The Well. Part 1.

Ny mini serie i tre dele, the retreat, the Siege og the counter attack.

The Well. Part 1.
The Retreat.

”RUN!” he screamed as he put another arrow on the string.
“But sir!”
“I told you to run!” he said more calmly releasing the arrow, sending it into a long flight over the field. He turned and griped the sleeve of his sub ordinary. “I gave you an order and you damn well better follow it! Now run for the well!”
He threw the soldier back and made an angry gestured to the other 10 soldiers still not running. Ha! soldiers, they were no more than outlaws, bandits, and the salt of the earth. All dressed up in leftover cammo suits. Who knew who these things had belonged to before they were found by the inhabitants of the wall? Oh yeah, Private Johnson, Private Franklin and a few other privates according to the nametags. Thinking back he used to know a Private Johnson, hundreds of meters away an arrow pierced the ground a few meters from the storming attackers. 30 men with swords and spears racing over the field and by the gods! It looked like one of them had a gun. The good new was that the soldiers was finally running like the devil was chasing them, good now there was only one person left to worry about. “Are you turning into a hero old man?” he asked himself, “Bet you never thought you would tell your men to flee and stay behind, that is not like you at all.” Now I’m all alone again, that was a real genius move you made their old man. All alone just like the old days.” He told himself grapping another arrow and letting it fly through the air. “Just you, your brain and your guts.” The arrow nailed one of the attackers to the ground. He sent another dozen arrows flying and nailed three more of these psychos to the ground. Time for simple math, he had about 7 arrows left and there was at least 26 attackers still charging, that is just not enough arrows. His only chance was to do as his men and turn tail, this wasn’t about the honour or the glory it was about survival, that is all and that had been all for 5 years now.
He released two more arrows before turning tail, he never looked to see if they had hit their intended mark, and it was all about running now. His soldiers were already halfway home, they really must have been afraid if they could run like that. But the ‘hero’ who had stayed behind would have been at the Olympics for his running, if he had been born a decade earlier that is. He stormed over the fields, there was at least half a mile to the well but he was gaining a large hole between himself and his followers.
Bang!
A gunshot! Dammit he had a gun! He should have know, it really wasn’t his day. No time to duck or do a defensive roll, if he did they would catch up and he would be dead. He just had to keep moving forward, and hope that the archers was had seen what was going on. A white arrow landing ten meters in front of him gave him hope, they had seen him. He kept running listening intensely, and after no less than 20 seconds or so, he heard it: The surprised screams of pain and the bell ringing from inside the well. Just ten more meters and he would be home free, he jumped in through the heavy steel door, which was immediately slammed shot behind him and fell to his knees.
“That was one hell of a run there old man!” said one of the soldiers.
“Bad news guys” yelled one of archers.
The old man hurried up on the wall and looked over the fields. At least a hundred men was marching towards the well all armed to the teeth with spears or swords.
“What the hell is going on?” asked one of the archers. “Why are we being attacked?”
“They want the well.” The old man whispered to himself before he turned and yelled: “Prepare for battle! A sieges is about to begin!”
The battle for the well had started.