Adventure of Charles 1

Charles reaches the battlements as the siege begins. Arrows strike the parapet, splintering against wet stone, while smoke rolls above the enemy lines and bells hammer from the inner ward.

A broad-shouldered middle-aged man in a dented tourney harness grips the young adult heir by the arm. The champion's gray beard is streaked with rain, and his red cloak is torn.

The heir, a slender young adult man in a dark green surcoat, with close-cropped black hair and a narrow scar through one eyebrow, wrenches free beside the narrow stair. Two frightened guards in mismatched mail raise their spears, then falter.

Another arrow clatters across the stones. Beyond the battlement stairs, the postern passage waits in shadow, its sealed signal pouch guarded by uncertainty and the enemy's tightening cordon.

Charles leads the heir down the narrow stair, keeping his body between him and the open battlement. The two guards, two young adult men with weathered faces and cropped brown hair, one lean and freckled and the other stocky with a broken nose, in mismatched mail hesitate, then follow as the champion covers their retreat.

A stone chips from the wall beside Charles. A splintering fragment cuts his sleeve and draws a thin line of blood, but he reaches the shadowed postern passage with the heir beside him.

The sealed signal pouch lies where promised, wrapped in oiled cloth beneath the flagstone. The heir kneels and lifts it free while rainwater runs through the passage.

The heir tightens his grip around the sealed pouch. Rainwater drips from the passage roof, and distant impacts shudder through the stone beneath their feet.

The tourney champion crouches beside the passage mouth and peers toward the courtyard. Through the rain, torchlight moves between the enemy lines, searching the walls.

Charles follows the heir through the postern and into the rain-dark marsh. They keep to reed beds and drainage ditches, moving whenever thunder or distant siege engines cover their steps.

For an hour, the eastern ditch and flooded fields swallow them in mud and cold water. The heir keeps the sealed pouch beneath his cloak, while Charles watches the dim path behind.

The old mill rises from the mist beside a black, slow river. A middle-aged man steps from its broken doorway, lean and weathered, with a trimmed iron-gray beard, a blue-gray cloak, and a scar across his left cheek.

Charles raises his sword between Captain Captain Alric and the heir. Rain beads along the blade, while the sealed pouch remains secured beneath the heir's dark cloak.

Shapes shift behind the mill's broken walls. Twelve armed figures hold the shadows, their faces hidden beneath wet hoods, but no spear advances.

Captain Alric steps into the doorway's gray light and points toward the riverbank. Across the water, a single covered lantern flickers twice through the mist, answering from the far reeds.

The heir draws the pouch from beneath his cloak and breaks only enough wax for Captain Alric to inspect the stamped mark. Captain Alric studies it beneath the rain.

A guard shifts behind the mill, knocking loose a plank against the wall. The sharp report carries across the water, and several hooded heads turn toward the river.

Captain Alric signals twice. His hidden men spread along the muddy bank as the covered lantern across the river answers once, marking the passage through the mist.

Charles and the heir move together along the muddy bank, bent beneath the reeds while Alric's men spread behind them. The ford emerges through the mist ahead.

At the water's edge, a young adult enemy scout steps from a willow thicket. He is lean, pale-faced, and wrapped in a soaked brown cloak, with a short bow ready in hand.

Two more enemy figures rise among the reeds behind the scout, blocking the direct approach. Across the river, the covered lantern vanishes, then flickers back once.

The heir keeps the sealed pouch beneath his cloak and reaches the ford's stony margin with Charles beside him. Mud sucks at their boots as the river rushes knee-deep ahead.

Charles raises his sword and charges through the shallows. The enemy scout braces, but Charles reaches him first, forcing him back from the ford's narrow stones and opening the crossing.

The scout's bow slips aside as he gives ground. Behind him, the two hidden figures emerge fully from the reeds, while the river churns around Charles's boots and Alric's men hurry along the bank.

The heir steps into the ford behind Charles. Cold water presses against their legs, but the stones hold firm beneath their feet as the far bank rises through the mist.

Charles drives through the knee-deep current, keeping his sword between the heir and the scout. The heir follows closely, clutching the sealed pouch beneath his cloak.

The scout retreats onto the far stones, but the crossing succeeds. Charles and the heir reach the opposite bank as water streams from their boots.

The two remaining enemies hold ahead among the reeds, one with a drawn sword and the other gripping a short spear. Behind them, the lantern flickers through the mist.

Charles surges forward through the wet stones. He knocks the nearer enemy's sword aside, then drives him into the reeds as the spearman lunges.

He twists past the spearpoint and strikes the shaft from the man's grasp. A second blow sends the spearman sprawling beside his companion, both disarmed and unable to bar the path.

The heir hurries after him, one hand securing the sealed pouch beneath his cloak. Alric's men reach the far bank and surround the fallen enemies without pursuing further.

Charles and the heir follow the covered lantern through dripping reeds to a stone watch hut beyond the ford. Its barred door opens, revealing a dry chamber and waiting sentries.

Keep the sealed signal in the heir's possession