Personal Account 18

From the Allied Expeditionary Force

The Sicinian soldiers poked their heads slowly from their entrenchments, and cautiously walked out into no man's land. From across the field, from the pall of black smoke that was the ruins of Beldorford, Zagorlad soldiers did the same. The two groups met in the field's center and stood silently for a time, staring at one another. Then one Sicinian sergeant pulled out a plug of tobacco and offered it to a smoke-blacked soldier opposite him, and the ice was broken. The two groups crowded together, exchanging food, drink, souvenirs, and luxuries, while those who speak the other's language talked like old friends. The war was over.

"Sicinieeeeeeee!"

The cheer echoed off the hills as across the Ile d'Aceline, almost 100,000 men of the People's Army of Sicinia Salis shouted their jubilation. The war was over, and they were each going home with 6 coronums in their pocket, quite a sum indeed. Most had supplemented the bonus with as many "liberated" items as they could carry. Word spread like wildfire that the army might even be home by the Festival of Lilies, and around campfires messmates discussed the numerous ways they could spend their bonus as quickly as possible. Akaeian and Sicinian mingled freely, swapping stories, gambling, and drinking together. Even a few Zagorlad soldiers joined in.

The field officers, billeted in a local mansion, pooled the finest wine they had recquisitioned, and through a spectacular party. Local girls were invited, and the dancing and revelries lasted into the early hours of the next morning.

Several battalions had the unhappy duty of watching off the defeated enemy until passage out could be arranged. The Akaeians and Sicinians were put together on the miserable job of picquet duty, and fighting between the two groups, vitrually unknown in the main armies, was frequent.

However, all consoled themselves that soon, they would be going home.

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