God Forgives, Remorseless and Infinite

[HappyShackles 886]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjAE5A-aiO8

 

An arrow in his shoulder.

A gash across his forehead.

The frost of the far north of Anthos crusted the very earth beneath his feet. His breathing was heavy and labored. His vision blurred by crimson, he wipes his gauntlet across his head to move the blood from his eyes, only for it to bleed back into his eye seconds later. He grunts, biting the dirt between his teeth and tightening his grip on his longsword. His back against the snowy hillside as shadows danced just above, fear overwhelmed him. The voice of those shadows, piercing through the snow,

"Come out, little Knight!"

A jolt in the carriage lurched Adelran into consciousness. He his hands felt rougher than they had in his sleep. There was a rigid strength to his movements. He pushed himself up slowly, his face one born of fatigue.

"Are you well, Adelran?"

Adelran's tired eyes shifted to the man holding the reigns of the carriage.

"Have we reached the Outremer?"

Between the Knight and the Priest, the Priest was the younger by a dozen years, and it was exemplified in his energetic eyes and gleaming smile. The Priest simply shook his head and pursued further.

"Did you dream of Kiljaerys?"

Adelran scowled and huffed, clearly made uncomfortable by the subject. He muttered some quiet prayer before sliding his hand to rope at his feet, from which hung the Blessed Ashes of Ser Fredek Royce. His fingers drift across the surface of the urn as his gaze turns empty and he becomes lost in thought once again.

"Come out, little Knight!"

Fine.

A flurry of snow and screams.

The young Knight could feel and see nothing, driven by will alone. His charge through the snow ushered the dark wizard into action, his shadows dancing yet still. One lurched for the Knight, but to no avail, his blade sung through the rigid air and beat back the first, just as his shield moved to deflect the second.

Yet the impact of both strikes halted his momentum, offering the wizard an opportunity. In moments the wizard was inches from the Knight, clearly capable of agility on par with any warrior. And then the creature's face became known to Adelran.
Flesh; torn and rotten, eyes made of nothing but a light red as the blood that blinded his own eye. His skull's flesh had deteriorated too far to conceal the skeletal grin beneath.

But too slowly, for the Knight was no fool. With the creature close, he slammed his shield forward, bashing the wizard with impeccable timing to the ground, the creature crying out in a wicked scream to accompany the brutal crunch of Adelran's boot on the creature's shoulder plate, disarming it.

"Glory be to God,"

And his sword sung again.

 

Edited September 14, 2015 by HappyShackles

[Ark 2835]

((welcome back!!

[James 425]

Moved to the Archive. It shall be sorted into the appropriate category shortly.