A Dark Knight

4.Training

The night in the prison was the longest night of my life so far. In the morning I was quite glad to get out. We were summoned to Lord Ozzie's dining room.

It was a huge room. The walls had a shield with the green, white and orange Irish flag and the star and crescent symbol of Drogheda There were pictures of previous Drogheda lords. A long table stretched across the room. It was covered in breakfast dishes such as, sausages, bacon, pudding and toast. There was water, wine and beer to drink. Lord Ozzie sat at the head of the table gesturing for us to sit down. Also present was Lady Caroline and Niall. We sat down at the table. Kelsey kicked me under the table and put her hand under her chin and pushed upwards. It took me a second to register what she meant but I realised she was telling me to close my mouth.

I was amazed to see all this food! At home for breakfast, all we had was white bread and porridge and water to drink. We were told to help ourselves. I had never tasted anything so good. I had a bit of everything. But I stuck to the water because the alcohol burned my mouth.

After the meal Lord Ozzie stood up and announced that he was sorry for making us spend the night in prison but if he hadn't, everyone would think it was OK to break the law. He said that he would help us train later.

We went down to the large stables and we set up dummies and target for aiming practise. We practised this until Lord Ozzie came down with glasses of ice cold water.

"OK! Why don't we try bl-" he began but was interrupted by a loud noise like a war horn.

A knew what this meant. I had never heard it before but it meant that an enemy army was entering the town. Lord Ozzie ran off to make sure the people got to safety. I guessed the attacking army was Navan and that our soldiers sent out there had been defeated but when we arrived in town, in our armour and on our horses if wasn't Navan. It was Dundalk.

The town had gone mad. Everyone was screaming and running. People were running into their houses. People were leaving the town and some were even throwing pots and food at the Dundalk soldiers who just blocked it with their shields.

One Dundalk soldier dismounted and walked calmly into the center of the two armies and yelled, "Lord Ozzie! Come out of hiding!" Lord Ozzie walked out and the two men stood face to face.

"Ah! Lord Jay of Dundalk! Nice seeing you again!" he greeted, with a smile that wasn't returned. "Surrender this town or we will kill everyone!" was the reply he got instead.