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ing. They had come to invoke justice, or in my eyes, excused slaughter.
Sophia was ashen, her eyes wide with fear. Her rosy cheeks had been drained of color. I pushed her behind me and examined my hands. Nine rings remained on my warrior hands. I clenched my fist as three rings melted to form the web work of my armor. The rest followed, responding to ages of repetition. A heavy, black ring became my trusted sword. Something I had never wished to see again. But there it was, in my hand, prepared to mutilate flesh.
The band of Midrial locked in on me. I held Sophia with my left arm tightly behind my frame. She was shivering.
Blooming Tree
Jack Cotton‘ 14
I could tell the leader by the way he walked. I still remembered his movements, even though I had not seen him for a decade. His name was EldrinGalvar, captain of the Midrial. I had suspected he would inherit my position as Szlauhter after my desertion.
He was the first to advance, moving with a solid grace like the movement of a wolf.
“ Andrin Yborri Corlov, I do hope you remember me.” How could I forget? I had saved his life. I did not answer, though.
“ We’ ve come to take you in, to face the justice of the Yaldorin.” I could not see his face beneath the armored plate.“ Come quietly and nobody else has to get hurt.”
I spoke up, then, feeling the fire return to my face.“ So, this is what you would do? Harm civilians to get to me? When did the honor of the Midrial fade, when you would harm your own people to touch a criminal? But I guess there never was any. I realize that now. We were always brutes, slaying the enemy and the innocent, mindless with the stench of blood.” He paused in his steps. The others moved in beside him, forming a semicircle.“ What happened, Andrin?” He returned.“ Why did you abandon your people?”
I had thought on this far too often to not speak.“ Because I realized I wasn’ t helping anybody by fighting. Why fight, when nothing will change? I asked myself what I was fighting for and never found an answer.”“ You fought for your people! To win the war against the Naebrythyl and keep them from hurting anyone else!”
“ At what cost? We would have run our enemy into the soil and still be searching for victory. Too many lives, Galvor. Too much death.”“ So you’ re weak, then.”“ No, I am strong.” I said. The Midrial drew their blades.“ Come, Andrin, surrender with your dignity intact.” Sophia stiffened behind me.“ No,” she began, her voice broken.“ Don’ t go, don’ t-”“ Kill her!” Galvor shouted. Before I could react, half a dozen warriors leapt in and swung. I fought harder than I had ever fought. I had to protect her, for she had saved me. Sophia screamed but was unharmed. Two heads dropped to the ground as I swung my dark blade. My sword worked with the same skill that had kept me alive through a century of war. Like flashes of lighting, it struck and parried with a rhythm too fast to see. I felled two more, barely noticing the pools of blood gathering around their chests.
More leapt into the confusion. I kept them at bay, trying to protect the only one who could see such beauty in such a tattered world.
But I could not beat the odds. I knew it before I saw, how she fell with her gown dressed in red streaks, her eyes cold and distant. Time gave me the curse of watching her fall, as Galvor’ s blade dripped red drops of her blood.
I killed him then, him and the rest of his warriors. All twenty four of them, dead in the courtyard. Fire returned to my mind as I lifted my sword from Eldrin Galvor’ s split body. I was tired, but my heart beat like a thousand drums, strong as thunder. I turned to see the survivors. The people of Coradona stared in fear as I, the respected townsman Andrin Corlov, rose from the carnage, astonished how the quiet man could fight with such rage. But they didn’ t know me. They had not seen what I had. As my armor reformed into the nine heavy rings on my fingers, the smells hit me with a strong blast. Roses and blood.
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