Together We Kneel
Mercutios Ryn, Captain of the Royal Guard of Annazeth, raised his sword up high, the rare mirrored steel glistening with the light emanating from the highest pillars of the Diamond City. A red sun hung menacingly in the sky, its beams ice cold unlike what their color suggested. At twenty-five, he was the youngest officer to hold such a prestigious position, an honor he would have gladly declined if it meant his predecessors—the last one his father—were still among the ranks of the living. His white and silver armor with the crest of the Kingdom of Careth emblazoned at the front and the back was polished to a sheen, a luminous beacon to lighten up the soldier’s mood now that their final hour drew nigh.
Not much for speeches for he didn’t consider himself worthy of the gift of the word, nonetheless he chose to address everyone present, hoping that by some divine intervention, his brass tongue produced gold.
“Men,” he began, “proud defenders of this kingdom and all that is good in this world. The enemy marches as I speak, a foul horde of monsters and undead at the service of the Witch-Queen. Zarn-Gha had its eyes on us for far too long and I’ve always known this day would come but, like you, I never expected it to be in my lifetime. I’ve heard the same stories as you did as a child, the scary tales of souls left to burn in the fiery pits beyond Mount Uhr. I never believed them to be true until I saw it happen with my very own eyes in the Battle of Eagle’s Pass. This foe we’re up against wants not just our lives but the power over our deaths, too. Many that stand by her side now were once free like you and I, now forever doomed to endure a captivity from which there is no escape. If we do not slay the head of the beast once and for all, this too shall be our fate, but I believe in the Old Gods, I believe the grandeur of this city and those that dwell in it has not survived for thousands of years to now crumble before the incarnation of Hate. Although outnumbered, we have what our oppressors lack: resolve, determination, the sheer magnitude of our still beating hearts and those shall lead us to victory. Together we…”
“Oh, my…” a sarcastic, sibylline voice interrupted him. “You’re putting me to sleep here and that’s saying much considering I don’t sleep at all. The Captain turned to meet the origin of the sound, incredulous look lingering on the cloaked figure standing right behind him. “Surprise!” The Witch-Queen said, revealing her white curly hair and purple eyes. She was happy to turn the solemnity of the moment into a farce historians would scoff for millennia.
“How?” Mercutios asked, holy weapon eager for the taste of her blood, if she had any left.
“I don’t travel with the rabble, but with the winds instead. or do you honestly believed someone like me needs a conventional means of transportation to go where I want to go?”
“I care not about such things but thank you for sparing me the trouble of taking your head in the battlefield,” he said, lunging his blade at her defenseless body. She made no efforts to stop the blow, voluptuous breasts embracing it instead.
“Did I forget the part where you can’t kill one who’s already dead?” she mocked. “Pretty sword though.”
She touched the blade with an elongated dark finger, the metal contorting onto itself like a body in mindless agony. “You were about to finish your little speech, Captain, but you shall finish it my way.”
Oozing tendrils enveloped her clothes, an undulating mass of pure darkness dripping onto the castle’s courtyard. She threw one at his throat and another at his legs, invisible teeth gnawing at his thoughts.
“You’re young and I can think of a few ways in which you can serve me besides being food for enemy fire,” she continued, the horror of her destructive power rendering everyone around immobile. “Go on, then. Let me hear the rest. Together we…?”
Mercutios struggled against the unholy magic bonds, strength melting from inside out. Darkness was beautiful, the shadows of her twisted smile shone brighter than the world.
“Together we…” he mumbled.
“Yes?”
“Together we…”
“Go on, say what’s on your mind right now.”
“Together we kneel,” he collapsed, the weight of free thought released from his shoulders. He crawled to kiss her feet, just another mindless minion.
“And that’s how you win a war,” she smirked, “Too bad some of my pets are still hungry.”
Down in the distance, the first wave of flesh-eating thralls rushed towards the city walls.
