Lord Micah of Brighton Hall, Order of the Tygers Combatant

We bring forth Lord Micah of Brighton Hall, to join as brother those who are as enchanted by the fields of war as he, the Companions of the Order of the Tygers Combatant.  Here we laud his prowess and delight of all that one embraces in the fight. But hear, assembled ones of this fine court, the history of this man whom we exhort:

A farmboy once, as all good
heroes are,
He’d run across the
Northshield fields afar,

A lanky lad then, lean and
fair and tall
With large sticks he would
make the straw man fall.
A sapling bow he used to
keep at bay
The spurred cock whose beak
would ankles flay.
He frightened tinkers
who would tread the land
And helped his family’s
influence expand.

As he grew up, his weapons
did as well
From humble stick to staff,
from straw to pell.
From charging through the
fields of wheat and hay
To charging through the
fields of foes to slay.

He took to hand the axe, the
sword, the pike,
The bow, the mace, the
spear, the brutal spike,
Each one to play and see
what was its art
For each one had its wisdom
to impart.

This noble lad, and brave
and good, but wild,
Was skilled by Eastern men,
whose tempers styled
The man before you here, who
you now see
Into the very tale of
chivalry.

This vibrant one whose joy
upon the field
Has all support within this
order sealed,
Combattant Tygers of
the noble East,
Rejoice today as your ranks
do increase.

You have heard this tale
today, in Birka’s marketplace in the January cold, on the twenty-ninth
day, Anno Societatis
forty-five
in the Barony of Stonemarche.

With pleasure do our brave King Griffith and beauteous Queen Aikaterine sign this writ to history.

Notes on the piece:

Well, this is what comes of having someone who’s known you a while write your scroll text.  It was the fourth rewrite, I just couldn’t get the tale short enough!  At some point, I will just tell the tale in full and feel like I’ve done my job!

By Aneleda Falconbridge