POV Konstantin
Immediately following the Fall of Dohemina the two battalions of Suerthin foot guards and four squadrons of armoured knights and heavy cavalry comprising my escort set off towards Seabarrow with me in the vanguard. 4,000 Imperialist troops under Cato also accompany me south in order to bring the South to heel.
Lord Nikolai Chalkodrikov rides up from the rear of the column alongside a single squadron of Suerthin heavy cavalry. Banners with the golden eagle on a green background adorn the marching Suerthin soldiers.
"My Prince," says Nikolai as he rides up to me. I respond with a curt nod of my head.
"What news of the South?" I ask him.
"The southern regions have fallen harder than most regions aside from the northern regions to rebellion and civil war. there are multiple Royalist armies assembled and are heading towards griffonbridge to unite with the Royalist king's general of the South Lord Hirrison of Griffonbridge. the number of Imperialist armies is fewer but they have numerical superiority for now" answers Nikolai.
"Thank you my friend perhaps I can put in a good word to make you Magister Militum" I say as the column of Imperialist and Suerthin troops march down the road towards Griffonbridge and Destiny. Lord Cato soon joins us at the vanguard with a portion of his cavalry. Mine own heavy cavalry escort under Nikolai are lancers with ash lances that were 2.5 metres in length and had pennants flying proudly with the royal crest on them.
The road is suddenly blocked by a royalist army numbering 7,000 soldiers. 2,000 cavalry and 5,000 infantry with accompanying artillery. I order the outnumbered Suerthin troops to shake out into a line of battle and on my left Lord Cato shakes out the Imperialist force into a line of battle.
POV Aethelred Admiral of the Imperial fleet
The Imperial fleet comprised of 200 seagoing warships mostly caravels and around 600 smaller coastal patrol vessels or river patrol vessels and it was under my command. my command in the name of my elder brother the new Emperor. In order to prevent Royalist raiding I had sailed with 150 of my seagoing warships to patrol the gulf and hopefully bring some order to my emperor's realm. I have 15 squadrons under my command a most powerful force to crush the enemies of the emperor with.
The Imperial fleet soon arrives in the shipping lanes of the realm and begins escorting cargo ships and passenger ships. I soon learn of elements of the Royalist fleet being in the area alongside us. This understandably made me nervous as it was most likely to be the first naval battle of the war and the first battle of my life.
On the third day at sea, a Royalist squadron is sighted and begins to flee. I order the fleet to pursue. The fleet sails after the fleeing enemy and we get to a region of the ocean where there is an archipelago of islands with steep cliffs and weird tidal habits. Beyond the archipelago, I sight the main Royalist fleet of a similar size to ours. A mighty storm is brewing as the fleets collide in the Death Skull archipelago. The Imperialist garrison on the largest of the islands sorties with his 30 Cogs while his fortress artillery gunners rain hell from the fortress mounted on the cliffs above. The two fleets become embroiled for three days amongst the narrow channels of the archipelago and as the storm wreaks havoc on the fleets.
My flagship the Iron Emperor is nearly dashed upon the rocks by a storm three separate times and nearly sunk by enemy action twice. Yet I keep sailing into the midst of the battle with my ship's guns and crew firing in all directions. it is impossible to fight in fleet formations in this storm and archipelago so each squadron fights as independent groups occasionally giving fire support to other squadrons. Going into the fourth day of battle and the fourth day of the storm I decide to cut my losses and withdraw. I walk onto the deck in the middle of a rainstorm and begin issuing retreat orders to my signals officer. suddenly a sailor shouts down from the mast. The enemy are turning away. I breathe a sigh of relief. Suddenly a pistol shot is heard and one of my sailors drops dead. "Boarders" I shout before drawing my pistol to return the favour as around 100 royalist marines and sailors climb over the side of the ship from their small boats. my pistol fires and I draw my sword to defend the ship. After half an hour of fighting, I hear the sound of an explosion then I'm thrown upwards into the air as the Iron Emperor explodes violently and splits in two. I land in the choppy waves below and swim for the nearest friendly ship. the crew of a small coastal defence boat pulls me out of the water and on her deck is the most beautiful officer I have ever seen. I soon snap out of my trance and ask for a status report of the enemy fleet.
