Chapter 1 The Siege of Eagles Nest
Eagles Nest, 266 A.G.C.
It was raining heavily by the time George could see the light of the torches on the East gate tower of Eagles Nest flickering. George and his men at arms kicked their horses into a trot and rode down the muddy wet dirt road to the gate.
The gate tower doors stood open with men at arms standing inside the cover of the gate from the rain that was getting heavier by the minute. Once through, the gate was closed. George and his escort rode up to the main building of the castle. The stable hands took the horses and once inside servants took their cloaks, gave them hot soup, and bred from the kitchens.
The next morning, George woke up to a servant girl opening his chamber door. Looking out the window as she opened the curtains, he saw the morning fog over the large forest clearing where the castle was built on top of ancient ruins of an old forgotten civilisation.
“Milord, yer lordship’s father wants you down at breakfast.” the servant girl said curtsying,
“Tell him I’ll be down in a minute,” George told her
“Yes, Milord,” she said and left
When he got to the dining hall, George found his father eating at the main table. As soon as he sat opposite his father a servant put food on his plate. George was halfway through his breakfast when a Man at arms ran in,
“Sorry my lords but there is something you need to see,” the man said as George’s father stood up with George following. Together they followed the guard to the outer wall facing south.
George could not believe his eyes, below was a large army of mostly Lancaster soldiers but also House Smith of Doom Drop soldiers. Turning to his father George said “With two mages and only sixty men at arms we can’t defeat a few hundred,”
“Indeed,” his father said then looked at the guard who had brought them there, “Send ravens to Nightingale and Oldtown we need help” he ordered.
Minutes after the ravens flew the ‘Smithlan forces’ as George called them began to bombard the castle’s outer wall by catapult. Stone boulders crashed against the reinforced stone wall while Eagle men at arms rained arrows down on the Smithlan.
One of the mages was killed almost as soon as he stepped onto one of the wall tower’s top decks by an arrow not tipped with ordinary steel but as the second mage identified it when the arrow was brought to her in the infirmary, Thorn Steel mined from the borderlands mountains.
The siege continued for a full day, Eagle men at arms continued to rain arrows and the Smithlan continued to fire their catapults with flaming balls stopped by the Shadlish mage Morgan Lockwood who was in one of the covered towers.
The Smithlan brought a battering ram up to the main gate and began to ram the gate even though the arrows rained on them they continued to ram the gate to the point where George assembled a group of fifteen men behind the gate for when the Smithlan broke through.
Ladders were soon up against the walls, and Soldiers were climbing up to where Morgan was as the gate was breached, and more soldiers were streaming through to George and his men. Battle ensued with fighting on the wall with Smithlan soldiers sent flying by Morgan and down where George was.
The Eagles were on the brink of defeat when horns filled the air as riders in dark blue and black tunics over leather armour rode out of the forest flying the Black crescent moon on a dark blue field banner of House Nightingale with Lord Gareth in the lead.
The riders attacked the Smithlan from behind, riding through them and cutting them down. Soon the Smith and Lancaster forces were decimated with only seventeen left alive and locked up in the dungeon.
They had to confine Morgan to her quarters to stop her from killing the Lancaster prisoners. Several years ago the Lancasters had burned her home in the Borderlands to the ground and killed everyone in her village.
