Becoming Worse

As they were about to leave the prison and make haste to the castle, the guard suddenly returns from their lunch. Both sides made eyes contact while Arden and his guards are charging in full speed toward the door.

"Catch them!" One of the guards shouted as all of the prison guards began charging at Arden. But they were too late, they didn't get enough momentum and speed at the contact.

Most of them got pushed to the wall, and some got pushed into the wall. And just like that, the prison guard has been defeated… for a short time.

As Arden began leaving the building, the guards helped each other and began chasing after their trail. Arden and his 2 guards just continue running and didn't care about those behind them.

They ran and ran and ran, through the city, then down the pathway toward the castle, while the guards are still following closely. It was near the castle and the soldiers could be seen training in the nearby field of the castle.

"Hey! Help! Help!" Arden shouted as he kept running, and this was enough to get the attention of the soldiers. They turned around to see someone with blurry face running from something.

One of them suddenly shouted, "That's the guard from the prison! Quick, we must help the guards to get those criminals!"

The soldiers began chasing after their own lord and mistaken him as criminals. They notify the others with a shout and they began forming a human barricade in front of Arden.

…

…

With the guards behind them and his own soldiers in front of him, the situation is hopeless… But, a shout suddenly came out of nowhere, "What are you all doing! Get back to training!"

It was his infantry commander, Bryan shouting at those soldiers and dismissing the human barricade. There was nothing between him and Arden, Bryan caught a glance of Arden's face.

He shouted at the soldiers to come back, "Soldiers! Protect our lord! Get those prison guards and don't let them caught up to our lord"

There is a confusion going around the soldiers at that moment as they hear what their commander said. It was not long before someone notices and shouted at the others, "That's our lord! We need help him!"

The prison guards muttered something under their breath, "This stupid soldier is stupid, they could be fooled of a simple criminal with the face similar of the owner of this land"

They did not stop chasing Arden after hearing what those soldiers said. At this point, Arden has made it pass Bryan and is about to get into the castle with his soldiers began charging at the prison guards.

The prison guard was caught, and Arden got into his comfortable little castle. Happy ending, right?

Wrong, one of the prison guards escaped the grip of the soldiers and he somehow managed to collect all the city guards and another kind of guards related to the city and most importantly, the gang in the city.

It was 3 hours later from the chase, the gang and the guards standing in front of the castle right now. Then, a small and unmuscular man stepped forward from the crowd and shouted.

"Hey! You all are defending a criminal! He attacked my men first and escaped from the prison! Give him to me or we will siege this castle and take over it!" The man shouted as the soldiers at the field notices.

The soldiers quickly run toward the castle and enter it. They prepared for a siege that might happen. Suddenly, there are more and more people gathering for the so "peaceful" protest.

Arden is standing at the castle wall, above the gate of the castle itself, and his heart dropped to his stomach. His commander and his personal guards are standing behind him and they notice his hand slowly reaching for his heart region.

They looked at each other before feeling what Arden currently feeling right now. All that money wasted for the city population and safety, even as far as to make a wall around the city.

It was gone just by a gang that came out of nowhere and dominate the city. Arden thought to himself once again before deciding to take action, 'What should I do? Attack them or something?'

Suddenly, Mark stepped forward to the side of the castle wall. He leaned against some of the covers for arrows while supporting himself on it.

Then he shouted as loud as he can, "All of you are imbecile! It was the real lord of this castle, that city and this land! He could have been a ruler with an iron fist but no! He contributed many times and money toward the city but here you are! Bowing your head toward a group out of nowhere, attacked the king's guard and a part of nobili…"

He never finished his words. An arrow suddenly came out of nowhere and went straight to Mark. Fortunately, he notices and ducks down as fast as he could. He didn't get shot.

That arrow is like a knife cutting the already thin and weak rope between Arden and the city population. The so-called peaceful protest became a full siege of the castle, with more of 2000 civilian and 500 gang members.

Mark gritted his teeth before reaching out for something out of his pocket, it was a piece of a long tube. He directed it toward the sky, and suddenly something came out of nowhere and blew up in the sky.

He did a rather small evil smile before going behind Arden beside Aric. The thing that blew up in the sky caught everyone's attention, but no one really knows what it was.

Arden looked at the sky once again before he thought to himself as the people of the city began sieging the castle, 'This is what I must do, let the civilians get killed, I showed them kindness and they respond to it with something bad, if they want me to rule with an iron fist, I will do it from now'

Ladders and weapons came out of nowhere from the attacking side. Arden looked at this and shouted to his soldiers, "We need to do what we must do, defend this place! Kill whoever you thought is a traitor!"

The soldier responded with, "Will do, sir!" and the archers at the castle wall began releasing volleys of arrows. Killing the unarmoured attackers of the castle, but their number is still too big.

The attackers have reached the foot castle wall and place the ladders. They began climbing it. Some of them didn't succeed, and some did manage to reach the castle wall only to be cut down by the infantry.

It took a long time for Arden's side to take any casualties. He shouted at his troops once again, "Take the injured inside the keep! Keep defending!"

He stand firm at his place as the siege rages on, more and more people came from the city to help the attackers. Arden thought to himself as he saw how many people are there, 'It seems that 1/10 of the city population is here... That's about 10 thousand people, I'm not sure if I can defend this place and I hope a reinforcement came out of nowhere!'

As he finished his thought, his commander Rob said to him, "Sir, I suggest you get into the keep now, we can defend this place as long as we can, but if we lost you, the morale will surely go down!"

Arden looked at him before saying, "No, I will stay here, let them see their own lord that they wanted to kill for the last time before our soldiers cut them down and end their life at this place"

The sieges continue, Arden could see more and more of his man being carried toward the keep of the castle. The other soldiers didn't care about this and continue defending the castle on behalf of their lord.

They cut out as many as he could and there was just a little reinforcement coming from the city at this moment. The sieges rages on for hours as the civilian mixed with the gang members tried to take the castle.

There were many attempts of some people from the attacker side began reaching for the castle gate and open it but they always fail. Arden looked at his troops before asking his commander.

"What is the state of our troops?" He said while his face is still directed to the front. His commander gives their report to Bryan, and he proceeds to give it to Arden.

"Sir, they have injured 150 of our troops and killed a little over 5. The one that is still defending is 130 from the infantry, 90 archers and 100 of our Acropolos ready on their horseback," Arden smiled lightly upon hearing this as the people that siege the place began thinning out.

The sky is already dark, and the attackers decided to make a tent and continue tomorrow…

After a cold and dark night, the attackers continued at dawn. Arden and his soldiers slept at the wall and hear about the loud shouting from the attackers, they quickly get up and position their self at the wall.

But then, somebody came to Arden and quickly informed him that, "Sir! Someone managed to sabotage the castle gate! You need to go to the keep and we will make out the last stand there!"

He nodded and complied, and in a matter of minutes; he is at the keep. His infantry and cavalry defended the lower ground while his archers position their self in the windows.

The attackers flooded the castle like a tsunami, and it could be said hopelessly for the defending side. Arden looked from his bedroom while the attackers began destroying all things inside the castle.