by Angela Blake
They knew that the drawbridge would have been up and they came prepared. They had carried huge planks to stretch across the moat and dropped them into place, creating a temporary bridge for them to reach the huge wooden door that was now in their way. They did it under the cover of shields, but our archers were still able to pick some of them off. The attack was carefully constructed as the thick wooden planks were pushed together. Getting through the drawbridge was going to be tough, it was made of think wood and was very heavy. It should buy us some time and exhaust their men.
All our swordsmen were behind the drawbridge, ready to fight. The arrow fighting had died down as supplies ran low. The Sanyek soldiers had now brought the battering ram onto the temporary bridge and were now repeatedly hammering against the makeshift door of the drawbridge. What we had remaining of our arrows were used to try and halt the attack on the entrance. The Sanyek’s had bought ladders too, and sets of soldiers had used the bridge to reach the castle walls. They surrounded the circumference of the castle and the soldiers were now surrounding the castle walls in their hundreds. I called for more men to the walls of the castle in anticipation of them climbing over the walls.
The wood from the drawbridge had started splintering and the enemy had positioned their ladders around the castle walls. The fighting that had been contained to outside the castle was just about to be brought to the inside. Everyone was prepared, but looked nervous. Arrows were collected and fired at the wall climbers and the men holding the battering ram, but it was only delaying the inevitable. I retreated back from the castle walls as it was too dangerous, and headed into the heart of the castle.
I walked through the great dining hall where I had such a great time with the three brothers; it was a great memory which made me feel very odd. One of the brothers had been killed trying to kill me, and the other two would either succeed where Isaac failed or meet the same fate. There was not going to be any in between. As I passed through I remembered the spot that I so enjoyed myself and recalled how I could have had the easy life without this violence. My quest for happiness had led to this great battle and I felt guilty for it. Happiness looked a million miles away from the blood that was being spilt in and around the castle walls.
As I exited out of the great dining hall, the horror of what happening was clear. The drawbridge was near breaking point and a few of the enemy soldiers had managed to get to the top of their ladders and climb into the castle, and the sword fighting had begun. I had to stay out of the fighting the best I could, but there was little doubt it’d come to me sooner or later. More men were pouring over the castle walls and we were bracing ourselves for the drawbridge being breached. The sheer numbers of the Sanyek’s made it seem like an impossible battle.
Adam got up from where he was sat and made his way through the soldiers to the front where they were waiting for the drawbridge to be breached. With one deep breath he took a moment as the transformation started before their eyes. The soldiers around him tried to keep their composure, but it was difficult. He grew taller, the beast widened, the claws grew and out of a quiet and handsome man arose a fantastic beast, our beast. The drawbridge looked weaker and weaker; every blow looked like the one that might finally make it through.
Bella - The desperate fight
Finally the drawbridge failed and the Sanyek soldiers burst through to battle with our men. Their charge halted slightly as they were faced with this magnificent beast which was now stood before them. The soldiers rushing from the back pushed the front forward and they had no option but to advance forward and tentatively as they could. Some of their soldiers tried to avoid the beast, the ones that tried to challenge him were met with his claws as he swept them out of his path, flinging them against the walls.
The entrance to the main part of the castle behind the drawbridge was small, so the fighting was contained to the entrance for now. Soldiers continued to pour over the walls though and more of them were in the castle. We had the advantage of defending from the castle, but I wasn’t sure how long it could last before we got overran. I kept looking out for my four men. Adam had become the beast and was battling at the front. George and John were at the back of the main fighting pack, directing orders.
I couldn’t see Max; he was in there with all the soldiers and all wearing the same armour. He could have been anyone of these men. He’d only received a few days training and surely wasn’t prepared for this kind of battle. My heart was jumping out of my chest as I looked all around. It looked as though the whole world was falling in on us as the space we had became smaller and smaller as our men at the drawbridge had been pushed back and the enemy soldiers getting over the castle walls became greater and greater.
The men at the entrance were being forced further and further back and the beast was trying to keep the enemy from advancing, but there was only so much they could do. I could see blood coming from him where a few swords strikes had hit, but he was still standing strong. The enemy came further and further forward with their relentless numbers before they gradually broke through and swarmed into the belly of the castle. I had retreated to the 1st floor of the castle, away from the fighting.
“Beast!” shouted John, “Go and protect the princess!” he said demandingly. The beast looked around and caught my eye; he climbed the castle walls to reach me before anyone could. I must have been a key tactic point as enemy soldiers came for me immediately. The beast was now by my side and there to protect me as the enemy approached with their swords. The beast swatted them away with ease. One tried to slip by, but I was able to get in a strike, I was now fully in the heat of the battle.
The battle had reached everyone in the castle and I could only look on as George and John started to become engaged in the fighting. He fighting had become a free-for-all with both sides taking losses in the bloody battle. There was no a lot I could do, I felt helpless. If I went down there to fight, I’d be dead on seconds. I had to try and wait it out in as safe a place as I could, trying to give the clearest instructions I could to the men below me.
I looked down in horror as the men closest too me were in more danger than they ever have been. John was fighting valiantly and must have already taken out a dozen of their men. He was surrounded though and took a few blows. I tried to shout down desperately to get him some help, but it was too late. He took one blow too many and fell to the floor, the Sanyek soldiers crowded around him and I knew he had gone. He had won many battles in this time, this was one too many. It only seemed like a matter of time that George, Max, Adam and me all fell to the same fate.
My whole world felt like it was falling apart. John was dead and I didn’t know what we were going to do without him. Surely the only way we were going to win this battle was with him on our side. There still looked as though there were hundreds of Sanyek soldiers outside the castle, waiting to get in. Including Josh and Ralph who were yet to make an appearance inside the castle walls. They weren’t going to risk their lives when they could get their men to do that for them.
I still had the beast by my side and was doing bits of fighting here and there, trying to keep out of trouble. I felt it was only a matter of time before I fell to the same fate as John. The attacks from the Sanyek soldiers seemed relentless. George was holding his own, fighting with his men by his side. I had no idea about Max, he could have been dead a while ago for all I knew. I looked at a few of the soldier’s faces, but never saw him. It felt futile anyway, if he wasn’t dead now, he surely would be.
Bella – The sweetest sound
For a moment I looked up at the sky, it was a clear blue day with a beautiful sun shining through the castle. There were some birds flying overhead and I contemplated the peace up above while this madness was happening all around me. In my search for inner peace I had been the spark to cause all this war, or at least that’s how it felt. I knew it wasn’t, the Gattzam saw an opportunity to kill my father and seize his castle. When they failed, the Sanyek’s thought they’d try and ta
ke advantage of ours and the Gattzam’s weaknesses.
As I kept looking at the sky, I opened up my ears and could hear the birds chirping and thought it might be my last money of beauty before the horror of what I thought would come. As I heard those birds though, my ears also picked up another noise from the crowd. At first I thought it may have been more of the castle being destroyed, but it kept grumbling. It felt like an earthquake, but we didn’t have them in this region. It got louder and louder, and I started to feel the vibrations under my feat. “Princess, look!” shouted the beast, pointing me in the direction of a nearby window.
I looked across and was astonished by what I saw, the sound that was getting louder and louder, and the vibrations that were getting heavier and heavier were the footsteps of what looked like thousands of horses charging towards the castle. They were coming from the north which could have only have meant one thing, and as they got nearer it was confirmed to me as I saw their uniform. It was the Oxerod soldiers coming to charge down the hill. They had by far the largest army of the surrounding kingdoms, but George’s father was a peaceful man so they were only ever there to protect, not attack. It seemed clear that the king was protecting the only thing he held dearest of all, his son.
I presumed that they were here to fight the Sanyek’s and that was confirmed with a flurry of arrows that hit the remaining soldiers who were outside of the castle. Neither us nor the Sanyek’s were a match for the huge Oxerod army, but time was running out. The castle soon became swarmed with fighting, now with three sides involved. The Sanyek’s who were winning the battle were all of a sudden in huge amount of trouble, Goliath had become David.
The Oxerod soldiers headed for the entrance to try and get into the castle. Some of their soldiers headed for the castle walls and seized of the Sanyek ladders that had been used to climb into the castle. Instead of fighting off the soldiers trying to get over the walls, our army were now helping the Oxerod into the castle. I wondered briefly amount their intentions, but it was immediately clear that they were here to battle the enemy that was trying to kill their prince, and not us.
The masses of Oxerod soldiers that had galloped to the castle entrance forced the hand of Josh and Ralph who now entered the castle. I could see it before my eyes how the battle was changing. The doom and gloom had been replaced with optimism. The domination by the Sanyek soldiers had become a 50/50 battle, and there were still Oxerod soldiers pouring into the castle. The two brothers who must have been so smug outside now had faces full of panic.
Josh was a ferocious soldier. The shyness of the bedroom was replaced with a confidence and swagger on the battlefield. It felt as though this was his natural place to be. It reminded me of the joust and how he so nonchalantly destroyed his opponent. This time though the lance was replaced with a sword, but he was still destroying his opponents, just this time the consequences were a lot more dire. I was watching him from the 1st floor, as he scythed through the men around him. That was until he looked up and locked eyes with me, he immediately made his way to the nearest staircase.
Bella – The beautiful beast
He made his way up to the balcony where I was, with a sword in hand and a look of evil in his eye. I couldn’t see the beast and there were no soldiers around for me call on for help. There was nowhere for me to run and I could only make my way back up the watchtower, desperately trying to buy myself more time. I called out for help, but the only ones that heard me were a few soldiers and they were quickly dismissed by the huge man. Swatted away like flies.
“Come here Bella” came the cry from below the watchtower steps. Josh made his way up as we were now completely away from the fighting. I made it up to the top of the watchtower which was open with views across the castle and the land below. I looked across at the fighting below in the castle and the fighting outside. There was no escape and Josh had almost made his way to the top of the stairs.
From the staircase emerged this huge man that I was moments away from marrying. I thought I was just going to be killed right there and then, but Josh wanted to ask me something first. “Your life will be spared if you agree to still marry me!” he said with desperation. I couldn’t believe his delusion, as if I would agree to that after what was happening in the castle. I pondered for a moment whether I should lie and go along with it in order to keep me safe, but I had to be true to myself. “I’m never going to marry you, it was a mistake” I said to him. As soon as I said it, the look in his eye changed. He pulled his sword from out of the sheath and started walking towards me.
“You I can’t marry you, then no-one will” he said as he got closer. I had my own sword and drew it out, but it felt completely useless. A petite woman with no sword fighting experience against a huge man with countless kills to his name. I heard a scratching from down below. It wasn’t from the staircase, but outside the walls of the watchtower. I desperately wanted to look, but couldn’t take my eyes away from Josh. The scratching got louder and louder until I heard a familiar grunt. A grunt that was confirmed as a sound familiar to me when I heard a roar. The beast jumped over the watchtower walls and immediately put himself in between me and Josh. This magnificent beast had scaled up the walls to rescue me once again.
Josh came forward and thrust his sword into the beast, as he let out a roar of pain. He walked forward to attack Josh, wounded from the blow he had just taken. Josh once more thrust his sword forward, but this time the beast clawed at his hand as the sword flew out of his hand. Josh ran after it knowing it was his only hope. He grabbed the sword and climbed on to the small wall of the watchtower in order to attack the beast from above. He went to make a jump for the beast, but his foot slipped. He slipped down from the castle walls, grabbing on to the side with a 100 foot drop below him. He couldn’t hold on though and me and the beast watched as he fell below, outside the castle wall below and into a group of Oxerod soldiers. If the fall hadn’t killed him, he soldiers would finish the job.
“C’mon” I said to the beast, “There’s no time to waste” I knew we had to get back to the fighting and couldn’t dwell on what just happened. We made our way down the castle stairs and back down to the first floor balcony that we’d just came from. I looked across and the battle was still swinging in our favour, but the war hadn’t been won just yet. I looked down to the courtyard below and was frozen in fear, there was Ralph now off his horse, covered in blood looking like he’d just been dragged through hell. He had his bow and arrow drawn with it aimed between my eyes. He released his fingers as the arrow flew through the air. There was no time to react and it was too late for me to do anything about it. The beast however, had already reacted. The magnificent creature jumped in front of me and took the arrow straight through his heart.
He fell to the ground instantly, and I fell with him, comforting him as he lay down on the ground. The arrows continued to fly from Ralph as he tried to kill me. Most of them were taken in the beast’s back as his body continued to protect me. This was the third time that we had saved my life, but it was going to be the last time as the life left his body. I gave him as kiss. “I love you for all you’ve done, my hero” I said to him as the arrows continued to fly. I knew I couldn’t lift my head.
That was, until the arrows stopped. I wondered if it was just Ralph waiting for me to lift my head above the beast’s body to fire another shot, but I had to move eventually. I moved slightly before tentatively lifting my head up and looking down at the castle. I saw Ralph immediately. This time, however, he didn’t have his bow drawn ready to kill me. He was lay down on the floor, as dead as the beast before me. Over his body stood my other hero, George, the man that I loved. He was still alive, still able to save me. He looked completely spent of energy, covered in blood, but none of it was his own. He looked up at me and smiled, I smiled back.
The fighting was almost over, their king had been killed by the Oxerod soldiers and now all of the brothers were dead too. I saw a man shouting instructions at the remaining Sanyek so
ldiers, “Surrender now and your lives will be spared” said the voice. It was Max, he was walking around with a confidence and strut that I’d never seen before. In the absence of John, he’d been one of the men to step up and made sure the orders kept flowing. The Sanyek soldiers looked tentative at his instruction as they were surrounded. There was still many of them, but they had no orders and no king to go back to. They had lost, and they knew it. They dropped their swords and surrendered themselves to Max’s instructions. The war was over.
Bella – Our saviour
The remaining enemy soldiers were all disarmed and had to take off all their battle clothes. With nowhere to go, it’d be pretty easy to have them join our ranks as our soldiers. For now though they’d have to be detained until things had blown over. There was a vacant castle that now needed to be occupied, and the Sanyek kingdom was soon to be no more. Everyone had gathered together and our castle was thanking the Oxerod men for saving us from a certain defeat. I got to speak to George’s father, King Richard.
“Thank you so much for coming to our aid” I said to him, with my mind wondering about whether he’d want a similar compensation to what the Sanyek’s had asked for. “I couldn’t leave my son to die, could I?” he said in a commanding voice. I had never spoken with him before on account of his terrible relationship with my father, apart from a few greetings. “I hope you are worth it?” he said to me, knowing I was the reason that his son had just risked his life. “I hope I am too” I said back, knowing the sacrifices that had just happened around me.