King Malcolm hears of the victory at York and how the rebellious Anglo-Saxons were quelled, approving of Prince Edward's efficient and tactical nature, he decides to give Prince Edward full control of the Highlander army in hopes that this will even further fuel the loyalty that Edward and Edmund Caenmore have to this new Scottish kingdom. King Malcolm knows that the mixed ethnicities will serve Edward well to deal with the tribes they may encounter finally leaving the Lallans (Scottish Lowlands) and especially serve Edward in mercenary allegiance against the English who were recently spotted. Malcolm knows that he can rely on Welsh support as their lands have been confiscated, plundered, and their men slaughtered and women raped, but he does have one doubt in mind... William the Conqueror and his Norman subjects were rumored to have smashed through a defensive led by Harold Godwinson, William is a battle-scarred and courageous general and he may prove a difficult adversary for Prince Edward.
To Strike at What is Weak
Upon hearing that he has been vested complete control over the Highlander army, Edward does not waste time to march his military through the Lallans and catch sight of the castle of Nottingham. With word from a mysterious supporter and spy Fearghus, he knows that he must strike at what is weak and that weak spot is the castle of Nottingham.
Edward is joyous of news from the mysterious Fearghus that a large army of Norman English were spotted at a mountain pass near Caernarvon and plenty of distance away to unable them to break the siege that he wishes to form around Nottingham. With no further contemplation, he besieges Nottingham and awaits the impending news to be sent from couriers...
Despite the fact that his Scottish, Welsh, and otherwise Briton fellows were not the most skilled at constructing siege towers, they managed to build one that was tall enough to meet the wall height with a drop of its drawbridge. With the crude company of ladders, the siege tower proved sufficient to what Edward thought he needed and advanced towards the castle.
Splitting his army once again, knowing he may need to face more numerous foes, Edward issued Highlanders and Welsh Spears to drive the tower to its place and with Crossbows lagging behind. As soon as the tower came into range, the garrison commander, which turned out to be a Prince, Rufus ordered the tower to be brought down. Flaming arrows sprayed like a freshly opened spring towards the tower, the Highlanders were the ones pushing the tower feet by feet towards the wall. They cussed and howled at the castle towers more or less to numb the fact that they knew this was not the brightest ideas, when the inevitably did in fact occur...
At the first sound of fire crackling, the Highlanders withdrew from range of the castle towers and Edward seeing the tower burning against the greyish facade of castle walls, rode to his Spear Militias holding the ladders and ordered one of them to bolt for the walls.
Upon seeing the Spear Militia jogging towards the wall, the Highlanders and Welsh Spears joined as the clambered against the wall to dodge any incoming arrow fire as the Spear Militia raised the ladders to the walls...
Once the ladders found surface, no time was wasted as spearmen and Highlanders climbed up the wall and angered for their plan thwarted, the soldiers fought swiftly and strongly on the wall against the little garrison of British Spears upon the walls...
The garrison on top of the walls were swiftly dealt with as the Highlanders huffed and yelled at the running British Spear Militia trying to climb through the stairways of the wall to move closer to their general. Edward, spying what seemed like Scottish success on the walls then beckoned Edmund Caenmore to move into the castle and support the soldiers who've tooken the castle walls. Edmund looked to his brother and knew that he must prove himself well, rode towards the gates that were opening slowly by the Highlanders who moved into the interior of the walls. Upon riding, he beckoned the Crossbowmen to scale the wall and find a suitable place to take shots at any enemy at the Town Square.
The Welsh Spears and Spear Militia had briskly marched along the streets, looking for any enemies before long down the road they were traversing, the fleeing British Spear Militia were charging at them. The Scottish Spearmen formed a shieldwall and readied for the charging spears...
With the rallying of Edmund Caenmore, the Scottish troops were relieved they had a heavier ally to deal with any more surprises as they chased off the remaining British Spearmen after their failed charge. Caenmore rode to the relieved soldiers and told them that it is best to hold their position and explained what he ordered the Crossbowmen to do...
With the faint sound of crossbows fire, he ordered his men to keep formation and to wait, Edmund would hope that whomever the Crossbowmen were firing upon would be agitated to go search for the soldiers who had routed the British Spearmen a second time. And the fruits of his idea had finally ripened as he saw horsemen swiftly move through the street, interlacing each other, but it was not the grandeur movement of the horses that caught his attention, but the bugle-like sound that echoed across the street to them. Edmund ordered his men to stabilize and brace themselves and to take all liberties to stop the charging horsemen which Edmund quickly identified as Hobilars and a General's retinue rode towards them. The clash of horses against the shields sounded of multiple thuds as men were clamboring to stand back up, some of the Welsh Spears had knelt down and stabbed the underbellies of horses, drastically slowing any charging horsemen in their way. Edmund quickly spotted out the general whom his retinue were staying close by and his own bodyguard charged forth...
Edmund was impressed at the fact that the cavalry charge was utterly wasted being beckoned by a spear counterattack. Edmund spots his adversary, a Prince of England in fact, and pursues him amongst the clutter of bodyguards fighting...
With the clash of swords and the buckling of armor around them, Edmund Caenmore and Prince Rufus fought with sweat splashes and valiant sword slashes, the horses under them were dancing according to the knocking of the spurs of the two Generals. Edmund felt his fatigue and surely Rufus his by the looks of his facial expressions, Edmund knew he could kill this ferocious opponent, yet a thought kept stirring... Surely Edward was not attempting to use Edmund like a shield, to send into battle to face the tougher opponents... as soon as he shook off the temptingly suspicious thought, one of his own bodyguard had swiftly tore at Rufus's abdomen, bringing the General down swiftly...
With the celebrating soldiers climbing once more into the wall to beckon Edward and the remaining forces in, Edward rides hard towards Edmund atop his horse just trotting circles around the town hall, attempting to count the dead. Edward swiftly rides alongside Edmund and lays his hand on his shoulder and congratulates Edmund on a battle well fought. Edmund simply smiles a faint and glimpses at Edward and continues to count the dead...
Edward, a little thrown off by the reaction he got from his younger brother blows his horn and jostles his horse amongst his men with celebratory remarks. As Edward praises his men, a fur wearing men walks blatantly into his midst, the soldiers look at him suspiciously and some unshealth their weapons. "Oi my Prince, may I have the honors of giving you news?", this mysterious man cries out, "They have forces numbering in the thousand who are marching strong from the mountain pass of Caenvaron, I wish only to inform you of this incoming threat in hopes that you may defend what you've just taken". With a bow, this man briskly walks off towards the gates of Nottingham.
Knowing that he struck successfully at the weak spot in the British borders, Edward knows he will have to deal with the larger brunt of England's military...
