War For The Kingdom (Part 4)

[dupuy 318]

 I know it's been a LONG time since I submitted anything on the AWS, and the last installment of this story that I created was submitted well over a year ago. I would highly suggest to anyone unfamiliar with this plot that they read Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. Hope you like it

 

The trio of victorious officers led their captives away from the cheering crowd that had gathered in front of them. Sir William knew a friendly agent who lived in this village and set off to find his hut somewhere among the other dwellings.

"Sir, what will the people do now that they know who we are and why we are here?" asked the field officer, the other man that Sir William had selected. "These five are most likely only a handful of the enemy spies in the area."

"I've already thought of that," replied the Crimson Knight. "All local militias have been mobilized and are guarding every road to and from Lothington and its surrounding villages. Men-at-arms are patrolling the forests and other areas that enemy informants could slip through."

"And how did the local forces get notified so quickly? Lothington Castle just fell yesterday," asked the officer.

"Our messenger here," said Sir William, with a wink in the messenger's direction," Alerted this region's commanding officer to the enemy on his way to see us at the king's castle. I commend him for his quick thinking."

"Thank you, Sir," said the messenger. "And if I recall, this hut is the home of our informant, Sir Randolph."

A small brown hut, constructed of wood planks and roofed with thatch, stood off to their right. It blended in with the other ones around it, appearing inconspicuous to say the least. The three knights led their struggling prisoners to its entrance, and Sir William, looking around quickly to make sure they weren't being watched, rapped on the door. A strong looking man girded in chain mail answered it. He mumbled something suspiciously to Sir William, who produced a golden medallion stamped with the king's seal and showed it to the man.

"Do come in, your Excellency; excuse me for my suspicion, for a man can trust no one in these days, even if they do carry what appears to be the sword of the great Sir William," said Sir Randolph as he opened the door to the knights and their prisoners.

"That's perfectly understandable," replied the Crimson Knight. "One cannot trust his neighbor with ruffians such as these five lurking around." He clapped a heavy hand on his prisoner's shoulder to reinforce his words. The one-eyed spy tried to shrug it off and grunted with the effort, but found Sir William's steely grip to be as unmovable as his sword.

"Bring them in here and we'll see what they'll tell us of our enemies," said Sir Randolph.  They all entered the hut, some more willingly than others, and Sir Randolph provided his comrades with refreshments and his captives with strong rope.

"How many soldiers do the Dark Lord and the Black Knight have in total?" questioned the messenger briskly. He stared coldly at the faces of all five men with an expression of impatient anger, and his piercing eyes finally centered on the one-eyed leader. The man stared back with equaled ferocity, but unlike the messenger, he could not hide the gnawing fear that gripped at his conscience. His one eye stared nervously at his interrogator, taking careful note of the clenched fists and hinting motions towards the engraved dagger at his side. The messenger waited for almost a minute before the man finally responded to the question.

"About five 'undred thousand me thinks," he replied timidly, feeling the adrenaline from the fight finally dwindle away. "They's all at th' castle. I don't knows what they be plannin' t' do long term like, but me heards the officers talking about takin th' town o Lothington after some days. That's all I knows: honest it be. That's all th' five o us knows." The messenger's stern countenance softened slightly as the man poured out the story of how his home town was captured by the Dark soldiers when he was a boy.

"I losed me eye a runnin' from em when they tried t' force me into their army. When they catchted me they drove a hot iron into it as a punishment for tryin t' run away," he said as he looked dejectedly at the floor.

"Go on," replied the messenger. He slowly unballed his fists and relaxed.

"Me servded their army fer two and a 'alf long years before they put me on this job. We five was to spy out th' villages around th' city o Lothington an' report to th' Dark Lord's staff what we seed. He seemed to 'ave a special interest in this province fer some strange reason. Never told me why, but he wanted me t' look fer caves in th forest. A' course that ain't a happenin' now, but I be glad it ain't," continued the reluctant spy.

"Caves in the forest?" thought the messenger. What the blazes would the enemy want with those?" After contemplating this for a moment, he audibly said to the spy, "What is your name fellow?" His anger was now gone and he looked with increasing interest on the man who moments before he had been ready to strangle.

"It be Bartholomew, Sir" he replied.

"Well Bartholomew, I'll see that you get pardoned from the gallows for taking up arms against the Kingdom," said Sir William, who had been listening from the other side of the room. "However, you may still be required to serve some prison time." Bartholomew brightened instantly.

"Thankee, Sir," he said in a relieved voice. There was a moment of silence before one of the other spies, who had been obviously holding back his rage, shouted loudly at his former leader.

"Traitor! You lying dog! You seal your fate with this treason against you supreme commander, his highness, the Dark Lord!"

This exclamation prompted similar outcries from the other prisoners, which Sir William and his comrades tried to quiet for fear of being overheard by someone outside. In the chaos, one of the men broke his bonds and struck Sir Randolph, who was closest to him, across the face, knocking him to the floor. The assailant proceeded to lung towards his shocked victim, while in the process revealing a wrist dagger that he plunged towards Sir Randolph's throat. Sir William, the Messenger, and the field officer were too far away to react, although the messenger lunged in a futile effort to stay the bloodthirsty hand that held the weapon. Just when Sir Randolph was about to feel the cold, steel blade cut him, however, a boot of heavy black leather knocked it away. A fist cracked smartly across the face of Sir Randolph's attacker, and the man toppled into a heap on the floor, entirely unconscious. The fist turned into a friendly hand which offered to help the fallen royal knight off the floor. Sir Randolph, still stunned by the blow that his unconscious enemy had given him, looked up slowly to see who had saved him from such a close brush with death. He was instantly shocked by the face that he saw over him.

"Are ye whole n' healthy, friend?" asked Bartholomew as he helped Sir Randolph to his feet. The Crimson Knight, the messenger, and the field officer rushed over to help.

"Y-yes, I'm fine," replied Sir Randolph. "But how did you get loose?"

"Oh that," said Bartholomew. " Me chair hads a rough edge an' it sliced me rope like a magic knife." He held his hands in front of him to show the cut, jagged rope and pointed to a protruding splinter on the back of his chair.

"Well, you can stay free as far as I'm concerned," said Sir Randolph. "You've more than proven that you're one of us and not one of them to me. Any objections, Sir William?"

"I see no reason why you cannot remain unbound either," said the Crimson knight. "And furthermore, I want you to come with us on the rest of our mission. You seem to be a good fighter, and you have knowledge of the enemy tactics that will likely com in handy."

" Oh thankee Sir! I would be glad t' help ye!" exclaimed Bartholomew.

The four knights went about tying up the one unconscious prisoner and checking the bonds of the other three. Bartholomew cleaned with a bowl of well water and changed his raiment to something less sinister than the black cloak that previously adorned his shoulders.

"I regret that I cannot give you lodging in my cottage here, as it's small quarters would be quite uncomfortable for you," said Sir Randolph to Sir William. "However, you can make Lothington by the late evening and there is a comfortable tavern and inn there that I'm sure would suit you well," he continued. "Oh and one more thing, Sir William. Here is a sword of fine workmanship for you to carry in place of your own great blade. It will be less conspicuous if you were to run into any more enemy spies. Your own blade will be safe with me." Sir Randolph handed Sir William a double-edged arming sword which looked very much like those of his companions. 

"Thank you for your help, Sir," replied Sir William. "We will get going immediately. Will you be secure with these prisoners?

"Yes, I will call in three or four of the local force's guards in case anything happens. You needn't worry," said Sir Randolph. With that, the three knights and their new comrade Bartholomew said their goodbyes to Sir Randolph and set off towards Lothington.

[Person_Random 4,991]

Approved.

Wow, it's been a while since this series has last been released - I hadn't even ranked to Third Lieutenant at that time. I remember reading the series and it was definitely one of the series that I enjoyed, and this chapter doesn't disappoint. The little conflict at the beginning unfolds perfectly aided by the casual dialogue driving the plot along, and finally, it's concluded with a neat little conclusion at the end of the story. Really great plot development; in future, maybe including a bit more events to add some more color to the story with the great dialogue. I can't wait for another installment of this series!

Edits: minor capitalization fixes and removed some duplicated text.

[dupuy 318]

2 hours ago, Person_Random said:

Approved.

Wow, it's been a while since this series has last been released - I hadn't even ranked to Third Lieutenant at that time. I remember reading the series and it was definitely one of the series that I enjoyed, and this chapter doesn't disappoint. The little conflict at the beginning unfolds perfectly aided by the casual dialogue driving the plot along, and finally, it's concluded with a neat little conclusion at the end of the story. Really great plot development; in future, maybe including a bit more events to add some more color to the story with the great dialogue. I can't wait for another installment of this series!

Edits: minor capitalization fixes and removed some duplicated text.

Thanks for the feedback! I had taken a looong break from Tanki and the forum, and had completely forgotten about this series. I actually opened Microsoft Word and was deleting old documents when I rediscovered this and began working on it again for the first time in over a year. I have part 5 written and ready for submission, with part 6 in the making. The plot will have much further development as well. My original idea with this series was to create a medieval fantasy themed short novel, but as I'm writing more of it, it seems to be developing a hint of mystery to it as well. Anyway, time will tell what happens in the end, since I quite frankly haven't figured that out yet. lol. Thanks for your complements and a late congratulations to your promotion as helper!

[Venerable 2,972]

Bruh I manually searched for the previous parts in the AWS and the AW Archive  -_- and then saw that you've included the links...

Anyway, great series!!!

This part was also wonderfully written, as always! I liked the theme, and Bartholomew's speaking style... xD

Can't wait for the next instalment!

 

[dupuy 318]

7 minutes ago, Venerable said:

Bruh I manually searched for the previous parts in the AWS and the AW Archive  -_- and then saw that you've included the links...

Anyway, great series!!!

This part was also wonderfully written, as always! I liked the theme, and Bartholomew's speaking style... xD

Can't wait for the next instalment!

 

Thanks If you think that the dialect is strong here, then just wait till the next part! 

[Karot 259]

Damn that was long

[Iron_Man 2,376]

Your writing is Simply Superb. Can't wait for next slice!! By the way how long did it take for you to compose and type?

Edited October 19, 2020 by Ironmantonystark

[dupuy 318]

4 hours ago, Ironmantonystark said:

Your writing is Simply Superb. Can't wait for next slice!! By the way how long did it take for you to compose and type?

Thanks so much for the complements! When I'm really busy and don't have much time to work on leisurely writing, it normally takes up to week a chapter, sometimes more. However, I've had a lot more free time lately, and have been able to finish chapters 5, 6, and 7. Hopefully they'll be up on the forum soon!