Medieval Information

This story is about a knight and his great desire to get married with a beautiful lady.

Knight Arthur was just 21 years old when he joined the army to fight in the holy lands. This was the fourth crusade. Few people actually knew what was going to happen during this time, Arthur among them.

Before leaving home, Arthur swore his fiancée that he would be back within a week. This was hardly the case, and they both knew that. Nevertheless, Theresa, Arthur's fiancée; had hope in his early return because she was madly in love with him.

Arthur was an adventure seeker. He was bored of Venetia, his homeland. Arthur was strong, of average stature and with a very strong desire to fight. He grew up in a fishing community.

Along with thousands of soldiers, Arthur sailed towards Constantinople. Having known Pope Innocent III, Arthur was given a very high command of the army. He was to direct a ship's soldiers into war. But the downside... before even arriving at Constantinople, Arthur encountered an enemy's ship which had to be destroyed.

"Sir, what do we do?"

"We fight."

"But their ship is much bigger than ours. They must have at least two times as many soldiers as we do!"

"We'll worry about that later."

"But sir, we can't just go into battle. It's too risky!"

"I said we fight."

"Well then... if you want to die..."

"What? Are you questioning me?"

"No sir."

"You be careful with what you say."

"I'm so sorry sir."

"Now, go and prepare everything. Tell every man to wield a sword--two if possible. We're destroying these guys."

"Yes sir."

Arthur was convinced that with the newly discovered armor and weapons, he'd be able to have an easy victory. He ordered every crossbowman to go to the deck. But as soon as he did this, a thought came to his mind... His thinking went something like this:

"I remember when I was young... I must have really liked to fish and to farm. I don't know if I'm ready for this battle, I mean... I'm not that prepared yet. All of this reminds me to the fun times I had just a few months ago... if I hadn't burnt my mother's house... Burn? Fire? Fire?"

Arthur had an excellent idea. He called his crossbowmen back and told them:

"I have an idea. We are burning that ship."

"But, sir, our arrows don't have a good range!"

"That's no problem. We'll get close to make them think we're attacking. When we're close enough, all of you will shoot as many fire arrows as you can atdifferent places of their ship. If we're lucky, we can burn them down. Look at their ship. It seems so dry. And remember that it hasn't rained for at least a month."

"This could work."

"Damn right it'll work."

"Okay."

As the enemy's ship got closer, a thousand fire arrows and quarrels were shot from Arthur's ship towards their's. Even though Arthur didn't know how to fire well, he must have fired at least a dozen fire quarrels.

"HELP"

A lot of cries for help were heard. Not Arthur, nor his soldiers ever showed any signs of sympathy. Still they kept firing.

"That was a nice attack, sir."

"Thanks."

Every man was trying to extinguish the fire that had turned into a conflagration. Their ship retreated to the beach. Arthur's ship sailed towards Constantinople to which he arrived a day later.

"This is it."

"Constantinople"

Arthur's soldiers eventually breached Constantinople's walls and managed to enter; in which a fearsome struggle took place. Arthur must have killed at least three or four defenders. And as they got closer to the main hall, Arthur encountered a very pretty woman who begged for her life.

"What are you doing here?"

"I'm lost. I don't know where my family is. Please help me."

"But I'm supposed to kill you. What are you talking about?"

"Please!"

"You are very pretty."

"Thanks sir. Will you help me?"

"I will. Even if I get condemned for this, follow me."

Arthur guided her to his ship, in which she could hide. Arthur acknowledged her name. "Daphne."

"Daphne is a very pretty name."

"So... please tell me! Where are we going?"

"After all this conflict is over, I will ask to be taken back home. You can come with me if you want, or you can stay."

Arthur promptly returned to battle just to realize that half of his soldiers were dead.

"Where were you, Arthur?! These guys overran us and we had to retreat. They are still inside that palace. We must get them."

"Go inside there? Are you crazy? You do know what they are doing, right? Their whole army is garrisoned inside that palace, waiting for anybody to go in. If I have learnt anything from my experience is that besieging works best. We will make them surrender. We just have to hold this place, right here."

"You're right. I'll tell the men to make a fortress right outside the palace."

"Good. Do it hastily for we don't know how long they'll be waiting."

"Yes sir."

Arthur's soldiers made a fortification all around the palace. The defenders were already yelling as this was done. After a day, reinforcements arrived. When the defenders acknowledged this, they promptly surrendered. Constantinople was pillaged and a place in which to transport all the tons of gold was needed. Arthur was told to take the gold back to Venetia, a task he gladly accepted.

After a month, Arthur was back home; with Daphne. The first person to greet him was his fiancée whom Arthur had already forgotten about.

"You have not forgotten about me, have you?"

"uhhmmm Oh no! How are you?"

"I have waited for you all this time... I love you"

"You do?"

"Yes. My father has already arranged our wedding."

"Wedding?"

"Yes! Isn't it great?"

"No actually it's not."

"What?"

"This is Daphne. My new fiancée. I met her in Constantinople."

"You're kidding right?"

"I'm pretty serious. You don't love me enough."

Having said this, Arthur disappeared into the shadows with Daphne.

"Arthur, I can't believe you did that for me."

"It's to show you what true love is like. From the moment I saw you in Constantinople..."

"Me too. But, like I said before, I really want to see my family."

"Please, forget about them. You will not see them again. They are far away. And now, with all the gold the pope gave me, we can live a very happy life."

"But..."

"What, Daphne?"

"I'm not sure about all of this."

"What are you talking about? I love you. That's what matters."

"Exactly. But... If you ended your marriage like that, I'm sure you'd end me when I bore you."

"What are you talking about? I'd never do that to you."

"Yes you would."

"No. Don't ever say that again."

Daphne's beautiful green eyes gazed into Arthur's black, imposing, eyes.

"I don't want to hurt you."

"Then don't and help me be happy."

"But you know I'm not like this."

"I have just realized that I don't know you at all."

"You're right. You don't know me."