The Fallen Knights

Chapter 1

Christopher's POV

Christopher used the hilt of his sword to hit the soldier  in front of him on the side of his head. The man went down with a thud and stayed down. He continued on his march through the stone castle without a second  glance at the man that now lay unconscious.

Things could be worse for the man. He could be bleeding out to death on the floor rather than just supporting a concussion. Luckily for him, Christopher didn't like unnecessary bloodshed. He didn't go out of his way to kill people. Unfortunately that was more than he could say for the rest of the soldiers in his company.

The King's right hand had sent out their small raid party to seize the Dilston Castle. They were attacking under the command of King William.

The Duke of Colchester was one of the fewer remaining noblemen that still resisted the Conquest of Normandy. Their guild was sent to take over the castle and take the Duke to King William, where the man would most likely be questioned for his loyalty to the king and forced to show his devotion to serve for the king or face the consequences and be executed. His gold was on the latter.

Christopher made his way through the stone halls of the castle to reach the keep. The Duke of Colchester had ran into the heart of his castle to hide when he had undoubtedly received the news of their arrival.

Even with the force they brought, it didn't take a fool to notice how quickly the fall of castle Dilston would occur. Resisting the reign of the new king had taken it's toll on the village. Without the support from the neighbors, the trades were limited, crops had less farmers to take care of them and the soldiers that dared to defy the king and his army were almost slim to none. It didn't help that Duke of Colchester wasn't a noble man that people lined up behind to serve either. Consequently the barricade of soldiers were easy to overcome when they had pushed their way inside from the dense forest surrounding the north side of the castle.

Christopher ordered his men to hold back the guards flanking the Duke.  As one of the few knights that served under the King's name, the soldiers followed his lead. He had proved his loyalty to his men as he bled and shed blood during countless battles besides them. The numbers of knights were dwindling during these times of war for the King's overtaking and the experience and knowledge of knighted men were valued.

That was one of the reasons why a week ago a letter had arrived with the king's seal ordering the capture of Colchester, addressed to him. In it's ruined state, a small band of soldiers were dispatched under the command of Christopher and had travelled for a few days until they started their march into the castle. Their army was standing by on the outskirts of Colchester, waiting for their return before marching back to the King.

The Duke was trembling with fear and Christopher could see that he was trying his best to hide his emotions. Like any other noblemen, he was dressed head toe in jewellery from a gold crown to rings and clothes made from rich wools. The armour he had on him was just as lavish as the rest of him and mostly intended for display than the battlefields. Not a dent or scratch on the breastplate to be seen.

As Christopher closed the distance between himself and the Duke, the profusely sweating man lunged to Christopher with a small knife that he was holding behind his back.

Christopher quickly parried off with his long, steel sword. The duke tried to swing his knife from right again but his obvious inexperience on sword fighting quickly made itself known.

In less than a second, the small knife of the duke was separated from his hand by Christopher's sword. With the blow, the duke lost his balance and fell to the floor with a thud and lost his grip on his knife which clanked on the stone floor beside him.