Molotov

Psalm 137:1-6 wrote:By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept
when we remembered Zion.
There on the poplars
we hung our harps,
for there our captors asked us for songs,
our tormentors demanded songs of joy;
they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”
How can we sing the songs of the LORD
while in a foreign land?
If I forget you, Jerusalem,
may my right hand forget its skill.
May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth
if I do not remember you,
if I do not consider Jerusalem
my highest joy.

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The Earl of Abingdon has served as such for many years, since the death of his father Godfrey of Abingdon in the field, campaigning against the royal forces. Despising the old monarch, Earl Godfrey had joined forces with Eleanor of Aquitaine and her three princely sons Henry, Richard and Geoffrey, in an attempt to crown the Young King. Much like men such as Robert de Beaumont, Hugh Bigod, William de Ferrers and Hugh de Kevelioc (Earls of Leicester, Norfolk, Derby and Chester, respectively) he had been eager to take up arms in the name of profit - unlike his noble peers, he failed to make it out alive.

The heir of a long Anglo-Norman line, the Earl holds many a bloodline in his veins - Normans, Saxons, Frenchmen, Scots and Danes, all. His paternal line descends from a knight under the command of William the Conqueror, and the family chronicles claim ancestry from the legendary Rollo himself, by way of a daughter, albeit admittedly somewhat hazily so. These are facts that James is intensively proud of, and frequently makes reference to. A knight as well as a nobleman, driven in battle by scorching lust and in politics by cold calculation, he likewise holds himself to be a relatively pious man, if unorthodox at times. The saints are with him, through sorrow and success.

A stern ruler but by no means cruel, his interest in administrating the family fiefs has decreased in recent years, no doubt due to his own personal decline following the death of Lady Abingdon in childbirth. Following this, he increasingly took part in the plots of the realm. His actions during the Battle of Ballans, when the Cœur de Lion finally defeated his father Henry II once at for all, could be seen as suspiciously unstable. This all changed when the newly crowned King Richard began raising an army, to march on the Holy Land. Renewed with energy, the proud lord once more appeared to become his former self, and set off.

The beach was cold, and stained by the blood of a lone sentry caught unaware. Not a single torch was lit, their armour illuminated only by the light of moon and star. Landfall had just been made, and out in the bay the cogs were moored. The Earl moved to speak to his men and their various allies, assembled in the thousands. Nearly entirely quiet, despite their numbers. It was the eve of battle.

"Men!" James of Abingdon began his speech, as he was wont to do prior to combat. "We stand here, by the waters of a new Babylon. Not those of the Holy Land. Lost to us is our sweet Zion, which we were to fight and die for. Lost to us is our promised salvation. But fear not, men!" His voice boomed. "For here, we shall forge a Jerusalem of our own, in the embers of this world."

"A wise man once wrote: 'How can man die better, than facing fearful odds, for the ashes of his fathers, and the temples of his Gods?' Well, let me tell you this. On this night, and for many nights to come, men will die facing us, and we will scatter the ashes of their fathers, and we will put their temples to the torch. Here, in this our purgatory, we shall sing the songs of Zion!"

A brief pause. "God wills it!" the Earl finally exclaimed, raising his mailed fist to the sky.

"GOD WILLS IT!" a thousand voices thundered in response.