Tag: Pennsic XL

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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.

 

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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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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.