The final match of the tournament finally came upon me. All the pressure hit me like a truck, and I couldn’t stay focused. I knew my opponent would fight with great efficiency and elegance, so I couldn’t be confident what the outcome would be. With the crowd on fire, I rushed in with my trusty steed. As we crossed each other, I struck him with all my might. At the same time, I deflected his deadly blow. He took the blow like a champ, but I knew it greatly weakened him.

    After exchanging many more hits, I finally hit him just right. He flew off his horse into the ground. The crowd erupted in a sea of roars. All of the other knights surrounded me in cheers. Lady Deana strolled over through the crowd to us. She congratulated us on our victory and reminded us to get ready for departure. Then, King Regal came over and paused our cheering for a moment.

    “Congratulations on your victory! Your courage, skill, and bravery will be rewarded,” King Regal exclaimed. Lady Deana happily accepted his reward of treasure and fine delicacies. Also, he gave some of the competing knights titles. We gave a deep bow to our king as we thanked him for the rewards.

    While we left the tournament, we heard some shouts of disapproval and anger, but we brushed it off as jealousy. Getting back to the manor didn’t take long because of the short distance between King Regal’s manor and ours. Once we got back to the manor, parties erupted throughout.

    I celebrated long into the night with Sir Leofric and Sir Kinglsey, two of my greatest knight friends. We ate a grand feast with endless delicious food that had perfect texture and a nice aroma. To wash it all down, we sipped on smooth ales with a hint of cedar. We watched a collection of performances from talented jugglers and skilled acrobats for hours. Even the peasants celebrated with the rest of the manor. After we left the great hall, we quickly fell asleep in our sleeping quarters. 

    Everyone woke up groggy and tired on their stiff beds the next day, unable to fully remember what happened the previous night. We made our way to the great hall for breakfast and prayers. Next, we went to the stables to practice riding our horses, which were conveniently connected to our quarters. After getting all of our gear on, we practiced maneuvers and techniques for hours without a single break.

    When I had a moment to look around, I admired the beauty of the great Destiny Manor. Its massive stone walls towered over me, defending almost every attack thrown at it. Serfs constantly tended to the three big fields, providing food for everyone. Nasty scents from the stables drifted around the manor. At the same time, pleasant scents of baking bread filled the air. The grand manor house towered high over the walls with many different layers. At the very top, the flag of Destiny Manor shone in the sun. It had four bright colors with important symbols on each corner. The great hall inside the manor house let hundreds of people sleep and eat in it while showing a colorful display of art and chandeliers. On the side of the manor the knight’s quarters connected to the main manor house. The armory, stables, and training grounds also connected to the knight’s quarters. This made it very easy for the knights to get ready and practice. However, my awe couldn’t last for long.

We crushed them!

Agreed

    In the distance, we heard war cries and yells. Then fire rained from above. Chaos erupted throughout the entire manor. Houses and hay became engulfed in flames. However, the knights knew what to do. The knights who saw the arrows took positions on posts around the manor walls, with mine being at the castle gates. We knew we couldn’t hold them off with only a few knights, but it kept the situation under control.

    At first, no one knew who initiated the attack. Then I saw their faces. At the front of their formation, I saw some knights that looked like our opponents from the tournament. 

    “You cheaters must be punished!” The leading knight yelped. After figuring out the situation, I called another knight to my post and hurried to the castle. I climbed many stairs up to Lady Deana’s quarters. I pounded on the door in a hurry, not wanting to waste a second. I heard quick footsteps getting closer, and she opened the door.

    “Sir Wilton! What news do you bring?” she asked.

    “The manor is under siege! The invaders seem very angry.” I told her.

    “Do we know who is attacking us?” She questioned.

    “I think it is Omier manor. They seem mad at us after our victory at last week’s tournament.” I explained.

    She demanded, “Get all the knights ready at once!” I dashed out of her quarters and down the stairs to the knight’s quarters. I bashed the door open to a large group of knights eating lunch in our dining room.

    “The manor is under siege!” I shouted. Everyone scurried out of their seats and rushed to the armory. Since it connected to our quarters, everyone could easily get suited up. I sprinted back outside, and things didn’t look good. 

    Their archers brought hell to our soldiers, but we couldn’t do much about it. However, our finest archers were on the way. Once they got out of the armory, me and some of the other knights started positioning them. We only could get a few archers at the moment, but it provided us with some kind of defense.

    The archers shot as many people as they could, mostly aiming for the enemy archers. I found a leftover bow to use, but I didn’t have great accuracy. Despite my lack of experience with bows, I still managed to hit many people. Their skilled archers got many of us, too. Luckily, we had an infirmary close-by, while they didn’t.

    After hours more of fighting with little to no breaks, they finally retreated into the night. Once we stopped seeing any signs of them, we took our armor off and made our way to the dining hall. They didn’t try to attack us on the walls in any way, so we assumed it to be a warning attack. We stuffed food into our mouths, for it could’ve been our only meal for days. Once I couldn’t eat another bite, I decided to call it a night. I tried to fall asleep, but all I could think about was waking to the manor destroyed. After what seemed like hours, my exhaustion finally caught up with me.

    “Wilton, it’s your turn to go on night watch,” a voice whispered into my ear. 

    In a half-asleep state I asked, “What is it?”

    “Wilton! Get up right now,” the voice shouted into my ear, who I then recognized as Leofric. I blinked my eyes and yawned, feeling very sore all over my body. A gleaming torch light shined in my face, almost blinding me.

    “Just show me where to go,” I requested. I followed him through the darkness to the west side of the castle. The little light the torch provided helped on our journey, but not by much. Even with the sleep I got, my body still felt like a slug. Once I finally thought I could sit down at my post, I remembered the stairs. Each step felt its own journey, but I got to the top relatively quickly.

    I didn’t have night watches very often. However, I still knew what to do. After settling in on a hard wooden chair, Leofric disappeared into the night, leaving the torch with me. Even though the torch would help me see, I decided to put it out so my eyes would adjust to the darkness.

    Staying awake was a challenge by itself, but having to strain my eyes and observe everything made the watch much harder. I heard some owls hooting and coyotes howling from the forest, but nothing out of the ordinary. Occasionally, I would see a light in the far distance, but it didn’t seem like a threat. After a century of sitting around in the darkness, I finally left my post. 

This is so boring!

    I woke up Kingsley, whose watch would stretch into the morning. Like myself, he wouldn’t wake up after numerous tries, but I got him after a few minutes. I led him to the post, feeling sleepier than ever. With my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I could see just how much damage the invaders had done in just the first day. Lots of things got burnt from their flaming arrows. Once he got into place, I sped back into bed.

    We fought another two days with few casualties from either side. After a few days, we started hearing loud chopping sounds during night watches. Everyone woke up before dawn the day after we started hearing the noises, expecting a big attack any minute. We ate a quick silent breakfast, not wanting to waste any time on talking or relaxing. As the sun came over the horizon, we finished getting ready with all of our gear. Unlike the previous days, all of the knights were present with a plan.

    As the sky lightened, yelps and cries became more and more clear. Once they got into the firing range of our archers, we initiated step one of the plan. We got as many archers as possible and started knocking them down like flies. After we finished up the first wave of their infantry, the real battle began.

    Groups of soldiers with massive scaling dashed into the scene and started setting them up. Then came the second step of our plan. We let them get their towering ladders set up for half an hour, trying to make them think we surrendered. Their ladders had many supports to the ground to keep them from falling down. We would’ve shot them while they set them up, but we needed to save arrows. The tops of the ladders went over our castle walls, so we couldn’t push the ladders down ourselves.

Ahhhh!

   Once large groups of soldiers got near the top of the ladders, we sent a barrage of arrows into their chests. They rolled down the ladder, taking their fellow knights with them. The strategy worked surprisingly well with many knights falling off in an instant. However, some would roll off the ladder before hitting anyone else. Also, they developed a way to dodge our human boulders. Once they put on heavy armor that made them nearly impossible to knockout with arrows, we began step three.

    We prepared a mountain of flaming arrows since we needed them for our plan to work. They put all of their heavily armored soldiers on the ladders, which was exactly what we wanted. Our archers prepared their flaming arrows, and we fired. All of our arrows hit their target, the scaling ladders.

    The wooden ladders instantly erupted into flames, and the ladders quickly weakened. The fire spread, making the ladders a deep black with a strong aroma of burning wood throughout the manor. The soldiers panicked while trying to retreat off the ladders, but it just caused more chaos. Snap! The ladders started breaking in half like twigs under the weight of the soldiers. Large groups of soldiers started falling off the ladders.

    They kept throwing infantry and ladders at us for hours until we ran low on arrows. This seemed to be their sign to get more ladders because we saw soldiers sprinting away. I took the opportunity to report to Lady Deana since she didn’t know the situation at the moment. Running in the armor turned my limbs into mush, but I kept pushing until I got to Lady Deana’s quarters.

I need to defend that ladder!

    “Lady Deana! I have news of the situation,” I calmly shouted into Lady Deana’s door.

    “Come inside,” she requested. I yanked the door open and sped over to her.

    “As you already know, we have been successfully defending the invaders for the last few days. However, we are running low on arrows, and they are bringing in even more ladders,” I explained.

    “Sir Wilton, what shall I do to help the knights in this situation?” She questioned.

    I responded, “I need you to gather all the peasants and have them bring food and water for the soldiers.”

    She ordered me, “I will carry out your requests. Now get back to the walls and help defend.”

    By the time I got back to my post, their runners came into view with even more ladders. I realized that we didn’t have enough arrows to burn their ladders or knock them off. So, we prepared to fight them in close quarters combat. The fear burdened me with the anticipation of the invaders coming onto the walls. The first ladders came over the walls, but we couldn’t do anything about it. 

    Their soldiers rained down onto us in a stampede of human bodies. We easily knocked some over the castle walls, while some made a better stand. Me and Leofric fought very well together, easily destroying all the soldiers they threw at us. However, I saw a ladder without any defending it.

    “Leofric, I have to leave for a moment!” I shouted.

    He responded, “I should be able to defend myself.” With that, I ran over the undefended post. Along the way, I inhaled food and water from one of the serfs, giving me the energy to continue. As I got closer to the ladder, some invaders hopped onto the walls. I made quick work of them since they didn’t see me coming. 

    After thirty minutes of defending the ladder on my own, I found some confused knights who didn’t know what to defend. I called them over and explained what to do. Once they fully understood, I ran back to Leofric. He seemed to be doing alright, but then a horde of soldiers flooded onto the wall. I tried to sprint over to him to help, but I didn’t make it in time. 

    They overpowered him and knocked him off the walls. I couldn’t believe it. One of my best friends, killed by these jealous buffoons. Rage pulsed through my veins, and the world turned red. I charged towards them with the speed of a cheetah. My greatsword flew into their chests, and they soared over the castle wall.

    More invaders came over the ladder, but I knocked them over before they could land. I stomped away, creating earthquakes with every step. After I turned my back, I heard someone running towards me from behind. I glanced over my shoulder and saw an invader with their sword raised. 

    They got closer and closer, and I got ready to strike. Right before they got into striking range, I whipped around towards them. They looked shocked and surprised, but I kept a stern face. I thrusted my dagger into a gap in their armor, and they instantly collapsed. Still in a state of anger, I kicked them over the wall to their demise.

You killed Leofric!