The Last Night at Brackenfels Keep

"Are suggesting we simply surrender?", Finn shouted. The armoured man on the other side of the table audibly took in air. He was the castle's captain of guards, Sir Vidis. His face was hard to see in the dim candlelight, but Finn could tell that he was serious. With a stern face, he replied: "Yes, young lord. The situation is desp—" "No!", Finn interrupted. There was no way he would give up Brackenfels so easily. He was about to object further but he was cut off. "Enough!", demanded his father, Egor, Duke of Brackenfels, as he set down his cup loudly. The room lay quiet for a few seconds. Only the fire crackled quietly in the chimney. The map on the table between them rustled in the wind blowing through the narrow windows of this small room in the upper part of the keep. Then, the Duke raised his voice again: "You are forgetting your manners, Finn. Hear this man out. And you, Sir Vidis, explain yourself."
"Of course, Your Grace," the knight continued with a light bow: "We have been cut off from the rest of the world. Our enemies are right outside of our keep's gates and it is unlikely that we will get help." Finn rolled his eyes. He never imagined the man who once taught him to fight to be such a coward. "The siege has only lasted for three days, good Sir. Three Days! And you are already losing your calm? Brackenfels isn't known as the stronghold in the north, because our ancestors gave up so easily! Our Northguard is still somewhere out there and Sir Moldof is a capable leader and admiral. He will come to our rescue. Until then, our food reserves will suffice." Turning to his father he added: "As you see, there is no need to surrender yet." Finn took a sip of his spiced wine. His father had nodded slightly when on the mention of the family's history, but he also still seemed displeased with Finn's tone. Nevertheless, this should have settled the argument. Except it didn't. He tried his best to keep his calm when Sir Vidis continued to address his father.
"We might not have that time, Your Grace. May I remind You of the last two nights?" Finn leaned back. He already knew what the knight would say next. After all, all of them had been there. Yet, he let the man continue. "Only two days ago, right in the first night of the siege, someone opened the northern gate and let our enemies in. They killed a fourth of Your men before we even noticed. Last night, it was the same. They breached the second wall because someone betrayed us. Half of Your remaining soldiers died. What makes You think this night will be different? We have no further walls to retreat to. This here is all we have." With the last words, Sir Vidis gestured at the thick walls around them. Finn immediately countered: "What makes you think it will? Only our strongest and most loyal followers are with us in the keep." He noticed his father shifting in his chair and getting increasingly nervous as the discussion was continuing on. This was a bad sign. He knew his father, and this meant he was starting to get doubts.
"Even the most loyal men will falter when their Duke is accused of praying to the Tyrant," Sir Vidis explained while turning to Egor. As their eyes met, the tension in the room rose to an almost unbearable level. Finn quickly interjected: "You can't blame that on my father! Those are lies spread by our enemies to disguise their lust for power as a noble cause. Everyone in the keep knows him. They wouldn't believe that!" The knight's eyes still rested on the Duke. "Indeed, everyone would know those are lies," Sir Vidis chuckled. Then his eyes turned to slits: "Or aren't they?" Finn wondered if their captain of the guard had gone completely crazy. "How dare you?", he voiced his indignation as he jumped to his feet and leaned forward, his hands resting on the table. He waited for his father to scold that man for his preposterous behaviour. Instead, he looked somehow defeated. The Duke admitted: "It is true. We have a fool for a king who is only interested in the matters in the south. He hasn't even visited Brackenfels once since the beginning of his reign. Without his support, I had to look elsewhere to keep us strong." Finn looked at him in disbelief. He could not imagine his father doing what he just admitted. How could he hide this in all those years? Finn wanted to ask him, but there was no time as Sir Vidis pressed on: "Then you know you only have one option. If You surrender and confess Your sins, they might spare Your life."
The three cups shattered and the wine splashed all over the floor as Finn knocked over the table angrily. He stared at the knight and pointed out the window: "The army out there flies the banners of our own vassals who have betrayed their oath in coming here armed. If even I didn't know of this, how could they? If anything, they had a good guess. I refuse to reward them for that!" Sir Vidis didn't even bother looking at the young lord. He set the table back on its feet and placed a feather and a sheet of parchment in front of his Duke. "You have to know when you have lost." Finn wasn't sure whether he was addressing him or his father. Either way, he turned away defeated to look out of the window. He did not want to see this disgrace.
In the dark outside, he saw the city of Brackenfels beneath him. The moon was new, but the starlight was enough to tell it was in a despicable shape. All flags had been torn down. The temple of the Knight, where the attackers had first been spotted behind the walls had been set on fire. Some of its wooden beams still smouldered in a faint red glow. Some homes around it had also caught fire and now lay in ruins. Further inward, behind the second wall, was the new encampment of the attackers. Finn glanced over their banners. He could clearly see the silver diamond of Bogholm and the silver and blue stripes of Halfoss. Somewhere between them were a few tents with the silver and gold banner of the Inquisition. Other, lesser noblemen had also joined the effort, but Finn deemed none of them important or intelligent enough to organize a coup. All of this felt so wrong and partly surreal. While he heard his father behind him formulate the terms of surrender, Finn's eyes wandered back to the temple. How ironic, that those who claimed to fight for the good—who had even coined their alliance the "Guardians of Faith"—had burned down a temple. As he looked at its remains, Finn had a sudden realization and turned around.
"Do you consider yourself a loyal follower of my father?" Sir Vidis raised his head from the parchment and looked at Finn with irritation. "I beg Your pardon?" Finn stepped closer and explained: "You said even the most loyal man falter when their lord prays to the Tyrant. Did you falter?" The knight lowered his eyes back on the parchment and shook his head lightly. He replied in a deliberately calm voice: "I am still here, am I not?" With a contemptuous snort, Finn grabbed him by his shoulders: "Then what about the northern gate?" The knight still didn't understand. Finn violently pushed him back against the wall. He tried to resist but couldn't. Egor had also risen from his chair and wanted to stop him, but he was too slow. "Your men only spotted the attackers at the temple. At that time, half the city was already taken. How do you know it was the northern gate that they used?" The knight's face went pale and he began to stutter: "I... err... I...". Finn slapped him with the back of his hand, knocking him prone. He spat: "Spare me your excuses, traitor!" Then, he stepped aside and turned to his father: "I leave him at your mercy."
The Duke tore apart the parchment he had used to draft his conditions of surrender. He crumpled it and threw it on the floor before he approached Sir Vidis sword in hand. The knight still lay on the floor like a pitiful insect. "I'm sure you know the punishment for treason you set up," stated Egor as he raised his sword. He thrust it right between two plates of the traitor's armour. The knight cried in pain. Blood erupted from his wound as his Lord pulled back the sword again. Finn kneeled down beside him looked at the dying man with a satisfied smile: "You have to know when you have lost."
Sir Vidis coughed up blood. Fighting the inevitable, he tried to speak, but it was more a death rattle with blood spilling out of his mouth. "You... You are... too late. The postern is... is wide open. The guards... are fast asleep." Then he collapsed motionlessly as the last spirits of life left his body. Finn's smile froze.
A shout disrupted the quiet: "To arms!" They could hear the clinging of metal somewhere below them. A fight had broken out. Panicked, Finn looked to his father and asked: "What do we do now? Fight?" The Duke had a strange, yet determined, look on his face as he shook his head and replied: "No. Run to the library. Take the secret tunnel to the harbour. Safe yourself. I will keep them busy." Finn hesitated as he realized this might be the last time he'd see his father. He suppressed tears and tried to shake away that thought. "Run!" his father affirmed. The noise of the fight grew louder. They were getting closer. Finn took a last look at the man he had known his entire life. How could he simply leave him here? He memorized his face. The calm green eyes. The thinning curly hair. The blue silken robe he wore for official occasions. Everything. A door crashed somewhere down the corridor. "Now!" commanded the Duke. Only now did Finn turn around and hurry out the door on the opposite side of the room. He did not look back as he heard another door being kicked in.
Ten minutes later Finn was in a small boat rowing out into the dark sea. He glanced up at the castle that once was his home. The banners were set ablaze. Dead bodies were being hung on the wall. And then and there, he swore an oath. He would come back. He would take the castle. His father will not have sacrificed himself in vain.