John Michael VanProoyen

Mr. Foutz
Humanities, English
September 14, 2022
The Legend of Halt

It all began in the medieval times in the country of Aurelian, when the King’s ranger

Halt, he stood about 6’0 and was 173 pounds, one of the king’s most trusted personal advisers.

He was extremely good at the craft of a ranger and almost never missed a shot within distance

with his longbow. He was an experienced talented ranger about 29 who has proved his skill and

craft in battle. He was sent to investigate the area of the Aspianne fief in the north. The particular

area was the castle of Machira where it layed a strategic position in the mountains guarding the

pass to the neighboring enemy country of Galica. Galica was a smaller country but they had

plenty of resources and manpower to try and invade Aurelian. It was a week's travel from the

more central fief he was from where the capital of the country resided. This was the fief of

Tharsic, it was a normal sized fief but very secure and well protected, surrounded by friendly

land of the country

He took another ranger with him named Gilan, and one Royal knight named William for

extra muscle. Gilan was about 21, he was Halts apprentice before he was an official individual

ranger, he was about 5’11, well built and was 168 pounds, a good weight to be quick and agile.

He was a very talented ranger whose skill was staying hidden; he happened to be in the area

when Halt was given his assignment. William was another young protege that was very talented

at his craft, standing at 6’3 and was 227 pounds, he was a big and agile knight with natural talent.

They were his companions for this dangerous mission, with them they took 2 ranger horses, one

big battle horse and 2 pack horses.

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The ranger horses were smaller but had more stamina than the battle horse. It also had

more stamina and intelligence, an important detail about ranger horses is that it will not let you

get on without saying a code, that way it will not get stolen. Battle horses were massive horses

good for fighting, lots of strength and muscle to fight the enemy. The pack horses were just for

carrying all their supplies, such as tents, food, water and everything they will need for their trip.

After a week of travel they finally reached the castle where they were greeted by baron Arnald

and his men, it took them only one night to settle in before planning to investigate near the

border of Galica. They suspected they were starting to prepare to invade their fief, which they

could not lose because of its important position in the northern mountains to stop them from

invading Aurelian.

The following night they set out to check on the border, in the valley they saw was much

more than they anticipated, they expected to see a small raiding party, not the whole army. The

army was huge, almost 4 times the size of the whole army of Aurelian. The army had about 44

thousand prime battle horses, usually each man would have 2 horses for himself, meaning there

were about 22 thousand fully geared knights, on top of that there were 15 thousand siege

weapons such as trebuchets, battering rams, and much more. The thing that frightened them the

most was their mass amount of archers, though Aurelian had the best archers in the world, Galica

had excellent archers also, they saw about 20 thousand archers in the army, there were also about

25 thousand warriors that would attack on foot. The only thing Halt could think of was a prayer,

a prayer to Noah the god of water, to somehow create so much water that it would drown the

whole army. There was no such thing that has ever happened, but it was the only thing that was

able to stop this army from invading.

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He began to pray and he could hear the voice of Noah. “Yes my son, what do you pray

for?” he asked.

Halt began to explain where he was Noah. “There’s a massive army in the valley right

outside the border of our fief Aspianne, where we guard the border of Aurelian in the mountains,

we need your help, otherwise we will be outnumbered 4 to 1, we would suffer badly.”

Noah thinking about the situation gave Halt an offer. “I have an offer for you, I can send

a mass amount of water to drown the whole army, something that has never happened before, but

you have to give me something in return.”

Halt then thought about the offer for a moment, thinking on what he can give Noah in

return. “I have something I can give in return, but it can only happen if you drown the army, I

can give you a ranger’s oath that I will honor my word.”

Noah looked down at the army, knowing that they needed him. He continued on, “Halt

what can you offer me? I know you will honor your word so I will listen to you now.”

Halt then thought up of an offer he could give Noah, something he could not reject. “I

give you the ranger’s oath that if you drown the entire army by tomorrow night I will make sure

that the king would build a temple to honor and worship you, for you have saved us from our

enemies.”

Noah then thought about the offer, then gave Halt his answer. “I know that a ranger’s oath

is one of the most sacred oaths in Aurelian, so I'll Agree to your offer that you would build me a

temple in return for saving your nation.”

Halt was overjoyed to hear that they would be saved. “Thank you so much, our nation

will forever be in your debt, I will write a letter to the king immediately that you saved us and

that we have to make a temple for you in the capital.”

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Noah then continued while imagining how he could possibly kill the entire army. “Very

well then, tomorrow night I'll send endless amounts of rain to kill the army of Galica, I will make

sure that they never dare attack the nation of Aurelian.”

Halt then was left speechless, surprised that he was able to convince the god of water

Noah to save their nation. He then wrote a letter to the king saying that they were saved but

needed to build a temple for Noah, not knowing that the king wouldn’t approve such a thing he

sent the letter. He then got mail the next week informing him that he would be banished for a

year from the kingdom for acting on the king’s behalf without his knowledge, but he told Halt

that he is always able to work his way back up, solely for the reason that he saved Aurelian. Halt

then was enraged by his banishment but it later cooled off when he fully understood his

reasoning, over the next 10 years Halt got married, had his rank finally restored and continued

praying daily to Noah thanking him for saving their nation.