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A Knight's Lust :: Prologue |
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A dead man's dream was all that kept him standing there, overlooking that field of muddy, bleeding men and broken armor and blades. A fool's dream, perhaps, as he found himself beginning to believe as more of those naive clerics dressed in white robes rushed passed his frozen form. More often than not they were closing the eyes of the dead rather than bringing the living back to camp. Throughout the battle he hadn't given a second thought to the lives lost, caught up in simply keeping his own. During the screams of rage, the waves of infantry thrown at them...somewhere he had forgotten the purpose of the battle completely, and it had become a lust to spill the blood of the enemy, to hear their dying screams...to simply kill and then kill some more.
"It all comes down to the basics, kill or be killed...you knew what this was about." A soft voice broke through his reverie and a small smile played on his lips. It was the only acolyte he could ever tolerate, and she was also his lover and personal healer. he felt her hand rest on his shoulder, so distant since he still wore the armor.
"Yes..I did know." he replied softly, turning to her.
He did not expect, what happened next. As soon as he was facing her fully, a smile on his lips and in his eyes, her smile quickly changed from one of comfort and love to a choking cough, bright red blood spurting from between her lips, splashing his armor and face with small red flecks. her eyes rolled back and her body slumped and all he could do was stare, open mouthed as she slid off a glinting sword, held by the one who had thrust it through her from behind. For a second everything seemed still, his heart hammered in his chest, his blood pounding through his veins and brain and with a fierce roar, much like that of an enraged and wounded animal, he sprang over her body at her attacker. He could not remember pulling the sword from it's sheath, but it was there in his hands, carrying in a powerful and steady arc as he crashed down on the assailant.
The slayer stepped back quickly, catching his blade on her horizontal one. Gritting her teeth, she was forced to give ground as his full weight and strength behind the blow was too much. Stepping back more, she let him swing twice more before slapping his blade farther out and turning inward, under his guard. She felt satisfaction when her blade tore through underneath his arm, through a hole already rent in the chain mail. It was short lived as his blade swung around, knocking her forward and her helmet clear. She was lucky it hadn't cleaved her skull.
As she fell forward into the muddy earth he stood above her, straddling her with his feet, sword raised high to come down again in a killing blow. She looked over her shoulder, the dark, glossy hair falling form it's tight knot and she revealed her face to him the bringer of her death. Unexpectedly, it bought her a second of time, he stood transfixed in hesitation. A woman?! Not only a woman, but the princess of the elves?! The opportunity was too grand! Sweet would be his revenge!
Before his blow finished falling, she used her leg and plate armored boot to send him flying forward, off balance and missing her. She rolled from under his legs and quickly straddled his back, bringing her sword up, point pressed to the back of his skull. "This is for--"
The camp suddenly exploded in flames. There was a giant roar surrounding it and the tents holding prisoners and the wounded were aflame. The acolytes screamed and ran between fires, throwing water on them, only to be cut down by shadows on horses, cloaked figures who stampeded through. All of this happened in only seconds as the two had battled, and now the elven princess felt herself lifted free from her near-kill and into the lap of one of the cloaked riders. A cloak was thrown over her to hide her from view as she was taken away from the mud, blood and flames.
He panted there, everything having happened so fast that he was dazed. he pulled himself up and on his hands and knees he crawled to the body of his beloved, pulling her close. tears blinded his vision, the shadows and fires blurring. He screamed after the fleeing horsemen, screamed with every fiber in his body. Her blood would be his!
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