Cavalier's Fate: The Knight of Prague

By Mike Hoover

On a September evening, two Royalist soldiers whose bodies testified their allegiance to a dying cause - for they were all wounds, grime and fraying doublets - had just escaped being crushed by several horses. Their riders, from the infamous regiment, the Ironsides , were fast bringing the English Civil War to its close, and their faces, if one could see them through a fence of triple bars, would not have told any likelihood of relent. Nor did they need the plate-steel added to their backs to make them look terrifying and sublime by turns. But the two fugitives, against whom they seemed to bear some personal malice, now looked to the farthest end of a field, where a forest, dim but still visible, was beckoning them to safe asylum. The battlefield, a half mile behind in the distance, was glistening with rain, and the desolate land in front was thick with a cloud of smoke, which called to mind the first breath wafted over creation. As there is always some embarrassment in presenting yourself disfigured, whether it be to the opposite sex or the grave, regardless of whether or not the reason is very gallant and solemn, this was in some ways a happy state of affairs; and the men began running all the faster. Our scene is the battle of Worcester -the year, 1651. "Is that a house, or do my eyes deceive me? A pile of stones in this part of the country is more like to be a tomb. Perhaps it shall be our own," said Davie, who, despite the blood streaming down his cheek and his shirt torn to shreds, was smiling at their good fortune. "Keep running and we shall know soon," said Miguel; "yet my lungs are near bursting, my throat parched - look down on me, old man," he cried, rolling his eyes heavenward as he paused to catch his breath, "Do I mortify your pride now, father?" "On about that man again! Bury him, I say, and coax yourself from this unnatural worship - I know not how. The antidote must be near at hand." Miguel's reply was to throw a glance behind him and laugh that a hill had hidden the battlefield. "His siege of Bergen, his Breda, his Walhof!" he growled, "they haunt my steps as the full sunlight on Las Bardenas!" "See that we reach that house there and pour your sorrows out to the mistress who meets us with a glass of Canary!" cried Davie, somewhat ahead, and not a little saddened by these outpourings. "Yes, she too will be a roundhead, and rather see me hanged! What do you say to that?" "Only live, as you always have, robbing sleep from beautiful eyes, and be happy, I beg of you." " He would not have it so."

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0F5X1J8GD
• ISBN13: 9798280929579
• Release Date: April 2025
• Publisher: Independently published
• Length: 218 Pages
• Dimensions: 7.8" x 0.6" x 5.1"