Equestrian Guard

“Boy! Hurry!” Yelled out the man.

Althalos struggled to crank the crossbow ready as the English continued to make their advancement to break into the town. The yelling was ongoing, the clash of metal connecting to one another, and the barrage of arrows that flew over coming from the English long-bowmen. One after the other he would crank the next crossbow he was given being of some help in the defense. His hands ached, blistered, for his youthful age of seven did not prepare him for this.

“Run back inside and bring us some more arrows!” The man told him.

He nodded and got up, running past the dozens of men that stood by the edge of the wall. He stopped running suddenly seeing a man collapse motionless with an arrow through his eye. He hacked up nothing feeling sick seeing such thing up close. Regaining his composure he continued running inside the castle, past the many people tending to the wounded that was brought in. He grabbed the sacks of arrows that were on the ground around him, placing the strings over his shoulder before turning around to return outside. He stopped again as one was pushed back by a sword, and with quick action pushed the ladder back. How he managed to do such was a miracle that would only happen once as he continued on. Althalos finally returned, placing down the sacks of unused arrows to the floor. It all quickly was taken by various men.

Tiredness overtook him as he sat down, taking in the short rest before being handed a crossbow to be spanned by the cranequin. He didn’t move, still being tired from doing such for so long. He struggled to stand, him needing to be standing to be able to crank. He placed the cranequin onto the crossbow, securing it and proceeded to crank the bow back. He looked up, catching a glimpse of a large guns that fired upon the wall, a large explosion happening to his left making him collapse to the floor.

He opened up his eyes, his vision blurry and his left ear not able to pick up sound. His hands shook not knowing what to do. He saw the crossbow still half-cranked and grabbed it back to him. He ignored the mess to his left looked, readying the trigger and removing the cranequin to give to who needed it. There he was lifted up by someone and taken inside, being placed down and looked at by the man.

“How you feeling?” The man repeated to Althalos. “You alright?”

Althalos nodded a couple times, giving assurance to the man. Noticing the man reaching into his back pocket he pulled out a mid-sized book and placed it into Althalos’ leather bag he carried with him.

“Stay here alright. You did your part now let us handle it.” The man stood back up. “Your father would be proud for you wishing to assist us in holding back the English.”

Althalos watched the man walked away back outside the castle, his thoughts of his father returning to him. He remembered when he saw him off, and remembered when he learned of his death. He looked down to his hands still shaking, his left ear slowly recovering audibility. What was he to do now? He remained seated, listening to the groans of injured men being tended by the women who did their best in lessening the pain inflicted. One woman knelt down with a pan of water and a cloth being soaked in it. He flinched from the touch of the coldness it had, and the pain coming from his chest which he hadn’t noticed until now. His shirt was split diagonally revealing a large cut across with blood running down. His blood. He thought back from the explosion the English gun inflicted, and possibly it had hurt him too. Death did not come for him though.

“You’re very strong not crying about your pain,” the woman spoke, keeping him distracted from all the noise outside. “What is your name?”

Althalos lifted up his bag which had his name, receiving a nod from the lady that helped him with his injury. The two remained silent as his injury was tended on. Having to remove the shirt, a cloth was wrapped around his body. He placed back his shirt on, and watched the woman move on to the next person in need. He looked down again, the pain barley there but clearly it had to hurt. He was no soldier, he knew, so why did he feel nothing?

Another explosion occurred nearby, the smoke from the impact filling inside causing much people to start coughing, including him. He got up, avoiding those that were able to run so he would not be trampled on. He followed behind, avoiding another explosion that was near where he sat. Another miracle given to him in escaping death. Seeing the townspeople running around, he stood and watched seeing those get to where they needed to be and for some, where they wanted to be. He went back inside and up the stairs, wanting to return back to help the men that needed it. He walked past the dead that were hit by the English guns, picking up sacks of arrows that were left here. He carried more than before and brought it up where they were quickly taken.

He then saw the man he helped ducking behind the wall, gripping his arm which had an arrow sticking out from it. Looking by his feet was the crossbow, still ready to be shot. Althalos looked down to his hands which were no longer shaking and looked back up to the crossbow. He ran to the weapon, lifting it up and climbing onto the ledge of the wall to have a better view.

“Boy! What are you doing!” The man yelled out, getting up to get Althalos down.

Althalos fired the bow, unsure if it even hit someone, but in turn he felt himself being pushed back dropping the weapon in the process. The man caught him from falling, seeing him looking at him with a worried look. He just looked at him, then to the sky as he felt tired.

The man kept looking at him, then to the arrow that had struck Althalos’ chest. He knew there was no way to recover from this. “Go on, rest. You deserve it,” he said clearly.

Althalos did so, keeping his eyes locked up not realizing the arrow that was inside him. The sound around him muffled, his vision again blurry, his breathing being less needed. And even though he shouldn’t while there were those that needed his help, he closed his eyes, relaxed, and fell asleep.