the fall of burgh

8/9/2019 The Fall of Burgh

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The Fall of Burgh

Sir Ponsonby stared incredulously at the exhausted squire stood in front of him.

As if the Civil war and the restless dead werent enough to deal with now the vile

rat men had invaded his lands. Wearily he rose from his chair and called to his

chamberlain homas rouse the men. ! will need all of our "nights #rrant and asmany $en at Arms and Archers as can be s%ared.& homas res%onded with

resignation there will be few enough men to s%are my 'ord( already we are

stretched terribly thin covering the lands of my 'ords urnbull and )eattie but !

shall %re%are what ! can.& With this he bowed low and strode from the hall. Sir

Ponsonby dismissed the squire and made his way to his Solar where his servant

would be waiting with his armour.

he last few months had been di*cult for all )retonnians. he terrible Civil war

between the "ing and his bastard son had devastated the land leaving villages

burnt and families torn asunder. o com%ound matters no sooner had the +sur%er

been brought low and the land returned to almost normality than a vast army of

the dead had ridden rough shod over every army that o%%osed it. )urning the

abbey of 'a $aisontaal. he land was in chaos and there were few "nights left to

defend it.

Sir Ponsonby strode out into the morning air to ins%ect his small retaliatory force.

,e had seven "nights errant( all of them little more than boys( raised well before

they were ready. heir Cavalier and Standard bearer were his own youngest two

sons. ,is eldest two had fallen in the civil war whilst his current heir rode with

'ouen 'eoncouer to aid the #m%ire. homas had managed to muster ten men at

arms- all of them griled veterans of many battles and ten of the villages /nestbowmen. !t wasnt the most glorious of forces but it would have to do. $en of

)rugh( our lands have been beset by yet another foul foe( we are all that stands

between these vile /ends of chaos and our families and loved ones( if we should

fail it will be a dar0 day indeed for )urgh. 1o your duty as you 0now it( obey your

vows( trust to the 'ady and we shall be victorious2& ,e mounted his noble steed

and led the small force out of the castle and into the village beyond.

he villagers turned out to %ay their res%ects to the lord and to say good bye to

their husbands( sons and brothers. As he rode through Sir Ponsonby eyed the

hastily erected defences( since the troubles started he had ordered a large%alisade to be erected around the village and homas had conscri%ted every

able bodied male villager into the newly formed militia. Sir Ponsonby hated

arming the %easants but he had little choice. With 3 domains to %rotect now his

regular forces were stretched and exhausted.

4ust over a league from the village they found the ratmen. he invaders had

sto%%ed next to a mist wreathed marsh. Sir Ponsonby could see two large bloc0s

of troo%s- they wore little armour but were carrying shields and crude hand

wea%ons. ,e estimated that there were 35 or 65 in each bloc0 and each seemed

to be led by a larger more heavily armoured rat.


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7obert( ta0e your archers to the left 8an0( %ut the marsh between you and them

and %lace your sta0es. 4ohn ! want your men at arms next to the archers %rotect

their right 8an0. !ll ta0e the "nights and hold our right.& ,e 0new it was ris0y but

such small units of %easants would struggle to ma0e any im%act u%on the large

grou%s of the enemy. 9ow then boys remember no one moves until ! give the

order( theres no room for im%etuous young hot heads today.& With that he too0

the "nights errant out onto the right 8an0 directly o%%osite the rat men. ,e

called a halt and dismounted( the 0nights errant followed suit and they all o:ered

u% a %rayer to the 'ady as0ing for her blessing and %rotection. Whilst they

%rayed the S0aven started the ra%idly advance. A small unit of dar0ly clad

S0aven a%%eared on Sir Ponsonbys left 8an0 o%%osite the bowmen( whilst the

two large units of S0aven started to advance. 7obert 8etcher was in charge of

the bowmen today( a veteran of numerous battles although no yeoman. Seeing

twelve rat men bearing down on him ra%idly( he ordered the bowmen to /re and

smir0ed with satisfaction as he saw three of them fall with whit 8etcher arrows

buried in their 8esh.

9o sooner had Sir Ponsonby and the "nights errant remounted than the young

0nights began to show their restlessness easy now boys( we cant go charging

straight into their front( the other unit would surely charge our 8an0.& )ut my

'ord these wretched creatures are no match for true born 0nights of )retonnia.

We should charge them now( crush them under our hooves and wheel bac0 into

the rear of the other unit- theyll soon 8ee from our righteous wrath2& Calm

yourself Charles- we cannot sim%ly rely u%on crushing them on the charge.& !t

was no use however Sir Ponsonby could see that the young 0nights agreed with

his son Charles( their cavalier. )efore he could sto% them the young 0nights wereo: and he was swe%t along with them as his warhorse followed the others.

7esigning himself to the charge he ho%ed that it would be enough to brea0 the

/rst enemy unit. !f it was not then they were surely doomed.

Seeing the 0nights glorious charge( 7obert smiled to himself.& 9ow these beasts

will feel the wrath of )retonnia& he thought to himself. 4ust then he noticed that

the small unit of s0aven in front of him had bro0en into a run and were charging

his archers. ,e gave the order and a ragged volley lashed out at the night

runners and three more fell dead. !t wasnt enough however and the deranged

beasts lea%t onto the sta0es in front of the archers and then set about them with

staggering ferocity. 7obert duc0ed as a 0nife 8ashed at his head( he drew his

dagger and moved to stri0e the s0aven in front of him( as he struc0 he felt a

searing %ain in his side( loo0ing down he saw that the creature had a 0nife

clas%ed in its tail and the blade was buried dee% in his side. )efore he could even

cry out in %ain another dagger %lunged into his nec0.

4ohn thatcher had been a $an at Arms for ;5 years now( never before had he

been %laced in charge and he dearly wished that his cousin 7onald( their Warden

was here to ta0e charge. Seeing the 9ight 7unners attac0ing the archers he

ordered his small troo% to turn to face the enemy. )efore theyd even had chance

to reform 4ohn could see it was already too late. #very single archer was dead(


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hac0ed stabbed and gutted by the craed beasts that had surrounded them. oung Charles was cut down by one of the s0aven

warlords( with Sir 4ames( Ponsonbys oldest friend and %ersonal standard bearer(

being %ulled down soon after.

7ealising all was lost Sir Ponsonby tried to sound the retreat but young Alasdair

the units bugler was lying on the ground cho0ing on his own blood even as the

s0aven stabbed him to death. 1es%erately Sir Ponsonby fought his way over to

his youngest son Philli%( who still %roudly held onto the "nights standard. Philli%

you must get away from here( ride home and warn them of our defeat( %re%are

the castle and the village to?& 9@ ou are now the 'ord of )urgh until your brother returns

from the #m%ire( if he returns. a0e my Sword and ride as fast as you can. >ou

must save the village. 9ow @2& With that Sir Ponsonby gave Philli%Bs horse an

almighty smac0 and the beast shot o: bac0 toward the castle. Sir Ponsonby

roared an incoherent war cry and set about him with gusto slaying s0aven left

and right.

4ohn saw the 0nights charge fail( he saw his 'ord surrounded and the young

0night ma0ing a des%erate bid for freedom( he glanced at the night runners

which were now stal0ing towards and his men. ,e turned to his friend @liver and

sim%ly stated bugger this for a game of soldiers( !m o:.& urning tail he 8ed(

swiftly followed by the rest of the $en at arms.

Seeing the $en at arms 8ee the /eld Sir Ponsonby 0new he was doomed. ,e only

ho%ed that Philli% would ma0e it bac0 in time to %re%are the defences and raise

the militia. urning bac0 to the melee he felt his horse shift from under him(

suddenly he was on the ground( his horse thrashing on to% of him as it was

gutted by the rat men. Suddenly one of the s0aven warlords a%%eared at to% the


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dead horse. Snarling with hatred Sir Ponsonby lashed out with his sword. he

s0aven twisted to avoid the blow and used the momentum to swing its halberd

toward Sir Ponsonby smashing into his collar bone and severing his noble head

from his shoulders.

the fall of burgh

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