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For Ealdormere, For Beer! (Poem)

The outlook wasn’t brilliant for the Midrealm field that day;
The score stood high for Eastrealm, their reserves not yet in play.
And so, when Brannos died a-thrust, with Dag not far behind,
Beleaguered sighs did rattle all along the Midrealm lines.
They thought, if only Ealdormere would now engage,
They’d bet their last doubloons upon the wolven battle rage.
But Finn engaged his Norsemen, and in wheeled Palymar,
To be chewed alive by Tuchuks, spit out like ‘bacco tar.
Morale was sinking lower than a Norse funeral ship
As the Midrealm allies lost their ground beneath the Eastern grip.

But then - o Then! - a wond’rous sound from rear-action ranks arose,
As Ealdormere’s Prince Gunter took the field and struck a pose.
Earl David with his two sticks, Duke Finvarr restrained in line,
With Hector there and Grimwulf, beating shields to keep the time.
The mighty voice of Ealdormere poured forth the warriors’ song,
As the battle column formed up from that armed and dancing throng.
Eoforwic Militia and Venshavn back to back;
Elizabeth and Mencken led the Skraelings’ main attack;
osis and the Squireboys stood head-butting at the start,
While Thuligans and Faeringolds had Cord assign their parts.

Surveying all the carnage, said Prince Gunter with a grin,
“Form up on me, my bucky lads, its time that we went in!”
A curdling wolfish howl leapt with wings into the sky,
While Gunter sought first targets with a keen, commanding eye.
The Hammer and the Anvil had failed Calontir’s wall,
And ‘neath the Eastrealm onslaught did the Midrealm allies fall.
“To defence of Brother Eagle!” “For Calontir!” “For BEER!”
Cried the now-in-motion wolf pack in the Eastern army’s ear.

Their first pass turned the Tuchux, ground ‘neath like garden mulch,
Wind Master’s Hill and Meridies the wolf cubs ate as such.
The back field now did beckon but scant few feet away,
With but one flaw - for Aethelmearc stood planted in the way.
“Ho, Haakon!” called Prince Gunter as he coiled for the engage,
“Yield to me now and I shall spare your troops from lupine rage!”
“An offer fair and virtuous from our noble northern foe!”
Laughed Haakon, “But all the same, ‘fraid I must kill you now!”

With a braw, fine laugh, Gunter gave the sign,
And two formidable armies swung about in ordered lines;
Marines did bear the brunt of that brutal first advance
And all heard Hogarth swearing that the East was in his pants.
But Roak with Rozakii kin did shore up all the holes,
With Roak’s great sword pegging off within-reach Eastern poles.
One! Two! Three! The Vorpal Bunnies went snicker-snack,
As the Skraels fell o’er each other, all eager to attack.

Rhydderich Hael pincered, but Rowan Hall rolled free,
Into the gap did Gunter spring, crying, “Wolf Pack! Follow me!”
Cordigan and Osis ploughed a Roman highway through,
The Trillium gained the backfield then, with little left to do.
Some smaller units stayed behind to decimate the foe,
While the rest of Ealdormere surged on, to Calontir did go,
Shooing Eastern swords like ravens from around a bleeding kill,
They brought to Calontir’s relief their hearts, their swords, their skill.

Ealdormere imposed itself between ally and foe,
And began to beat the Eastrealm back, the painful way and slow,
One foot, two foot, three foot, and then
Roll the Eastrealm edges and begin the push again.
Ealdormere’s own heroes fell beneath that blazing sky -
Brave Bealdgar took a hip shot, Bess an arrow in the eye.
Aoin and Adrielle freed their homelands with their lives,
And lay down ‘neath their shields, hand in hand as man and wife.
But Gunter held his sword aloft to lead the fighters on,
As one more charge their ranks withstood, as behind, the swelling song
Of Calontiri fyrdmen took on cadence and resolve,
As the shieldwall split asunder then to free the eagles all.

Between the Wolf and Eagle, the Eastrealm stood no chance,
And their victory turned rout, at their heels did wolf pack prance.
Trapped ‘tween the Right and Mighty did the Eastrealm go to ground;
By the time the canon sounded, no more blue tape could be found.
The bards will sing forever of the strength of Ealdormere,
Who brought their hearts, their songs and swords, to defence of brothers dear.

June 22, 1994