The siege had come as a surprise and so the castle was not prepared. From our tallest towers we estimated that there were only a few thousand enemy troops. In the hopes of breaking the invaders lines before they could encamp my father, the King, had ordered an attack. He would lead the main charge while my younger brother would lead the left flank and I would lead the right. We would each do a circuit through the enemy's camp and harry their forces before returning to the castle.

The men had gathered in the bailey atop their horses and were aligning themselves in preparation. I looked at my men and while pointing my sword at the enemy beyond the wall yell "where are we going to send those sons of whores?"

They all yelled in unison while raising their swords above their heads "TO HELL!"

As I turned my horse towards the gate I looked up on the rampart and saw my sister authoritatively ordering the servants and maids. We briefly made eye contact and nodded and smiled at one another as I lowered the visor on my helmet ready for the attack to begin. The King called for the bridge to be dropped and the gate to be opened. When the bridge landed with a thud the King yelled "CHARGE."

The attack started off well, the enemy completely surprised. Many were scrambling for their swords when our men rode past severing their heads from their shoulders. The few that had managed to arm themselves were in shock and put up little resistance. My column had made it most of the way through their camp without losing a single man when we finally heard their horns raising the alarm.

It was as we crested the hill where we were to turn back for the castle when we finally saw that what we had thought was their main encampment was just their forward camp. Where we had thought there were only a few thousand enemy there were in fact tens of thousands.

I needed to get my father and brothers attention, to get them to turn back for the castle right away. I told half my men to ride for my brother while the other half would follow me towards my father. With the alarm having been raised more and more men were now pouring in from the main camp, armed and ready to fight.

We were about 100 yards from my father when the momentum of our thrust stalled, there were too many enemy soldiers. I looked up at my father and saw that his entire troop had been overwhelmed and were engaged in a chaotic melee with the enemy.

I yelled for my men to form up into a circle. The fighting grew fiercer but we managed to wheel our horses into something like a circle and push ahead. For every few yards of progress another of my men or their horses was cut down. Finally the circle broke and we too were engaged in a melee.

A man in shabby leather armor takes a swing at me from my right with his sword. I pull my horse back then lunge at him managing to slice him across his face and down his torso. He screams and drops his sword, blood gushing from the wound, his bowels falling out of his abdomen. Another soldier tries to thrust his dagger into my left hip but I manage to crush his helmet and head with a powerful overhanded blow with my sword. Two more soldiers, one on the right, the other on the left, attack. I try to strike the one on my right but he ducks then slips on the blood covered soil. The other soldier has started trying to pull me from my horse so I swat at him with my shield and manage to dislodge him by hitting him over the head with the hilt of my sword. Meanwhile the first soldier has regained his footing and another has joined him. With one mighty heave they succeed in pulling me down from my horse.

I land on my back with a thud. I try to get up but my heavy armor is restricting my movement. The enemy soldiers manage to disarm me and pull off my helmet. The last thing I see is the first soldier walking over me carrying a large rock over his head.