They Shall Know My Name (Recruitment and Training)

[Orion Clegane]

Mikiawa was already under the control of Oda when Orion and his men had landed. He spoke to the native's of the area and they told him of Oda's vast power, he seemed like a worthy opponent but nonetheless he was far too powerful to fight head on and alone. Instead, after a small meeting with a select few of his army, they re boarded the ship an sailed for the lands of Kazusa. Kazusa had not been claimed by a warlord yet, but they still had those loyal to the land. People who had lived there all their lives were willing to die for its cause, they would not want a strange foreigner turning up and calling the shots. That was the fastest way to war here. Orion decided it would be best to train and drill his small army before descending on villages in the area, looking for fresh recruits, as an insurance policy if a fight did break out.

Orion travelled on the ship with his army, the ship could hold quite a lot of men but it was not made for fighting. In truth it was a merchant ship. Orion's father had been a very successful merchant early in his life, this ship had been with him his whole life. However, later on he turned to piracy and raided many vessels for gold and supplies, however he used different ships for this. When he was exiled from his home country in Europe he only took this ship with him, along with a handful of men. The ship had never seen a fight before but it was pretty big and could transport and army fairly easily.

The men gathered on the top deck in full armour, with swords and spears ready for their training. The sun was like fire this day, Orion had chosen not to wear his armour, instead he appeared in a light brown leather tunic, with a small hood that covered his neck but not his whole head. He wore his sword on his left side and rested his left and on the hilt. He walked infront of the men looking them up and down, he wasn't impressed with the sight. He gave out a long sigh, and began to go to work.
"Hear me men." He called out. "We will land at Kazusa soon, you need to be prepared for possible conflict with the people who live there. They will not take kindly to me, but they will also regard you as traitors for following a white man. Fear not, my military prowess will win us the day. You shall all return champions. Five hundred of you carry spears but no shields, the other five hundred have swords and no shields, why is this?" The men all looked at one another, the Japanese were not accustomed to using shields in battle. Orion signalled to one of the men at the rear of the boat, he dashed down to the lower decks and returned with other men who carried a number of large crates. Inside the crates were bamboo shields that had been made prior to leaving the islands which the Cleganes had settled on, the number of shields totalled to six hundred. Not enough for everyone but enough for those who had spears.

Once five hundred shields had been given to five hundred spear men, he taught them how to fight in a phalanx formation. The rest of the men were taught how to guard the flanks of the phalanx, the swordsmen were lightly equipped and could reform their ranks quickly, to defend the phalanx from an enemy trying to attack the sides and rear. One hundred of these men were given shields, two hundred and fifty men were positioned on each side of the phalanx, fifty on each side had shields. The men with shields were tasked with moving to the rear of the phalanx should the enemy get around to attack. These one hundred were the ones who Orion considered to be the best, but being the best out of this lot was not hard. Orion believed that he could slay at least one hundred before they slew him and Kanza could probably kill the lot! He smirked at the idea.

Once training had been completed, they landed on the coast of Kazusa and made their way to the nearby town. The men moved out of formation as it was much quicker and less tiresome. However when they reached the outskirts the formation was adopted. Orion walked at the head of the formation, men, woman and children stared at him as he made his was through the town. He was now dressed in steel plated armour, the light made him look like he was made of gold. He wore his trademark white cape and a steel helmet which was dyed a golden colour. He made his way, coolly and calmly through the town, despite knowing that all the eyes were upon him. He had learnt Japanese during his time ruling the small islands that his father had claimed. He used his knowledge to speak with the locals to find the governor of the town. The locals told him that he was a rogue man, who claimed the town for his own. He had no more than ten troops to his name, they were all men loyal to him and swore to protect him. This rogue man was also the most feared man in the area, he had killed the last governor with his bare hands, and his men murdered anyone who might oppose him. The town lived in fear of him. This was a great chance for Orion to claim the town, and recruit men into his force. The locals pleaded with him to kill the governor, thus freeing him from his rule so the may live in peace. Orion agreed. They pointed the direction to where he was living. It was a beautiful Japanese building, fit for gentry not a rogue killing machine. As he approached he was rebuked by two men at the entrance, no doubt these were two of the ten. They were dressed in leather armour, dyed red with katanas at their sides. He explained that he meant to challenge the governor to a duel. The two men agreed to let him in but not after a round of laughter first. No true Japanese man could lose to a white man, right?

The guards left to get the governor, he waited around five minutes before he appeared, he wore no armour and had his katana in his right hand. No doubt this man was confident, but he did not look like a skilled fighter. Both men stared at each other, Orion had yet to draw his blade whilst the governor jostled his blade from right to left hand and vice versa. He moved anti-clockwise to circle Orion, slowly he drew his blade. As soon as he did the rogue man made his move, swing his katana up and trying to bring it down onto the shoulder of Orion, he quickly stepped to the side and aimed a blow to the leg of the rogue. He lifted his leg up away from the blade and tried a low counter strike himself but Orion managed to parry the blade. Both men now stood facing eachother, looking into the whites of eachother eyes. The sun was glaring down on both men. Orion wearing his armour was sweating, but the rogue man kept squinting his eyes... The reflection of Orion's armour was blinding him and Orion knew it, now was the time to strike. Orion feinted for a high attack but then cut low across the knee of the rogue. He fell onto one knee, when he tried to get back up into the fight Orion fell his blade upon his back, cutting a deep wound across his back, shoulder and arm. The rogue man was still on one knee, he only remained in this position because his was holding himself up on his right side with his blade in the ground, acting like a walking stick. The crowd cheered whilst "the ten" lowered their heads and looked away when Orion dealt the final blow. A stream of blood flowed down towards "The Ten". Once the cheering had died down, Orion explained that the blood stream was a sign, if those ten did no lay down their swords and bend the knee to him they would suffer the same fate. All ten dropped to the knees and prayed for forgiveness.

He then turned to the crowd.
"I have fried your town, you may have your freedom..." He paused for a moment as he watched the faces of the people in the crowd. "... But I need an army. Your town is full of people and has plentiful supplies. Either supply me with and army or buy me one. I do not care which, so long as I get what I want." He turned and walked into the government building to see if there was anything of value inside.

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