Alegrus Bentlock struggled into his chain mail. The haze shrouded moon provided a light that made the chain look like old pearl, the kind that the merchants brought back from the East. The merchants used to visit this castle, until the barbarians turned their greedy, stupid eyes to Europe. For three months, the blood thirsty brigands plagued Alegrus' farmland, until they finally just besieged the castle a month ago.

Alegrus draped his tunic over himself and walked up the steps to the castle's top walls. He put his helmet atop of the cold wall so he could stretch and yawn. Steam from his breath hung in the cold like the fog that plagued the Northern Islands. He rested his hands on the chipped tops of the castle walls and rested his eyes on the enemy camp. Their tents of red, black, brown and tan spanned the entire horizon. There were hundreds of them, mostly housing four warriors a piece. The camp was two arrow's flights away, but one could still survey most of the actions that happened there.

Alegrus walked along the wooden ramp to retrieve his bow, a quiver of fifteen arrows, and kestrel dagger. He then sluggishly patrolled his part of the wall, talking to the other guards nearby occasionally.

Alegrus was twenty years old and had lived all his life in the castle and old village nearby. He stood about six feet tall, with a scrawny build. His face was crafted broadly, with sharp green eyes and a short brown beard that met his thin hair.

Ever since the castle was besieged, the Baron ordered around the clock guards. Alegrus had an early shift that started sometime after half of the night had passed. He patrolled until the sun rose above the far away hills and shone upon the tents, and then he would escort people through the tunnel system. The tunnel system was basically a long underground tunnel that ran from the castle's well to a cave that was almost out of sight from the castle. From there, food and water was transported. An Escort normally consisted of four archers and eight footmen to guard the local merchants and farmers who received food from a trade route from a nearby village. After that, he slept in his small room with his three brothers.

One of Alegrus' brothers was a blacksmith, his name was Kelan. He was eight years older than Alegrus, and carried a ship load of battle knowledge. He was the one who taught Alegrus how to shoot a bow, fight hand to hand, and he told him many gruesome stories of battle.

"In one fight against the Vikings, me, my friend, Alexander and the rest of the castle's forces rushed out to crush their advancing infantry. They had been using some catapults for a day, you see? Anyway, Alex and I were running, swords forward when I suddenly heard a great crash! I looked behind me and Alex wasn't there any more! I saw him crushed under a boulder their catapults had launched! It was horrible! Only his arm and leg were sticking out, with blood everywhere! So I yelled like a bat outta hell and charged those damn infidels past my own forces and gutted one in two, I did! Hyah!"

Alegrus would always shudder at the gore of the story, and his brother would always tell him to get used to it if he was to take arms against an enemy.

The king had sent an army from the west to aid the castle. It should be arriving any day now. Once that army came, the menace outside the doors would be crushed. Any day now…

It was probably about three hours until sunrise when Alegrus spotted a mass of torches coming to life at the enemy camp. He rose from his slumped position to squint at the sight. Another guard yelled, "'Ey, what is dis?" Soon, dark figures could be seen rising out of the tents and shifting around the camp. Battle would come tonight.

Alegrus' blood ran cold. He was paralyzed until another guard yelled, "They're coming!" Alegrus grabbed up his bow and readied himself. The entire castle soon murmured with life then sprang into readiness. Warriors grabbed their swords and assembled along the walls and the castle's gate. Blacksmiths ran up to the walls to light fires underneath the cauldrons of oil. Boulders were hauled up to people who were above the doors. Women ran with their children out of the courtyard, seeking safety. About forty other archers had assembled along the walls, their grogginess erased by alarm. Five scouts were sent out through the tunnel to try to find the reinforcing army and hasten them. And all over the rattling of armor shields and swords could be heard.

"Fire with caution once they're in range! We don't have a surplus of arrows, now!" the archer general yelled at the archers, as he was running to get his massive five and a half foot long bow.

Alegrus breathed in as he drew back his bow, opening one eye, he rested his gaze on the advancing infantry, who were backed up by some archers, and around them, some cavalry. The moonlight barely lit them, which they were going to take to their full advantage.

The archers soon let off a barrage of arrows. Six of the 500 advancing footmen fell, and four others shrugged off non-fatal hits. Alegrus winced at their cries, but those were soon drowned out by all the commotion going on in the castle. While he let arrows fly, warriors and strategists walked along the walls, with their faces carrying mixed concern and fear. Alegrus' brother, Kelan, came to tend one of the cauldrons of oil that was slowly boiling.

"Knock 'em down for me, Algo old boy!" Kelan said. Alegrus smiled as he let an arrow loose to plummet between another man's ribs.

The enemy had built a crude balista: a sort of giant crossbow. Several people were pushing it out towards the castle gate. Some of the archers fired on those pushing the balista, but not much could be done to stop them.

Some warriors pushing a battering ram on wheels made contact with the castle gate. The wooden door leaned against the 2^nd layer of the gate: a slide-down iron cage-door. Some people lobbed boulders over the wall and onto them, while an archer near Alegrus took aim at the battering ram operators, but flew back when an arrow burrowed into his chest. Enemy archers were in range, and they randomly shot at anything they could. Their bows were much shorter and primitive, so their range was more limited much more than the castle's defenders.

A few others near Alegrus screamed as they were wounded by enemy fire, so most of the castle's archers concentrated on the opposing archers. Meanwhile, a second battering ram was galloped to the gate. Kelan and the other oil-workers were ready now, and dumped gallons of the scalding oil onto the enemy, who were seared and screamed in pain as they abandoned their battering ram.

By now the enemies had pushed the balista close enough to the castle, and launched the gigantic spear it held directly into and through the gate! The wooden part of the door splintered massively and was utterly destroyed. It also ripped a small opening through the bars of the iron gate.

The enemy army then charged, with the soldiers shielding their archers. Their bowmen fired through the iron gate at the helpless warriors inside. The castle's defenders were forced to back out of their own doorway. More oil and arrows were dumped on the encroaching forces, but their numbers were overwhelming. They removed the spear in the door and used their massive numbers to raise the iron gate. The castle's warriors then swarmed towards them. The enemy's archers scurried away, making for easy prey to Alegrus and his comrades.

Out of oil, Kelan and the other warriors on the wall's ramp put on the rest of their plate mail and charged down the ramp. The battle was carried into the courtyard by the time four scouts on horseback rode through the tunnel and right into the battle. They screamed "The king's army is on the way!" No one knew if they'd be there in time though. Alegrus ducked behind the wall and shot down at the opposition in the castle's courtyard. They were all tightly clumped together because of their numbers, and nearly every arrow hit a limb, head or torso.

Alegrus set free a shot that penetrated into someone's raised wrist, twirling a flail. The guy released the flail and it went twirling into the distance. Alegrus' helmet flew off ahead of him when an arrow hit it. He ducked down further and continued firing his arrows constantly.

The castle's forces were getting smaller. The battle was spreading across the courtyard. Enemies were entering some nearby buildings. Alegrus' safety was in being gambled, when the reinforcing army came from behind the enemy did outside the castle. Heavy cavalry flowed around the castle like a moat, and met at the gate and charged in, with footmen following close behind. The enemy was trapped in the castle now they had nowhere to turn.

Once the enemies noticed this, most of them panicked and fought with a renewed bloodlust. Alegrus shot one man of two nearby who were charging down a footman. The one still living, stopped in his tracks and saw his friend writhing involuntarily with an arrow lodged through the back of his head and out of an eye. The burly warrior screamed an epitaph and charged Alegrus with his battle axe raised to his side.

Alegrus was backed up against the castle's walls. He managed one arrow into his bow and hastily flew it into the warriors gut, but he was unswayed. The warrior swung the axe over his head and continued until the axe met Alegrus' left side. The axe didn't cut too deeply, thanks to the chain mail, but the momentum was enough to lift Alegrus over the castle's walls. Alegrus was yelling in pain, but grasped the wall to save himself. The warrior grinned evilly over him and took no time to raise his axe over his head, but Kelan appeared behind the man with a dagger and swiftly slit his throat and pushed him over the wall. The man's blood rained down on Alegrus as he past and then he was hoisted up by his brother.

The fate of the castle was soon secured, and the enemy who had backed away surrendered. Some outside the castle fled, only to have a horseman in plate mail ride them down until they surrendered or fought in vain.

Alegrus' injury was not at all fatal. The wife of one of his brothers cleaned and dressed the half-inch deep wound swiftly after the battle. The castle's Baron met with the General of the reinforcing army. The Baron thanked him generously, and the General said that they'd stay there for a month and then move onto other strategic points in the vicinity. Alegrus and the other defenders celebrated their victory and put the castle back to rights.

The battle with the infidels lasted until Alegrus' great grandchild came of age. Europe conquered their simple differences and unified against them and other opposition, and expanded its borders far east near the land where the merchants went.