Et Tradidit

Standing there, with my sword in hand I sighed as I looked at Heldr. He was tired, I could tell that much just by looking at him. He was panting, the massive claymore that he wielded clenched by the hilt in a shaking hand. The sun setting behind him painted the world around us in red and golden fire and I thought back on all the things that brought us to this point. Looking down at my right arm, I could almost feel the phantom pain of the flames from Heldr’s sword as he used it to sever my original right arm, the fact that it was replaced by metal now only his fault. All at once the memory of when he took my arm came back to me. 

Fires raged behind us as we stood in the remains of what was once some small city. Heldr’s pale face was dirty with soot and blood and his blond hair wild and unkempt. But he looked at me with an unnatural kind of anger as he raised his claymore and I could almost not bring myself to raise my weapon. 

“Heldr look at this!” I shouted to him as I spread out my arms and gestured to everything that was currently destroyed behind us. “The King ordered this place destroyed for nothing! They did nothing to deserve such punishment!”

“Our King decreed it!” he shouted at me in return. “We must obey!”

“This was why I could not follow his order Heldr! It is madness!”

In one motion, Heldr closed the distance between the two of us and brought down his claymore with such force that the ground at my feet shattered as I narrowly managed to avoid his attack. He continued his wild swings and I did everything that I could to avoid his attacks. But I knew that if I did not strike back, I would die. 

Swinging out with my longsword, I parried his blade and blocked an overhead swing. Holding him there he only grinned at me. 

“Then you are a disloyal knight! You do not deserve to serve our King! You do not deserve that place at his side!”

The crazed reverence with which he spoke made me think of all the men and women that served their dark Gods in cults. Flames erupted around Heldr’s claymore and launched me back; sending me falling onto my haunches. He descended upon me once more and this time I could not stop him. His blade met its mark there at my shoulder and beyond. The superheated metal bit and sliced through armor and muscle and bone. As it cut, it cauterized and I could not fight the screams and cries that escaped me as his sword hit the ground and my right arm landed with it. Sweat poured from every inch of my body as I trembled but Heldr reached up and grabbed my face as he forced me to look at him. 

“May that serve as an eternal reminder traitor. That you were never fit to be a knight of the New Guard, that you were never fit to serve his Majesty the King.”

Heldr had considered me a from then on: the fact that I was not some blind reverent slave to the King was nearly blasphemy to him. Although I abandoned my place as the King’s right hand, in that regard I truly was a traitor. But I needed to stop Heldr in order to stop the King, to put a stop to the madness once and for all.  Even so, I did not want to kill my old friend. I thought back to that night nearly three years ago when I lost my arm and made a similar plea to the one that left my mouth now. 

“Heldr please! We don’t have to do this! I only wish to stop the King!”

“You are a fool Efsun! Even if we cannot understand the heart of our King he is ideal! He is without reproach!” He bellowed and I could see the resolve in his face. “I will defend my King!”

“You know his plan!” I shouted to him as I shook my head. “He will slaughter all in the realm who oppose him until he subjugates them all! I fight for a world that will be free from such madness Heldr!!”

“What you fight for and that which I must protect are oil and water!” Heldr’s voice boomed as he raised his blade. “Last remnant of the King’s Old Guard! Last remnant of chivalry! Your life is forfeit here and now!!”

The knight ran towards me as he summoned his power and his claymore was wreathed in flames. Heldr had always been one of the most powerful Knights of the King’s Guard and it seemed as though his unhinged convictions only proved to further bolster him. Stepping back, I avoided the swing that would have cut my head off and thrust out with my own sword. For as big as Heldr was however, he was not the fastest although my blade caught him slightly. I could see the tear in his skin tight shirt and the slight blood that followed as he turned and swung once more. Raising my longsword, I used my metal arm to strengthen my defense as his swing struck my blade and sent me flying. Crashing into the stone wall behind me, pain ran up every part of my body as I shook my head and looked up. Heldr was upon me once more and this time, he did not use his sword but rather he wrapped his massive hands around my throat. 

“I have always hated you Efsun,” he snarled almost animalistically as he looked at me but there was something else in his gaze as he looked at me. For a second, I could have sworn that it was sadness. “From the moment I became a knight I became a sinner! But you could never understand! You, a righteous knight who was chosen to be the King’s right hand!”

In a fit of what I could only know as madness, Heldr flung me by the throat; sending me tumbling along the dirt path. Gasping and gulping down air greedily, I looked at the man who I once thought of as my friend as he stalked towards me. 

“I wanted what you had! To be a loyal, righteous and chivalrous knight! To be acknowledged and known by the King! But this time, I will fulfill my desire and serve the King until my final breath!” 

Trying to speak, pain burned through every part of my throat as I simply could not bring words to escape my lips. I’m sorry old friend I thought as Heldr sprinted towards me and I summoned the magick of my right arm. The bluish-silver metal turned bright white like light and I lunged forwards to meet Heldr’s tackle head on. Muscle and flesh tore as my pointed hand rammed through his chest and out of his back and for a second I could only stand there as the weight of his body pressed against me. 

A small laugh escaped him as he took a gasping breath. 

“I resent you with my entire being, for being what I could not.”

Quickly, I removed my arm from his body and it hit the ground with a heavy thud as I looked down at him. My friend turned bitter and full of hate out of pure envy of me and I could feel the tears that burned my eyes as they spilled over and rolled down my face. 

“I was just as much of a sinner Sir Heldr. Perhaps, the biggest one there was.”

Reaching up, I wiped my face with the back of my hand and shook my head. There is no time to mourn him properly I thought as I turned and faced the tower that led to the King’s chambers. No, I will mourn him properly should I survive my bout with the King of Storms.