I DO NOT OWN REIGN. SHOUTOUT TO ALL THOSE WHO STILL CARE ABOUT THIS STORY.
Inchkeith island, kingdom of Scotland. 3 days later.
We set sail from the Firth of Forth to Inchkeith Island. It took a day and a half to to arrive at the tiny spit of land with all our supplies and soldiers in tow. When we made landfall, we immediately began to prepare to repel the French invaders. I put Sir Kian Duffy in charge of building defenses on the beach for when Lord Stephane Narcisse and his men landed. Duffy had his men use whatever wood they could gather from the trees to create fortifications around the surf to prevent the landing party from getting too close with their boats. This would force them to swim out to us; allowing us to pick off dozens of soldiers in the water. Meanwhile, I was making battle plans, along with Bash and Leith for if Narcisse was able to break through out fortifications. We needed to have a plan B ready.
"So, Narcisse's ships are most likely going to bombard our defenses to weaken us for when he strikes. " Bash reasoned as we looked over a crudely and last minute style map of Inchkeith with pine cones representing ships and small stones representing our forces in groups soread about the island.
"Couldn't we just meet them on the open water, have a naval battle?" Leith asked as we knew that if we fought on the land against ships with cannons, we would be at a disadvantage.
"No, I know that pig fucker Narcisse and he's the king of covert strategies." I answered as both men took notice of my hatred for the man that went far beyond normal loathing for an enemy. I couldn't think of or talk about Narcisse without picturing Mary's rape. With Narcisse's forces fast approaching, I just couldn't help but feel like a failure. I had done all of this to keep Mary safe and now I had brought death to her shores.
"What if we could damage their ships and force them to fight on shore?" Bash inwhired out loud as he looked at the stacks of gunpowder that were still on board the ships. As I looked, I suddenly remembered what Francis had done at the battle of Calais. He had shot a flaming arrow at the English cannon and the pile of gunpowder that lay beside it and the whole thing blew sky high.
"I have an idea: we attack pouches of gun powder to our arrows and then we stick the arrow heads in flame. We shoot them at the ships and they become like bombs. When the ships take enoigh damage, Narcisse will have to order his men to storm the island." I explained as i imagined the French vessels lighting up.
"It's worth a try." Leith insisted as we began to prepare for the great battle to come.
3 days after we arrived on Inchkeith, Lord Narcisse and his forces finally arrived. We had built wooden spikes and placed them on the surf to prevent the 3 battle ships from making a direct landing and the french cannon's immediately began to smash them. Bash, Leith, and myself had placed ourselves in certain vantage points on a few tall trees on the island so we could have clear shots.
As we agreed on, we all raised out bows and fired out flame tipped arrows with gunpowder attached at Narcisse's warships. It turned out that our plan was a stroke of brilliance. The explosions we created seem to cause serious damage to the ships and Narcisse ordered his men to storm the beach, as we assumed he would. As the French came ashore, the Scots began to fight in earnest. Watching a medieval battle is 1 thing, but seeing it happen before your eyes is something else. You can warch as many movies and tv shows as currently exist, but it doesnt really prepare you for all the screaming, all the bloodshed.
Me and the 2 dukes dismounted our trees and joined in the fight. It was one if fhe most brital experiences of my entire life so far; even more so than the murder of Tómas or the attack on the castle bh the Italian count. I struggled to hold my own in the hear of battle. Bash had been trained in the art of combat and Leith had bene trained in the art of combat; albeit briefly. I had no such experience; the best that I had was ssparring with Bash, but it was nowhere near enouhh to prepare me for this.
I'd had to engage in combat with at least 3 different soldiers and I'd had no choice but to take their lives with the end of my sword. Some people say that killing people gets easier everytime you do it; they dont know shit. As i slowly my way through the crowd of the dead and the dying, I eventually caught eyes with Stephane Narcisse. He was the only man that I was willing to kill, so I began making my way towards him with sword in hand.
I tried to block out everything else around me as I focused on the fact thag as long as Narcisse was alive, both Mary and Lola were in danger. Before I could take a swing at him, we were bith blown off our feet as a surge of dirt threw us into the air before dropping us down again. My vision grew blurry as i tried to figure out had happened. The last thing that I saw before my world went blaxl was the sight of a massive man 'o war with large English sails. As i would learn in the days to come, Elizabeth Tudor had come to help. But not to help us or the French; only herself and her nation.
REVIEWS NEEDED AND APPRECIATED.
