by Dani Hoots
From a distance, I heard Matthew yelp in pain. I turned to find an arrow had stuck him through his leg. Jonathan was trying to help him up and I hurried over to assist. He was heavy, as he was much larger than the two of us, but I wouldn’t let either of them die, not when we had grown so close over the past few months.
Hopping away, we were able to keep Matthew up and stay with the rest of the group. Many men were killed, between fighting the ambush and the arrows from the top of the wall still raining down on us, but many men survived as we hurried back to where our camp once was. Red stained the ice that began to build up on the ground. More and more red seemed to stain my eyes as well.
The hail finally receded once we reached the location of where our camp once was. It looked like how we left it, other than the fact that it was now soaked, along with every other area around it, and hail had piled up. We waited for the hail to melt where we wanted to set up our tents, and moved a lot of it out of the way, as well, so it would disappear faster. The wind, however, was still blowing, making it difficult to set up our tents and do much of anything. It took me a few tries to set up my own tent, along with Matthew’s tent so we could help get him situated. He was still in a lot of pain, cursing with every movement we helped him make. I prayed his pain would vanish, but I knew that it wouldn’t happen any time soon. The camp’s doctor would be checking on him once he made rounds to all the other men who were injured as well. From what I could gather, a leg wound was near the end of the list of chronic injuries that the doctor would need to deal with. I didn’t even know how some of the other men could still be alive. In their place, I would have just asked the doctor to end it for me then and there, which I had a feeling was exactly what he was thinking of doing himself.
Many of the men around the camp were silent, frowning and shivering as their clothes were still wet. A few men around the camp began to start a few fires to help keep us warm and dry out our clothes. From experience, we all knew what happened when our bodies got too cold. We could either fall ill, and if either our feet or our hands became too cold, we could lose feeling in those areas and then have to cut off those parts. None of us wanted that, not after all that had happened.
I could see the two doctors running around frantically as more and more screamed for them. Some of the screams, I knew, were a result of what the doctors were doing to them. I just hoped that Matthew, and all the other men, would turn out for the best. But I knew it would be harder to charge into battle after this defeat. Though I knew it wasn’t exactly a defeat, but just a setback. It felt like a defeat though, not against the enemy itself, but against nature.
I reflected back on everything that had happened and wondered if we could have won without the storm pushing us back. The enemy had ambushed us, surrounding us so we could not retreat. The only reason we could retreat was because of the hail and the enemy wanting to take cover as the hard ice chunks began raining down upon us all. They knew we couldn’t do anything in such weather. But if the hail did not occur, would we have succeeded? It worries me that we may have not been able to win and that this storm was actually God’s blessing, Him helping us out.
Heading into the tent where Matthew was, I found Jonathan at his side, as he always was. If Jonathan lost Matthew, I have no idea what would happen. He would feel broken, as I have after losing my own brothers. The three of us were very close growing up, and I was the youngest, just as Jonathan was between the three of us. It was hard losing someone you looked up to for guidance, as they were the ones you relied on for the strength to go on. Without them, you feel lost and utterly alone. No, I prayed that that would never happen to Jonathan. He didn’t deserve the same punishment that I had experienced in the not too distant past.
The arrow was still lodged in Matthew’s leg and I could tell that sweat was pouring off him even though he was soaked from the rain. His pained expression, bearing witness to the terror of this moment, seemed to be the same tension we all felt about the changing tide of the battle. Everything about it seemed oddly orchestrated, much like events in the Book of Job. Could it perhaps have been that woman, that voice? Did she warn them of our coming?
“Damn it! Take it out, please!” he yelled out.
Jonathan looked up to me, as if he didn’t know what to do. His friend was in pain and he wanted to be able to get rid of that pain, but he wasn’t sure as to what to do. I shook my head. “No, we are going to wait for the doctor. We don’t want to make it worse.”
“But it would be better if it was out, wouldn’t it? The pain would be less,” Matthew shouted, thinking only about the pain and wanting to get rid of it.
I sat down on the other side of Matthew from Jonathan, glancing up at him, as if speaking to him with my mind, telling him that the only thing we could do was talk him out of doing anything stupid before the doctor came. I put my hand on Matthew’s shoulder. “No, it won’t. It will be the same amount of pain, if not worse. We are going to wait.”
Frustrated by all of this, Matthew shouted aloud some curses and Jonathan and I shared worried glances. We wanted to help our friend but there were many others who had even worse injuries. Arrows to the chest, missing the heart and organs, but still dangerous. Stab wounds from the swords the enemy had slashed into our men. Luckily, we had stayed away from that area of the battlefield. Another small mercy for us, at least.
After what seemed like hours, the tent flap opened to reveal James, one of the two doctors in our part of the camp. His eyes looked drained, his body slumped as if this was his hundredth patient, which it probably was. He examined Matthew quickly and let out a sigh. “Leg wound?”
“What makes you say that?” Matthew yelled out of frustration.
James didn’t reply, but came over and poured a little bit of liquid on the wound. I had no idea as to what it was, as I knew nothing about medicine or healing people.
He gave Matthew a piece of cloth. “Bite this, I am going to pull out the arrow.”
Matthew shot the two of us a look, as if he was saying I told you so, wishing that we had taken the arrow out. Matthew bit down on the cloth. Then, with a sudden jerk, James pulled out the arrow.
Matthew screamed in pain, “Worse, this is worse than when it was in!” He bit down on the cloth even more and slammed his fist on the ground again and again. I wanted to tell him I told him so, but I figured it wasn’t the right time. In the end, he could lose his entire leg and I didn’t want to make his misery worse. James washed the wound out with some water. Matthew bit down even more to keep from screaming. Just watching it all made me want to scream for him. I worried for his well-being, I saw Jonathan anxiously watch the proceedings, not daring to look away at any moment. He was even more worried here than he had ever been during a battle. It was different when it was your close friend than just another person getting the same treatment. There was a personal connection and the fear of losing it could be too much for some people.
“I will check back later to see how his leg is doing. It didn’t seem to break anything, which is good. Hopefully it will heal quickly,” James explained. “I still have quite a few more people to check on.”
I nodded. “Thank you.”
“Come retrieve me if you need anything. For the meantime, make sure your friend is comfortable and pray that he heals fine.”
The doctor left us and Jonathan and I sat back down next to Matthew.
“Don’t you go scaring us like that again,” Jonathan said. “You hear me? We are going to both make it out of this alive. You promised me”
Matthew gave a slight smile. “I would like to think that, but we know that is far from the truth. This battle isn’t going to end well, not after what happened today.”
“Hey,” I said. “Don’t be going off and losing faith. We will survive this, if it’s the last thing we do. Next time, we won’t attack during a storm. It will be better.”
He shook his head and winced as he tried to move his leg. “But it wasn’t the storm that was the major problem.
They ambushed us. They were ready and they might have succeeded if they didn’t take cover when the hail came pouring down. I don’t know what to do now, I am worried that we may not be able to defeat the Sunni in this war.”
“Don’t say that. We could have won if we weren’t so blinded by the storm. We would have seen their attack coming and would have been able to do something about it.”
Matthew didn’t say anything but let out a deep long breath. He appeared to be deep in his thoughts, probably rethinking all that had happened today. Defeat was definitely a lot to take in. I had been on the winning and losing side of many battles and retreating definitely never got any better. The realization we weren’t good enough is always the hardest, especially knowing we would have to do it all over again.
“We know what to watch out for now, don’t we?” Jonathan asked. “And Robin would have been able to take out each and every one of those archers if the weather wasn’t so wrong. On a clear day, he could even shoot an apple off of someone’s head!”
Matthew still didn’t appear to be okay with everything, but what Jonathan said made him brighten up with a smile. “Yes, when we get back to England, we shall put an apple on your head to see if Robin can shoot it off.”
Jonathan’s cheeks turned red. “Hey, I didn’t mean I wanted to do that, I was just saying he was very skilled and always hits his target. There is no way I would put an apple on my head and see if Robin could shoot it off. He may be good, but I don’t trust him that much.”
Matthew laughed some more, but I could tell he was tired. His eyelids were droopy and he had yawned at least five times in the past minute.
I placed my hand on Jonathan’s shoulder. “I think we should let Matthew rest for a while. Let’s go for a walk, shall we? Maybe go see how those fires are coming along.”
Jonathan nodded and we left the tent. It was quiet in the camp, as many were resting or were with friends who were hurt in battle. The only ones that were out were the doctors heading from tent to tent and those helping with the fire and making sure it was kept going while keeping an eye out for anyone that could attack our camp, although after everything that happened, we really doubted they would come back and hurt us. It was still a bit cold, and Jonathan and I decided to get a change of clothes that were dry, as someone had already asked us for our other set of clothes to set out next to the fire for us. I thanked the soldier who did this for us and we quickly changed and met back at the fire.
“Do you honestly think he will be alright?” Jonathan asked as we let the fire warm our icy hands.
I debated telling him the truth, telling him that I really didn’t know, but I knew at a time like this, all he wanted to hear was the positive. “Yeah, I think he will be alright.”
Jonathan smiled, as if my words were set in stone, and I think he truly believed it would all be alright. We stood there in the cold, buying up time as we didn’t have anything to do but recoup. Our king would now be developing a new idea for a battle, a strategy that would get us where we needed to be. We were all counting on him to bring victory and let us go back to our home.
Home. That was an interesting idea. I didn’t really have a home, three of my real families being destroyed, and afterwards simply staying at a friend’s for a short time and working for very little wages. Was returning to England going back home? Would I really ever be home again? Being with my friends here felt like the only home I have ever had for a very long time. I wondered if Matthew and Jonathan felt the same way. I knew Matthew didn’t have any parents still alive, but a brother up north from Nottingham. As for Jonathan, I wasn’t really sure. He never talked about his family, and if we ever brought the topic up, he would just say they were back home in England. I never felt like asking Matthew about this as it wasn’t my business to intrude. But I did still wonder.
“I’m starting to warm up, what says we check around the camp and make sure there is nothing out of the ordinary?” I asked.
Jonathan nodded. “Yeah, I could stand to walk around a bit.”
Storm clouds still surrounded us, threatening us as if we meant nothing to them. Nothing was coming down yet, but I could tell that the storm may come back. I hoped that wasn’t the case and the storm would bypass us. Not when we had such little protection against the hail and the wind.
Jonathan was quiet as he walked by my side. He was thinking about Matthew, as they had grown close over their time spent together fighting. They had been friends for a year before I met them, and right away I could tell they were like brothers, always by each other’s side. I have been so afraid to be that close to someone again, and tried to shy away from them, but it was as if they saw my pain and wanted to make me feel better. I knew that I could lose them, as men easily die in war, but somehow I felt that no man would take them away from me. But now after the arrow injuring Matthew’s leg, I wasn’t so sure.
We got to the edge of the camp and looked out towards the City of Jerusalem. We couldn’t even make out where the city truly was as it was darkened with clouds. It appeared almost as if covered in blackness, some evil force of some kind.
“I can’t believe this happened, that we didn’t even have a chance to battle,” Jonathan said as he grabbed a rock and tried to skip it out on the mud that surrounded us. It simply hit the ground and got stuck, slowly seeping into the ground. I felt like it symbolized our situation. “And Matthew taking an arrow to the knee.”
“They took out a lot of our men, yes, but we did take out, at least, some of theirs. Maybe, in the long run, this will be to our benefit. Hopefully the storm also damaged some of their belongings as well.”
“How?” Jonathan turned to me. “How can you keep such a positive attitude during all of this?”
I opened my mouth to speak, when I saw something glowing in the distance. A light. “What is that?”
Jonathan looked out at where the light was. “I... I don’t know.”
“But you do see it, right?” I started a step forward. “There’s nothing in that direction, is there? It’s all trees and dirt.”
“Well there has to be something out there, otherwise there wouldn’t be something glowing,” he stared at it for a moment, as if contemplating something. “We should check it out. It doesn’t look that far from here.”
“Do you really think that is a wise idea? It’s almost dark now and we should be checking up on Matthew soon—”
“Don’t worry about it. Don’t you want to know what is out there? If it’s a threat, we will be seen as heroes for we alone went to see what it was. Come on, it will be fine.”
I felt reluctant to agree, but I knew he would go off by himself if I said no. So I agreed and we headed out towards where the light was.
Night began to fall and pretty soon the only light that was out was coming from the strange place we were headed to and from our camp itself. At least there wasn’t much hiding the light, only a few trees.
I was surprised that Jonathan decided to explore what this light was instead of checking on Matthew. He had been so worried only a few moments ago, yet something about this light made him rather check it out. Maybe, it was because he knew Matthew wasn’t going anywhere, while this was important. Also, this mysterious light could be a signal of a threat to the entire camp.
We kept on walking, listening closely to see if there was anyone else around us. I didn’t hear anything and my mind began to grow more and more concerned as to what this thing could be. I had never seen anything like it and had no idea how such a thing could appear out of nowhere.
As we arrived to the place where the light was coming from, both Jonathan and I gasped. It was a castle, which had never been there before.
“What is this witchcraft?” Jonathan whispered as we stared up at the building. It was overgrown with vines, thorns the size of a beast’s claws sticking out, threatening anyone who stumbled upon this mysterious structure. Small creatures, jackals, and wildcats scurried beneath the vines, they glared at us as we looked back at them. A
hooting owl sat at the top of the castle, letting its song echo through the land.
“This wasn’t here before, tell me that this wasn’t here before,” I said.
“It wasn’t. This castle isn’t on the map. In fact, we crossed this part of the land and this was not here then,” Jonathan said as he impulsively stepped forward. I grabbed his arm.
“What are you doing? You can’t be serious about wanting to go in there.”
“Why not? Don’t you know want to know what this place is? The easiest way to do so is to take a look inside. Come on, don’t be a chicken.”
“But this could be a place of evil, this could be the devil’s work,” I said as I glanced around. As I said that, I began to wonder if that voice I heard had anything to do with this place. It seemed like something dark and evil. Yes, creatures of the night, thorns. It had to be of the devil’s creation.
“Relax, it’s probably just some ruins we simply missed. Let’s go inside and see where the light is coming from.”
I gulped and followed Jonathan as he walked inside.
The inside was more eerie than the outside. Cobwebs and vines had accumulated through all the rooms and all the hallways. Every inch of the castle seemed to be ruled by darkness. Jackals and wildcats scurried off into dark corners as we entered room after room, looking for where the light had been coming from. I felt as if it was moving, drawing us further and further into the castle.
“My dear Robin, I’m so glad you came to visit me. And you brought a friend as well. How perfect.”
It was the woman. She was here. I gasped as she was now standing in front of us, her long orange hair the color of fire, her skin as white as sand, and her dress long and purple as if she was screaming out to us and every creature gathered here as if she was some kind of royalty.
