Tag: Eastern Army

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Follow Me

This song is featured on the CD “I Am of the North” available for purchase online at:  http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/aneledafalconbridge/

I longed to be a gentle rose,
A flower sweet and fine.
It seems I’m better as the thorn,
But I hope you’ll still be mine.

To be a maiden shy I tried,
It made a laughing play.
I cannot pretend beneath this helm
That I am meek today.

Oh follow me, oh follow me
out on the fields of war
and you shall find devotion true
unlike ever seen before.

Fine silk I tear while running round,
satin dresses I wear through,
Though with solid armor on my form
I shall ever fight for you.

I will not feel your fingers warm
beneath my gauntlets bright
but if you’ll be sturdy as my sword
then all my world is right.

Oh follow me, oh follow me
out on the fields of war
and you shall find devotion true
unlike ever seen before.

I cannot dance as gracefully
as all those pretty maids,
but I will stay strong as fine steel
As their beauty slowly fades.

I cannot give to you that life
of calm domestic bliss
But follow me, and take my heart
you’ll ne’er regret this.

Oh follow me, oh follow me
out on the fields of war
and you shall find devotion true
unlike ever seen before.

*** *** ***

This song is one that I think perhaps comes from my service as bardic champion. As I reflect in the cold of autumn, and ready to visit Tir Mara to see the rattan and A&S championships, where I’ll bring my husband and son with me for the first time in a while, I started to think about what kinds of things I thought I would be, and what I turned out to be.

I’m not a domestic girl, but a tomboy, perpetually. I loved palling around on the field and arming up and thudding across Pennsic, as I’ve loved thudding across the kingdom this year. I have especially loved the moments when my war brothers and sisters have made me feel, quite ironically, like the strongest of all delicate flowers – they reminded me that I am more beautiful in my strength than in any coy weakness. So this song is for them.

And my sweet, quiet husband is dragged into my madness with such patience, that this song became one about asking one you love to come with you for the ride, promising that really, it will be worth it. So this song is for him.

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Called the Captain

A song for Cedric of Armorica and the Eastern Unbelted Champions of Pennsic XL.
To listen or download, go here:  http://mbouchard.com/misc/Called-the-Captain.mp3

Go, go, go – came the call from the captain
Go, go, go – take our land back, he cried.
We will go, go, go as we are commanded
And our rivals will go to a man or will die.

Thirty-five men marched into the sunlight;
Thirty-five men shouted their battle cry;
Thirty-five men knew that they had a story,
That they would be victors no man would deny.

Many years passed since this field had been theirs,
Now held by the dragon for many a day.
They to a man swore they would take it or perish
And write with their own blood the end of this play.

Go, go, go – came the call from the captain
Go, go, go – take our land back, he cried.
We will go, go, go as we are commanded
And our rivals will go to a man or will die.

Over the wintering they practiced and plotted.
One with a spear would fight one with a sword.
The pole met the axe, shattering both in darkness;
Weapons and men were thus stronger reforged.

Some were the fire and others the water.
Cedric did hammer, Feral stoked the flame.
Folded with each blow were patterns of tigers,
When summer emerged they were ready for fame.

Go, go, go – came the call from the captain
Go, go, go – take our land back, he cried.
We will go, go, go as we are commanded
And our rivals will go to a man or will die.

To the field brothers, came clarion call,
Into the dragon-men girded with red.
They stood but a heartbeat then took up the charge
And in less than one minute the dragons were dead.

A moment of silence – no sound but the birds…
Men fell to their knees and raised fists to the sky,
Then all pulled together with full understanding
That this battle was theirs indeed none could deny.

Go, go, go – came the call from the captain
Go, go, go – take our land back, he cried.
We will go, go, go as we are commanded
And our rivals will go to a man or will die.

Go, go, go – came the call from the captain
Go, go, go – take our land back, he cried.
We will go, go, go as we are commanded
And our rivals have gone to a man or have died.

 

**  **  **  **  **  **  **  ** **  **  **  **

I will confess to being kind of…fond, we’ll say, of the Pennsic XL Eastern Ubelted Champions. I will also admit that the battle at Pennsic XL was one of the most fantastic things I’ve witnessed on a field. Swift and brutal, it and the men who warred in it, were an inspiration. Cedric of Armorica was the Captain of this team, and this is a song about him and the team he led to victory. (And for Karl, I made sure it wasn’t too slow!)

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I Am Eastern

A song for the East. Conceived by Countess Svava, Count Thorson, Sir Antonio Patrasso (and me) around the breakfast table after spring Crown Tourney, AS46. Suitable for all fighters, and can even be sung in a round!

I am Eastern, I am Eastern

So are you, So are you

Let’s go beat the midrealm, Let’s go beat the midrealm

With a stick, With a stick

 

Sung to the honorable tune, Frere Jaques.

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The River Ran Red

Photo by Tannis Baldwin
Aneleda singing from the Pennsic Bridge #2, which was taken for the East in all three battles.

During the Valley Battle of Pennsic XKL, I stood with the banner atop my spear, watching the fight, not really ready to enter the fray. (By the end of the week, this was different!) I stood beside the bank where my good King Lucan told me to stand, and I watched the Chivalry in the “river” as the others were fighting on the “banks.” When it was done, King Lucan asked me what I had seen, and I told him I had seen brave men wading through swift waters filled with red. He responded that he would like to have a song about what I saw.

This is that song, which was first performed for Karl and Isme after EK Court. The second performance was a promise – if the Bridge Battle was won, I would sing it from one of the bridges. As it happened, it WAS won and I DID sing it. King Lucan finally got to hear it during a gathering at VDK’s encampment, late, late at night.

Here is a recording of it: http://www.mbouchard.com/misc/River-Ran-Red.mp3

The River Ran Red

Brave crossed the knights
through the river swift
that ran between the cut of the valley.
Hot was the sun and cold were the waves
where the river ran red through the valley.

I watched from the bank
as my brother did charge
my eyes were filled with his promise to me,
“I will fight them down, and tear them from our home
though the river run red though the valley”

He held aloft a spear
astride that muddy bank,
running beside the company of knights.
The king himself, in raiment shining bright,
pushed ever on through the valley.

Knight and peasant both
were bloodied as they fought
the pikes and swords of the brutal warring force.
The king stood strong, reddened waves about his boots,
and they held off the line in the valley

I had lost him for a time
as the tangled hoards engaged
but his blue and gold sleeve and spear at last I saw.
He was wading on his knees through the river deep
that ran like time through the valley.

At last the battle broke
as the red retreat was called
and the blood ran down to the sea so far away.
With victory in their hands came my brother and our king
and the river ran clear in the valley.

Brave crossed the knights
through the river swift
that ran between the cut of the valley.
Hot was the sun and cold were the waves
and the river ran clear in the valley.

Brave crossed the knights
through the river swift
that ran between the cut of the valley.
Hot was the sun and cold were the waves
and the river ran clear in the valley.

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The Favored One

I was thinking of favors this summer, as I made one for my husband, which he wore during Pennsic. This song is about the favor given a warrior off to war, made of a slip of the singer’s dress before he leaves to fight with the king’s men. It made me think of hopeful returns, and of what those favors would mean once the battles were over.

You can hear the song here: http://www.mbouchard.com/misc/The-Favored-One.mp3

My love he marched off with the King
So noble and commanding
To keep our lands Within our hands
He went away to war.

He carried only cloak and sword
And what he wore upon him
With but his code Upon the road
He went away to war.

I had no jewel or gift to send,
Nor woolen coat to give him
But of linen frayed A favor made
To take away to war.

I sewed my love on every hem
I gave it to his keeping
Brown cloth of mine With green leaves fine
To take away to war.

Hold my favor to your chest.
Feel my love through every trial.
Oh carry me beside your breast,
Oh carry me ‘cross every mile.

Months have gone past without a wordM
How should I know that he is well?
When story came Of a soldier’s fame
So far away at war.

“A man leapt in to save our king,
His head struck with a mighty blow
Without a sound He sank to ground
So far away at war.”

“About him all the battle raged;
Our king’s men conquered every one
He was taken in As he were kin
Here at the end of war.”

“All he possessed when he was raised
Was one favor of linen soft
It is his quest, He takes no rest,
Here at the end of war.”

Hold my favor to your chest.
Feel my love through every trial.
Oh carry me beside your breast,
Oh carry me ‘cross every mile.

“Like brothers now they have become
Though he recalls not where is home.
He swears love true Will bring him through
He seeks that lost to war.”

Oh, is it of the softest brown?
With greening leaves on every hem?
For if it be Then it is me
He seeks that’s lost to war.

The teller of the tale did cease
As with great joy he leapt away
To fetch the lord Who fell to sword
Brought far away from war.

My love he then brought to the hall
Where finally he met my eyes
Held in his hand, my linen band
Brought far away from war.

Hold my favor to your chest.
Feel my love through every trial.
Oh carry me beside your breast,
Oh carry me ‘cross every mile.

That tattered scrap of linen now
Lay in a box of finest gold
As has been writ Now here we sit
So long after the war.

My love he once marched with the King
So noble and commanding.
I hold his hands, my Lord of lands
So long after the war.

Hold my favor to your chest.
Feel my love through every trial.
Oh carry me beside your breast,
Oh carry me ‘cross every mile.