The Armour Of King Beckworth

Prologue: The Great War

King Beckworth looked around at his army. He stared into the eyes of his fearing soldiers, he knew they may not make it, but he would fight for them till he died, he would fight for his people and his Empire till the very day he died.

"THIS IS IT!" The King's shout was enough to alert the whole army to back the man in front.

The archers, crossbowmen and ballistas all shot at once, in perfect synchronisation, the beauty of the arrows flying together was unmatched by anything on the battlefield.

The gardens of Castledawn seemed to go silent for a slight moment... beautiful silence, something that would lack on the battlefield. Then all of a sudden the first of these decayed forces smashed against the shield wall. Then another force and then another and then another until the whole shield wall was almost invisible on the exterior... almost.

The sounds of hammers bashing on shields , the sound of the pikes piercing into a creature's body as it gave a nightmarish scream filled the once quiet gardens of Castledawn.

All of a sudden, a more humanly scream as part of the shield wall collapsed, soon enough, the creatures had engulfed the shield wall and went on to attack the main body of the army. King Beckworth knew this was his only chance, so he took it. In one swift move he signalled his signallers to blow their horns. The sound was surprisingly melodic, compared to the battle anyway. It seemed to sooth the battle for a few moments, but only a few. Suddenly, it happened, a loud screech of a distant bird followed by similar screeches coming from over the mountain. A few seconds later the sound of wings flapping and beating seemed to silence the sounds of the battle. Right at that moment, over the hills that were filled with lifeless bodies, a single griffin appeared, it had a type of metal covering it's beak, its feet and claws were covered by sort of metal glove with extremely pointy spikes that seemed to resemble a claw. one by one more griffins appeared, they began diving down at the lifeless. Their claws ripped into the already damaged bodies, they crushed all that they landed on. The battle was now all in the hands of the ones that fought in it.

Arrow flew through the air straight at the lifeless bodies, only to be retaliated by twice the amount of arrows they shot. Even though these creatures seemed to be extremely unintelligent, it was fascinating how they were still able to handle weapons like a bow or the complex crossbow.

Back in the midst of battle, King Beckworth had began attacking the mess of bodies, he slashed at a creature only to be parried by it, he slashed again and then again before stabbing the creature in one hasty move that left it stunned at first, and then dead. Even so, the times Beckworth heard a real human scream in any way were uncountable. The Endritch Army was too weak to continue fighting but they had no choice, it was a do or die situation.

King Beckworth knew they would lose, but he didn't give up, he kept on attacking until he came upon the largest of the lifeless giants, it was massive.. 10 times his height. It was holding a gigantic chain mace and was swinging it around as if it's purpose was to kill everything in sight, no matter what side it was on. Beckworth slashed the giant's leg, nothing happened. He tried again, but was unsuccessful. He knew he had no chance against the giant, so instead he ran, not away from the giant, but closer to the giant. He was right up against the juggernaut's leg when he stuck his fingers into the flabby skin of the giant, it was an uncomfortable feeling, but he had to do it. He then stuck his other fingers in and then his right foot followed quickly by his left. He began to do the unthinkable, he had began to climb a giant, and not just any giant, but one that's strength would be equal to 10 of the best battering rams in Ordarn. He continued climbing up the leg, then up the side of the body. He was halfway up when he realised the giant could cover the gap between his body and his left arm... crushing Beckworth in the process. So he waited for it... and waited, until eventually the arm began to come down, milliseconds before the arm would crash against the side of the body, Beckworth jumped straight at the arm. He landed on the arm brilliantly and instantly continued climbing. He kept on climbing whilst the giant's hand was throwing unfortunate soldiers in every direction. He reached the shoulder of the juggernaut, Beckworth saw the mace's chain coming towards him, he had to act now. He closed his eyes, said something under his breath, and then lunged himself at the giant's head, his sword plunging right into the brain through thick layers of skin and bone. The giant at once began to stumble, it looked drunk, really drunk. Bright, red blood began trickling down its head towards its arm. In an unexpected move, the giant tumbled over a giant troll that had been dead for sometime. Beckworth fell with it, his chest plate broke into three pieces as he collided against the hard terrain head on.

The battle was won, the king was dead. Now the three pieces of his armour would disappear until the army of the lifeless returned.