The Knight of Chivalry

Chapter 22

Simon woke up at dust and got food ready for the lord, the attack was going to be launched that night and everyone was getting things ready for it. Once the food was prepared Simon took it into the lords tent, he was awake and sitting at his desk looking over some papers. He thanked Simon for the food and told him that he should get the armour and weapons ready for the assault and that once he had finished the food he would require Simon to put on his armour as well. Simon left the tent and went back to his own where he put on his armour pretty quickly and then strapped on his sword belt. He didn’t put on his helmet yet as that would make putting on the lords armour harder and he left his shield to. Once he had finished seeing to himself he went back into the lord’s tent and saw that the lord was ready for his armour so he took of his own gauntlets and saw to the lord. First putting on the under layer and then the chainmail shirt before strapping on the plates for the chest, legs, arms and shoulders and finally giving the lord his helmet and sword.

            “You certainly are getting most proficient at putting on my armour Simon” the lord said.

            “Thank you sire, it gets easier the more you do it” Simon replied.

            “We are being honoured today Simon, the king has given me the task of riding through the gate once it is broken down, deliver the message to my captains and then get our horses ready” the lord said and Simon nodded at this and left the tent. It was easy for him to find the captains and he told them of the lord’s orders, they nodded as they had been ready for any eventuality and said that the troops would be ready in time for the attack, the cavalry in front and the foot behind. Once the orders had been delivered he saw to the horse, this time not the ones they rode for travel but the larger warhorses they ride for battle. He put their armour on and the saddles and then brought them over to the lord’s tent and left them tied up outside and went inside.

            “Everything is ready my lord” Simon said.

            “Good, we best go out there and show our faces then” the lord said and he picked his helmet and shield and left his tent. Simon helped him mount his horse and then got on his own and they rode out of the camp to where the lord’s men were assembling. The men cheered when they saw their lord and he called out to the men he knew and offered words of encouragement.

The rest of the army was busy as well getting everything ready for the attack in the cover of darkness, the battering ram was hauled close to the gate by the men who were going to be using it. Ladders were man handled close to the walls as well for those who would be taking the walls, the catapults were loaded with oil pots that were waiting to be lit and rocks ready to be hurled. Archers crept closer to walls to be in range for their volleys. Once everything was ready for the attack the king gave the command and the catapults let lose their lodes signalling the attack to commence as fires sprung up into the city, the archers then fired a few volleys to give cover to the troops as they charged with the ladders and battering ram towards the city. The catapults kept firing every minute or so, those that were shooting rocks broke pieces of the wall, or hit the houses inside, the oil pots shot fire into the city making the wooden buildings burn. Screams started to be heard coming from the city as the ladders reached the walls and were put up and men scrabbled up them as quickly as they could to reach the top of the wall and so start to win honour or avoid death as the defenders threw rocks down at them or pushed the ladders back of the wall. The battering ram being heavier took a bit longer to reach the gates but it got there eventually and started doing its job as the defenders on the gate house loosened arrows, rocks and spears down at it, but they didn’t do much damage as those using the battering ram was protected by a shield over their heads by the guy next to them. It did not seem like the defenders had oil to pour down upon the ram which was a good thing.

The ram took many minutes to break through the gate as it was pretty tough but it did eventually and as soon as the lord saw that the gate had fallen he gave the command. He and his cavalry charged at the gate and into the defenders on the other side who were crippled by the charge. The foot soldiers followed them be it at a slower pace and came into the battle hacking at the remaining soldiers. The fighting was fierce and Simon was in the thick of it hacking down at the soldiers from his horse and blocking their blows with his shield or sword. He fought close to the lord and protected his back whenever his could. The defenders put on a good show and killed a number of horses and their riders but that wasn’t enough soon their morale broke and they retreated further into the city. The lord commanded some of the foot to secure the gate whilst the rest would follow him as he led them further into the city. They came across more of the defenders troops as they went through the chaos of burning buildings and had some skirmishes with them but the defenders weren’t enough to stop them from going forwards they just delayed the inevitable and wounded some of the attackers. At this point the catapults had stopped firing and the walls had been taken by other troops. The lord made it through to the centre of the city where the city hall lay and outside it there were a lot more defenders that he thought there would be, he looked behind him and released he didn’t have enough men to deal with them so he waited here whilst a messenger went back to the king to ask for some more troops to come into the city to deal with the defenders.

They waited for a few minutes before another group of horse and foot came up and joined them, this was led by the king himself and his guard. The lord greeted the king friendly and pointed out the defenders to him who lay in front of the city hall, the king nodded and said he can see why the lord asked for reinforcements and that he was wise to do so and he proposed that this group of soldiers could be the last big group that lay in the city for which they had to deal with. He then gave the command to charge and the men followed suit and crashed into the defenders. The lord and Simon fought close to the king and his guard and Simon was amazed at the skills these men showed and it was clear why they were chosen to protect the king. The defenders stood little chance with all of the men their but they fought very bravely until the end and killed and wounded a good deal of men. The battle lasted all of ten minutes and by that time most of the defenders had fallen to the attacker’s blade that the rest of them surrendered rather than died. Thus the city was taken.

In the aftermath of the battle there was still a few skirmishes around the city as the kings men cleaned up the place and put out the fires they had started but these did little and soon stopped altogether. With the city taken the king dealt with those that were in charge and questioned them at lengths to find out what part they had in this rebellion. Once these questions were answered they were punished accordingly most suffering a traitor’s death by the gallows a few were pardoned for their crimes as they merely followed the lead of the stronger lords. Word came in around a week later that the fortress had been taken by the other army and this was how the northern rebellion ended. The king left after another week to go back south to his capitol but he left his trusted general to sort out the north and repair the damage that had been done in the course of the war, it would take a few years but it would be done and the north was loyal again to the king who did not punish them at all just the men who had caused the rebellion. He also offered rewards to the men who rode with him including giving Captain Rodgers some land in the north as the lord who had ruled it lay dead and giving Simon a knighthood, saying that he fought with great honour and deserved it.

Simon and the lord returned to his holdings with the rest of his men and they were glad to be home again. Simon being a knight in the lord retinue now didn’t have to look after the lords needs but still served him and didn’t have a place of his own yet but got his own horse and armour which he was quite happy with. He and the lord share a happy friendship over the days to come and Simon keeps learning new things from his study’s and continues his training at the sword this time sparing against the other knights at the lords court who are a lot harder than the squires he used to fight. He is content with his lot in life.