The Union

"Glory to us! Glory to the defenders of Knightsend!" he shouted with glee.

A soldier not far from him raised in the air what appears to be a rib of the roasted pig.

"Aye to that sire. Knights my a.s.s! Knights don"t matter when faced with Castonian steel. Ain"t that right boys!?"

The soldier"s remark was met with cheerful howls.

Benedict was pleased by this. The tension that lingered in the air for the past days was no more. The men now show the unique bravado of victors.

He swirled the wine in his cup, perhaps a little too hard as some of the liquid splashed onto his hand. He then drank from the cup and his taste buds were met with the stale flavor of diluted wine.

Too stale, he lamented. His tongue had been spoiled with expensive beverages that the taste of diluted bra.s.sy wine dodged his senses.

Bernie, also with b.u.t.t on the chilly ground beside him, nudged him arm with bottom of a bottle. Upon closer inspection it was a bottle of the mouth-watering Angel"s Wings.

"You are a devil Bernie." He commented to Bernie"s evil temptation.

Benedict grabbed the neck of the bottle and was about to pop the cork when he froze his fingers. A good plan to arouse the soldiers" fighting spirit just entered his mind.

He raised the bottle and grabbed a torch to illuminate it. The blue gla.s.s glinted in the darkness of the night.

"Have any of you lads, seen this bottle before?" he said with a loud voice.

A soldier at the back drew his finger towards the bottle. "Angel"s Wings! The second best and rarest wine coins could acquire. I would kill a hundred Tulosan Knights for that!"

"Ha! A hundred?" The man beside the soldier snorted. "I would kill a thousand with my bare hands!"

"Good!" Another soldier sounded. "It seems we only need thirty bottles of Angel"s Wings and thirty drunkards like you to break this siege. King Timothy would be surprised if he heard that thirty thousand Tulosans perished because of drunkards!"

The jest drew laughter from the soldiers. Benedict himself almost dropped the bottle in his hand.

After the laughter had subsided, he cleared his throat to muster their attentions.

"I shall give this bottle to the man who can tell us of the best story of the best kill he made. I will be the judge." Benedict declared.

The soldiers were silenced until one of them sprang into a stand. Benedict could see the desire to clinch the bottle in the man"s eyes.

"It was three years ago when I was a.s.signed in the East. Now for any of you lads unfamiliar with the east, there were still tribes there that constantly raid our borders. I was on patrol that time with my mates and then suddenly we were attacked by the enemies. A brawny man rushed towards me with an axe in hand. He swung the thing and I tell ya, I could hear the air tear like a harlot"s flower. I ducked, with the axe pa.s.sing just an inch above me head. A second later and me brain would have scattered in the sand. I lunged forward and tackled his legs. It was not effective. Heavy. Yea, that man was heavy as an oxen. Guess what I did next? I stabbed him in the b.a.l.l.s with this dagger of mine. He brayed. He was hurt. I mean who wouldn"t be hurt when stabbed in the b.a.l.l.s! I then pa.s.sed in between his legs and delivered a blow to the back of his neck. I lived and he died. With his b.a.l.l.s punctured if I may add."

Another soldier stood up. Benedict recognized the man as one of the Centurions.

"That"s nothing compared to my story brother. Unarmored enemies are easy kills. Mine is when I killed a Tulosan Knight with a spoon! A wooden spoon I tell ya. It happened just months ago during the Siege of Greenwater. Remember when they breached the Eastern Gate and the brothers from the third Century of Second Cohort sacrificed themselves to hold the enemies?"

"Aye, may them brave souls rest in peace." A soldier said and the rest nodded. The soldiers pounded their balled fists on their chest as respect for the men of the third Century.

The Centurion continued. "I was eating my porridge that time when I heard of the attack. I was anxious because my best friend Mort was in the third Century. My Century was just a block away so we were the first respondents. When we arrived there, most of the brothers had already fallen. I ordered my Century to attack and hold the breach. I also charged myself but then I noticed that I forgot my sword. The one in my hand was the wooden spoon and I left my sword. I was about to go back when I saw in the corner of my eye the body of Mort. He was impaled by a lance through the heart. It was a quick death at least but I still grieved for Mort. Seeing his corpse made me furious lads. G.o.d, I was furious that time. So even though I only had a spoon in me, I attacked one of the Tulosan Knights. The guy was in his full armor with his sword raised above his head. He was ready to intercept my attack. He swung but I evaded his strike. That was when I punched him in the armpit. My knuckles. .h.i.t him hard and true and he staggered like a drunken man. I then kicked him and he fell. I again lunged at him and pulled his coif down to reveal his bare neck. I broke the tip of the spoon and buried the thing in the Knight"s neck. That"s when he died and that"s how I killed a Knight with a wooden spoon."

The Centurion"s tale brought silence upon the garrison. Even Benedict"s tongue was tied. He could feel the emotions from the Centurion"s voice. Losing a comrade was painful and it could drive men to do extraordinary things like attacking a Knight with a wooden spoon.

"Good story Centurion" Benedict said. "But I want to hear the story of the others before making a decision"

The story-telling then resumed. Benedict heard all kinds of stories with some of them too absurd. One story involves killing a pirate with a single kick to the chest. Another told the story of someone grabbing an enemy by the hair and tearing the scalp. Benedict knew that some of these stories were made up. He was old and wise enough to differentiate true stories from lies.

In the end the Centurion"s story with killing a Knight with a spoon won. Benedict, true to his promise, let go of the precious Angel"s Wings. Seeing the blue bottle leave his hand felt like throwing away a cache of gold coins. Bottles of Angel"s Wings were not just expensive – they were crazily rare too.

"What about you Sire? What is your best kill?" One of the soldiers asked.

"Do you really need to ask?" an old Centurion said. "Of course it"s the one in the stories. Marquis Benedict killed the vile Captain Cooke while saving Lady Maria"

"Aye. That was a great tale. I"ve seen the play once and oh how marvelous it was. Tell us about it sire!"

Benedict blew a chuckle after hearing that. The story about him saving his wife from a pirate had become the stuff of legends. While it was true that Maria and several other n.o.bles were once kidnapped by the pirates of the Golden Sea and he was the one who saved them, the tales about the event had been exaggerated. In the stories, he was some sort of a gallant hero who saved his lover from the evil pirates. The climax of the play involves Benedict Connel fighting Captain Cooke for the beautiful Lady Maria. Benedict Connel was wounded in the battle but he prevailed and was able to save his lover.

The story was, for the most part, fictional. It was true that Maria and other n.o.bles were once kidnapped by pirates. It was also correct that he was the one tasked by King Leopold to rescue the n.o.bles. But all he did was to command the rescue party. He did not join the fight. He and Maria were also not yet lovers in that point in time. They were still strangers to each other.

But the event was the one that linked him and Maria. After the rescue, Maria would always watch him practice his swordplay in secret. He was annoyed at first. He couldn"t concentrate with someone watching him. So he confronted her one day. To his surprise, Maria was not some meek Lady like he expected. Her words were sharp and she was feisty. He couldn"t forget what she said to him that time.

"So what if I"m watching you? Just be grateful that somebody is watching you wobble your sword around."

That was when he became interested in Maria. Her personality was unique and she was not your usual Lady. After a few months they became a couple and she became the only woman he ever loved. Although they only have one child, their marriage was a happy one. He loved her, dearly and truly.

Benedict turned his attention back to the soldiers. He realized that he must have looked like an idiot for smiling and staring in the darkness.

"Oh that? Um let"s talk about that another time. This gathering is not about me. It"s about all of our valiant deeds in defending this castle. So drink up and enjoy. Tomorrow we shall face the Tulosans with determined faces and bellies filled with food!"

"Aye!" the Soldiers cheered and the celebration continued.

By now the night had matured and Benedict was feeling the urge to rest. He yawned, stretching his mouth as wide as he could.

"Riders! We have riders coming!" a pitched shout from the sentries on top of the walls was heard and the celebration was halted.

Benedict, guided with instincts honed by years of military service, rushed to the walls. With his old knees, he ascended the wall of Knightsend.

"Where!?" he asked the sentries after reaching the top.

One of the sentries stretched a hand and pointed in the darkness. Benedict blinked a few times and squinted. He saw a single rider approaching the wall.

"Open up. Please open the gate!" the rider implored after reaching the front of the gate. The man was looking behind from time to time.

"Open it" Benedict ordered. Even if the man was an enemy, he was alone and poses no threat to the garrison.

Benedict hurried to the rider. When he was close, he noticed the coat-of-arms painted on the man"s armor. If he was not mistaken, the coat-of-arms belonged to a certain mercenary group.

The mercenary dismounted and knelt in front of Benedict. "I am a messenger sent by our commander. We are the mercenaries King Edmund hired."

"Where are the rest? Are they safe?"

"They are sire. We almost ran into the Tulosans during our approach. Luckily, we managed to evade them. The rest of the mercenaries are holed up in a forest a few kilometers from here. We can"t remain in hiding for long so our Commander is asking for your help. Tomorrow the mercenaries will rush to the safety of Knightsend and we need you to do everything to distract the Tulosans."

"Of course. Yes, of course we will help you" Benedict said while secretly clenching his fist. He was truly delighted that the mercenaries are coming. With them around, Knightsend will not fall.

But he needed to distract the Tulosans somehow or else the mercenaries would all be slaughtered before they reach the castle. It will be hard considering their lack of horses.

He searched for Bernie and found the squire beside him. "Gather all the officers in my room. We have some planning to do."