The Forgotten Planet

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The planet Nestrond had almost no resources, and after the great starships had ceased to come from Earth, the people reverted to earlier phases of civilation, splitting into kingdoms and empires, often at war with one another. There had been only bows and arrows for several generations. Then the Golandians had come, a race of humanoid star-roaming traders who abhorred war but who had been persuaded by trading concessions to supply the humans of Nestrond with gunpowder and weapons in which to employ it. Thus it was that Prince Basil of Bradmore, rightful heir to the throne of the empire of Delmovia, stood on a small hill overlooking a grassy plain that streached down to the broad banks of the Black River, and awaited the approach of the Imperial army. Waiting with him, their chargers prancing and snorting, were his regiments of lancers and dragoons. Basil couldn't help thinking how strange it was that, a thousand years after man had conquered space and driven his way to the stars, he should still be fighting on horseback and foot and using manually loaded rifles and muskets. It seemed less strange that warfare should still be a part of life, because this was the culture in which he had been raised. So, here he was, with a pick-up army lent him by a prince who was willing to take a chance in order to have a friend on the Delmovian throne, and remembering what he had studied in the many books of military strategy and tactics that were still available. It seemed to him that the commander, General Rudwin, did not greatly beleive in the chances of victory, and Basil knew that as many battles had been lost through over caution as through rashness. No matter how skillful the commander, there would always be the possiblity of an unexpected opening-and he would seize it if it did come. He, Basil, would not be like the Union generals in the early years of some civil war back on Earth. He watched and an opening came. It didn't seem possible, but there it was; the maneuver the I