Prologue

The honey coloured hardstone shone brightly in the morning light and the majestic towers and terrific walls towered over the lush green forrest surrounding castle Araluen.

The peace was broken by the booming sound of drums from outside the castle. It was surrounded by thousands of creatures. Their small red eyes glaring hatefully at the walls. Armed with massive broadswords and carrying long ladders on their broad shoulders with ease. These Bearlike monsters were preparing to assault the mighty walls of Araluen.

Inside the castle hundreds of man had assembled on the central square, armed to their teeth but vastly outnumbered by the enemy outside. They were determined to fight until the bitter end. One man is towering above them, he looks like he is in his mid-thirties, has short blond hair and dark green eyes.

The man began to speak "Today it will end, Morgarath, damn him to the deepest parts of hell, will breach these gates any moment!" He took deep breath and continued, "We will go out, fight For the Last Time! And Take as much of them with us!"

A huge cheer went up among the crowd. They rose their shields high in the air. Ready to fight and die.

After a few seconds the man started to speak again, "Don't be afraid of dying, you will meet your loved ones, that our enemy ripped away from us without mercy." Silence reigned on the square, as people thought of the ones they lost.

"Today!" shouted the man "You can avenge them, think of what they did: they killed our children, raped our women and sold our men into slavery!" anger rose among the crowd, directed to the monsters outside.

"Fight now and die with honour, let your anger strengthen you and kill as many of those monsters as you can!" here the man ended his speech and started to direct his man to their positions.

Then he walked inside, through the many corridors until he reached his study. The study was big and had there was on big window looking out over the courtyard. Sitting in front of the window was an expensive but simple mahogany desk. On the desk was a birdcage, the cage contained a white post dove ready to fly out.

The man walked over to the desk and sat down behind it. He took a quill out of his drawer and dipped it into an inkpot and starts to write.

Dear Cassandra

I will die soon, leaving my Kingdom behind in these dark times. And I let it all happen. I Failed you and my country. I retreated and left the peasants behind, gave them over to the evils of Morgarath, while I sat safe in castle Araluen. I didn't even try to defend them, I tried to save my own skin.

Cassie I'm afraid to die, I let all those people down. I'm afraid to meet them again.

I can list numerous reasons why I did what I did. But it comes all down to the fact, that I sought the easy way out.

Dear Cassandra let this be a lesson for you please do not make my mistakes.

With love your father.

The man now identified as King Duncan opened the cage and the dove hopped on his arm. The king attached the letter to its leg. He then threw open the window and the dove eagerly took of.

Below, the monsters started chanting horribly the assault had begun.