I grew up the son of a knight and a maid. I stayed with my lady mother until I was five and then my father took me away. He took me to a barrack for children where I began to learn how to use weapons and how to fight. At first they were made of wood and little more than toys. From those came weighted wooden weapons and then real practice weapons.

I only got to see my mother once each week and spent the day with her before I had to return to the barrack. I seldom saw my father and the men that taught us were not gentle. Slowly my body grew and hardened as I learned harsh lessons. I was sixteen before war came and we marched out of the large castle.

I wore chain and rode a horse but I or we were not knights and not soldiers. Women and camp followers came behind us. It had been a year since I had seen my mother. She had given birth once more but to a girl. I had younger brothers that were still training like I had but no sisters.

I rode to the side and looked at the men that marched. I had seen my father but he had not even looked at me or acknowledged me. I finally swung down and began to walk to one side of a company. The men glanced at me and the sergeant growled and moved closer, “you need to ride on lad.”

I might be sixteen but I was strong and tall. I had long brown hair I wore in a braid and grey eyes men did not enjoy looking into. I looked at the sergeant, “I am fine. I will fight with these men if they would have me.”

He reached for my arm and I looked at him, “touch me and you will lose the hand.”

He missed a step and then strode t the front and the captain that commanded the company. I snorted, “a bully like most.”

I looked at the men that were whispering, “my name is Daniel Kelson. Does anyone know a good marching song?”

A minute and one man started and the rest picked it up. I sang with them but like I had learned, I watched everything around me. The captain and sergeant pulled to the side and were waiting and the men went silent. The captain leaned forward in the saddle, “leave boy.”

I smiled, “or you will do what? Tell on me? What if I demanded you face me with a blade? Or perhaps I will challenge and take your company.”

His face paled, “the king would...”

I pushed his horse and kept walking, “if you are dead he would give me the company. I will fight with these men captain or you will not lead.”

It was several moments before he spurred his horse and returned to the front. The men whispered and one raised his voice to sing. I knew I was courting trouble but after all these years they had let me out of the cage. When we made camp I unsaddled the horse and led him to the line with the others.

I took my pack and started back and saw my father headed towards me. I set the pack down away from the neat line of tents and turned and waited. My father looked angry and when he reached me it was to slap me. I brushed his open hand up and away and stepped and punched. He gasped and went to a knee as I took his air.

I slapped him, “if you ever try to touch me again I will kill you.”

He looked at me with a white face and I turned my back and went to get the bedroll on my pack. He struggled to his feet and spun and walked away. I paused and listened to his steps before I rolled out my bed and sat beside it. It was an hour before the camp followers were moving through the men whispering and giggling.

I stood and went to the cooks and got food and ate. When I returned I saw a girl in my bed. She looked frightened and determined and I stopped to look at her, “that is my bed.”

She smiled weakly and moved the blanket to show her naked body, “I can warm your bed.”

I hesitated and then knelt and stared at her before I looked into her face, “for?”

She swallowed, “food and a place to sleep?”

I gestured, “dress.”

She looked away and started to move and dress and I stood. I waited until she had her dress on and reached for her hand and turned to walk back to the cook, “I am Daniel.”

She whispered, “Katherine.”

I nodded, “you are very pretty.”

I made sure she was fed and took her to the jakes and then back to my bed. It had grown dark and I moved and sat on my bedroll with Katherine. It was a clear night and I looked up to see the stars. The only time I got to see them had been on guard. It was awhile before Katherine turned me and we kissed.

She pulled her dress up and off and laid back. I undressed and carefully folded my things before I laid beside her. I caressed and felt her body and rubbed her mound and pussy. I bent to suckle on a nipple and she groaned and shivered. Her hips lifted as I moved up to kiss her and she shifted and pulled.

I moved over her as she spread her legs and rubbed my cock in her pussy. I pressed and pushed and slowly forced it into her and she stiffened and put her arms around me. She was very tight and warm and I loved the feel. I kept kissing her as I began to grind and press. It was minutes before I pulled back and she clutched me, “ooohhhh!”

I buried my cock firmly and she shuddered as her pussy grasped and squeezed. She grinned and kissed me once more and I started to fuck her. It was not long before she was lifting her hips as my cock slid into her. She wiggled and squirmed and her warm pussy kept grasping. Several minutes and I was using firm thrusts and then held her as I buried my cock.

She stiffened and clutched me and suddenly I was gushing seed and she jerked. Her pussy kept clenching and she moaned in my mouth as I kissed her. When I was done I looked at her panting under me and pulled back to fuck her again. Her eyes widened and she grinned and hugged me.

I woke each time one of the sentries walked near. I was up and waking Katherine when the sun began to rise. I took her to the jakes and then the cooks for warm cereal. I went to get my horse and led it back and put my saddle and packs on. I gave the reins to Katherine and gave her a kiss, “see you tonight?”

She nodded and looked at the large horse and I smiled, “the bridle does not have a bit. Walk or ride on the side of the road so it can eat grass.”

She grinned and kissed me hard before she led the horse away. It was not long before the men were in ranks and marching. I walked beside them and one grinned at me, “cute girl sir.”

I blushed, “yes.”

I took a deep breath and stretched before I looked at them, “a nice song to wake the world?”

They laughed and one of the men started. We marched for a week and each night Katherine slept with me. It was the last day when the prince swung down to walk beside me, “you are making a lot of officers angry Daniel.”

I snorted as the men quieted, “why? Because I am out of the cage and will do as I wish? These are good men and I would fight with them. None have ever treated me as anything but a weapon. The teachers care not if one was injured or maimed and I will not return to their sadistic care.”

I looked at him as the men murmured, “as for the bastard that is my father ... he cares not and so I care not for him. Let him sit his horse and look the gallant fool. He no longer rules me or decides my fate.”

He smiled a little sadly, “perhaps the way of our knight training is not perfect. You are his son and trained as a knight. He did give you that.”

I laughed and shook my head, “he gave me nothing I did not earn on my own. He taught me nothing and no knight was there for any of us. Now you would say it is time I became a squire to serve such as they? I will not serve cowards that can not face their own child.”

He shook his head and turned to swing into the saddle of his horse, “you have a choice Daniel. You can fight with these men and then what? What will you do after? You have closed the door to the future your father set.”

I looked up at him and then grinned, “perhaps I will become a noble?”

He laughed and kicked his horse to get it moving. I looked at the men, “what say you noble men of war?”

They laughed and then one started a battle song. Perhaps the prince was right that I had killed my future but it was mine and not my father’s or anyone else. When we topped a rise a large army was on the other side of the valley. They were in ranks and the men went silent. I looked at the enemy and the way they stood and how they were armed.

I laughed and the men looked at me while the sergeant glared. I smiled, “they do not even have uniforms. Look at their weapons, bronze not steel. Their shields are wood and not steel.”

The men laughed and I nodded, “follow and guard my back and I will take you straight to their heart.”

They cheered and the sergeant grinned and nodded. We marched down and spread out into formations with the ranks towards the enemy. I walked forward and stood to one side of the captain who looked at me coldly. I nodded to him, “you lead and I will follow.”

He blinked before looking back and then nodding. It seemed like a long time before two men rode forward between the armies. One carried a white flag on the head of a spear. Two men left the enemy ranks and I marked where they had come from. They met in the middle and spoke before returning to the ranks.

Ten minutes and a horn blew and the captain pulled his sword. I saw the enemy archers moving forward but before they fired the horn blew again. The captain swept his sword down, “CHARGE!”

I ran with him easily and pulled my sword. The enemy yelled as they suddenly charged and I lifted my sword, “TO ME!”

I spun aside and slashed back and took a head before snapping the sword down. The soldier tried to block it but failed and the sword cut into the side of his neck. I pulled it back and yanked it free as I kicked out and broke a knee. I pulled my long knife and pushed a slashing sword up as I shoved the point of my sword into the man’s groin.

I stepped and turned and cut and blocked. It was the movements I had learned and to me it was a dance. I cut men open and stabbed them and cut their throats. I took limbs and lives as they screamed and died and the men I had marched with followed me. They were like the point of a spear and I drove it through the ranks of the common soldiers.

When I came out it was into knights and minor nobles but I did not stop or pause as I brushed lunging swords aside or up and killed them. The enemy folded as our army split theirs and they ran. They left weapons on the battlefield and dropped pieces of armor to run faster. The knights could not hold us.

I shoved my knife through a visor to kill one as he attacked one of the men. I shoved him away as I strode to the nobles, they were already climbing onto horses and turning to flee. I flipped my knife and threw and it slammed into the back of the leader. He went off the horse and the other nobles turned to come back for him.