Dual Attack at Dawn

Dawn arose in the background, as we leaned over the castle walls to view if the attacking armies had arrived or not. It was pretty quiet; there was only the sound of fellow soldiers breathing and the early birds singing. Unfortunately for us though, the ground was covered in a dark haze. If there was someone there, we wouldn’t have been able to see them. There were still some darkened clouds in the sky from the previous night of hell. Our defensive ballistic missiles and trebuchets gave the surrounding area a night of burning flames. A nearby forest was still partially lit. I can still hear the screams from that previous night, of men screaming in pain from being burned alive. As disturbing as it was, it still brought somewhat of a smile to our faces knowing that the more screams, the less there were to attack us.

We had to be at least 200 feet up from the ground, mounted on these walls with bows, arrows and swords next to our feet. Most of us were still alive up here. A few men were killed during that attack, and we threw them over the castle walls. There was a moat that was filled with an oil substance that was lit into flames to prevent the enemy charge against our keep. It was probably causing the haziness below. Since the attack has gone on for days, the oil was dimming and we needed more fuel, so we used those of the dead. Arrows, trebuchets and other siege weapons were our only worry at this point. None of us had armour. I believe it was a sign of wealth, which almost all of us lacked. We were in the typical “Robin Hood” cloths.

Some of the men were starting to go mad. It must be a case of “cabin fever” from being locked inside the castle walls so long. In the silence between the attacks, I felt like I could hear some townspeople going insane, almost like an epidemic or plague that was approaching. I thought the bubonic plague was over with though, so I assumed people were just going insane from not seeing the outside world for a while. Staying hidden on the top of my keep, I started to hear something like a wild beast running up the stairs. My men and I readied are bows and arrows waiting for the beast to approach. She reached the top; it was a lady in her mid or early 20s. Although she seemed somewhat stupid as she ran into the wall after running up the stairs on the other side of the keep. She didn’t even try to stop after she reached the top. She just kept moving like a stampeding elephant. Shortly after, a male came running up in the same fashion but knocking over the woman and hitting the wall so hard he flipped over the walls to his demise. The woman stood up and glared at us with golden eyes, as if she had a thirst for blood. She came running at us like a handicapped wolf. Pouncing on to one of my men, he unsheathed his sword stabbed her in the neck. We all knew it had to be done, something was wrong with her.

It was moments later that the sun fully raised in the horizon. We could hear the enemy waking up in the near distance. I took command at my keep and had 2 men guard the stair case, and the rest of us armed our bows and arrows to attack the approaching armies. Finally, we could see the enemy flags and we launched our arrows while we heard constant fighting and groaning of the victims from the staircase. I saw a stone of fire coming towards me and yelled “TAKE COVER!” to my fellow warriors.