Sleeping under the Cross

This is a story of a world that never was....

I am going to ask a lot from you when read this. I am asking you to take your disbelief, and not just suspend it but freeze it in carobnite and present it to Jabba the hut.

The premise of this story is simple. ``What if?''

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternate_history

Most of What if stories take very simple premises. What if Hitler had won the war? What if the South had triumphed in the American Civil War.

My story is a little more complicated.

I studied Herodotus at high school. There is a discussion between two Persians. I believe it was Mardonius and King Darius. Mardonius asked why the Persians masters of the world. Still lived in there small rough land. Why did they not move somewhere, where the ``living was easy''

I was always interested by the thought.

So the Premise of this story is simple.

The Spanish intervene successfully, in the nine years war. The O Neill, and the O Donnell, backed by Spanish guns and gold. Sweep across Ireland. The excitement in the Highlands leads to a great host against King James. The Irish-Spanish-Highland Army.Known now as the Army of Ireland Kill King James in Battle. There high tide.

With the line of succession broken. Ireland under Spanish protection and the Highlands afire. Elizabeth, takes the crown of the Spanish netherlands on her death bed. Passing it to a Regent.

Under the Regent Anglo Dutch Kingdom, goes on the offensive. Driving across the Highlands, and Ireland. The Irish are evacuated to Spain. Think the Flight of the Earls, and the Wild Geese.

After some more years of fighting. The Haspburgs and the Regent sign a truce. One clause of the treaty states the Army of Ireland cannot be settled in Europe. They are to go and stay gone

So the Army of Ireland ragtag and hungry accompany the expedition to the great river, below the tropic of Capricorn. A place we would call Buenos Aires..

Far away, from Europe, Far away, they sweep the indios afore them....