Across the Battlefield of Love

The battle raged on around them. Sally Bender watched from the castle wall, her hands covering her mouth. Her husband, Thomas, was fighting for his life and hers. His sword and shield were stained crimson with blood, some of it his own. The soldiers surrounding him looked even more battered. One of them had a deep gash across his chest, but kept swinging his axe down at Thomas’s head. Sally could just barely hear the sound of metal on metal as they traded blows. The man swung again and this time Thomas blocked it. He twisted his shield around and knocked the soldier back then thrust his sword into the man’s chest. The soldier dropped to the ground and Thomas looked around for another attacker.

How long had they been fighting? Minutes? Hours? It felt like days since Sally had seen her husband or her daughter, Kate, who was still too young to be out in battle. She didn’t know how long this siege would last; all she knew is that once it ended, her world would be turned upside down.

The enemy army had arrived in the middle of the night, sneaking into their village and attacking before most people were out of bed. The first thing Sally heard was screams from outside her window; she flew out of bed and ran out into the courtyard where she saw all the villagers running towards the keep. She could see flames rising up from several buildings nearby and soldiers chasing after them with swords drawn. She rushed inside to get Kate but realized she couldn’t take her with her; if anything happened to Sally there would be no one else to look after Kate except for…him.

She wished he wasn’t here but he was one of the only people she could think of who might be able to protect Kate while she went out into battle. She ran back outside to get him but wasn’t sure where he lived so she ran up to one villager who was still carrying a torch and asked where he might be staying right now. She followed the villager through town until they came upon a building that was still burning slightly; smoke billowed out through the door and windows but no flames were visible anymore. They pushed open the door and walked inside where they found him standing over two bodies that lay on the floor in pools of blood.

He turned around when he heard them enter; his face was smeared with soot and sweat but there was a look of rage burning bright in his eyes that made it clear he hadn’t gotten much sleep lately either. “What is it?” He barked at them as he walked over towards a pile of weapons lying on a desk in front of him.

Sally took a step forward and spoke: “Sir Giles! I need your help! My daughter lives here near town but I can’t go outside because there are soldiers attacking us right now! You’re one of my Lord’s closest advisors so I don’t think you will mind protecting my daughter while I go fight alongside my husband-” Before she could finish her sentence Sir Giles had already grabbed an axe off his desk and threw it to her; the handle flew past her face and landed in front of her with a clatter on the stone floor behind her feet.

Sally stared down at it for a moment before turning back up at Sir Giles whose gaze was locked on something behind her. She turned around slowly to see several soldiers standing in front of them with bows pointed straight at their chests. “Don’t move! Drop your weapons! NOW!” One of them yelled at them while another stepped forward and kicked Sir Giles's axe closer to him then moved behind him toward Sally who still stood in front of Sir Giles holding his axe without knowing what to do with it now that she had it in her hands again, terrified by both their lives being threatened as well as Sir Giles's reaction as they raised their bows against him as well as hers which meant something must have happened between them during their time together that made these men want revenge against all three of them but despite that Sir Giles didn't seem concerned at all because instead he calmly turned around and faced each bow pointed at him until finally he spoke: “You have no idea what you're doing here."