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A Castle Under Siege
Dear
Elizabeth,
Today
I am wonderfully happy. I have taken part in my first battle, which you
will be glad to know was a success, although the battle itself was
extremely bloody. A
number of days before the battle took place we set up camp a few miles
away. Once we had gathered all our army and assembled the mighty siege
weapons we marched to the castle and also our enemy. As we arrived at
the battlefield the castle towered above us. Just looking at it I could
tell it was going to take us a long time to defeat the enemy huddled
within the castle walls. We
had cut off all food supplies to the castle as soon as we had set up
camp. We did this so that when we came to fight them they would at least
be a lot weaker than if we had not done so. We couldn’t cut off or
poison their water supply so obviously they had a well in their
courtyard. We would just have to wait but how long no one knew. Our
large army had been split into four smaller sections so that we could
surround the castle therefore letting no one escape.
Before
the siege began, I frantically rushed around helping dress knights in
their armour, ready to fight. As the army lined up listening to the
final commands from the leader, I realised I was shaking. This was going
to be the first life or death situation I had ever been in. I knew I had
a job and must do it. The signal was given to start the attack. I was
going to help with the Trebuchet. We loaded the Trebuchet with a large rock
or boulder and released the catch. We watched it sailing high into the
air and slam down onto the stonewalls of the castle. I was terrified
that an arrow that was being fired from the overhanging hoarding would
hit me. Some of these arrows were burning and this constant threat was
all I thought about. Repeatedly I saw the castle walls being pounded by
the heavy rocks but no serious or at least no visible damage was being
caused.
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