Forums → Art, Music, and Writing → Just an alternate history blurb I made, mediocre really. I was tired when I made it and there ar...

The year is 1327. King Harald Sigurdsson of Norway prepares to launch an invasion into mainland Scotland. He already has taken by force,Finland, Sweden and Denmark. The Geats, Jutes, Lapps and various other Scandinavian tribes either submit or rebel. That was in 1319, only the weakened Geats continue to fight. The Norwegians held several islands including the Shetlands and Orkneys, but Harald saw the vulnerability of the fractured and competing clans of Scotland. The northern Highlands and islands not under Norwegian rule are claimed by Macdonald, Lord of the Isles, he is supported by the Cameron and MacMillan clans and by Harald. He is opposed by the Ross clan and the Graemes and the Roses. John the Graeme and Sir James the Rose clashed at Harlaw against Macdonald. Macdonald is presumed dead while half of the Cameron clan was killed along with 2/5ths of the MacMillan clan. That was just a month ago, now Harald is ready to move. The first Norse longboats reach the east coast of Scotland and immediately begin raiding the countryside. Daniel the Ross responds and sends Sir James the Rose to confront the invaders. He gets to Doune Hall where a contingent of Norse troops have set up camp led by Olav Ragnarsson, a Swedish lord. Sir James has about 200 men, in anticipation of raiders rather than a large army. At first this seemed wise, but that changed when Harald landed, he brought over 10,000 men to Scotland. Olav Ragnarsson's men numbered up to 500 Norse warriors.Sir James was approached by a Norse partol, they appeared under a flag of truce. The leader spoke in Swedish, "Vi är soldater av Lord Olav Ragnarsson, har du en chans att ta hans herraväldeerbjudande om kapitulation. Vad säger du?". None of Sir James' men spoke Swedish or Norwegian. One however, spoke Danish. He was an expatriate who left the country when King Henrik Lundmark was killed by Harald. The Dane spoke in his native language to the Swede and his group "Min Herre, Sir James Rose, byder dig velkommen til Skotland og giver dig og din Herre og Konge nok jord til at blive begravet i". The Swede gave a slow smile, then curbed his horse and left with his patrol. Sir James knew enough Danish to know what was said and gave a sad smile. He knew that they would not have been able to flee to Daniel the Ross, but he also knew that surrender would mean certain death, the Norse were particularly vicious toward what they considered "blood traitors" and their allies, which in this case was the Dane. Sir James and his ever loyal men decided to launch an immediate attack on Olav's camp, and so the did. A glorious cavalry charge rushed the Norse camp, or it would have had not the Swedish patrol beat them to the camp and warned Olav. Olav had two primitive guns at his disposal and plenty of archers, he set them as a line and destroyed the cavalry charge. Sir James was struck by three arrows to the chest and died instantly, none of his men even reached the Norse line.Two weeks later, the news hit the domain of Ross. Daniel was horrified, not only at Sir James' death but also by the reported Norse numbers. The easern coast was already lost by the time John the Graeme had heard. He rallied up to 8000 men and marched on Harald and the Norse armies. Meanwhile back at Doune Hall, Harald holds a council of war with Olav and a Danish lord named Johan Hakansson, he spoke in his native Norwegian "Min Herre Ragnarsson skal gå nordover og ta til høyre flanke, skal min Herre Håkanssongå sørover og ta til venstre flanke, og jeg skal ta senteret." A three pronged attack, with Harald in the center. John had passed by Dunideer when he saw the first signs of Norse activity. Deserted villages and a sacked town painted a pretty clear picture, raiding parties ha passed through. John and the Norse met at Doune Hall. Harald and his armies were in position. John however, was disorganized. He was expecting to have reinforcements from Daniel, they never materialized. He did however, have 10 guns at his disposal versus 15 guns from the Norse. His were manned by proffesional Dutch gunners led by a man called Van der Waal. The Norse had their own men, mostly Danes, man theirs. Both sides had knights in plate armor and archers. John had two advantages, he was intimately familiar with this field. He fought the English here in 1318 with 100 men versus 500 English and Welsh archers. But he was not fighting arrogant Englishmen and their dubious Welsh allies (many who had been rebels in a failed revolt in 1304) but brutal and bloodthirsty Norsemen. So he positioned 5 guns to the left and five to the right while archers covered the front. The other was much simpler, the field was wet and muddy, enemy cavalry would struggle and be easy prey to archers. Then the guns went off, 3 of John's didn't go off at all while one exploded and killed the gunner crew, which included Van der Waal. The Norse guns were even worse, 5 misfired and 3 exploded. Both sides fired into each other with arrows and the Norse eventually charged. Lord Hakansson had been killed by one of the few firing guns left, a ball crashed into his neck, nearly severing his helmeted head . Lord Ragnarsson fought John personally, John had a lowland claymore while Olav Ragnarsson had a spear and an arming sword. Olav thrusted the spear but John smacked it aside and cleaved his claymore in to Olav's head. The helmet barely saved his life when three more blows hit his head, they effectively smashed his helmet and his head. Harald himself carried a two handed axe and an arming sword,with the ax he cut a swathe through John's men until he reached John. The two battled it out, eventually the ax handle broke, John's claymore was swung high to give the blow to the head but Harald anticipated this and dodged, he drew his arming sword and thrusted it between John's plate cuirass and tassets into his gut which was protected by chainmail. The sword cut through, John screamed but smashed his claymore into Harald's helmet. It was not a killing blow as Harald could afford Milanese armor, the best there was. The blow did stun him, this is when John made an upward sweep and knocked off Harald's visor then he made a second bash on Harald's head and the thrusted his claymore into where Harald's visor was. Harald stumbled back and fell then sank to his knees and fell forward. John's archers had ravaged the Norse army and his men were finishing off the last hold outs, John fell on his knees and smiled. With one last look at his beloved homeland, he then fell on his back and was forever at peace.