Sir Charles Killington

"It's been one hour, Your Majesty." The large man spoke softly with the firmness of a parent to their children.

Teslaimia looked at him and said, "Thank you, Charles, but again, like the last four hours, I don't need you to tell me that."

"I apologize, Your Majesty, I thought perhaps that no one had taken the time to explain to you what an hour feels like." He gave a polite bow.

Teslaimia sighed, "Haven't I apologized enough yet? I'm sorry, Charles, I admit that I completely lost track of the time last night. I know I told you I would only be an hour, but Emily and Katarina made me stay longer."

He cleared his throat, "Six hours."

Teslaimia, "It was that long, really?"

He nodded, "I had to wait for six hours. Even the coffee shop I took shelter and food from closed before you came out with the other two."

Teslaimia tried to give him a hug to make up, but he put his hand on her forehead keeping her distant, "I don't need a hug, Your Majesty, but thank you for your kind intentions." She gave him a cute pout.

"You're the one losing out." She then went back to reading the newspaper.

Dan brought over a cup of coffee for Sir Killington and a cup of tea for Teslaimia and asked, "I haven't seen you around for a while, Your Majesty, I hope it's not because of something I changed here at the shop."

Teslaimia shook her head and said, "This guy didn't like me having such a predictable schedule."

Sir Killington nodded and said, "I offered to come to pick it up for her, but she said it's not the same without the ambiance." He shrugged.

Dan sighed and said, "I think the whole city is trying to be unpredictable. I won't be able to keep the place open much longer. I haven't been getting enough business to cover costs for the last few weeks."

"I thought you always had a rush of business when Future War had their breaks?" Teslaimia asked as she looked up from her paper with a concerned face.

Dan shrugged and said, "They must be working on something big, I haven't seen any of those guys in here for over a month. I thought there might be some new business they were all going to so I took a walk around here but everyone I talked to is having the same problem. The lunch and break rush we count on to keep our businesses running just hasn't been happening lately."

Sir Killington spoke out, "Perhaps if they aren't willing or able to come to you, you should think of a way to go to them."

Teslaimia looked at him like he was a genius, "What an amazing idea! Dan, all you'd need is a cart with a heating element and you could brew tea right there. Your scones, donuts, and cakes only need a shelf."

Dan shrugged and said, "I wish I could, honestly. I can't even afford my rent this month, I don't have anything left over to experiment with."

Teslaimia asked, "Would you like a no-interest loan, Dan? I'd be willing to give you the start-up capital if it means keeping my favorite place open."

Dan smiled and shook his head, "I appreciate the thought, Your Majesty, I am not looking for charity. If my business is meant to fail, it needs to fail. I jumped into the shop here without knowing what I was doing in the first place. My wife is still mad at me for giving up my job to open this place."

Sir Killington shook his head and said, "Then you have already given up?"

Dan looked around his shop and said, "It was always my dream to have a corner shop of some kind. The kind of place you pass down to your children. I promised my wife that if it didn't work out, I would go back to working my old job. My wife hates that I spend so much time here and bring home so little money. I just have to face the fact that I chose badly."

Sir Killington pushed the coffee away from himself and said, "This coffee tastes like failure." He stood up, threw down the exact change, and then walked outside waiting by the door for Teslaimia to finish up.

Dan's eyes opened wide. "He seems more upset about my financial situation than I do."

Teslaimia was still looking at Sir Killington and answered, "I don't think that's what it is, Dan. I think he is upset seeing you give up so easily. To become a knight you have to work twice as hard as an ordinary soldier. To become a soldier you have to work twice as hard as an ordinary man. Do you understand? These men when faced with impossible odds, do anything and everything they can to push past even the most monstrous of obstacles. Giving up is not something they would ever entertain. To give up as a knight or soldier is to say they are tired of living."

Outside of Dan's tea shop, Sir Killington leaned against the building and thought back to the battles in Injia when he was a knight for the Windsor Kingdom...

Sir Charles Killington was dressed in a full set of plate armor on top of his mighty charger they were in a slow trot getting ready to charge into a group of lightly armored swordsmen that were marching in a neat box. He felt in the back of his mind that uncomfortable feeling that this was wrong, the kind of troop was too easy of a target. His years of combat experience were telling him he was headed into a death trap, but the commanders hadn't called for a retreat. He lifted his shield and let his lance rest in the cradle created by his bent arm. He called out, "Sir McCoy, this isn't right!"

"I know Charles, hold in there." Sir McCoy called out loud enough for others like Sir Killington to hear.

The swordsmen suddenly broke off in a dead run in multiple directions as a knight to the back of Sir Killington shouting out, "Arrows, get your shields up!"

"We're cutoff! Charge to the left! GOLDEN BEAR!" Sir McCoy shouted out! All one hundred knights of his Brigade turned and charged toward the direction of the arrows being shot with their shields deflecting arrows while the odd arrow hit the horse and man that charged in that direction. Sir Killington felt his mount come crashing down and he was flung forward. His heavy armor making it impossible for him to correct his angle and soften the blow.

The lightly armored swordsmen charged back in and attacked the disorganized line of knights. He felt a blade slide into the plates of his armor but it didn't give him more than a scratch, so he roared out of anger and pulled his long sword hacking the man nearly in half, without his horse he knew he was just a target with all of his armor on so he looked around desperately for a place to defend himself. He noticed that the archers were standing on a hill giving them unlimited vision over the battle.

The limited vision in his helmet left him desperate even as he felt an arrow glance off his helmet. He saw Sir McCoy and the bulk of the knights charging into the light armor swordsmen and followed behind them one ridiculously heavy step at a time. He felt the arrows pelting him one at a time as the archers switched from blanket firing to single target firing. He panted as his breath was becoming harder and harder to bring out of his lungs. All he knew was that he had to kill his way out, every step forward was another step to continue his life.

A lightly armored Swordsman stepped into his vision so he cut the man down, soon he was surrounded by these men each of them hacking at him with their short curved swords, eventually his foot started to sink into the mud, his steps becoming all but impossible. He knew that he was going to die on this battlefield, but something deep inside of him forcefully brought his legs forward step by step.

The other knights watched as Sir Killington was like a walking death machine, as men charged at him they were cut down. Sir McCoy ordered his men to turn and save him from the swarm of men he was attracting. Sir Daniel Conners and his knights came crashing through right at that moment like a green tide. They came roaring, "DRAGON!" At the top of their lungs.

The lightly armored soldiers were cut down by the swords from the Dragon Brigade's knights and then the Dragon brigade kept charging straight uphill into the archers.

Sir Killington watched as the forces that had cut off any chance for his survival were now being trampled, cut down, or chased which caused him to laugh loudly. A riderless mount walked up to Sir Killington as if to say, you have done enough, climb up and let me take you out of here. Sir Killington knew it would be impossible to get on the horse without a lift so he just peeled his dented and fouled armor off until he could lift himself up on the mighty charger's back. He started to head back to the rear when he saw Sir Daniel Conners on the ground missing the lower half of his leg looking as if he was there was no life left in his eyes. Sir Killington jumped off the back the horse and quickly tied a tourniquet to his leg and then threw daniel on the back of the horse. He said, "Don't die yet, Sir Conners, we have been blessed to fight another day!"

Daniel looked at him and said, "Kill me, I don't want to live like this."

Sir Killington suddenly felt a tug on his sleeve pulling him out of his old memories, "Charles? Are you ok? You're crying." He turned his head and a very worried looking Teslaimia was staring at him.

"I'm fine, thank you, Your Majesty, I'll signal for your cab." He straightened up. with his normal expression.

Teslaimia shook her head and said, "No, you aren't fine. I have been trying to get your attention for the last ten minutes. Also, we came in a fast car, not the cab." She pointed over to the Fast Attack Carriage. "Tell me your story, Charles. One of the other soldiers can drive. You will talk to me."

*****

Lucas pulled the string on his bow taking aim at a pheasant that just flew out of a bush. He watched it carefully and then took aim a stop in front of the bird's flight path and released the arrow, "Got it!" He spoke softly. The arrow flew on its path like a rocket and struck the bird soundly knocking it from the air. He gave his dog a pat on his haunches and said, "Go!"

Lucas smiled as the dog raced back with the bird in its mouth. He thought to himself, 'I wish Beaux was here to see that.' He bent down and started to pet the dog as it released the bird from its mouth, "Good boy, that's my good boy!" Lucas heard a twig snap and turned to see a couple of men with smiles on their faces.

Lucas looked them over carefully as one of the men said, "Sorry to bother you, we were out here hunting and saw you take down the pheasant, just wanted to say that was an amazing shot!"

Lucas smiled and gave them a nod, "I thought I had lost it for a moment there."

The taller of the men asked, "How tight is the pull on that bow? I am using a fifty pounder and it looked to me like you were hitting with something a lot heavier."

Lucas laughed and said, "Yeah, I am using an old oak longbow, it's probably a good seventy to eighty pounds at least."

The taller man nodded and asked, "May I try it out? I know it's a lot to ask of a stranger." He took his own pack off and set his own bow and arrow to the side.

Lucas smiled and handed over his bow, "Yeah, take a pull on it, you'll probably think it's too heavy using that fifty pounder."

The shortest of the men walked out in front of them and pointed to a tree, "See if you can hit that branch up there, that's got to be at least three hundred yards, Berty."

The tall man pulled the bow and said, "Lord Reno, that's a strong pull!" He pulled it back into a crescent moon shape and then let the arrow fly. It traveled like a laser beam hitting the branch squarely.

All of the men clapped and said, "Amazing! Great shot Berty!" The tall man handed the bow back to Lucas with a grin on his face.

"That's the best bow I have ever tried. Amazing, thank you, sir." The tall man named Berty smiled at Lucas.

The shorter man asked, "Hey can we see you make another shot?" The other men nodded along.

Lucas smiled feeling like he wanted to show off, "Sure, pick the target, I am accurate well over three hundred with this bow."

The man who hadn't spoken walked up close to Lucas looking out in the field, "There, see that? There is a deer peeking out at us from the forest there." He pointed to a deer that had it's head turned their direction.

Lucas grinned, "Tough target, alright watch closely now..." He pulled the bow back and just as he was about to let the arrow fly he felt a blade stab into his back. His arrow flew out erratically as his bow dropped to the ground.

The other men ran in and started to stab Lucas over and over again. After that, they cut his head off his body to ensure that he was dead before setting the body on fire along with the severed head and his possessions.