| Cenor |
|
| BlueberryMuffins76 |
|
| Mareth_Ravenlock |
|
| rhodilwen |
|
| findemaxam48 |
|
| Cenor |
|
| findemaxam48 |
|
| BlueberryMuffins76 |
|
| findemaxam48 |
|
| BlueberryMuffins76 |
|
| findemaxam48 |
|
| Eruwestiel_Evensong |
|
| findemaxam48 |
|
| OneSizeFitsAll |
|
| Eruwestiel_Evensong |
|
| Cenor |
on: November 18, 2014 03:29
|
|
Your poem is really sad Song  I love your poem Gem!
Here is my combined prompts (6 & 7) Warning: I didn't edit.:
I screamed. It was not manly, or because I was frightened, it was a gut-wrenching, horrified, despairing sort of scream. Why? My wife of four years was falling, head first, off a cliff, an arrow piercing her heart. An escape rescue had gone all wrong, I hadn’t planned for that arrow, I hadn’t planned this route along the narrow mountain path. My head spun and I nearly threw myself over the cliff, but at the last moment the Ensalvadorian soldiers were on me, binding my hands tightly behind me. Their captain, a thin-faced cruel brute of a man, yanked my head back by grabbing a handful of my dark brown hair.
“What’s this?” he asked surprised, “I thought we had killed all of the accursed sons of Atnosh.”
“Well I’m still here and alive so I guess you haven’t,” I spat half-heartedly.
“Take him to General Nis and not to kindly,” the captain sneered.
They dragged me back to the Ensalvador camp and to a principal tent, where I guessed Nis resided. I didn’t fight, I couldn’t, there was nothing left but defeat. Nis was a tall man, taller than most of our cabins, but then again, we were not a tall people. I looked apprehensively at his steel-plated pointed boots wondering how much they would hurt and how long before my ribs would crack, it wouldn’t be long, one kick I estimated.
“What is a son of Atnosh doing in my camp?” he asked rhetorically, “oh yes to rescue that pretty girl that just died.”
I had expected him to use physical abuse, not mental, the mention of “that pretty girl” stung like a sword, no worse. He continued.
“Your country has no chance and you never will Ensalvador will overrun you and your weakling rival.”
He was talking about Isrite, our country and Isrite were once one nation but we split and fought against each other for several generations. That is what made us weak and vulnerable to Ensalvador’s attack.
“Your country is going to fall and we are going to pull the last information we need out of you.” He finished leaning over me like a great cat will lean over its prey.
“You’re never going to get anything out of me.” I replied vehemently.
That is when I made the mistake of cursing at him in his own language, I won’t translate, but it had something to do with his mother and cows. The long expected kick came like a bolt of lightning and I felt my ribs buckle.
“Take him to the prison,” Nis growled. “I want him alive but not unspoiled.”
With one last remark about his mother I was dragged out harshly, Nis’ kick intended for my legs caught the air and tent flap nearly setting him off balance. I arrived at the prison with several new bruises, a bloody lip, and a broken rib. After I was securely chained to the wall the guards continued to make sure I was “not unspoiled.” By the time they tired, my own mother, may she walk now in peace, wouldn’t have recognized me. My face was a perfect picture of horror, I could hardly see out of one eye and the other was covered in blood from a cut on my forehead. My clothes were torn and bloody and the shackles already chafed my wrists. But I didn’t care, I couldn’t feel any of the pain for the throbbing of my shattered heart.
“Oh Lilith,” I moaned, “you can’t be dead, I only saw you a moment ago as I cut your bonds. What will I do without you? How can I continue to live?”
At that moment, a guard arrived with my food, but I kicked it back, sending with it a curse. The days dragged on, I didn’t eat, that made me weaker and Nis angrier. Five days later, a young man was dragged into my cell, a guard with a whip followed and another with a bowl of food. The new prisoner was no one but my departed wife’s younger brother, Hadrian.
“Eat.”
Came the command, I started to kick the bowl but the guard with the whip raised it to strike Hadrian.
“I’ll eat,” I said quickly grabbing the bowl, Hadrian was young and defenseless I couldn’t let them beat him because of my stubbornness.
The guards laughed, evidently, their plan had worked. They left us alone, I hoped that I would not be the first to break Lilith’s death to him.
“What have they done to you?” he asked too shocked to say anything else.
“They gave me some of Nis’ hospitality, he was too busy to give it himself,” I replied grimly.
He sat there, as if not sure what to say, “I’m sorry.”
I knew what he meant, the grief was rushing back like a flood and it was dragging all hope from me.
“Don’t be,” I choked, “it wasn’t your fault.”
“Don’t you give up,” Hadrian continued, evidently he had guessed my present state of mind. “Jud needs you, the people need you, your our only hope.”
After an hour worth of lecturing from him, hope begin to bud within me. His last words did the trick.
“Do it for her.”
When I was feeling better, five days later, Nis himself came down to our cell. The visit was due to my kicking his guard’s ankle, and breaking it, my shackle had done most of the breaking though.
“You might want to find a new guard. That other one's kinda injured. And an idiot, but I think that's hereditary.” I said motioning to the limping guard.
“Well I see your better,” he replied crossly. “But that will not do you any good. I have come here to tell you that you will die tomorrow.”
“Oh?” I queried, “I’m sure you have prepared the most wonderful death for me.”
He glared at me but continued, “I have invited all your lords, unarmed of course, to the hanging.
“Oh a hanging,” I interrupted, this time I received a glare and a kick.
“You are to be dragged around the camp at the heels of two horses at full gallop then hung like a common criminal.”
“Fun,” I said, “matter of fact you deserve a hug for all that you have done for me. Tightly. Around the neck. Preferably with a rope.”
He laughed and left the cell, a new guard replaced the injured one, he kept well away from my reach. The new guard took pleasure in taunting me about my coming death. He had just finished describing how my body would be cut up and sent to all the provinces. Hadrian was pale and looked as if he was going to be sick.
“Before you go on,” I drawled, “give me a second to put on my scared face.”
I placed an imaginary expression on my face while the guard looked at me as if I was crazy.
“I know,” I continued, “it looks a lot like my bored face...oh wait, sorry, it is my bored face. Let me give you a tip - if you're going to threaten someone, make it believable.”
If the guard wasn’t scared of my notorious kicks he would have probably given me a few of his own but he lapsed into a sullen silence. That at least shut his mouth up and Hadrian started to look better, though he was still pale. My death came to soon. I was displayed before all of Juden’s lords and soldiers, all unarmed of course . By the time the horses had dragged me around the camp half a dozen times I was covered with blood, mud, and grass and was truly a despicable sight. Their groans and moans of pity mingled with the Ensalvadorians laughs and mockery. Nis approached me, he was still wearing those boots.
“Are you going to kill me now?” I asked.
“Yes.” he laughed.
I groaned and he looked at me with triumph.
“Are you afraid of death?” he sneered.
“No, I just won’t get the satisfaction of watching you get defeated and sent back to Ensalvador with your tail in-between you legs, and I've been looking forward to that for a while now.”
He cursed and dragged me onto the hanging platform. I noticed that the rope was tied so that I would have to jump and kick before my neck finally broke. He securely fastened the noose around my throat.
“Any last words Nathaniel?”
Yes, Nathaniel is my name--not very lordly but it had helped in my acceptance as a peasant.
“I hope you soul goes to the Eternal Fire when you die.”
Nis jeered at me and lifted his foot to kick the stool out from under me. I had only a split second to act. The stool started to roll out from under me and I leaped, pushing it off the platform. I had snatched a knife from Nis’ belt and had sawed away the cords binding my hands, now I sliced furiously at the rope around my neck. I had cut most of it by the time I came down hard, swinging like a tavern’s sign in the wind. The last piece broke just as I was just starting to suffer from strangling. I could hear the rest of my army emerging from the woods on either side trapping the Ensalvadorian army. At least their timing was perfect, I had spent too long planning this for them not to be. Each hidden soldier carried two swords, one he kept for himself, the other he handed to one of the unarmed soldiers. I got up, slowly and a bit painfully and surveyed the scene. Nis was gone, like the coward that he is, I was a bit disappointed, I had expected him to try and kill me and then leave. His black horse was disappearing into the mountains and I turned to focus on the enemy soldiers who were retreating as fast as their fat legs would take them. I smiled and limped down the stairs of the platform.
=================
My servant adjusted my cloak for the sixth time in five minutes. He was nervous; I couldn’t blame him because the butterflies were throwing a party in my own stomach. It had been a year since my capture and Lilith's death and I had spent every spare minute cleaning up Ensalvador's mess. He left the room presently leaving me alone. Today was my coronation. Ha! I bet you didn’t guess that I was a prince soon to be king. Well I never wanted to be king to tell you the truth. I had 12 older brothers, who would have guessed that all of them would be killed in the span of five months? Well, I didn’t. That’s why I ran away, married, and started a family. I had no interest in being a royal. But fate had pulled me back and now I was going to be king, whether I wanted to or not. My chief councilor poked his head in.
“The country awaits you my lord.”
“I know Knoing, that’s what troubles me.” I replied uneasy.
“You know you can chose my lord no one is forcing you.”
“I’ll be there Knoing.”
“Yes my lord.”
He bowed his head and scurried away. I sighed, the whole world seemed to be watching me, wondering what I would do. But I knew my duty. Jud needed me, her people needed me, my two children needed me, Lilith would have wanted me to. I smiled and blew a kiss towards the heavens where she danced. The trumpets sounded outside. Taking a deep breath I parted the curtain, the final barrier from the crown.
“Do you Nathaniel Atnoshson take the crown of Jud?” the priest chanted.
“I will be Jud’s king.”
I will take constructive comments please.
[Edited on 11/18/2014 by Cenor]
 "Every good pirate has an alias" Felix glanced down, looking at contraption around the stump of his wrist. "Hook," he answered. "My name will be Hook." |
|
| Mareth_Ravenlock |
|
| Eruwestiel_Evensong |
|
| Cenor |
|
| BlueberryMuffins76 |
|
| SadroTook |
|
| findemaxam48 |
|
| Cenor |
|
| findemaxam48 |
|
| BlueberryMuffins76 |
|
| OneSizeFitsAll |
|
| Mareth_Ravenlock |
|
| BlueberryMuffins76 |
|
| findemaxam48 |
|
| OneSizeFitsAll |
|
| findemaxam48 |
|
| Mareth_Ravenlock |
|
| BlueberryMuffins76 |
|
| rhodilwen |
|
| BlueberryMuffins76 |
|
Author
And you can call me Mareth or Mar. Most everyone here calls me one or the other on here. 
