Keep #writephoto

Photo by Sue Vincent

I sit in my tower keep, watching across the wasteland waiting for Rodrick to blink, knowing full well that he is doing the same.

It is a well-known bit of wisdom that to have a strong castle makes one a little king over his surroundings. If any have the impedance to attempt to fight back, it is easy enough to retreat behind the strong walls to gather strength before doubling the attack.

The real kings on their high thrones did frown upon us little lordlings and our castles, but that didn’t’ stop me.

From my castle keep I was able to rule a wide swath of land, taking what I wanted, when I wanted.

And every day I wanted more.

Ha! My rival, Rodrick, was often a victim of my little escapades. I whittled down his estate bit by bit, taking it all for my own.

Until Rodrick, with help from the King, built his own castle just across the field from mine. Seems Rodrick once did the King a favour, and so the King, hearing rumors of my constant attacks on all who dared come within 10 miles of my castle, set Rodrick up to keep me in check.

In my fury, I doubled the size of my castle and hired a dozen mercenaries.

Rodrick doubled the size of his castle and hired 20 mercenaries.

I enslaved every person in the shire to make my castle stronger.

Rodrick freed them from me and enslaved them himself.

Our battle went on and on, turning this corner of our once beautiful county into a desert.

And still we fought on, knowing that whoever won, would be able to keep all of the land for himself. The food stopped flowing and the soldiers died, but neither of us would admit defeat!

A fight to the death!

And beyond…

A thousand years on, though long dead, we still battle from our keeps across that barren field, watching for that little weakness of our sworn enemy.

I will have Rodrick yet!

***

This bit of silliness was written for Sue Vincent’s writephoto challenge. The photo at the top of the page was provided by Sue, as was the key word, Keep.