When the wind shifts

Jul, hair flowing behind her, had  hastily equipped her armour, leaving it unfastened in places which allowed the pleasant headwind to cool her, had arrived at the battlefield. She had almost forgotten about today's battle. Since she and her team had been unceremoniously kicked out of UC her days had been much more relaxed and she had enjoyed every second of it. This battle, War of the Throne, had been rescheduled so many times, Jul had believed it would be canceled completely. But here she was, taking up her position within her team. The mood was good all around her. Unlike her, most of the other members of NBe were looking forward to finally having a good battle again. They gathered in the middle of the field, around the impressive structure that was Casterly Rock, which was casting long shadows over the field. Around them 4 alliances took their places. All of them with only one goal: Take Casterly from NBe. Jul was happy to see none of the other big alliances from Westeros, but she was well aware that this meant nothing. If those alliances around them cooperated well, they could still do harm to the warriors of NBe and with good strategies and tactics they would have a great chance to defeat them. So Jul had to focus, she tied her hair back, closed and tightly fastened the last pieces of her armor then had mounted her black stallion, ready to lead her armies wherever they were needed. 

MORGU was standing in the first line. He had not believed his eyes when he had seen the matchup this morning. Yes s77 was an UC alliance, but that was in A-League, how the hell had they ended up against one of the strongest alliances in Super League? Yes they were 4 against 1, but NBe had so many strong warriors, he had no idea how they could get control over any building as communication with the other 3 alliances was near impossible. Looking at the other attacking alliances his sense of dread and feelings of hopelessness increased. The 4 alliances had not even doubled the numbers of the defenders. It seemed they had given up even before the match had begun. MORGU would not. Everyone that had joined deserved to have a fight and to try their strength against the elite enemy. Perhaps they could not beat NBe but they could learn from the best and be as annoying as possible. If NBe wanted to win, they had to work for it, that MORGU promised himself and his alliance!

What chaos… so much was happening simultaneously. Jul needed to get her armies in as many buildings as possible and also gather in the mines to get as many resources as possible to recruit new soldiers. She could only bring a small amount of her normal troops, to be able to fight as effectively as possible, she needed more. The principle was the same as in AC, defend, heal, defend again. Still, the number of buildings was insane. Even without taking anything extra, NBe was holding 9 buildings. With only 8 marches to send and 3M soldiers available, Jul had to choose carefully what to do. Now she had to pay the price for taking it too easy the last few days. Sweat was already covering her skin, her heart was racing as if the battle had already been going for hours, her focus was constantly jumping around like a frog trying to escape the stork. Commands, she needed to focus on the commands given! She knew NBe was perfectly organised and would call out where a building was under pressure. For the rest she needed to gather, until her army reached the maximum size and she was able to send full marches to the buildings. 

With pure will MORGU arrived back at his base. Every single muscle in his body was hurting, every inch of his skin bruised or cut. His lip was swollen as was his left eye. A terrible ache had formed at the back of his neck and the iron taste of blood filled his mouth. So this was the kind of enemy they would be facing with the beginning of next AC season? He had known that the Super League would be tough, but this was impossible. Four against one and they could not even put a scratch on those overpowered fighters. NBe was not even the strongest and still s77 and the other attackers could do absolutely nothing. Frustration rose within him. Looking at the faces around him, he saw the pain, desperation, agony and doubts. Perhaps it would have been better to skip the play offs and stay in A-League. But how could they ever improve? How could they grow, if they met the same opponents over and over again? No, this battle did not determine the future of s77, only the members did! They could not beat NBe and any other of the big alliances. But those were not the only ones in Super League. There were a hundred alliances in total there and he was sure that they would have the battles they were looking for. Today they would retreat, but in the next battle they would go out again and fight with all they had!

A chill in the wind had dried the sweat on Jul’s face. She was covered in dust, surprisingly not the usual blood. She had lost count of the time pretty fast and was just busy sending her armies all over the field. With most buildings under the control of her team it was almost impossible to keep track. The battle was bloody, but not as bad as she had expected with 4 alliances against them. It was not a fair match, she could only guess how much the opponents had cursed them. She was lucky that it was like this. She did not know this battlefield well enough, she had not trained enough during the last days. If this had been a serious battle, she would have failed her team badly! Her guilty conscience nagged at her. She had to work harder, she had to keep up. Westeros did not allow you to rest. She knew that she had never stopped before when she was duchess of TgL and NBe deserved the same determination and commitment. Tired, she left the field with a promise to herself: For the next battle she would work doubly as hard!