Tuesday, January 25, 2011

The Last Battle of the Tyrant King


I was dying. There was no way to counter it. My enemy's green eyes shone as he pulled his sword from my side. I didn't give him the satisfaction of screaming, but silently my body shook with deep, erotic pain. I fell to my knees in defeat, all strength leaving me.

~

The sun was rising behind the tall stone wall. There were only three of us. I couldn't believe they were even with me. Embry stood to my left, full in his glory. The light of the rising sun struck his long golden horn and reflected onto the ground.  He tapped one of his front feet into the ground, not out of impatience, but testing the ground. He had been with me since the beginning. I looked over into his face. This was what we had been working toward for the past five years: a chance to face the king, Lycarine, in all his glory.

~

We were still alive. I couldn't believe we were still alive. Three of us against the whole of the tyrant king's army. Lionessa looked at me from across the field. Her burgundy coat stained with the blood of the men she had killed in the last hour. I saw her sigh in relief at the sight of me still alive then she turned to block the sword of yet another foe. Her only goal today was to kill the tyrant king, but he had yet to leave his refuge on the stone wall.
I charged through another regiment that was released from the castle doors. I took out the center of them and then came in from behind. Lionessa and Aiden would take care of the ones left in the front.

~

Embry found me that day, the day my people were taken from me. I was all that was left of the race of elves. He came through the smoke and death. He found me huddled beneath a piece of rubble. His beautiful white face ushered me from my hiding place. He let me ride his back away from my old home of peace turned to death, and into a life of destruction.
I allowed the memories to flow freely; letting all the anger and hate grow for the dangerous battle that I knew lay ahead.

~

The battle seemed to stop as I knelt helpless on the ground. The only thing my ears took in was my slow, broken breath. I tried to lift my head to stare again into those shining green eyes, but I couldn't. My head fell again to my chest and my ears allowed me another sound: shrill, cruel laughter.

~

Another regiment of men was released when there were only a few left from the last. This regiment was larger. Before I began my attack I looked again up to the wall. The tyrant king had yet to come and meet us himself. His eyes reflected a slight fear for just a moment, but the rest of his body was as rigid and proud as it was in every battle I had seen him command.
Taking care to not appear idol or weary, I didn't spend much time contemplating the tyrant king as he sat aloft. I turned and charged again to a regiment of young men. Blood trickled down into my eyes as souls were lost to the edge of my horn.

~

Standing at my right side was a man I had come to love. He didn't look at me. He stared at the tyrant king with hatred etched on every inch of his face. Aiden had come to us a year earlier. I did not think that he, a human, would want to help us. It was his kind that destroyed our people. Until he came I believed all of mankind to be like that man, the man who was staring down at us from his place on the wall with contempt.

~

"Did you really think you could come back here and take the crown from me?" The tyrant king had leaned over to whisper this in my ear. He laughed again and lifted my head so that I was forced to look yet again into his eyes. "Did you think you could defeat me with only an elf and an unicorn as your company? I did not raise you well." He let go of me, but I had the strength to keep my head up this time.
He lifted his sword over his head to take my life. But the tyrant king did not expect me to have the strength to lift my own broadsword. I pushed it through his chest, with the help of the momentum he had built up for me in his killing stroke. His green eyes stared at me as I released the hilt of my sword. The tyrant king fell to the ground.

~

He wasn't there. The tyrant king no longer stood at his place along the battlements. I called out to Lionessa and Aiden. They looked at me and I had to wait only a moment to give them the signal they had been waiting for. I swished my now red tail, shifted all my weight onto my back legs and kicked into the air. My lungs filled and released a cry that had been kept captive for far too long.
Lionessa ran to Aiden's side and took over the battle he had been fighting. I charged into one last regiment. The tyrant king was finally among us, but I let him be. Lionessa and I took care of the men while Aiden walked with purpose, shoulders square, toward the tyrant king.

~

I looked again at the tyrant king as the large front doors of the citadel began to slowly open. I drew my bow and did what I could at the distance. Embry beat the ground again with his front foot. Aiden drew his broadsword from it’s sheath and they waited.
When the regiment was but a hundred yards away, I sheathed my bow and took out my longsword and shortblade. It only took another moment and it all began. Embry charged into the regiment, and Aiden and I took what he left behind.

~

I was only able to catch pieces of Aiden's battle with the tyrant king. More men kept pouring out of the citadel doors so Lionessa and I were kept quite occupied. Their battle lasted a long time. Neither able to touch the other, a dance with swords and movements so quick it was all a blur. It seemed as if the fight could go on for eternity, they were both equally skilled in swordplay. But it didn't, it couldn't. It was with a deeply beating heart that I watched the tyrant king place his sword intricately and forcibly into Aiden's side.

~

"The king is dead!" A man shouted from somewhere on the battlefield. But I could not see him. My eyes glazed over. It was done. The strength I had built up for the final stroke left my body entirely and I fell to the ground. Lionessa and Embry were by my side in an instant. Lionessa lifted my head into her arms.
"It is over." I managed to whisper, looking into her forever eyes.
"Not for you." She whispered back with a smile that betrayed the reality she knew was coming. I tried to smile at her, as my vision began to blur, than it all went black. My ears allowed me one last sound.
"NO!" was the heart broken cry that ushered me to heaven.

(April 2006)

The First Entry

I've finally joined the Blogger community. This will be one of my few post where I am saying something not premeditated or proof read a dozen times. I want this blog to focus on the creation of words. I hope you enjoy what I have to say.
Lindsey