Warhammer fantasy

[Noisysteve]

The door to the great hall thundered open as the dishevelled group entered. The duke looked up bored from his meal as a shapeless sack was thrown bodily across the floor.
"What do you have there cousin?"
" We found a survivor , My Lord, from your Nephews host"
The sack moaned and slowly sat up, revealing itself as a dirty, pale man, eyes wide in terror.
The Duke licked the grease from his fingers and slowly pushed his chair backwards as he stood. Eyes never leaving the figure on the floor, he casually walked over, and crouched down in front of the man. he reached forward and tenderly raised the mans chin, until he was looking directly at him.
The gaze that was returned was full of terror and the recollection of a visit to Hell itself.
" You're safe now ", his voice barely above a whisper, " Tell me, what happened?"
The mans lower lip quivered, tears welling up in his eyes, " dead, all dead, so quick, so quick" he sobbed
The Duke waited patiently before asking" The Knights?, what happened to the Knights?"
the mans gaze wandered, before returning to the Dukes face.
" Dead my Lord, slain without mercy, all dead"
" And the Count? What happened to my Cousin?"
" Cut down, the Knights rallied, before falling one by one, all dead my Lord, all dead, all dead"
The Duke patted the man on the shoulder as he stood, looking up at the hushed crowd that had watched the exchange.
" Albert, see that this man gets a hot meal and a bed for tonight, Hubert send messengers to the King and the neighbouring provences"
" saying what , My Lord?"
" Tell them we are going to war"