Lorenzo of Rampert
By: JonThe kingdom of Rampert was and still is (even though it is now in
ruins), a wonderful town during the medieval era in Europe. It's hills
were filled with flowers and it's townsfolk kind. Rampert was a perfect
trading ground and had a church that no kingdom could compare to for the
ages. The weather had sunny summers and kind winters. It grew
excellent crops and right in the center of all the action, a castle with the
rightful name "Justice". The castles shape proved to be a perfect circle
apart from the four towers placed on a 90 degrees axis and a large gate
house. The kingdom of Rampert was truly a wonderful place. Every year
during their summers, Rampert would hold a jousting tournament where
every competitor would bet a portion of their kingdoms land. Rampert's
winning man was an individual with the name of Sir Lorenzo, a brave man
who was not afraid of new challenges. On this day it was truly joyous and
festive.
It was a hot summer day in Rampert, and thick dust spiraled around
the large oval tournament area where it gleamed under the hot sun. The
doors to the arena opened and out stepped a silver man in shining armor.
He kicked the soft golden brown horse with his metallic foot, making him
lunge forward when the animal ran. The man in the silver armor lifted a
huge sword over his head and brought it back down into an 180 degree
angle. Right across the dirt covered floor of the sweltering arena,
appeared another silver man almost mirroring the first. Both were ready
and in position. A dashing of hoof steps started the tournament of these
shinning marvels. Closer and closer they approached, gaining speed every
step. The first man clashed his giant sword into the chest of the other
man. The impact of the sword hitting the man's chest knocked the victim
off his horse and with a slam of metal, he hit the ground not able to move.
The other man ripped off his helmet and waved to his audience of people
that was awaiting that very moment. Four kids entered into the dusty
ring to relieve the fallen man of some of his weight by helping him up.
"I must say that was one of Lorenzo's best ones!" called out a
middle aged man with a bushy white beard, strong face and blue bead eyes.
He had a golden crown with jewels embedded into it that perched over his
head.
"Hey, Lorenzo! Fine run there!" the man called out to the silver
armored thing out in the arena.
"Thank you King Bertrand!" Lorenzo called back while bowing
towards the king and removing his helmet. He revealed a man with the
face of a lion but the heart of a lamb. He shook his brownish hair free of
seat and wiped his brown where he had a small sized moustache growing.
Lorenzo was a moderate built man with wide shoulders and strone arms.
"Really Bertrand, you shouldn't just call out bringing attention to
yourself," said Queen Adell who was risking saying that directly to her
husband the mighty King Bertrand.
"Don't tell me what to do Adell", bellowed the King. Snapping his
mood quickly he glanced at this son, Prince Pepin who was now starring at
his father.
"Well, Pepin, would you like to meet the great Sir Lorenzo?"
Not risking saying no, and not wanting to say no, the '14 year old
Pepin immediately responded with a "yes!"
The king pointed to a man sitting near him and told him to take his
son Pepin to see Sir Lorenzo. From there the man escorted the prince
down to the a tent just outside the arena where Sir Lorenzo was just
getting his final piece of armor removed.
"This·is fine," Pepin said while gesturing with his hand that the mar
could go. "Thank you!" he called after him.
"Well, who do we have here?" questioned Sir Lorenzo getting up
from a chair.
"It is me, Prince Pepin," responded Pepin.
"Ah, Prince Pepin. How would you like a short lesson in jousting?"
asked the Knight.
"It would give me honor to learn from you, sir Lorenzo," said
Pepin, bowing a bit. He then was led out of the tent with Lorenzo
saying,
"Off to the practice area to make Pepin a real knight someday!""Sire! Sire! Enemy troops have been spotted by our watchmen from
the east wall!" called a servant to the King who was resting on his throne.
"Quiet you! sent a messenger to their camp."
"We already have sire. They returned the body dead just outside our
gate house wall this morning." replied the servant. "They mean hostile."
"Ready all troops and get all food in storage," said the king in a
more serious tone now.
"Yes sire," the servant responded heading off to break the news.Three days later, the great war broke. Everyone who could fight,
fought in it. The Kingdom of Rampert was starving by the thirtieth day of
fighting. Finally by the forty-second day, they could get a count on the
enemy's men...
"Sire, we have finally got a man count. Their men number eight
hundred and forty three, and we have one hundred and fifty," the servants
voice trailed off from there.
The King slammed his fist on his throne.
"Well, we will have to get more, won't we!" yelled the King driving
the servant out of the room."Claassh!"
Down went another one of Rampert's men. This one right next to Sir
Lorenzo who decided to fight. Lorenzo pulled back his bow and shot an
enemy right between the eyes, The man died on the spot. Lorenzo shifted
sides and shot a group that was huddling together.
As Lorenzo was firing arrows, a siege tower approached opposite to
Lorenzo. The tower glided up against the wall killing everyone on that
side. The troops on the tower jumped on to the wall and started shooting
arrows at everyone in sight. One archer pulled his bowstring tight at the
still unawares Lorenzo. The archer let the arrow loose. It glided through
the air and embedded itself right into Lorenzo's spinal cord, crippling him
to the ground. At the same time, he dropped all his arrows over the side of
the wall onto the unsuspecting leader of the battering ram. The ram sped
off course into a weak wall. The wall crumpled under it and collapsed
right onto the army. Lorenzos unconscious body falling, falling, falling
into a lucky hay cart where he lay buried in soft hay.A few days later, light came into Lorenzo's eyes welcoming him
back to the world. He tried to lift himself up but found he could not move
his legs. Lifting himself up with his arms, he took in his surroundings.
"Geez!" he said.
He was in a newly reformed village on the west wall of the castle.
Using almost all his strength, he pulled himself from the battered wagon
and drug himself to a bush and slept for the time being, hoping that his
crippled legs would be able to move by morning."Sir, sir, wake up!"
A man started shaking Lorenzo awaking him from his sleep in the
bushes. He was a short skinny man with a smalt nose and large blue eyes.
Black hair drooped over his eyes and a brown vest and pants covered his
body. His arms and hands so skinny it looked like they would fall off, but
they did not.
"What, what?" called out Lorenzo in a crispy voice, still half asleep.
"You're Sir Lorenzo, right? I mean, you have to be. You're one of a
kind!" cried the man who grabbed him and shook him, arousing him from
his drowsy sleep.
"Of course I'm him, who do you think I'd be, the King?" said Lorenzo,
lifting his torso up with his arms and taking a view.
"You look lost, let me take you to my home," replied the stranger.
Lorenzo tried getting up, but realized that indeed he was crippled.
"Look, I'm crippled from the waist down, could you please help me?"
asked Lorenzo.
"Sure," replied the stranger who later revealed himself as Rollo.
At Rollo's dwelling, Lorenzo was fed and washed up. He stayed there
for a couple of days resting up. In turn for Rollo's very kind hospitality,
Lorenzo taught Rollo some of the basics of being a knight from the
coaches bench, and how to properly held and use a sword. They grew very
tight friends in those few days. Then one night things changed."Crash!" The door of Rollo's house collapsed down under the weight
of a man banging it down. Lorenzo heard the person earlier and had hidden
behind a cast iron stove.
"There's the guy who's been stealing food!" yelled the guy to
another person who just came in the door.
"I got just the thing he wants next," said the first man who was
now towering above the kind, gentle polio who hadn't noticed anything
yet. Just then the man thrust a knife into polio's heart. polio didn't have
a single change to live, and didn't even know the men who were in his
house. That was one thing Lorenzo never got to teach him. Immediately
the men left without a single glance at the now dead polio who had blood
spreading about his deadly wound.
Lorenzo got up from behind the stove, pulling himself up and stuffed
a bag full of food before waving a good-bye to his short-lived friend. He
pulled himself out the door, not wanting to be mistaken by the men who
had taken a wonderful man's life away. Out in the dusty streets again
Lorenzo gazed out upon his old but temporary home he had stayed in. then
he started dragging himself along the road.
The early morning sun rose over the horizon which to almost
everyone in Rampert was a wonderful day. Except for Lorenzo, for he was
truly tired of dragging himself around. During the day he dared not go out
in the streets for fear of being trampled over. So for the day, he hung
around in small spaces where not as many people went. As night
approached, he moved from his spot and started to carry himself back into
the street. His gaze turned toward the castle Justice which now was not
too far from him. For really no reason, he pulled himself to the castle
door and peeked through a crack into the castle where night had overtaken
it."Hey! You there! What are you doing down there on the ground!"
yelled a man (who was obviously a castle guard), from behind Lorenzo. He
paced up to him and asked a harsh sounding question.
"What's your name man!" he asked now, much closer to Lorenzo.
"My name is Sir Lorenzo," responded Lorenzo who stuttered a bit
while saying it.
"HA, ha! You impostor. Lorenzo was killed in the great war! You
must have got hit by one too many rocks on that there castle wall. " The
guard pointed to the wall that Lorenzo had fallen from and as Lorenzo
could see had already.
"You probably just got an arrow jammed into your head then!" yelled
the guard who then broke out into hysterical laughter.
Lorenzo thrust himself at the knight and jabbed him with a small
knife he had gotten from Rollo. But the guard was stronger and had the
advantage of legs. He grabbed Lorenzo and started dragging him off to the
castle while saying...
"It's off the dungeon for you!"
With that Lorenzo was off to the rat stricken dungeon of Rampert."There you go, you crippled street man!" yelled the guard who had
just thrown Lorenzo into the dungeon. He shut and locked the door.
"That'll teach you to mess with one of Rampert's guards!". He then
threw both his hands onto the bars and pressed his face against them and
said:
"Hope the rats get you. In your case, you better hope so or you'll
face me!" With that the guard walked away and with the exception of his
footsteps and rat squeals, it was entire quietness."What news have we got today servant?" asked the King.
"Well, King Pepin, one of our guards was attacked by a crippled man
and thrown in the dungeon. That's about all", replied the servant bowing.
King Pepin got up from his gold throne.
"I would like to see this guard," asked the King of the servant.
"Right away sir!" responded the servant and he rushed off to do the
Kings bidding.
Before long the servant was back with the guard who bowed before
the King.
"Guard, why did the man that attacked you last night attack you?"
"He said that he was Sir Lorenzo so I..."
"Enough! Bring me the man!"
"Yes my Lord", said the guard before rushing out the door.
Soon he returned with the man from the dungeon. The guard brought
the man before the King.
"Is this the man who attacked you guard?"
"Yes", he responded.
"And you say..." said the King nodding to the man, "That you are Sir
Lorenzo", "Correct?"
Lorenzo answered, "Yes my Lord."
King Pepin walked down from his throne to look at the man. A smile
broke over his face. "Lorenzo! It's You!" cried the King with excitement.
"Tis' I, my Lord," called Lorenzo.
"What happened to you?" asked Pepin, who sat back down into his
throne.
"I was crippled in the great war, and got here. Why are you King
though my Lord? What happened to your father, King Bertrand?"
questioned Lorenzo.
"Killed in the war by a falling arrow", said King Pepin. "It was a
miracle but we won the war on account of that falling wall", Pepin sighed.
"It was all luck that most their men were on that side." He then woke up
from his trance.
"Whose idea was it to build the temporary town?" questioned
Lorenzo.
"Oh, that was my idea. My father would have scorned me for that,
my mother still does."
"Well, a good one it was my Lord," replied Lorenzo. "If it weren't
for that I might not have made it", Lorenzo drifted off from there.
"So, where are you going to live? You can't joust" said Pepin.
"Yes, I know." said Lorenzo.
And in the middle of what Lorenzo was saying, the King got an idea.
"No disrespect to your honor Lorenzo, but the only place I could offer
you to live is a plot of land you won on your last joust. It has a small
house and field", said the King.
"Yes, thank you my King. May your crops and castle always be
blessed" thanked Lorenzo who tried bowing.
"Very well, i will have one of my men help you to the place. Good
luck to you!"
"And to you too! called Lorenzo to the kind King Pepin. He was
escorted out the door to his land.
In this new land, he raised many crops, and invented a wheeled chair
for him to move around in. Thus he became a slight higher of a rank and
got a little more support that he deserved. Truly he was a great warrior
and knight for all the conquest he had gone through even to get a lower
rank that he ever might have believed he would. But despite all this he
managed through hardships to finally when he was of old age a very
respectable man. One of Rampert's definite true heroes.