We Fall Like Rain

The Siege of Oxford

Kalen had been in the camp for almost three weeks now, and his hopes were running low. He still kept an eye out for Maggie or Niki in case they had found him, but they moved around a lot.

He was sat with Niklus the boy from the village. Kalen wouldn't call him a friend exactly, but allies. They depended on each other and often stole food for one another when the older men would take the best bits of a pheasant or a chicken they had caught.

Kalen was starting to miss home more and more each day that passed. "Get up boys we're moving." Said a blonde man from the doorway of their tent.

"Where are we going?" Kalen asked as the man turned to leave.

"Sorry, I'm just the messenger." So he didn't know. Great, Kalen thought, he couldn't drop a note like last time to tell the girls where to head to.

Within a few hours, the camp was packed up, and the fires burned out.
Kalen and Niklus sat next to each other for the whole journey, which seemed to be a very long one. He fell to sleep a few times, waking up only when the cart hit a rock on the road.

It took them two whole days to get to their destination. They made camp a few miles from the bordered city of Oxford.

"What are we doing here?" Niklus asked another soldier who was tying rope for his tent.

"Apparently lady matilda is in the city." He said in a hushed tone. "We march tonight."

Kalen had no idea who this Lady Matilda was, or why she was so important to King Stephen, but whatever it was, it was worth an army.
Perhaps it's the war Maggie warned him not to get caught up in, and not some rich Lord the King had a quarrel with. This made Kalen feel pretty uneasy.

The day went by in a blur, just like all the others had done before and before he knew it, he was waist-deep in muddy water, with Niklus at his side, and his sword and shield rattling against the heavy armour he was forced to wear.

Kalen had Niklus teach him how to use a sword his second day at the camp. It had not gone well, he had trouble holding it up, let alone swinging it. The worst part was, he still had trouble swinging it.

Then it truly hit him, he might not live to see Lia or Niki again, or even the sunrise at this rate.

The water they were forced to wade through was freezing cold in the late September night. The wind had picked up a bit, but at least the stars weren't covered by a blanket of clouds like last night.

Then he thought if he was to die tonight, what a night it would be. He decided he wouldn't be alone, he had the stars for company and Niklus. It wasn't a cheerful thought, but nothing really was cheerful in the 1100s.

As they neared the end of the river, distant sounds of low voices came into shot. They were to ambush the guards of the city and Matildas army, then take Oxford.

And that is exactly what they did. He was near the back of the formation, Niklus was somewhere near the middle. They never saw them coming. They charged through the walls of the City, men fell down in front of him, beside him, everywhere. Kalen almost got stabbed a few times himself.

Then, the moment Kalen thought he was done for. The moment that would haunt him for a very long time. A man, no, a boy his age or near enough, ran at him. Everyone was busy fending for themselves to notice Kalen struggling.

Kalen lifted his sword and silently prayed to any God that would listen for help, even the ancient and old.
Nobody answered him. At least not directly. He had no idea what he was doing. He couldn't think straight.

The boy was right in front of him now, swinging his own sword. He cut at Kalen's cheek, Kalen went for him too. He didn't want to die here, on an ice-covered- mud churned patch of land in the middle of a city he had never seen, in a time he didn't belong.

He didn't understand how exactly, but he won. He had closed his eyes for just a moment, his training from Niklus barely kicking in and he feels warm sticky liquid on his hands.

He opened his eyes to the boy's eyes, inches from his own, an expression of shock and pain etched onto his face.
Kalen looked down slightly, to the wound. His sword through the boy's stomach, coming out the other side.

The boy had dropped his own weapon and was losing balance. Blood gushed from the hole Kalen had made in him.
He pushed the boy off the sword, falling to the floor and laying on his back. The boy stared vacantly at the stars, and Kalen wondered what it felt like to die like that. Only for a moment, before the reality of what he had done hit him.

He had just killed someone. Just taken a life. A thousand things ran through his head. What would happen now? Would he see him in his dreams? Would the guilt consume him? Would the boys family mourn for their fallen son, brother, lover?

Kalen was shaken from the loud silence that seemed to ring in his ears like broken fire alarms by Niklus. He grabbed his arm, glancing down at one of many bodies on the floor.

"Come on Alwin. We're pushing forward." He sounded so far away, but Kalen must have nodded as he found himself following him.

After what felt like an eternity, Kalen and Niklus stopped outside the castle walls. They were great towering walls of stone. The castle, Kalen could just about see the top of on the other side.

"Listen up! We have pushed Matilda's forces back. They can't attack Oxford from the outside of the wall, not with us here now." A man that looked like he was in his late forties shouted at them. "We set up camp around the castle walls, wait them out."

So that is what they did. They sat in the cold and mud and set up their small fires around the closed walls that hugged the castle.

Kalen was sat by the fire for hours before Niklus found him again and gave him some food and water. "You should go to the well, wash that blood off." He sounded tired too.

Kalen remained silent. He wanted nothing more than to wash that blood off, but he didn't think any amount of water, could possibly rid him of the stain on his hands.

Niklus took a drink, then his voice dropped to a whisper. "Was that your first one?" He looked at him with, not pity, but understanding.

Kalen nodded slowly. Of course, it was his first kill, unless he counted spiders.
But Niklus wasn't counting spiders, he was talking life, human life. Filled with human things like emotion, breakdowns, family, long nights and days that fly by. The boy he killed had all of that... except a name to the face.

"It will get easier." Niklus said rather matter-of-factly. "As I said, you should go wash. Go change clothes." Kalen nodded and got up.

He didn't really know where the well was, but still, he wandered around the village. He eventually found a pump by the castle wall and washed, barely rinsing the blood and muck off. He took his armour off and slung it on the floor. He knew he probably shouldn't have, but he couldn't stand it any longer. He kicked his helmet.

That's when he saw it, the gleam of metal hidden in ivy that covered the castle wall. He walked up to it and moved the plants ever so slightly, to reveal a hooped handle. It was old and rusting and attached to a firm wooden door. Possibly an old smugglers tunnel.

He glanced around. Nobody was near. So he gave it a tug. Another, then finally with a grating sound, and a few plants torn off the wall, it opened.

He closed the door behind him with a thud and looked around. He was stood at the bottom of a grassy slope that lead up to the castle building. Metal bars crossed glass windows near the top. It wasn't a big castle, and certainly wasn't Buckingham Palace, but it was made to stand.

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A/N

Sorry, it's been a while, but I published the first seven Chapters of my new book 'Us Immortals' so please check that out if you have the time! :)

Thank you for reading.