The Brother of All Knights, Alexander Zyltar

Alexander Zyltar, the Brother of All Knights, is the most celebrated figure of the Founding of Calanthi. He was among the paladins and cavaliers that joined the expedition to colonize the north coasts. Upon arriving he was joined to a force under the leadership of Baron Pologar. The Baron was tasked with pushing the dangerous elements of the wilderness north to clear the land between the two great rivers, land that became the Original Province. His line north was on the far east side placing him the furthest away from the logistics support and the other soldiers able to support him. But, the concentration of Orcs was not as heavy on the banks of the Green River so it was not an unjust commission.
After the first season of exploring and fighting Alexander had shown himself to be a trustworthy leader to his commander and a reliable fighter to the soldiers he served with. The Baron placed him in charge of 40 men on horseback and they were given missions to scout ahead of the army on foot and serve as a hammer in battle to break the enemy's flank. As a reconnaissance force they had speed and the ability to deliver a shocking blow to the enemy, but lacked archers or spear to engage in a sustained fight.
The most significant enemy being faced down in the wilderness was the nomadic Orcs that hunted the plains and forests, a force that was mobile and ferocious, but still able to hold ground in a sustained fight. The Baron's approach to fighting the Orcs was to locate them and bring a superior force against them. He was equally happy for the Orcs to retreat northward or to defeat them in the field. The Orcs approach was similar to the Baron, where they broke off skirmisher groups from their main body in hopes they could prevent the Baron from locating their main body while attempting to scout out what the Baron was doing with his forces. The result was a great number of clashes of smaller forces in the chess game between the two sides.
Alexander Zyltar split his group into three very mobile units and scouted as much as the weather permitted. Moving heavy horse in muddy ground was a recipe for disaster. The most sung about heroic deed of the Count occurred just after a series of days of rains prevented him from riding and keeping his enemy on their back foot. When the rains ended there was a period of two days before the ground became sound enough for riding. And it is the days that his riders took to the saddle where the songs begin.
The group rode early in the morning expecting to find Orcs nearby. The force with Zyltar moved north along the river bank with the other two groups moving north on his left. About midday Zyltar had not encountered anything and was going to stop for a break and then swing to his left to reunite with the other two elements of his command before swinging back to the South. As they finished their break with a quick meal, the horsemen mounted and began to ride southwest. The terrain in the area was mostly wooded back then but they had experience riding through sparse tree cover so it didn't represent a challenge to them, but they proceeded with caution.
After most of an hour, the lead rider called back that he could hear the sound of fighting ahead because the sound of steel on steel carried far. Zyltar rode to the front of the column and tasked the scout with riding ahead a bit faster now. In a few minutes all the riders could hear a battle ahead; even hearing the cries of men. They broke out of the trees into an area of plains grasses and ahead of them was a low rise with a faint bit of smoke rising in a twisting column beyond. Zyltar called out, "On me!" as he spurred his horse and went forward at a gallop.
In only a minute, he was cresting the rise and saw the rest of his soldiers dismounted and fighting in a circle because they were surrounded on all sides by a great host of Orcs hungry for battle. The smoke was rising from the fight but there was no indication where the smoke came from. But by a miracle the smoke obscured the approach of Zyltar as he spurred his horse to a charge, lowered his lance, and rode down on the Orcs nearest him from behind. In that few seconds, time seemed to slow down for him. He found himself picking specific Orcs he would strike as he rode in on them unsuspected.
The sound of battle, the shouts of men, and the agony of the fallen drowned out any sound of the horses hooves as he closed the final feet. Then he smashed into the crowd spearing two Orcs with his lance, and pushing others into their comrades, some smashed into the ground under his horse. His appearance caused a momentary panic and commotion in the ranks of the Orcs. A soldier among Zyltar's detachment had the presence of mind to blow a long loud blast on his horn, announcing the entry of their commander into the battle. Alexander drew his great-sword as quickly as he discarded his lance, made it to the center of his men and dismounted immediately shouting an encouragement to his men. They responded with a great cheer because they all knew his voice and that he was a capable fighter. They believed he was worth two or three in battle.
Zyltar turned around and walked quickly to the edge of the fighting on the side where he entered the orbis. He raised his sword and quickened his pace, and charged the biggest Orc he could find on that side. With a shout he brought his two handed sword down on him, which clashed against a shield the orc had picked up in the fight. Not knowing how to wield a shield, the blow from Alexander broke the orcs forearm and the sound of the snapping bone gave it away. The orc reeled in pain turning a half-turn to his left to protect his broken arm, and Zyltar, knowing this would happen swung his sword up and around coming back down and across the orc from his right and cutting a nine inch deep gash in his neck, opening an artery, and spraying blood on everyone near him. The sound was like a grapefruit hitting a stone wall after being hurled by a strong man; a mixture of squish and splat.
The Orcs were stunned and the men were finding their courage after being heart sick for being outnumbered, overwhelmed. Zyltar did not slow down. As quickly as he could free his sword he stepped back and then lunged straight forward at the orc advancing on him holding a makeshift club up over his head. With his right arm above his head, the orc's right torso was very exposed. Zyltar pierced him between two ribs and drove the sword through the orc so that the point came out his back. He loosed some sort of magic and this raced down his arm, into his sword and then covered the orc in a dark blue light as if the orc were electrocuted by a dark moon. And the orc fell into Zyltar with the club falling behind him as it passed over his body. Zyltar shoved the orc to his left and had to give up his sword.
Zyltar had again shocked the orcs but there were so many that what happened on this side of the circle couldn't be seen from the opposite side. Still desperate fighting raged on everywhere. Zyltar picked up the shield, bent from his blow, and a longsword on the ground at his feet. As he took hold of the sword, he then moved his gaze up and saw the next orc coming at him just in time to block the orc's blow with the shield. But beyond the orc, Zyltar could see the rest of his men riding down on the orcs from the same side where he entered the fight. As he regained his footing from the mighty blow, he called out, "On Me!" a second time; a voice his men knew well. The men on the other side, with their gaze fixed on the orc to their front, began to edge back to the sound of Alexander's voice.
Alexander made a plan very quickly to get his men out of this bowl of dead bodies. As his contingent broke into the orcs ranks he would have his men in the center fill the gap and fight to the left and right opening a passage for them all to exit the middle. Then his men could reform at their proper spacing allowing them to fight as a unit in the way they had trained. It wouldn't last long because the orcs, with their numbers and speed, could surround them again. But his men wouldn't be stepping on dead bodies as they continued to fight for their lives. And Alexander's riders crashed into the orcs with a great shout.
A cheer went up among the men and the orcs were again scattered and bewildered. A third time this day, he cried out "On Me!", and he went forward into the gap, turned to his right and set upon the next orc he could reach. The other men came forward too and others shouted encouragement, "C'mon! Lads! Show them Fury!" It was a common thing to hear Zyltar instruct his men to be ferocious in battle, and the men responded with the cheer "Fury!" when Zyltar led them into a fight. Now they were going to show the orcs their meaning of ferocity.
Zyltar's riders swung to their right taking them to the other side of the breach from Zyltar. They used their massive horses to block off the orcs from the other side, but had to keep moving or the orcs would strike down the horses. Some men in the center were mounting horses and others were leading them to get out of the circle. But most of the men were fighting and retreating to the path opened up by the riders. In the confusion and commotion of the moment, a score of orcs were slain over and above the five killed by Zyltar in the first two minutes of his entry into the melee. Then as the men began to become organized the orcs seemed to lose heart.
The men on foot were spread in a line of about thirty feet long to the left and right. The riders, now joined by four or five more knights from the battle were wheeling their horses for another charge. Their lances had all been discarded and every man held his longsword high in the air and they formed their line abreast. As the pace of their horses began to pick up, the sound of the hooves began to rise as they got closer, and closer. In this moment, there was another blast by one of Zyltar's soldiers on his horn, and the orcs were broken.
At first the orcs seemed to just give way and step back from Zyltar's footmen. But then they began to quicken their pace before one, two, three of them turned and began to run. The riders crashed into the orcs on Zyltar's left and some of them flew backwards because they were now terrified and hadn't defended themselves properly from the charge. Their spirit was broken and the orcs turned into a general rout. The men on foot were exhausted and unable to pursue the orcs, but the mounted warriors rode down on them three times before circling back to make sure Zyltar and their comrades were OK.
Zyltar's men took stock of their losses and those of the orcs. It appeared overall the orcs lost three killed to every one of Zyltar's men wounded or killed. Of his forty riders, Zyltar lost four killed, four badly injured so they would not fight again, and four others badly wounded but would recover. Almost every one of Zyltar's twenty-six riders initially caught in the fight were injured in one way or another. Alexander went to each severely wounded men to make sure they had their wounds stabilized. They gathered their horses and made travois to carry the wounded back and then they set out to return to the southeast. Two riders were sent to The Baron with the news and after two hours the Baron and some riders met Zyltar's column as they returned.
The Baron sent half of his riders to find the battle and record what they found. The Baron rode with Zyltar and one of his lieutenants to hear their account of events. The lieutenant described how the engagement began and eventually could only describe his role in fighting the orcs immediately to his front. It was clear to Zyltar and the Baron that the orcs had overwhelmed the detachment quickly and it became every man for himself with the leaders unable to step away from the fighting to direct the actions of the men.
And the lieutenant also described the entry of Zyltar into the fight and the effect that had on the men. It was clear from his account that in his opinion all twenty-six men would have fallen if Zyltar had not charged in when he did even though he was alone. His appearance on the scene raised the spirits of the men and he was able to direct the men and fight at the same time. And all these men were interviewed and many had the same story to tell, that Alexander Zyltar, the Brother of All Knights, rescued them from an overwhelming attack at the hands of the orcs.

You may recognize the name Alexander Zyltar as one of the prominent families in Calanthi and a Count from The Original Province.  But this is how it happened.  Alexander Zyltar distinguished himself in the initial Orc battles and was named as a Marshal before it was finished.  But Marshals do not have hereditary title.  The King being a just man and knowing that it is important that notorious actions in battle required rewards, granted to Zyltar the title of Count before things were settled.  Count Zyltar's family has been a source of gallant and brave knights in Calanthi, and their ancestor was always know as The Brother of All Knights after this battle with the Orcs.

The cry of Fury! came one more time later in that season of fighting. This time, Alexander's force of sixty knights rode in and rescued Baron Pologar from certain defeat against the Orcs. The Baron was so grateful that he made sure the whole account went directly to the king's ear. And he thanked his good judgement that he had rewarded Zyltar with an additional twenty knights in the intervening weeks. The King named Alexander Zyltar to be the Marshal of The North Coast organizing the efforts along the banks of the Green River after the rescue of Baron Pologar. But Baron Pologar came out of the wars in good stead with the king too and was also granted a title of Count when the borders of Calanthi were drawn.