The Stronghold

“It hissed as it cut the air. Thell could not see it well. But he felt it. A wicked point flying at speed toward his son’s head. The bolt flew in a flat arc, higher first, then descending. It hit the apple and split it in two. The bolt flew on and dug itself into the ground about the same time the halves of the apple touched the ground.”

Altdorf, November 1307 and Gessler would have obedience. He hung his hat on the pole at the center of the square, the newly constructed fortifications looming over the populace. Every citizen was ordered to pass the pole and bow as they did so, proving their allegiance, their serfdom. But one man would not bow, would not scrape, would not bend—William Thell. In that moment a legend was born, and a nation found its courage and its honor.