Oh, that's all right. Yeah, check in again soon to see if they work!

Okay, no new updates till later this week. I'm working on my next issues of Brickbusters and Castleland the Comic. I've gotta tell you, the next issue of CtC will be epic! Huge battle scene.

Sweet

I'm working on this story right now in a separate window, so check back soon, as it should be up.

I added new flags the other day...I can't remember if I posted news about it here or not...anyway, you can use a link I gave you earlier to check 'em out. In particular, the State of Jefferson.

EDIT: I just corrected a few mistakes and edited the requiem prayer at the end to be specific to one man.

"Charge!" screamed the officer.

Thundering forward and building up speed, the Imperial French heavy cavalry went to reinforce their Confederate allies. Trumpets sounding, flags fluttering, and sunlight glinting off the cuirassiers polished armor; it was a charge that would have made Napoleon I or Frederick the Great pleased at the order and appearance of it. The cavalry was formed into neat ranks even when they charged over obstacles such as bushes and fences.

At this same time, Jake led the charge on the chevau de frise and helped tear them out of the ground. Within five minutes, the Confederates were surging forward. Then the actual Mexican soldiers arrived in force. Wearing green coats and metal pith helmets, the Mexican soldiers formed a line of battle.

General Gerardo Rudolphe Stephano, who was in charge of the Mexican forces, peered through his spyglass, "Dile a los hombres al ataque, el capitán. Hacer nuestra línea de cuatro hombres de profundidad, y marchar hacia adelante. ¡Viva México!"

The captain wrote down the orders in a mental notepad. Stephano had said, "Order the men to attack, captain. Make our line four men deep and march forward."

"Sí, señor! Así se hará!" saluted the officer, which meant, "Yes, sir! It shall be done!" The captain raced out on his grey Mexican horse and over to the men, "Hombres, línea de cuatro patas ... adelante! ¡Viva México!"

"¡Viva México!" chanted the army, "¡Viva el general!"

The captain rode over to the Mexican music corps, "Música militar! Tener la banda tocar una marcha!" he said, ordering the band to play a march. He then drew his sword and the buglers sounded the call to attack, "Avance! Adelante!" The troops advanced slowly, building into a sprint. All around, all over the ground, were wounded and dead Mexicans. More were heading in the opposite direction, either carrying wounded comrades or heading to the medical tents themselves. A couple hundred yards ahead were the Confederates.

After getting the enemy into range, the captain ordered, "Primera fila ... voley!" at that, the first rank fired into the Confederates.

"Primera fila de rodillas! Segunda fila ... ¡Fuego!" The first rank kneeled as the second rank took aim and fired. The bullets sprayed into the Confederates who were in the middle of forming their own line of battle.

The enemies' line almost formed, the captain gave the order for his infantry to enter melee, "Los hombres, bayonetas arreglar! Listo... cargo!"

"¡Viva México!" rang out once again. The Mexicans ran at the Americans with their newly attached bayonets pointed forward.

The greencoats smashed into the greycoats and bloody combat and chaos ensued. Jake used his rifle to bash his foes' head in. Then, seeing the Mexican captain have his horse shot out from under him, decided to go after him. He worked his way up to him by killing several Mexican soldiers. Finally, he thrusted his bayonet at the officer. The captain narrowly dodged, suddenly stepped forward, and landed a punch squarely on Jakes jaw. Jake angrily tackled him and they rolled over and over each other on the bloody ground. Jake got on top and started choking the Mexican. The captain managed to push him off. But, then, Jake picked up a large stone and landed it solidly on the captain's forehead. With a loud crunch, the rock ended the captain's life.

The Confederates were much relieved when the cuirassiers reached them. Seeing the odds, the Union and Mexican troops started to give ground.

Vive le Vive l'empereur! Vive la France!" cried the cavalrymen. They continued hacking away at the retreating Mexican troops.

Jake and his men recieved orders from the brass to wait to be reinforced. After twenty minutes, a fresh macabre batch, made up of accomplished soldiers who were no longer needed at other spots on the battlefield, arrived. Riding in front were ten trumpeters, who had blue banners draped on their instruments. In the center of those banners was a picture of a golden Roman-style laurel wreath with a big golden "N" in he center of that.

Jake could not see why they were there until he saw a fat man about 50 riding behind them. The man wore a red kepi and a blue coat.

"Vive le Prince Impérial! Vive le prince Napoléon!" rang out from the French troops loud and clear.

Jake watched the man direct the Allied infantry. What he could not hear was the following conversation:

"Sire, I do not think it wise of you to put yourself in danger," said a French officer.

Prince Napoleon waved his hand angrily, "Nonsense! I'm a prince of the House of Bonaparte; it is my duty to be present."

The officer, a major, really felt like telling the fat, arrogant man, "Oh, go step on a landmine, you gluttonous old Socialist windbag," but he held his temper, "Sire, I don't want you to be hurt; it would severely damage the feelings of the me, the Emperor and all of France!" he lied.

"Poppycock! I am tired of people calling me Crait-Plon! I will finaly show them I'm not "afraid of lead!" he waved his fist in the direction of France, half a world away, "I shall attack, major. They're retreating anyway." Then, he drew his sabre and pointed at the men, 'Men of the Second Empire of France...for God's glory, onward to victory!" It was the prince who lied now. He was, for all practical purposes, an atheist, but knew saying it was for God's glory would inspire his Roman Catholic troops.

The band played the Grognard March and the army followed the Prince Impérial into battle. Soon, Jake and the others joined their allies.

Then the order was given to attack some fleeing Mexicans on top of a hill. Just as they neared the top, "fuego," the Spanish word for "fire" was heard, and guerrilas popped out of the bushes and shrubs. Their rifle bullets slammed into the Allies.

The prince directed the men to go into melee. Jake watched the prince grab a tri-color and charge with his personal cavalry. Suddenly, a lucky shot hit the fat Bonaparte in the chest. Blood pouring out of his wound, the glutton toppled from his horse and hit the ground like a ton of bricks.

Before the news spread, the Allies had already pushed the Mexicans off the hill.

Dashing over to the prince, who was surrounded by officers and medics. The French major and the flag-bearer were the ones closest to the prince.

'"Sire, can you hear me?" asked the major.

The Prince Impérial just made a gurgling noise and nodded. Quite a few seconds passed before he spoke, "Yeeeessss...I-I-I...uh...tell Emperor Napoleon that...That I'm not afraid of...lead...anymore. Vive le France!" He started sputtering at that exclamation and started coughing up blood.

"Sire?! Sire, can you still hear me? Check his pulse!" ordered the captain.

A medic rushed forward, "I'll do it..." he said while grabbing the Prince's wrist and feeling for a pulse. After five seconds, he looked up and said, "Le prince est mort. The prince is dead."

"Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine,
et lux perpetua luceat eis.
Te decet hymnus Deus, in Sion,
et tibi reddetur votum in Ierusalem.
Exaudi orationem meam;
ad te omnis caro veniet.
Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine,
et lux perpetua luceat eis.

"Kyrie eleison;
Christe eleison;
Kyrie eleison

"Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine :
et lux perpetua luceat eis.
In memoria æterna erit iustus,
ab auditione mala non timebit.

"Absolve, Domine,
animas omnium fidelium defunctorum
ab omni vinculo delictorum
et gratia tua illis succurente
mereantur evadere iudicium ultionis,
et lucis æternae beatitudine perfrui.

"Forgive, O Lord,
the souls of all the faithful departed
from all the chains of his sins
and by the aid to him of your grace
may he deserve to avoid the judgment of revenge,
and enjoy the blessedness of everlasting light."

"Amen," said the major after reciting the Catholic funeral prayer.

"Amen," echoed the others as they made the sign of the cross. The major placed a crucifix in the hand of the dead man, which Jake had trouble not laughing about, knowing of the prince's atheism.

Nice! I like the story. However, what was the reasons for the French to start fighting Mexico? It seemed like it just started for absolutely no reason.

Very Nice, did you already know those languages or did you have to look them up?
Nice touch!

Thanks! Well, it basically WAS for no reason. In real life, Napoleon III actually invaded Mexico to expand the Second Empire. Have you ever seen a Gary Cooper movie called Veracruz? It was about that. People used to invade other countries for no apparent reason to empire build. Napoleon III was also reponsible for the Vietnam War. The went in under him, and didn't leave till Ho Chi Min.



Thanks; I hoped people would like it. I used iGoogle Translate. You can type in multiple sentences in any language and get a translation into any language. They even have Yiddish and Malay.

^Actually, Google Translate is wrong most of the time. I'd suggest using a different one if you want more accuracy.

These look quite awesome. I'll have to read them all sometime.

Ooh...I worried about that.

Thanks! I'd love it if you read it!

EDIT: This topic has 666 views! Creepy...