At the Gate

"That's a big house Richie." Jeremiah said as we walked closer to the massive Polish Stronghold.

"That's called a castle Jem." We didn't get to see many strongholds in Warrior Square, which was mainly a market-town far from Hastings where the rich resided in their stone estates and fortresses.

"What's a castle Richie?" Asked my youngest sibling, Scout.

"It's like a house, but with soldiers in it." I said, struggling to find a better response.

"Are we going to stay there?" She asked innocently, as if the king of Poland was my in-law.

"I don't know Scout, we could ask them." We marched closer to the castle, when we were close enough I could see the soldiers on high alert.

"They don't look like the good sort Richie, they got they' swords and bows out" Jem intervened.

"These are tough times Jem, maybe if we ask them nicely they'll let us in" Our feeble band of children could not harm them.

"Halt! You may not come any closer or we will fire arrows!" The voice seemed to be coming from a loud stout man who held his right hand up as if to signal the bowmasters to ready their bows.

"Mercy! We are from England! We seek help from the king!" I thought surely as soon as I said 'England' they would fire, but they didn't. Instead the stout man said something in Polish and the bows were lowered. Then he continued, "You come closer, but leave the children."

"You go Richie, I'll look after them." Jeremiah was trying to calm me.

"You've become a big boy now Jem." He managed to draw a small smile, I had not seen the children happy in weeks. Times have shook them, but they are surprisingly resilient for a bunch of kids.

I inched cautiously towards the castle with my arms up, finally once I reached the moat, two large Polish men grabbed me and put a dark mask on my head. "Leave me alone! Let me out!" Nothing seemed to stop them from dragging me inside and closing the doors.

I woke up in a hay cellar smelling of cow dung. I was sitting on a chair in front of a table with my hands tied. I looked around a bit then I began to get worried, "Where are the kids? I have to protect them! Why did we come here in the first place?" All of these thoughts were flooding my head.

About 20 minutes later the two large guards and the stout man walked in. One of the large guards slammed the table, it took me by surprise and I almost threw back off the chair.

He leaned and looked into my eyes, or my soul to be more precise.

Meanwhile the second guard stood at the door. Then, the stout man began, "Why are you here, Englishman. Are you a spy?" The large man closer to me clenched his fists.

"No! No! We are not spies we are boat haulers from Warrior Square! Please help us!" This went on for quite a while with the stout man basically asking me the same question over and over while I tried to beg to let me see the kids and to believe me.

Finally after about 4 hours of the same, he said nothing and left. The guards stood where they were, the closer one looking more angrier by the minute.

About 10 minutes later the stout man reappeared. "Ok, we believe you are not spies, but give me one reason why we shouldn't throw you to the wolves, you know meat is hard to come by these days."

"Why should they help us?" I thought to myself. Whose brilliant idea was to come here and straight up ask them for help without some proper diplomacy. I had to come up with something.. fast.