Dark Knight Stories: Tell them

[The Mercenary]

I charged off to Suno, hearing that some mysterious foreign power had besieged it. With me came my sergeant Kelemvor and my medic Xerina. Alyssa was safely ensconced as the Steward of D'aerthe. With me I took my trusty steed Rocinante, a crippled Charger. I also brought along my old battered Plate Armour, my bent halberd, my battered Sallet Helm, some rusty bolts, and an arbalest. After charging throughout Calradia from my capital in Praven (I got sidetracked by some windmills) I encountered the Dark Knights on a hill near a mountain. At night. I didn't see the Dark Knights at first and they got the first blows in, easily defeating Xerina and leaving her crippled. Kelemvor and I then charged. I was dismounted in seconds, and Kelemvor rode for the hills. As he made a very abrupt right turn to try and return to me, Lady Larktin drove a lance straight through his chest. It exploded out in a shower of blood and gore, with his heart still on it. As we all know, however, some persons of Calradia are immortal, and he was merely knocked unconscious, though it was revealed that he suffered wounds to his hands. (?) I was left battling mounted knights on foot. However, all was not lost. I was able to defeat the small detachment of knights and defeat Lady Larktin herself in single combat.

I fled to Suno and holed up there for a while. Soon, the Dark Knights launched an assault. It was a fine autumn day, the birds chirping in the trees, the warm glow of the golden sun casting its light upon me. We soon heard the tramping of metal-shod boots on the ground. A mist seemed to arise and the day grew cold and misty, the sounds seeming muted. There was no way to tell where or how far the marching was. Shadows emerged in the mists and receded. The conscripts of Suno were nervous and some were trembling so badly that they couldn't hold their weapons. Lord Klargus, commander of Suno, was calmly whetting his blade as he watched the mists. The regulars and veterans of the Swadian army were preparing for battle coldly. We all knew we just had to wait for Queen Katilus and the ten Lords with her to arrive. I checked my arbalest and halberd, and readied myself for a fierce battle. The mists were thickening, an unnatural fog this far inland. Suddenly, a recruit screamed. I glanced over and saw him writhing in pain, clutching an arrow shaft in his chest. He stumbled backwards, and toppled off of the wall, landing with a thump on the hard pavement below. He was staring up with glassy eyes.

We all snapped our attention back to the walls. The Dark Knights had already reached the walls! Three ladders had been set up against the walls and Lady Larktin and her blackguards were already storming towards the middle one. I aimed my arbalest quickly, for I could tell that Larktin was not fully recovered from our duel that I had barely survived, winning by decapitating her and chopping her body into tiny bits. As she reached the top, I relaxed as Lord Klargus drove his great sword into her upper inner thigh, passing deep into her and up into her stomach. She growled and took Klargus' head. I immediately loosed without sighting, and by sheer luck, the bolt slammed into her eye and snapped her head back, throwing her off of the walls onto the stakes below. I quickly reloaded as the dark knights stormed in, massacring the green conscripts of Suno and slaughtering the veterans. I quickly ordered a retreat. At least, I tried to. Lord Tantius, a man whose brain I had removed slammed into me in a bull rush, hurling me off the walls. That likely saved my life.

Everyone on the walls died. Every mercenary warrior, every knight, every crossbowman, every conscript, and every soldier. All that was left was darkness. I heard the war cries as the reserve force smashed up the staircase, occupying the Dark Knights for a few precious minutes. I used it to my advantage and loosed many bolts into heads. Suddenly, a Blackguard made it down. He charged straight for me, apparently upset that there was a steel bolt in his head. I shot him again. He fell over. I continued shooting, thanking all the Gods that the 200 men or so that were pouring into the battle were able to occupy the Dark Knights for so long. The crossbowmen were helping shoot the knights as well.

"Breach!" That was the only thing I heard. Suddenly, all the swordsmen were dead. The crossbowmen drew steel and charged. I continued loosing and found that I was out of bolts! The blasted blackguard must have stolen them.

The crossbowmen were dead when I looked back up. The upset knights were charging me. I noted Purin, another man I had killed, by ripping his throat out with a slash of a halberd. I screamed and threw my arbalest at them. I then ran away flailing my arms and pulling my armour off to run faster. I suddenly realised I had a halberd and turned around, drawing it and setting it, impaling Purin on it. I then threw it at the dark knights and ran some more. After a lot of running, I realised I was at the keep! I cheered loudly and ran in, barricading the doors.

I donned some spare armour and grabbed a second halberd and more bolts for my new arbalest. We barricaded the doors and I took cover at the table. The doors exploded inward and Lady Larktin casually walked in. She had apparently recovered from the horrendous wounds she had suffered, with a greatsword between her legs and punching up into her sternum, an arbalest bolt shot into her eye at point blank, and several spears thrust through her. I shot her again. She fell over again. I chuckled and reloaded, to find a blackguard stepping out of the shadows beside me. I punched him, hurting my hand, but distracting him long enough to get a halberd out. I chopped down a dozen times screaming in fear and found a bloody mess. I turned and found the elite Royal Guard of Suno twitching on the ground. A moment later, an arrow slammed into the slit of my sallet helm, and I found myself staring at the beautifully decorated ceiling of the Great Hall. With one eye, as the other was nailed shut by a bodkin arrow. A moment later, a longsword smashed into my throat. I found myself looking at my headless corpse.

But of course, I didn't die! I escaped captivity and fled to Praven again with Xerina and Kelemvor, who had also escaped. Nursing my wounds, I retreated into the keep of Praven. There I laid for several weeks, until I received devastating news. Queen Katilus' 3,000 warrior army had been defeated by Lady Larktin and her four Lords. It was over. The only hope we had of victory was ended, as the Nords would simply sail away, the Khergits couldn't be caught, the Vaegirs were not as well-trained as the Swadians, and the Rhodoks were Rhodoks. I would not risk my experienced mercenaries in D'aerthe and chose rather to lay low. Vaguely, I wondered if Lady Larktin would welcome the aid of 1,200 well-trained, well-equipped, powerful mercenaries. However, I chose to help defend Swadia, defeating one of Larktin's armies and capturing her chief aide Lord Gracius. Eventually, I drove them back to the site of that harsh battle where 400 Swadians had died, costing the Dark Knights 56 troops. Katilus and her armies would stand beside D'aerthe, along with Yaroglek's armies, and Ragnar's armies¹. Larktin rode out with 2,000 knights. And so I came to my third battle with Lady Larktin, and not one decided on the tip of a crossbow bolt, but one that would be decided by lance and bloody sword...²


¹  Graveth was in one of my prisons, so he couldn't help.
²  Sanjar Khan, the treacherous bastard, took the opportunity to declare war on us and capture Tulga.

 

[FritoLay]

I charged 70 Cavaliers into a mixed army of 300 Dark Knights and served them a crushing defeat. I then sold the accumulated loot for an impressive 8000 denars because of the merchant cap and realized Im better off fighting mercenaries.

 

[BumpInTheNight]

I've started wars with other factions just to keep the pressure off the DK castles, they've folded twice now in games I've played long before I was finished looting them.  I used to despise them for being too strong but once I saw what Swadian Cavaliers can do...no so much anymore.

 

[String]

In my current game the dark knights have stalled. They own four castles but three of them are constantly under siege and most of their lords are either captured or recovering in castles.

I also crushed one 160 man army of theirs with 1 loss. 90 Cavaliers, 25 Major princes and an assortment of other heavy cavalry does that apparently.

 

[Josef_the_Pretender]

Morale was low. The siege of Ibdeles Castle was in its sixth day. The Dark Knight defenders  still held out, barely. Their garrison had been reduced from one hundred and sixty men to forty, but at grievous cost to the siegeing army of Drina Hardcastle. The field hospital was full of maimed and dying archers, victims of a siege strategy that some of her commanders said was incompetent, others merely wrong-headed.

    Drina turned from surveying the siege tower that was nearing completion. She didn’t doubt that her tactics were crude. She had made her name, and built a kingdom, upon her reputation for commanding devastating force in the field, with a mobile army that swept all before it. But sieges were different, and she knew brute force alone would win her naught against these new and sinister opponents. So she relied on her archers to keep their Dark Marksmen busy, all the while exposing them to withering fire from the walls of Ibdeles. But for the surgical skills of her two medics, she knew the cost would be impossible to bear.

    The Dark Knights were worthy opponents. They had arrived in Calradia without warning, and had caught Drina unawares to a degree that made her flush angrily when she thought of it. They had swept through Calradia, winning fief after fief while Drina chased shadows and learned that, to survive,  she must change the strategy that had served her so well in her own conquest, some short months before. She remembered the doubt in her vassals’ eyes, that they had pledged allegiance to the wrong faction, and smiled at the cruel irony of two major forces arising in Calradia within one year.

    At least the Dark Knight invasion had provided an opportunity to winnow out the cravens and turncoats. Brother Beranz, while devoted to her (what man would not be, having been awarded three different fiefs in quick succession as they fell like Aiko tiles?), could not be relied upon to stay with his garrison, while Councilman Falsevor was reaping the benefits of his defection to the Dark Knights in one of Drina’s dungeons. Occasionally she brought him out to play, promising him his freedom by combat, which he never won.

    She looked out over the battlefield. Some dead still lay at the foot of the walls. Her medics had been prevented from collecting the bodies by an over enthusiastic archer within the walls, who thought it good sport to fire upon them as they tried to retrieve their dead. This was a mistake, as the anger it generated provided a boost to the flagging morale of Drina’s troops, and allowed her to make one last attempt upon the castle. She knew this would be the last attempt. Already troops were deserting, making her rue her reliance on the Mercenary Longbows and various sellswords she had recruited from the taverns of Calradia. If it had not been for her reputation as a reliable quartermaster, and one who rewarded her loyal companions with fiefs and wealth beyond compare, she knew she would already have had to beat an ignominious retreat.

    Tismanu, the captain of the sappers arrived to tell her the siege tower was complete. She knew she must act quickly. Detailing a small force of Rhodok spearmen to push the tower forward, she assembled a mixed force of archers and armoured knights, with the same troop types in reserve for the second wave. She ordered the advance.

  The rest was a frenetic blur. The final Dark Knight archers were dispatched quickly, and the remaining defenders sallied forth. They were cut to ribbons by Drina’s heavy infantry. Drina herself led them into the castle, and killed the couple of stragglers who remained. Nothing now stopped her from taking ownership of Ibdeles.
Her forces regrouped and spent some days healing, while reinforcements to man the garrison arrived from nearby Etrosq Castle. Studying her maps, she knew she must move south towards Jelkala, the Dark Knight stronghold. Her scouts and informers reported a garrison of seven hundred men, over one hundred of whom were Elite Arbalestiers. Her tactics would have to change…

 

[Pellagus]

I admit I was afraid. When I first faced them, they destroyed my army and I was forced to flee with barely a fifth of my troops alive.

The next time we met, however, I was prepared. The Dark Knights were destroyed, cut down in a hail of bolts and arrows, then trampled by Cavaliers and Lady Knights.

The looting was good. It is uncanny how greed overcomes a man's fear.

 

[DamienZharkoff]

  It was late in the night of around a saturday that I recall. I, and my two hundred well trained men had just finished celebrating our fifteenth victory over the Rhodok kingdom. There was much celebrating and cheering as our men began to relax inside the walls of our newest conquest called "Yalen". It was a fine night for celebration, the moon shone, the clouds surrounded it in an almost poetic embrace of beauty.. All was well that night.. until the scouts all came rushing back at once, shouting their cries of urgency as they rushed into the city. I was in the festive square, overlooking my men with a smile as they enjoyed themselves. The noise for the most part drowned out the multiple scouts frantic ravings, up until one took up his nerve to touch his majesties shoulder. I turned about, glaring at them with a look that had led many a men to flee. It was that look that allowed a lone lady mercenary to take her title as queen. It was that look that instilled fear, and respect into my men, and it was that look, that made them scout wet upon himself like some animal. "Speak before thy head is removed peasent!" I barked in anger at the poor scout. The scout whimpered, he would see the chopping block the next day for his failure, but for now, another scout stepped forward, a young lad, who obviously had summoned all his courage just to bow himself to me, began to speak "Majesty Vasquez! We have reported over ninety scores of... things... monsters... rampaging their way to the city. over six score are already attacking Lord Gaefir's castle, he, his army, and his garrison of a hundred are holding the castle... But... these monsters are to powerful. He and the garrison you left of the nordic Huskarl Elites sallyed out to attack the army, but... they sent just twenty.. twenty of their men to slaughter Lord Gaefir's Hundred. Not one of the monsters fell, yet all of the nordic men laid dead. We have but 'till the end of this night until the horde arrives." I looked at him, first as if he was a mad man, then, as if he was simply insane "Our fifty score of arablastiers and ten score of Elites of Halbredier men shall hold them back with ease. Now. Take this piddling animal to the dungeons and tell the executioner to prepare. As for I... I have planning to do.."

I spent the rest of the night looking over my men, studying their equipment, and speaking to some of their training. These men were hardened, some maybe far so then myself. They had seen the horrors of battle and would not even flinch in the face of the dark one himself.. But the question was.. would they survive this new threat.. Would "I" survive? I went outside, and took the best, but least liked path, ordering a bann on alchohal for the night. The last thing I needed was men with headaches aiming a bolt at a thunderous monster. As I continued watching my men half heartedly celebrating, I began to lose track of time, remembering the scouts words, and letting them go through my head. "What kind of monster could murder a nordic man with such ease? Especially the well trained garrison I left to Gaefir.." time must have passed quickly because as I remembered the passing of time, the watchmen shouted, they shouted of darkness, and paniced as young lads would tend to. The men, trained as they were, immedietly dropped their mugs, though carried food with them, as they charged down into the barraks, readying themselves for the coming battle. One scout caught my attention as he began to describe them, he shouted down that they looked like demons, he began to shout and rave, panicing my people that demons were coming to claim our souls, but fourtunelty he was quick silenced, by an arrow through the chest.. a dark... demonic... arrow..

-Signed, Queen Linaru Harloff Vasquez of The Ramarians.

End of Log Entry Two Hundred...

 

[amondrubee]

Night had fallen. There is not much time left. For weeks I had prepared garrisoning none but the most elite of troops, promoting 12 companions to vassals, persuading 4 other vassals to join my kingdom, all to repel the invasion of the Dark Knights. I watch each kingdom fall one by one, as they arrogantly refuse to form an ally. The dark ones seem unstoppable. Even the impentrable fortress of the Nords, Tihr, had fallen.

That day I led a a compaign of 650 strong myself, and 16 vassals by my side. To my horror, even though I outnumbered the dark ones, they slaughtered my people like sheep. I fled back to Jelkala knowing they would follow soon. Several days later, they stormed my towns and castles, dicing my patrols and defeating my companion vassals once more. The final battle took place on Jelkala.

Shrouded in darkness, Lady Larkin led that horde. I ordered a fury of bolts to rain death to all who oppose me. Not a single dark knight fell before the walls were breached. The following minutes dark knights' bodies started to pile up, but not remotely as much as my elite troops.

Charging in with unwavering courage, the last thing that I noticed was an arrow piercing my throat. Darkness engulfed me.

"Dad, did you see that?! It's a great shot! Nobody else could of fired an arrow all the way from Seridiar to Jelkala!"
"Son... go back inside and play. Huh, are those smoke me old eyes are seeing...?"

I never had the chance to duel Lady Larktin. A mere whelp of a boy killed me by accident. 

 

[tommyboy]

It had all been going so well for Glum. Starting as a lone freebooter, he surrounded himself with trusty companions and assembled a force to be reckoned with.
Recognition of his abilities came with an invitation from the great Khan himself, leading to a brief career in the service of the Khan.
But watching the Khergits lose one too many battles to a smaller force of Swadians made Glum reconsider his choice of sides, a decision finalized by the Khan yet again denying Glum the third castle he took alone.
Now a rebel, Glum made war on the Khergits, taking Narra as the capital of his New Kingdom, then Halmar, and all the castles between the two.
Victory bought riches enough to buy peace with all other factions whilst Glum built his forces and consolidated his kingdom, becoming a builder and protector where before he had been a reaver and destroyer.
When the word came of a new force of invaders, Glum was curious. He took his army to see what there was in the Nord lands.
What there was were several huge armies, which dwarfed the size of his own, or any other army he had seen up to that point. Three, four hundred strong, compared to Glums 120. But his men were seasoned, hardened veterans. Defeat was a long distant memory, and he had faced superior numbers before. Finding one army of 400 "alone", Glum attacked, confident that over 60 lordless knights and lady knights could hold their own against any force.
The next few minutes took on a nightmare like quality. His army was shredded as if he had fielded peasant women and farmers instead of heavily trained armoured men and women. Glum was forced to escape when it became obvious that his entire force had fallen without the enemy losing more than 20 to 30 troops. Only the skills of his medics kept a reasonable portion of his army injured rather than dead.
A lesson learned, he thought. He would just avoid combat with these hideous juggernauts, the lands they had arrived in were far from his own, let the other kingdoms wear them down and dilute their huge armies into castle and town garrisons.
He rode home, but on the way saw one of his companions armies had attacked a Dark Knight caravan. He did not stop to think, the caravan had barely 70 troops, his companion had perhaps 60, and he had conscripted back up to a hundred men. He attacked. This battle was also harsh, and came down to a handful of knights and companions against 3 dark knights, but he won. He felt his honour somewhat restored, they could be beaten, after all. He took the armour and weapons for himself and his companions and sold the rest in the cities along his route home.
He then went back to chasing bandits and mercenary parties, and building up his little kingdom, sometimes he would hear messages that this or that castle had fallen, but only two or three Nord or Rhodock castles, nothing close to him.
Then came word that the Dark Knights were besieging Reindi castle, one of Glum's . It was strange, they had ignored the towns and castles around and before Reindi. And he knew better than to try to defend against 600 of them with a mere 150 men.
It seemed the caravan attack had been noted. Noted, and resented. From that point on, the Dark Knights came into his kingdom, taking towns and castles. Sometimes he would try to hold them, and would endure injury and captivity as a result. Often he took a pragmatic view and let his lands fall, whilst desperately trying to build and train something which could stop them.
He had two victories. One, where he had over 200 men, and a Dark lord with 400. He lost, retreated, recovered re-conscripted, and re-attacked, lost, retreated etc, perhaps six or seven times, until there were 200 or so left in the party of the Dark Lord. Then, when one of his companions was attacking a party of bandits, the dark lord attacked on the bandits side. And then, all his other companions parties, (which up until then had fled the dark knights at every turn), all of them rushed to join the fight! Then three Rhodockian lords joined in. He was the last to enter, and the battle was long and bitter, but eventually the Lord was his prisoner, along with some dark knights. All were made welcome in the Narra prisoner tower.
Emboldened by this, Glum replenished his army and attacked Reindi, which had a garrison of 200. It took seven separate sieges to wear down the Dark Knight garrison, and the last three sieges consisted of him ordering all his archers to hold on a hill overlooking the castle, firing till they ran out of ammo. Another victory. Perhaps there was hope.
He garrisoned Reindi, hoping a force of archers there might fend off any future attacks.
But it didn't.
Reindi fell again, two weeks later, to Lady Lartkin herself. And she kept coming.
Soon, he found himself with only one castle left, Dramug, his first castle, the one he had rebelled from the khan over.
He knew it's days were probably numbered.
And it had all been going so well...             

 

[Lord Samuel]

This is a recollection of my first encounter with the Dark Lords. (Posted earlier, but the thread was badly trolled).

I went to help my Swadians allies to hold Suno, which was sieged by an army of 2000 DKs.

* * *​

t first, in the morning mist, we couldn't see much. Everything around us was grey-blue and peaceful. The ennemy was invisible, and if not for the few cries of war in the distance, one would have thought it was a beautiful morning.
The men looked nervous on the wall, though, the Infantrymen running around feverishly. A scent of fear and death was floating in the air, and only my Ivory Archers seemed to remain calm, focused on the job.

We heard the first shots of arrows piercing the air, and a few seconds later, dark silhouettes appeared in the fog, like ghosts, running to the ladders.
I saw only a few of them falling, being taken down by the archers, but quickly they were replaced by an evergrowing army of shadows.

Then I saw her. Lady Larktin, bareheaded in her Dark Armor, leading the charge on the ladders. She was already at the walls, raising her sword in the air, and hacking the Swadian Infantry into pieces at an impressive rate.

I was standing on a nearby platform, observing the skirmish, taking note. No one seemed to care for me at the moment.

But a Dark Champion was approaching. Killing Swadians at the dozen like little bugs, he was butchering his way to me. Suddenly, as I was looking at him, he raised his greyish eyes in my direction, and casted a glare at me.
And I shivered, as if Lady Death herself had laid eyes upon me. 'Oh, Sweet Mother', I murmured. A feeling of despair invaded me. It was hopeless: the fight was already lost. What was I even doing here in the first place?

Everybody was dieing around me.

Then I thought: "Everything shall be lost, but heck! it's a beautiful day to die".

I attacked him first, shouting, while he was climbing the stairs to get me.
He blocked my attack with ease.
I saw his eyes when he finally hit me with his sword. The scorn. Hard. Cold. Deadly.

In the shock, I fell off the walls.

For a few seconds, I couldn't tell where I was.
A few feet away, Lady Lartkin, her face covered in swadian blood was duelling Duke Rafard, and she finished him in four hits. I was bleeding badly, but I could still fight. I gathered my spirits and I jumped on her, headfirst.

* * *​

few seconds later, I was lying on the ground, incapable of moving. Undead.

In my semi-consciousness, I could still see men falling from the walls in a rain of blood and dismembered bodies. I heard cries and screams of fear. A swadian sergeant was lying next to me, looking at me through the blood with his dead eyes.

Then everything around me was dark.

 

[Pellagus]

Pellagus gazed at the horizon, shielding his eyes against the low sun with his hand. There before him lay Malayurg castle and around it the instruments of siege. Days before, a massive army of Rhodoks had been camped where he now stood. Now they lay beneath the battlements, dead amongst their fallen ladders and towers. Their leaders had fled with their wounded, leaving the fallen to the ravens and the worms. It was a grim sight, but to Pellagus it was also an opportunity. The enemy within, the feared dark knights had sustained losses at the hands of the Rhodoks. Pellagus knew it would be difficult, but he also knew there would never be a better time...

"It will be a long, hard ride from here to Culmarr and back, my lord." said Vorian. They were travelling with a small expeditionary force of forty troops, many of whom were mere recruits. They could not attack the castle without reinforcements.

"We can ill afford to waste this chance to strike back, my friend. Gather your belongings, we ride for Culmarr."

With a shout, the troops formed ranks and turned north west, marching towards Swadia.



The messenger arrived mere hours before them, but by the time Pellagus arrived at Culmarr castle, his army were ready to move. A full forty Lady Knights sat astride their chargers and resplendent in their glittering armour were marshaling in the courtyard. Beside them, a contingent of Huscarls and Kings Beserkers stood waiting with loaded packs and weapons. Amongst them Pellagus noted, were his favoured Halberdiers and Captains. They had heard of the massacre of their countrymen at Malayurg and were eager to exact revenge. Finally, a full sixty crossbowmen and archers stood ready to move. The bowmen were drawn from across the realm, rescued prisoners mostly, but the crossbowmen were all Rhodoks. At their head were the Arbalestiers, thirty-two highly trained and well armoured soldiers carrying their precious - and deadly - arbalests.

Pellagus rode past in inspection, pleased at the sight. Finally he stopped at their head and turned to face them.

"You all know what we face, but we have faced them on the field and triumphed. They are not immortals as some of you feared. They are a sickness that will eat Calradia if we do not act. The other factions are at peace, but they are confused and afraid. We will show them that they have nothing to fear. We will show them that the dark knights can be defeated!" The roar that from the troops drowned out anything else Pellagus might have said. At that moment, a messenger ran across the courtyard and whispered something to Vorian, who beckoned to his master.

"A message from Jarl Aedin has arrived, my lord. His army awaits your command."

"Good, you know what we discussed, give him my regards and tell him to proceed with all haste."



The fields around Tash Kulun were burning. The smoke could be seen from as far away as Uxkhal when Pellagus and his army arrived at the city to rest and make provision. Jarl Aedin had been true to his word. The lands around Malayurg castle were ransacked. No animal would graze or ear of corn be harvested that year. By the afternoon, the army of Pellagus was in sight of Malayurg castle and made preparations to siege. The remnants of the last battle had been cleared, but there were forests of good timber to the east. With luck, a siege tower would be constructed within three days. In the meantime, a watch was posted on the perimeter for any dark knight force that might come to relieve the castle.

Three days passed in a blur, and the siege tower was ready. Pellagus ordered an immediate attack.

The siege tower crawled painfully slowly to the castle walls under a hail of arrows. His own archers returned a merciless storm of arrows and bolts. Pellagus himself strung his yew bow and dispatched fully half a dozen black armoured devils. Finally, the siege tower reached the wall and with a roar, the massed Huskarls, Lady Knights, Halberdiers and Swordsmen charged up the ramp.
The fighting was intense. At first the dark knights pushed back the infantry onto the siege tower, but with a brace of reinforcements, they surged into the castle and across the ramparts. At a command, the archers and crossbowmen now charged up the ramp to take position on the battlements, picking off dark knights in the courtyard and on the most distant towers.
The screams of dying men mixed with the clash of steel on armour and the whisper of arrows. The coppery stench of blood rolled across the castle.
Pellagus looked round and realised with horror that the last of his infantry were dead or dying all around him. The final wave of dark knights had dealt out terrible losses to his side. In desperation, he called on his archers to join the clash of swords and axes at the door to the keep...




By sunset, all but four of the dark knights were dead. Their Lord screamed curses and obscenities as he was dragged away to the dungeon, but Pellagus did not hear him. Instead he walked along the line of corpses. His soldiers, almost two-thirds of his army, lay dead before him. Of the rest, most were wounded, some badly.

Jarl Aedin stood looking impassively out across the steppe.

"Is this the price we must pay, Pellagus? Over half your men dead for this heap, 'midst the Khergits and their stinking horses?"

Pellagus cut him off with a snarl.
"We made a stand today. We showed the invaders we will not be driven back." He turned to his troops and shouted.

"Today we draw a line in the dust! No more castles will fall to the dark knights! We will fight them until they fall and then we will drive them into the ground with our boots. Take their weapons. Take their armour and wear them as your own. Make trophies of their skulls. Many men good died today, we will make sure they did not die in vain. I will not stop until this cancer has been drawn out and excised from Calradia! So speaks Pellagus!"


Footnote: A few days later I got my arse kicked by Lady Lartkin. Shows how much I know.