The Star King

Into the Fire of war October 25th 1415

Charging down the hill after Hal. She could feel the muscles of  Willow under her rippling, Her full strength, now apparent as she raced down the hill. She soon found herself neck and neck with Hal. She felt trapped within the confines of the helmet and wanted to take it off. Throwing caution to the wind with one hand she struggled with the clasp but managed to unfasten it and threw it to the ground. She saw it bounce away, rolling down the hill along with her and Willow. 

She had never felt so free as she did at this very moment. It was truly liberating. Exhilarating even. Her long brown hair had come loose and blew out behind her. She could feel the boy struggling behind her as he was being buffeted by her hair and it made her want to laugh. Giggling stupidly she hardly noticed the French troops. Some of them had seen her and looks of alarm and horror spilled over their faces.

The Duke of York looked up and upon seeing her his mouth opened in shock. Elisabeth closed her eyes and then opened them again quickly, drawing her sword she pointed it towards the enemy. This was it. She was well ahead of Hal now and was going to hit them first.  Her heart was pounding and she felt suddenly sick with terror. There was no going back.

The boy behind her was holding on for dear life and she could feel him shaking and whispering a prayer up to God.

 " For England, For the King" she cried, those who were the closest at first only chanted it back but soon it spread through the ranks of men until the entire English army started to chant it.

The enemy fast approached and before she knew it they made contact.  She rammed into them like a wave crashing on a beach. She hacked through the line as she fought to stay alive and on Willow who was neighing, clearly disturbed by this situation. Adrenaline had taken Elisabeth's body. It was like it was no longer hers. 

Wielding her sword to the best of her abilities. Cutting, slicing, and hacking at each opponent as they came. Elisabeth refused to die she had too much to live for. Her children and her ma-mare.

Suddenly a massive blow hit her leg, a sharp pain stabbed its way through her body. Screaming, as Willow reared up throwing both the boy and her off. She hit the ground hard, rolling she came to a stop and saw Willow running into the sea of fighting men. Elisabeth tried to scream after her but no words would come out. She reached out her hand but Willow was gone. 

Elisabeth lay on the cold ground her shield had fallen away from her. A French man appeared above her. He sneered at her as he brought down his sword, quickly rolling to her side she dodged his blow and his sword struck the ground where just seconds she had been. 

With her own sword that she gripped so tightly she hacked quickly at his legs. The man screamed and fell to the ground beside her. She hastily let him out of his misery by plunging her sword into his chest before he even had a chance to think.

Looking around wildly she caught sight of her shield and crawled over to it grabbing it just as another man attacked. She managed to block his blow with her shield just in time but the force of the blow pushed her into the hard ground as he mercilessly hacked at her. She tried to block him with her shield but his blows were so powerful that with every blow she felt it through her spine and her whole body. Managing to bring up her sword she went for it but he blocked it easily and the blow sent her sword flying.

Elisabeth had never felt so afraid. She saw her children's faces and her mother's. She wanted to scream but her throat hurt and her voice would not come. As the man brought blow after blow into her stomach she felt she couldn't breathe.

Death stared at her. She felt it's presence looming ever closer, waiting for the killer blow and preparing for her last gasp. She saw Death dressed in his long black robes. Pointing the scythe towards her with his long skeleton fingers reaching out towards her. Tempting her to take its hand. 

"No" she whispered. 

Rolling to her side, using as much energy as she could muster and ignoring her now hurting body as it screamed in protest to her she kept blocking blow after blow with the shield. She tried to roll towards her sword and reach out and grab it but he stepped on her hand.

Suddenly an arrow hit the man in the back. Looking up she saw the Duke of York and an archer. The archer handed her back her sword and held out his hand for her to take, helping her to her feet " Thank you" she just about managed to say, her voice sounded hoarse and strange to her own ears. It was as if her throat was on fire and she could taste the metallic taste of blood. Pain seared through every inch of her body and she felt so exhausted that she could barely move anymore.

The French kept coming though. She fought alongside the Duke and the archer but now she wasn't just fighting them but her own body, her limbs were starting to betray her making her slow and sluggish.

She realized with growing horror that she hadn't seen the boy since they had both been knocked off Willow. She felt her blood run cold with terror. She no longer cared about anything anymore but trying to find the boy.

She limped through the mass of fighting soldiers and fell over the bodies that lay scattered about the field, her limbs protesting every time she got back up but she had sworn to protect him. She didn't even know his name. She tried to shout for him calling boy but her throat stung and it came out as a strangled whisper.