Runefang by Warhammer

Author:Warhammer [Warhammer]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

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neighbour in her time of need. We have ten thousand infantry, two thousand cavalry

and a dozen ogres from the hills of Ostland, all ready to march to the aid of

Wissenland’s people. There are stores of grain and bread, which Count Achim, in his

benevolence, intends to bestow upon the people displaced by the conflict being

waged within Wissenland. As a people who have suffered the ravages of war, we

Averlanders understand what it is to spend winter with an empty belly.”

Eberfeld’s mind turned over the claims Kuhlmann was making, wondering how

good the Averlanders’ spies in his realm were. If they had reported the true extent of

the fight against Zahaak’s legion, they would understand that there was no need for

subterfuge. Eberfeld had nothing to spare to stop them should they move across the

river, certainly nothing that could delay an army the size of the one Kuhlmann

boasted. No, Achim had to be playing a more subtle game. Eberfeld was quiet as he

pondered what it might be. Something stood out in the seneschal’s speech, something

that he had perhaps let slip without fully understanding its import. Achim’s feud was

not with Wissenland, but with the family that ruled her.

Again Eberfeld’s mind fled back through the years, to his earliest youth, when his

father had still been alive. Walther Eberfeld had been a ruthless, ambitious man and

hadn’t allowed his tenuous claim to the crown of Wissenland to prevent him from

seizing the title from the weak, corrupt von Stirlitz family. Averland had tried to

support the von Stirlitzs against what they considered a usurper. Despite the aid of

Averland and assistance from their masters in Nuln, Walther had deposed Hermann

von Stirlitz and pronounced himself Count of Wissenland. Perhaps at first Walther

had been moved by something loftier than his own pursuit of power. Certainly, he

had used breaking the corruption of the von Stirltitzs as the rallying cry to draw

support for his cause, to end the exploitation of Wissenland by the city-state of Nuln

through their puppets in the court of Wissenberg.

Walther revelled too much in his new position as count to forget or forgive those

who had opposed him. Across Wissenland, nobles who had stood against him were

stripped of their lands and titles, and very often their lives. Assassins were dispatched

across the Empire to exterminate the von Stirlitz family, root and branch. The states

that had stood against him and supported his enemy soon found themselves at war.

The resources and thick walls of Nuln had thwarted Walther’s attempt at retribution,

but Averland was not so fortunate. Much of its western counties were plundered and

put to the torch, and the capital of Averheim besieged for months before threats from

Reikland and Stirland forced Walther to relent and retreat back within his own

borders.

Eberfeld hadn’t even been born when his father had laid siege to Averheim, yet

that event cast a long shadow over his rule. Count Achim’s sons had been killed

defending the capital and their deaths prevented any hope of reconciliation between

the two rulers. Indeed, Achim had taken to wearing the names of his sons, Ludo and

Exeter, a morbid affectation to posthumously allow his heirs rule over the province.

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