Medieval Information

This time the bell didn't rang. Everyone was already awake and they were aware of that. Every man able to fight was repairing our gate. Timber was used in huge amounts, I feared for a fire but nobody cared.

As I entered the kitchen, I was stopped by a guard.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Pierre's friend."

"I don't know no Pierre. Go away at once."

"But... I need food."

"I said go away. If you stay here I will have you sent to the oubliette. You know the place where criminals die? That's it."

"No please."

"Then leave."

I think I was scared, but I was too hungry to notice. My body was starting to look emaciated in just two days of war. I went to see Pierre to the infirmary.

"Pierre! how are you?"

"I'm doing fine. These damn nurses won't let me do a damn thing."

"I'm glad you're okay. Do you need anything?"

"A little food would be nice... that stupid nurse is eating all my rations."

"What?"

"Yeah she only gave me a glass of water last night. If I don't die from my injury I'll starve to death"

"Don't worry, I'll talk to someone. Be right back."

I left the infirmary only to meet another guard. He was a friend of Pierre.

"Hey, I saw you with Pierre the other day."

"Yeah I just came back from talking to him."

"Oh... can you tell me where he is"

"Yeah. The infirmary, room 10."

I kept walking to speak with the castle's lord (he was a friend of my father). When I entered the keep in which he was staying, I noticed a really nice smell of a lot of food. I kept walking and as I passed the main dining hall, I noticed the lord and his guests having a banquet. So much food that they could easily feed the whole town. I even saw some food being wasted (the maid ate it later, of course).

I waited there for at least an hour waiting for the lord to finish his meal. When he was actually finished, he went to his room right away. I stopped him and told him the situation.

"My lord! You must remember me. You knew my father."

"Yes... your father. Tragic affair."

"I have a favor to ask you."

"A friend, Pierre, is at the infirmary. He doesn't have enough food because his nurse is eating it all. His injuries are bad enough, but I fear he might not survive if he has nothing to eat. I, for my part, have had nothing real to eat in days. I come for your aid!"

"Well then. There's nothing I can do, conform with your rations"

"I am, but please help Pierre! He was among your best soldiers. He was injured because he fought for you! Help him please... I beg of you!"

"That... I have no power over."

"But you're our lord. Please"

"Alright then. You shall be sent to the oubliette for pissing me off"

"What?"

"You heard me. GUARDS!"

"No wait! My father was a friend of yours"

"No he wasn't. He owed me money and now you'll pay."

"Please sir don't!"

"Send him at once, guards. Let's teach these kids to stop coming to interrupt the busy lord."

The guards grabbed me with a lion's strength. They were two very muscular guards. As we were leaving the keep, one of them told me that I was very stupid. I didn't know what he was talking about since... well I didn't do anything wrong. As we entered the dark dungeon, one of them said "okay... where do we put him?" They looked around and couldn't find an open oubliette to put me on. They decided to remove the bones of an older inmate so I could be put in there. The odor was awful, I couldn't stand being there.

"Okay he's almost out. Bad luck you had, kid."

"Please. Help me... I don't want to die."

"It's the lord's orders"

"He'll never know if you don't put me down there! I swear I'll run away!"

"Sorry... I can't do such thing. I could be hanged... or worse be sent down there, to where you will be."

As these last words were uttered, a huge man knocked down one of the guards with such a strong blow that even amazed me. The other one tried to run away but he was met by a blade. I instantly recognized my savior.

"Pierre! What are you doing here?"

"My friend told me you were in trouble. He followed you."

"That stupid lord! He sent me here for begging for you! He was having a banquet of all the food you can imagine. Even wasting a lot! We must stop that."

"There's nothing we can do."

"What do you mean? He's a bad man."

"For now, we must hide. If he finds out, he'll be looking for us."

"We should kill him."

"I can't... I'm too injured. I still need food."

"Look at what I have here. I grabbed some food from the lord. Good thing he didn't find out"

I handed over to Pierre a huge slice of bread and a fish. We quickly left the dungeon after we grabbed the bodies and threw them to the oubliette.

"Good lord. What an awkward day. Does he even know where you live?"

"He knows everything. Rest."

It wasn't very late. Probably about 6 or 7 PM, but I could see that Pierre was very injured.

"I want you to have this."

He handed me over a bow.

"It was my father's."

He quickly went to sleep and I, for my astonishing stupidity, left our safety. The siege was much more advanced. The main gate was completely destroyed and the invaders were entering the castle. After a few minutes, it all settled down. I thought that maybe the lord would think that the guards were killed by the invaders and not by Pierre.

The interlopers seemed to calm down for the night, but after a few minutes, they made another attack. Bigger than ever. At least three hundred men were marching towards us. The castle's defense consisted of no more than a thousand veteran soldiers standing at the door, but they were all very tired due to the intermittent attacks being launched by our enemy.

Our defenses suffered heavy casualties this time. I couldn't count how many were dead but probably more than a hundred. All of the invaders died. But this didn't stop them from firing projectiles. All night, they kept firing whatever they could. They even fired a cow! I thought this was funny, but I was later explained by Pierre that cows were used to spread diseases to the defenders. The cow was quickly launched back.

As I feared, the invaders fired fire arrows. The whole main gate--and some houses--were burned in a matter of minutes. I knew we were doomed and so I told Pierre.

"Pierre... we must leave this castle. We have enemies inside and the enemies outside are coming in! Have you ever thought about joining our enemies? They are English. I'm sure they won't kill us."

"You dream too much, kid. At the sight of us, they will fire a cloud of arrows killing us instantly. But you are right, we must leave."