Picture this scene happening right before your eyes. Two men on horseback charge at each other across an open field. They are wearing suits of polished steel armor that sparkles and shines in the blazing sun.
One of them is trying to protect the castle on the hill, while the other one hopes to take over the castle. All around these riders, many other men are sword-fighting. The air is filled with clashing and clanging sounds as the blade of each man’s sword strikes another’s. Finally, the razor-sharp point of one rider’s sword pierces the armor of the other knight. Badly wounded, that man topples from his horse, and falls to the ground. The victor turns away, charges at another warrior, and the battle goes on.
Let’s leave behind cars and televisions, computers and cell phones, and travel back in time almost a thousand years to Europe in the Middle Ages. During that time, knights—fighting men on horseback—protected the castles of the wealthy. Our first stop is the castle on the hill.