Knightfall

  Under the Snail’s Banner  I Baldwin kicked out the fire and pulled his horse under the gatehouse. Rain pelted his armor and washed into his eyes. Thunder shook the mountains under his feet as storm clouds poured and the dragons in the distance bathed in its shower. The promise he made lingered on his lips. He crawled in through a gap where a stained glass mural once was. The tapestries had rotten to green strands. Animals made homes where grass plumed from the fractures in the floor. Large pools sat stagnant where once noble warlords gathered. Baldwin listened to the clink of his armor echo against the high ceiling. He maintained the procedure he was trained to follow a century ago. Visor down. Spear on his shoulder. Emblem of the warrior snail facing the lady of the altar where he made his oath. He pressed a witch's stone against his eye. A marble box appeared on the altar. He marched down the aisle. He passed pillars and broken weapons. Skeletons of the temple's loyal serv...