January 11, 870 AD – Paris, Francia
"Your Majesty!" Cried the messenger, falling forward and collapsing entirely before the chair of the king.
The messenger struggled to breathe. He looked up at Louis the Germanic and the large group of courtiers who stood in the room.
He told them that Calais had fallen to the King of Norway.
He explicitly detailed the numbers, stating that two thousand French infantry and five wealthy princes had been killed in a single afternoon.
He stated that they brought large iron tubes mounted on wooden wheels. The messenger explained that these iron tubes used a black powder that burned rapidly, creating a loud noise and pushing solid iron balls across the dirt fields at speeds faster than a flying bird.
Despite their long history of military service, the courtiers in the room felt confused.
They had never before witnessed or heard of death from such a long distance without the direct clash of iron swords.
