War For The Kingdom (Part 6)

[dupuy 318]

      Sir William carefully laid his hand on the door knob and put his ear close to the door's edge. He could hear nothing but the clanging of pots, pans and dishes, accompanied by the voices of cooks, scullery boys, and bar attendants. He opened the door as inconspicuously as possible and walked into the room, followed by Bartholomew and the two other knights. The room was small and plain with a table and four chairs in its center. Sir William guessed this room was the chamber in which the innkeeper and his employees ate their meals. At the head of the table was the innkeeper, seated at one of the chairs. His countenance was serious - a stark contrast to what it had been just moments ago during the comical dispute between the two patrons. The innkeeper motioned to the other chairs as he addressed Sir William.

      "Do sit down, gen'lmen. We have news." Sir William and the others each settled into chairs, and the innkeeper pulled another one up from the corner of the room for Bartholomew.

      "You're medallion, Sir," said Sir William as he passed the object back to the innkeeper.

      "Ah, thank ye," the keeper replied. "And now on t' business. I be sergeant Jeremy Watts o the Lothington millenary, agent for 'is majesty, King Oswald. 'Course I operat this 'ere tavern when I not be on duty. Anyway, Sir William, let me get to th' point. None of us 'as got a look at th' en'my force outside o the mess'nger 'ere, but we finally found a wee point o land that t'wasn't guarded by th' en'my. From 'ere we could view their entire position. We were alerted that you were coming by an agent from Sir Randolph and wanted you ta scout out the en'my as soon as possible."

      "That is good news, at least," said Sir William. "Has the enemy been contained in the Lothington valley?"

      "That be another matter, I'm afraid. We 'ave a battle line drawn at th' top o the ridge this side o the valley that borders th' city, but they hold the whole rest o the ridge. That be where they've been sendin n' receivin patrols from."

      "That's something to consider during a counterattack," Sir William replied. "I would like to see the enemy before we lose all daylight, however."

      "Follow me then, Sir. We 'ave horses at th' back."

All five of the men left their chairs and exited the tavern through the back door. Horses, guarded by a handful of soldiers, waited outside.

      "We'll 'ave to dismount when we get close to th' en'my and walk th' rest o the way," said sergeant Jeremy as he mounted his steed. "Four of our men at arms will accom'pny us in case we get attacked by a patrol."

      "Good. How far is the ride?" said Sir William.

      "Not far. Nary a mile from 'ere," Jeremy replied. Satisfied with the answer, Sir William signaled the sergeant to carry on. The messenger, the field officer, Bartholomew, and the soldiers trailed close behind. Contrary to Sir William's wishes, the sky was entirely devoid of daylight; he would have to view the enemy in darkness. He still hoped that he could see their numbers to a certain extent, since they were bound to have torches in the castle to light the way for guards and soldiers.

      The group of scouts quickly exited the city, leaving behind the flickering torches that lined the perimeter wall. The men slowly advanced into dark and ominous countryside with no light outside of that given by a crescent moon. They soon distanced themselves from city gates and began galloping across an open field full of tall grass and the occasional tree. Sir William and his companions quickly learned to let their horses lead, as the animals seemed to be well acquainted with the country despite the lack of light. Before long, the field gave way to a solid tree line, behind which there was even less light than in the open plain. Sergeant Jeremy stopped at the edge of the forest to light a torch since even the horses couldn't navigate such dense terrain in the dark without risk of falling. He also slowed the party down for the same reason.

      After a short distance of slow travel in the forest, Sergeant Watts dismounted and motioned for the others to do the same.

      "We're close now. Let's leave th' 'orses  here with one o the men an' walk th' rest o the way." Sir William moved to the front of the group beside the sergeant in order to see the enemy the moment they came into view. As the group started walking, the wind began to whistle through the trees, creating ghostly moans that filled even the bravest soldiers with apprehension. The single torch carried by sergeant Watts, like the lights back in the city, flickered ominously amongst the trees and casted fleeting shadows as far as the eye could see.

      Sir William heard a grating shink of steel on steel and whirled around, hand on his sword. He saw the messenger just clear the tip of his own blade from his scabbard and swivel towards the trees on his right. A tense moment of silence followed until Sir William realized that the sound he heard was his comrade's sword.

      "Shadow," said the messenger as an embarrassed grin curled onto his face. Sir William returned it and relaxed, but he did not blame his fellow soldier for mistaking one of the running shadows for an enemy soldier. The ghoulish apparitions looked real - too real for comfort.

      "Cliff over th' valley's just ahead," said Sergeant Watts as he extinguished the torch so as not to be seen by the enemy force below. The party began to emerge from the woods and the ground beneath grew rocky as they neared the all encompassing ring of jutting mountains surrounding Lothington castle. Finally, all the men lay down and crawled as they moved onto the small cliff from which the sergeant had said they could see the enemy.

      Sir William pulled himself to the very edge of the structure and looked down into the valley below. The drop from this point in the circular ridge was nearly straight down, and it would be sure and certain death for any man that fell.

      "If we counterattack, we won't be able to approach from this side," Sir William thought to himself. They would have to find a better route from which to enter the valley floor, which meant that they would have to gain a foothold on another part of the ridge.

      Sir William pondered this problem a moment before shifting his eyes to the castle itself. It was too dark to see much save for the torches that burned in each of the fortress's six massive turrets. If there were as many men as the messenger said, however, then the bulk of the army would likely be camping in front of the castle gates.

      "I can't see any torches outside the g-" The Crimson Knight's thoughts were cut off by a vicious and painful kick to his side that winded him and caused him to turn over in pain. Another one followed it, this time in the side of his head. Sir William clutched blindly for his sword and attempted to rise despite his pounding, bloody temple and temporary lack of ability to draw a full breath. He heard shouting behind him, which was soon complemented with the familiar sound of clashing swords. They had been ambushed by the enemy, likely a scouting party. Sir William's vision came together briefly for a moment - long enough for him to see the rest of his comrades locked in combat with soldiers of the Dark Lord. Bartholomew was fighting bravely alongside the messenger, the field officer, the sergeant, and three of the four men at arms. The fourth attempted to restrain the horses. Sir William shifted his eyes to a towering figure in front of him, a massive warrior girded in black armor. He wielded a sword that was so long it had to be hefted with both hands. This monster was likely the source of the beastly kicks that the Crimson Knight had received. The warrior raised his blade in preparation to strike at the King's general, and Sir William raised his own sword to defend himself. The massive weapon crashed down near the hilt of Sir Williams hastily positioned blade. He managed to deflect it, but the blow unbalanced him for his senses were still not recovered from the kicks he had received. The Dark warrior swung again, this time from the side, and Sir William again attempted to block it. He was able to stop the blade once again, but his balance was improperly shifted to the point that he could not keep his footing. He stumbled helplessly at the edge of the cliff. Suddenly, his foot, searching for solid ground, found air instead. The Crimson Knight threw up his hands in a last attempt to remain upright, but his balance was beyond correction. After another second of struggle, Sir William disappeared over the edge of the bluff.

Edited November 6, 2020 by dupuy

[Pythor 1,354]

Article Approved!

 

In Part 6, dupuy brings us a fantastic continuation of the "War for the Kingdom" saga. The Crimson Knight embarks on a mission to reconnoiter enemy territory, but instead is ambushed by a daring scouting party. We are left with, quite literally, a "cliffhanger".

I personally love the implementation of the Old English language within this novel. Combine this with the in-depth description afforded to the reader, and you get an absolute killer series! Keep up the good work!

 

Edits

Spoiler

- Insertion/removal of commas 

- Fixed a few run-ons

- Clarified various dangling modifiers. Make sure you attach clauses to modify the appropriate subject(s). 

- Exceptionally clean piece. Great job! 

 

[Pythor 1,354]

.

[dupuy 318]

On 10/20/2020 at 7:54 PM, Pythor said:

Article Approved!

 

In Part 6, dupuy brings us a fantastic continuation of the "War for the Kingdom" saga. The Crimson Knight embarks on a mission to reconnoiter enemy territory, but instead is ambushed by a daring scouting party. We are left with, quite literally, a "cliffhanger".

I personally love the implementation of the Old English language within this novel. Combine this with the in-depth description afforded to the reader, and you get an absolute killer series! Keep up the good work!

 

Edits

  Reveal hidden contents

- Insertion/removal of commas 

- Fixed a few run-ons

- Clarified various dangling modifiers. Make sure you attach clauses to modify the appropriate subject(s). 

- Exceptionally clean piece. Great job! 

 

Thanks for the complements! Part 7 on the way soon!

[Venerable 2,967]

Oh my god... I need more seat to remain seated, as I'm constantly at the edge of my seat...

Can't wait for part 7...

[dupuy 318]

5 hours ago, krish123_super said:

are you uploading parts only here 

If you mean on just the AWS then yes, I have uploaded all parts only here.