Swords Made of Letters

[Alwyn]

I was holding my breath, and feeling the jitters of those waiting in the car. This sounds like a treacherous journey indeed, driving through fog and snow for so long.

[Basileos Leandros I]

Appreciate it very much, Alwyn.

I think the future project that's in the books / cooks - titled A Painted Shield of Honour - will be very much to your liking!

[Basileos Leandros I]

For those of you who are on Wattpad, I've done a slight update to it - you can read the first 20 chapters on Wattpad, soon the whole story will be available there as well for easy reading.

Swords Made of Letters on Wattpad -> https://www.wattpad.com/story/210140...ade-of-letters

[Alwyn]

I'm looking forward to A Painted Shield of Honour!

[Basileos Leandros I]

December 2020.

Novel was actually finished about 10 years ago, and I did try and submit it for publication, but it needed heavy edits. Which I am doing right now.

And with over 400 pages, it's going to be a lengthy project!

[Alwyn]

That does sound lengthy, good luck with the editing!

[Basileos Leandros I]

Esteemed ladies and gentlemen,

The Writers Study Yearly Awards is now up and running, eagerly receiving your nominations. Check out the thread here - https://www.twcenter.net/forums/show...nations-Thread - if you want to nominate your favourite stories and AARs!

And of course, I see that Swords Made of Letters has already been nominated, for which I thank you very much.

[Basileos Leandros I]

Swords Made of Letters is now at an end. The last chapter, the second epilogue. Thank you all so much for reading!


Epilogue II - Reminiscing

28th of November 1949
8:15 PM
Cafe Lafayette
Paris
France


--------

A squeaking sound reverberated through the small room in the back of the cafe, the sound of a badly oiled door moving to break the silence. Klaus dropped the tea cup from his lips, darting his eyes to the door. A tall man, dressed in a typical overcoat and tophat to hide his face drew close to his table. The only table in the tiny room, in fact. Klaus smiled. The man took off his tophat and placed it on the table, sitting down on the small wooden chair without as much as opening a button on his overcoat. Klaus smiled again at the sight of his friend, Alexandre Reythier. It had been more than 10 years since he last saw him, lost in the mirage and destruction of the war and the blistering invasion of France. A lot of time, Klaus thought, but Reythier looked way worse for wear.

"Time hasn't been kind to you, Alexandre."

Reythier smiled, the evident wrinkles on his weathered face sharpening in the dim light of the room. He unbuttoned his overcoat, revealing a wrinkled shirt and a dinner jacket that looked in top shape about twenty or so years ago.

"Not too ideal, yes. But I'm still part of the system, that's why I look older now."

"Every day makes you twice as old, you know that."

"And yet I couldn't get out of it. I never wanted to."

Klaus smiled. "You've got some explaining to do for me."

"That's why we're here?"

"I got out in time. You stayed until the end of the war. And you're in still in it after all this time."

"What's the time?" asked Reythier.

Klaus hesitated for a moment, unsure. He glanced at his silver watch from underneath the cuff of his shirt. "8:20 PM."

"So it's night. It's a night of November 1949. It's been almost 5 years, can you believe that?"

Reythier unveiled a crumpled newspaper from his overcoat, a newspaper dated from 1943 written by the French resistance. The ink was faded enough for Klaus to not distinguish everything that was written on the ront page but it was enough to make out a little article about Reythier and his counter-espionage efforts from Algeria. Klaus had lost touch with his friend after the invasion of France,

"What happened to you, Klaus? I heard some stories but are they true?"

Klaus looked up from his tea cup. "It depends what you heard. But in simple terms, during the invasion I was attached as counter-espionage to one of the frontline units. We got surprised during the initial stage of the invasion and my unit was rather quickly captured. I've been sent out to the Vichy Regime and because I refused to collaborate, I was stuck in a prison near Vichy were all I did was manual work."

"And factory work for the Reich?"

Klaus nodded. "That too. Uneventful, I was safe, but a tragic experience for me. I lost track of my family and I only managed to reconnect with my wife and children who had to flee from Rennes to the countryside. They weren't allowed to see me but they knew at least that I was away in Vichy France."

"At least you're here."

"That's my only blessing." Klaus paused. "Is it true? You fought the entire war?"

"When the invasion broke out they sent me out to French Algeria. I was one of the intelligence officers who had direct liaison with the generals, and the army in general, so I witnessed the entire war from close to the frontlines. Including the disasters.

"Mers El-Kebir?" asked Klaus, referring to the horrendous loss of ships suffered by the French Navy.

Reythier nodded. "I was in port back then, we knew things would go wrong. Just not that bad."

"What happened afterwards?"

"I fought on the African front for a while and then went to the United Kingdom to plan the invasion of Normandy, together with the rest of the teams at Bletchley Park. Remember we worked before the war with a certain Horace."

Klaus nodded. "What happened to him?"

"POW. Missing in action afterwards. They found him in the Dutch Indies in a rather rough shape but he returned home. Retired soon after, I saw him three years ago."

"Normandy then?"

"Normandy, all the way to the Rhine. After the Americans invaded past the Rhine I retreated back to Paris and took care of any units that might have been active for the Reich. Elbe and his ilk were assigned to the war effort, I have no idea what happened to them. They disappeared from our files."

Klaus sighed. "We won, Alexandre."

"Have we? Look at us, we're beyond tired. We're shells of ourselves."

"Indeed we are, indeed we are."

"Do you feel accomplished?"

Reythier laughed. "Accomplished is a word you use, Klaus?"

"For this situation, I would hope so."

"We are never accomplished, Klaus."

Reythier buttoned his overcoat back as it was, standing up to salute his friend in a rather sudden motion.

"Klaus, it was an honour to know you. May history judge us kindly." He took his tophat and left the small tea room, leaving Klaus alone to his thoughts. The sudden exit made sense. Reythier was now one of the most important counter-espionage officers in the country, not being allowed in public as a requirement and necessity. Klaus sighed.

The memory of history was all that was to be left of them.

-------


Thank you everyone.

[Basileos Leandros I]

Gentlemen & esteemed ladies,

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all so much for reading Swords Made of Letters. Almost 31000 views in over 3 years is superb, in total almost 50000 views over here plus over on TW Org, I hope you have enjoyed the story and in the future I will have it available for download to read on your eBook readers.

Thank you so much once more for reading this novel, I deeply appreciate it.

[Alwyn]

I enjoyed these characters looking back at what happened during the war. After I got to know them during your story, it's nice to see that they survived, despite everything that their wartime experiences cost them.

[Basileos Leandros I]

Alwyn, kind and generous as always.

This is the end for Swords Made of Letters but over time, I shall see, maybe a novel covering the war experiences would definitely work out. We shall see, I am open to the possibility.

Until then, A Painted Shield of Honour comes December!

[Basileos Leandros I]

Esteemed readers,

I have the pleasure of announcing that Swords Made of Letters has been nominated to the Writers Study Yearly Awards on TWC!

If you enjoyed the story, you can vote over here for it - https://www.twcenter.net/forums/show...ar-VOTE-THREAD!

[Basileos Leandros I]

As Swords Made of Letters has wound down, I would like to do one final update - the historical note, focusing on the turbulent area of just before the war.

With the drums of war starting to grow by late 1935, the Remilitarisation of the Rhineland without any significant opposition from the world powers in March 1936 and the failure of the League of Nations was in many eyes, the turning point towards World War 2. By 1938, when the action of the novel takes place, and when the situation within Europe had become dire, there was a significant subterfurge between all major powers of Europe in order to find out more and more information about what the other parties were doing. A significant pool of resources was allocated towards military intelligence; intelligence both on the front line and behind the front lines played a crucial part in the war.

One can remember Bletchley Park and the entire team of cryptographers trying to make sense of all of the coded information from the Wehrmacht / Kriesgmarine.

If you would like to know more about the specific period of before the war and of course about military intelligence in that particular period, I have some reading suggestions, both focused and more general, to understand the heavy, turbulent time of 1938. And let us not forget - diplomacy still played a very important role.

Military Intelligence

• Third Reich is Listening - Christian Jennings (https://www.amazon.com/Third-Reich-L.../dp/1472829506)
• A Game of Birds & Wolves - Secret Game That Revolutionised The War - Simon Parkin (cracking the Kriesgmarine tactics & codes)
• On Intelligence - Colonel John-Hughes Wilson (excellent all around book)
• Arnhem - Battle for the Bridges - Antony Beevor (very interesting outline in the first 40 pages about how military intelligence failed)
• Secret War (World War 2 Spies, Codes & Guerillas) - Max Hastings
• Alan Turing - The Enigma - Andrew Hodges

Overview of Late 1930s

• Mission to Paris - Alan Furst (a rather similar novel I discovered after writing this novel, set also in 1938, in Paris)
• Road To War (The Lead Up To WW2) - Richard Overy / Alan Wheatcroft
• Appeasing Hitler (Chamberlain, Churchill and the Road to War) - Tim Bouverie
• Istanbul Passage - Joseph Kanon (WW2 spying novel set in Istanbul)

There is a good host of both movies focusing on the days of the war, particularly the spying part, but the leading up to the war is not as covered except in a lot of heavy, diplomatic books as diplomatic activity was most probably at it's peak right up to the war. Particularly in 1937 and 1938.

If you're interested in this subject, look around, there is a whole wealth of material available to read. And also to enjoy, because there are numerous movies about this as well - Imitation Game about Alan Turing springs immediately to mind!

Thank you and keep reading!

[Basileos Leandros I]

Gentlemen,

Swords Made of Letters has been nominated for the triple tie-breaker in the Writers Study Yearly Awards!

If you would like to vote in the competition, you can do so here - https://www.twcenter.net/forums/show...le-Tie-Breaker

[Basileos Leandros I]

Ladies, gentlemen & readers,

If you're more familiar with Wattpad, you can also read it here - https://www.wattpad.com/story/210140...ade-of-letters

I've done some updates today, some more updates to come by the end of the month. And of course, I will hopefully be able to offer in 2021 the entire novel in full edits, in PDF format, for your reading on e-book readers.

[Basileos Leandros I]

Thank you to all who participated in the Writers Study Yearly Awards - Swords Made of Letters was joint #1 with Old Soldier and World War 0.

I strongly encourage you to read the works of the winners and leave them feedback as well.

https://www.twcenter.net/forums/show...wards-Ceremony!

Thank you everyone.

[Basileos Leandros I]

Readers, this will be esentially the last update for Swords Made of Letters. In the future I will try and compile everything together into a downloadable PDF / EPUB to read on your eBook reader, but first I must finalise some edits.

Until then, I want to thank you all for reading Swords Made of Letters in the past 4 years, I really appreciate it as a aspiring writer. Thank you all so much.

I kindly invite you to read my next project - well, the first project, but now it sees the light of day - a medieval novel in the 14th century. A Painted Shield of Honour - https://www.twcenter.net/forums/show...ield-of-Honour

My regards.

[Basileos Leandros I]

And of course, don't forget to read it on Wattpad, if it makes it easier for you.

Swords Made of Letters (Wattpad) - https://www.wattpad.com/story/210140...ade-of-letters

[Twilight Esker]

Congratulations for a project that dwarfs surrounding threads in length and runtime, yet manages a high standard for quality. bows

[Basileos Leandros I]

I thank you Esker for your kind words. I appreciate your time to read and provide feedback.

I hope to have the website up and running soon, with the edits on their way as well, to hopefully have the full format PDF / Ebook download available for easier reading.