Hero

The soldiers are waiting
In the cold of the night

They lay awake
On the alert
Not daring to make any noise

A young conscript
Wakes from his uneasy slumber

He had dreamt of the imminent war
The order to charge
The clash of steel against steel
The desperate cries of injured men
The stomping of hooves

He wished it would never come
But deep inside he could not deny it

The enemies are approaching the city
His hometown
His life
His everything

He looked over the walls of the city
The surroundings were pitch black

And then he saw it
A flicker of light
Many flickers of light
Millions of them
Illuminating the horizon

He thought of his family
His friends
He was never going to let them down

He shouted the alert
And the men arose
Hurrying into their combat positions

Catapults were loaded with great stones
Archers pulled at their bowstrings
Swordsmen unsheathed their swords

The enemies were at their gates

The war cries of the enemy were deafening
The soldiers who were weak at heart cowered at the sound of it
But the gallant ones remained still
Unmoving
Preparing themselves to fight till the end

The conscript was ready for war
His mail shirt shining in the dark of the night
His sword gleaming with anticipation

The enemies had reached the gates
The archers on the wall shot many of them down
But there were too many

The catapults had destroyed a portion of the fortification
And enemy soldiers streamed into the city
Fierce fighting was going on

The conscript found himself in the frontline
Fighting with all his might
Parrying and blocking
Slashing and stabbing

Many fell before him
Many too fell before his company
For they were the best conscripts in the city

Soon his attackers were being attacked
And thus the first wave of enemies ceased

The conscript was as thankful as ever
He and his company had survived the attack

But before long
Another wave of enemies were approaching
And their orders were to hold their position
Till the last man was spent

Fortunately the enemies were attacking the west
And the east was safe for the moment

The conscript was sent on a patrol
Around the suburbs of the city
Where his family lay in hiding

He was walking towards his house
When his patrol of ten was ambushed
There was at least an enemy to every one of them

The ten men fought like true warriors
Not once in the fight did they falter
They fought fiercely against the enemies
But in the end only three survived the ambush

The conscript had been at the back of the patrol
When they were ambushed from the flanks
He had previously unsheathed his sword from his scabbard
In fear of stray enemy soldiers

He had been attacked by two savage-looking men wielding spears
He had cut off one man's head but another came to take his place
The enemies were skilled and were placing him in a tight spot
He desperately fought
Sustaining a few spear wounds
But he had amazing swordplay
And managed to get rid of his attackers after a while

When he saw that his friend was being cornered
And was about to be killed
He rushed to his comrade's aid
And killed his assailant

Only five of the ten were left
Yet many bodies were strewn around the area
The corpses of their enemies

They fought the enemy with such force
That they were either slain or forced to escape
Unfortunately two of the five were slain by an enemy archer
Before the archer was killed by a flying spear from the conscript

They were victorious
And returned to their commander
With the bodies of their comrades

News had spread that the enemies had entered the city central
The conscript rushed to the central
And saw a gruesome sight

The enemy general was stabbing his comrades with his spear
And using his horse to stomp on them
Giving them no chance to survive

The conscript was enraged
He wanted to teach the enemies a lesson
And so he climbed up to the top of the city hall with a bow in his hand

He aimed

And shot

It was a shot that sealed the fate of his enemies

The arrow struck the general's horse in the eye
And the horse toppled
Crushing the enemy general underneath

Instantly the enemies were in chaos
For they had no one to give them orders

They were annihilated by the city troops
Slain by the sword

And as the sounds of fighting ceased in the city
Dawn came

And the Hero lay down into a deep slumber
One that was well earned