselves fed. We have a hideout in a small inlet with a small fishing village who are quite happy to fence our stolen wares for us- I dare say their fathers were doing it for the pirates we once hunted down.
Ipar's replacement as quartermaster is Bekrees, who won't admit to anything of course but who we suspect of having been a fence in a former life. In our current occupation he is an extremely valuable asset. We have been managing to get nearly a third of fully value for our stuff, but we can't keep this up for too long. Aheeros decide we needed an engineer again, although he's more of a shipwright. His name is Asteekos and he's actually our newest recruit- when we stole the boat from Safir we found him caged and manacled inside. The merchants like having a shipwright on board but they aren't so keen on paying them, apparently. The fact that he is a southerner, enslaved during some dubious piratical escapade in the past of some of the more dubious northern merchants added to our compassion for him, and when we found that he was in fact himself originally from Galadiahos and his father was in the royal guard we inducted him as soon as we could. I suspect he will not hang around with us too long- he probably wants to go home- but he's very welcome at the moment and a fine worker.
We do not plan to be at the piracy game for too long- we know full well that pirates who get too greedy make mistakes. ur plan is to move back to guard and escort duty, possibly ship-borne or coastal. We think the Kingdoms of Perahu are probably our best bet, somewhere around Nilai or Pembelian. It is the tenth year of the reign of King Mapas the Butcher of Galadiahos. Tales of Mapas' bloody reign have reached us even in the north and the morale of the men is if possible even lower than it was when we were being chased out of Pembelian. Despite the large number of local recruits, the core of our Brigade has always been drawn from the south, and and particular from Galadiahos. The tales of brutality and massacres have sapped the men's wills, for many have family and friends still in the south. I number myself amongst those though the matter is too private to set down in these journals. We could put up with discomfort and danger to ourselves largely because we knew in our hearts that our loved ones were safe and well and that our own actions were not endangering them. Indeed, it is for those we love that many of us chose to be exiled. Rumours of bloody purges and terrible depredations make all thoughts turn to home.
We are down to forty-five members now, the smallest number since Captain Thrace stepped down. We are fighting and escorting convoys once more, some by ship but most by land. Few are willing to hire us, for the rumours spread by our erstwhile employers in the Sungai Baik have dogged our heels even to Pembelian. The missions we do undertake are usually those of desperate men who are trying foolish ventures in the hopes of getting rich quick. We are forced to fight and bleed for horevo nuts.
It is nearly fifteen moons since I last wrote in this journal. Things are beginning to brighten somewhat. Aheeros has taken charge of the company and Tefra is fulfilling the Lieutenant's role admirably. We have begun to rebuild our reputation- we are now known for our bloodthirsty approach to ambushes having once massacred a force twice our own size to a man so as to teach the local bandits not to interfere with those we guard. I think the word has spread, for we have to do a lot less fighting per mission than we used to. Tefra told me to write down that a reputation is worth as many men as you have again in battle, for the foe is fighting two men- the frightened new recruits with a spear... and the phantom guardsman from te fabled Exiled Red Brigade who burned the twin cities and brought the pirate king to his knees.
We have begun recruiting once more and our number have grown somewhat (we are seventy) and we have twenty-five more recruits ready to perform missions and possibly join us. We have even had one of our lost brothers rejoin us- T'Heros, whose name has already occurred in journals before mine, has now rejoined us as a scout. If all these new recruits do join us, the character of the brigade will be radically different from what it was when I joined. For a start, the Northerners will outnumber the Southerners by almost three to one. Also, the new recruits are principally cavalry and infantry rather than marines. We have also recruited a number of scouts. It is clear to us all that Tefra intends us to become principally a land-based force- but since nearly all our assignments are against outlanders inland, we have little choice. It is the ninth day of te tenth moon of the thirteenth year of the reign of King Mapas the Butcher of Galadiahos. The brigade is in service to the city of Pembelian as honour guards and as a cadre to train forces against the incursions of the outlander tribes. We have fought several battles this year, not least the battle of Katai Bridge where we turned back the tide of Umorstvo outlander tribesmen and possibly saved the city state of Pembelian from a very hungry winter- the outlanders were burning what they couldn't steal. Although we lost many men in the battle, and still more when one of our outlying units was ambushed when pursuing a routed enemy unit and slain almost to a man. The only survivor was T'Heros, whose name I have mentioned before, who though sorely wounded was found alive alone out of all who were with him. This has had mixed reactions from all the men- surely one blessed with survival must be intend for something by the gods, but no-one wants to serve in his unit because of the fate of his last one!
Tefra is taking over the day-to-day running of the brigade as the Captain now has to spend much of his time arguing and politicking in Pembelian to get adequate supplies and men for us. We ourselves are at a strength of seventy-five, the losses of the war being mostly replaced with local recruits. Although I accept the need for it I still feel that we are in danger of losing our Galadiahan identity and feel that we should seek out southerners to recruit. Aheeros- a northerner- does not agree.
It is the second day of the third moon of the fourteenth year of the reign of King Mapas the butcher of Galadiahos. We are now in the service of the elders of Merah, a city somewhat further upriver than Pembelian where we left our employ feted as heroes but worn out from the constant battles against the outlander incursions.
Merah has also suffered some Outlander incursions and it is nominally for this reason that we have been hired. In fact most of our duties seem to be ceremonial, although we have once more been acting as a cadre for the training of local recruits. (Our swordmaster never participates in these exercises of course, and we are careful what we show to the locals). Our numbers remain steady at seventy=-five. Aheeros wants to increase it, but Tefra and I have been resisting, for the rapid turnover of brothers brings with it an insidious danger of lost identity and submergence into the local culture and politics. Aheeros has accepted our arguments, at least for now. One military innovation (for us at least) is that we now have two Kedros plus howdahs to supplement our cavalry. T'Heros is in command of these and he and Tefra seem to be particularly thick over their possible use. Tefra, who everybody used to say had a genius for naval warfare but no flair for land-based maneuvers, seems to be proving the lie to that. She and T'Heros have been devising new tactics to include the Kedros and I hope that their theories will translate well to the battlefield. Bekress our quartermaster has left to return home; Rapeezo is his replacement. Asteekos has been replaced as engineer by Kanela, a Sathros who specialises in earthworks and forts, which we need rather than shipbuilding. Asteekos remains part f the brigade. It is the sixteenth year of the reign of King Mapas the Butcher of Galadiahos, I am not sure what day it is although it is probably the twelfth moon. We have been in Merah since last I wrote in the journals, mostly acting as honour guards. We had settled down into a soft life, but it is fortunate that we maintained our training for several months ago a new incursion of outlanders from the Vrijedra tribes crossed the Sungai Tiga and surrounded the city. We are under siege and I am writing this possibly final entry in our journals to make sure that the end is recorded if it is fated to come now.
They captured and burned most of Merah on the shore. We were part of the force that remained within Merah on the islands, and we have been put in charge of organizing the defence. We have had no problem with food, for the storehouses are vast and were filled last year by a full harvest. Water has been our pressing concern. The outlanders dropped all the bodies of those they had slain from Merah on the shores into the lake and blocked the channels with nets. As the bodies rotted they fouled the waters.
We have only two wells and even those are tainted as the water seeps through the rocks.
Captain Aheeros is ill. So is Treada, our chaplain. So is Vreeo's apprentice, whose name I promised never to set down. So am I.
Comments and suggestions to:
Hywel Phillips:H.T.Phillips@rl.ac.uk