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Abra Kadabra
Vampyr is offline
Location: Johto
Now Playing: Xenogears
Posts: 5,594
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Short Story
We got a poetry thread, so I thought, what the hell, might as well have a short story thread also. Here is one that I wrote a couple years ago that has a special place in my heart:
The Kingdom's Treasure
By: Zak
"Go ahead and hate your neighbor,
Go ahead and cheat a friend,
Do it in the name of Heaven,
You can justify it in the end.
There won't be any trumpets blowing,
Come the judgment day.
On the bloody morning after...
One tin soldier rides away."
- Segment from a Christian folk song: "One Tin Soldier"
Prologue
Long ago there was a magnificent peaceful kingdom that held a treasure that was revered by all, and coveted by one. The kingdom had held the treasure for generations, and the village people living below had decided the time had come to steal the treasure away, for their own greedy purposes. For years the villagers had wanted the treasure, but for one individual, it had gone beyond greed, it had become an obsession.
THE BEGINNING AND THE END
The citizens of the village had been gathering all morning. The small militia of the village had called a very important meeting, and every person able was to attend. The militia dictated the village, and no one dared go against their orders. As the many people began to fill the town square they noticed that the army was no where to be seen. They looked around in puzzlement, fearing that maybe they misunderstood the announcement. Then they noticed a lone figure standing on top of Burly Mans Tavern, how he got up there, they didn't know. The sun was just rising, and blazed directly behind the man, making him look like a shadow. As the day progressed and the square filled entirely, the man stepped forward, over the side of the tavern. He plunged toward the ground, and landed tenderly on his feet, squatting down as he did, and placing his right hand on the ground to catch himself. He stood up slowly, and everyone recognized him. He was Thomas H'taed, the General of the militia, and dictator of the village. Tom had short auburn hair and auburn eyes. He stood an imposing height, about 6 feet tall. His arms bulged with his rippling muscles, and his broad sword that he carried strapped across his back was nothing short of amazing. It would have taken the strength two men to lift it, but Tom could wield it easily. He wore a steel vest that protected his back, chest, and abdomen. In his left hand he held a steel helmet. He was the epitome of a warrior, and all the people of the village respected him. He took one glance around the square, and started his speech.
"People of the village, hear me, hear me. The time has come, the Kingdom People have kept their jewels and rare gems from us for long enough, and we the people of the village have declared war upon them, their defeat is inevitable. Soon we will own their magnificent treasure, and we will be the richest village in the entire world!" Tom screamed out over his audience of villagers.
"But Tom, how will we conquer this Kingdom, they are many, and we are few," an old blacksmith rang out from the crowd. "Not to mention they hold the fortress," he added bitterly.
"Fear not villagers, the kingdom is an untrained peaceful civilization, they know nothing of the art of war, and we are a powerful army. I have been commander of our forces for 13 years, and I know better than anyone what we are capable of," Tom countered the old man, knowing the war was at hand, and nothing anyone said could stop it. Tom felt that giving this speech would get the villagers to cooperate better, and possibly fight for him.
One young villager, about 19 years of age, screamed out an inquiry that made Tom smile, knowing he was being successful, "I for one am eager to steal away the treasure, is it to late to sign up to be infantry in the attack?"
"It is not to late, feel free to sign up anytime in the next seven days, on the eighth day we attack, until then, drinks for everyone in Burly Mans Tavern."
Seven days later...
Tom walked through his battle camp where every warrior available was set up, fully prepared for the battle at hand. He let out a long low sigh, taking in the beauty of the land, the smell of the oncoming rain, and the noise that was absent, all making him feel as though he was more alive than anyone on Earth, he always felt that way before battle. He set his sights on his tent, larger than any other, at the far end of the field. He knew what he would find there, the captain of the army, the lieutenant, the major, and the colonel. They were all there, waiting for him, the almighty General. He would be showing them his battle plans, step by step what to do, and they would obey him. He laughed a silent laugh; they were so loyal, the ignorant fools. He held them in the palm of his hand, and they could do nothing about it. He took another look around, the Kingdom set upon a grassy hill, not 100 yards away, and the old gray walls hid everything within. Tom's forces were positioned at the base of the hill, just on the outside fringes of the dense, but not very wide deciduous forest that surrounded the base of the hill. The ground was still damp from the morning dew, and every step Tom took caused a low squish sound, and the edges of his boots were caked in mud. But it was about to get wetter, and bloodier. He could smell rain in the air, he never knew how, but there was a certain sent that came before a storm, and Tom could smell it.
He had sent a scout earlier that day, and he should be arriving back at camp soon. He had sent the scout to give the Kingdom one last chance to hand over the treasure peacefully. But he already knew the answer, their king would reply, "We will never forfeit our treasure, though we would gladly share it with you." He had heard it a hundred times, if not more. But now was the time for action. After a few more minutes of walking, he arrived at his hunter green tent. He pulled back the flap that acted as a door, and stepped inside. The tent was lit with a royal blue flame that was inside of a blue tinted lantern, throwing a blue light all around the room. That mixed with the green light that came in from the sunlight passing through the tent caused a milky mixture of blue and green, something both invigorating and soothing at the same time.
Setting around a round table was his fellow officers, Major Anthony Lig, Lieutenant Robert Moore, Captain Sirius Folk, and Colonel Rupert White. They were all middle aged men except White, who was in his late fifties. All the men looked as though they were chiseled from stone; each one posed an imposing figure that demanded respect. They were all dressed in the traditional uniform, a steel vest, leather pants, and a green short sleeved tunic under their vest. There were only two things that separated them from the rest of the army, they all bore a badge crested with symbols to signify their rank, and they walked with a kind of swagger that demonstrated their power. All four men looked up at Tom.
"What's the word, General?" Lig questioned seriously.
"The scout gave me the same old, same old," Tom lied, the scout in fact hadn't returned yet.
"Well, now that that's over with, let's move on to a more important issue," Moore said, looking up at Tom, "what’s the plan?"
"The plan is a simple, yet effective one. Folk will bring a small militia to the East Side of the Kingdom, and begin to attack with bows and arrows and javelins, try not to kill too many, just enough to make sure that you have their undivided attention, the purpose for this being that the main attack is actually on the West Side. At this very moment, the final touches are being placed on a siege tower. A very large siege tower. Commanded by myself and Lig, two score soldiers will scale the tower and then move onto the battlements of the kingdom walls. We will then rain arrows and javelins upon them, slaying all within our destructive radius. Then, when the majority of them are cleared away, we attach our grappling hooks to the top of the walls, and scale down the side of it; we then draw our broad swords and finish off the rest of the kingdom vermin. Don't expect this to be a hard fight, there aren't any warriors within the kingdom, and I doubt they will put up a fight at all."
"And what, may I ask, will the rest of us be doing?" White questioned curiously.
"You and Moore will take the rest of the forces, four score, and use the battering ram that was just recently felled, a mighty oak. Make splinters out of the kingdom gates, and lead the four score forces into the kingdom to assist Lig and myself in the attack."
"Sounds like a battle full of chaos and slaying!" Lig shouted out loud. Tom smiled a cold and ruthless smile; "You flatter me."
______________________
Within the kingdom, the king sat in his huge throne, and his best friend, the Magus sat at his left hand. The King was an ageing man, but still had a youthful appearance about him. He wore a deep red cloak of silk that hung loosely from his shoulders. His hair was very white and he had a curly white beard that hung down over his chest. He green eyes were so deep and understanding; that just by looking at him you could tell he was a man of great wisdom and kindness.
"You know the battle is coming, my king,” The Magus said. The Magus was an extremely old man, with a long white beard down to his waist and blue eyes that denied emotions. He was draped form head to foot in a satin cloak.
"Yes, but we will face it, and we will die a death that all Christians should try to die; peaceful, non-violent, with a bible in our hand, and a prayer flowing from our mouth, as water flows from a fountain."
"But we should stand up for ourselves, try to defeat the evil villagers, at least hold them at bay long enough for the women and children to evacuate the city."
"No Magus, the woman and children are Christians too; they will die in the name of God."
"I am sorry, my King, I cannot subscribe to this point of view. I will fight alone, and die alone. I will fight with a crucifix in one hand, and my bag of powders in the other. And as you said, prayers will flow from my mouth like water."
The king sighed, "But remember Magus, do not pray for us, pray for them, that they may learn a lesson."
"I will remember, my King."
"And if you must fight Magus, ask for His forgiveness, and do it in His name."
"Yes my King, now excuse me while I go prepare to both take lives, and give my own for my kingdom."
"Very well, Magus."
______________
As soon as the Magus left the throne room and closed the door behind him, the king bowed over, his face in his hands, and he wept. He wept for himself, for the magus, for the villagers, and most of all, for his kingdom.
_________________
The Magus quickly walked to his bed chambers. There was no time to loose, and he knew what must be done. Once in his room, he closed the door behind him and secured the lock. He walked over to his candles that were nailed to the east wall of his room, and blew all three of them out in a specific order. The wall the candles were attached to twisted about its middle, giving him access to his secret lab. Though his lab was small, it contained contents of extreme power. Clear tubes traveled about the lab, from vials of unknown contents to other vials. Only the Magus could make sense of the madness. He went to the back of the lab and opened a small chest of extremely valuable powders. They were created from a mixture of gold and silver dust, and they had been combined with many of his formulas. The powders were extremely hard to make, and took a long time to make one handful. He only had a very small amount, and he had used it only once before. The dust exploded on contact, releasing a green smoke that was extremely destructive. Never before had it been used for war, but the Magus knew what must be done.
________________
The next day, as Tom and his forces labored to push the siege tower up to the wall, he heard the screams of kingdom civilians from the other side of the Kingdom. He could also hear one other thing, the distant roar of thunder. He knew the storm would hit them in a couple of hours.
"Up the tower, men!" Tom cried out over the rising gale. As his men started to scale the tower, he rushed to the front and began to climb ahead of them; he wanted to be the first one into battle. When he reached the top he looked over the wall, and what he saw filled him with delight, on the other side of the walls Kingdom people were falling to their death left and right. It was about time he got in on the action; he notched an arrow and released it with a loud twang. He was rewarded by a soul piercing scream. Come on men; let's finish off these filthy vermin. After about 30 more minutes of arrows and javelins, their supply was running low, and most of the civilians had taken cover in their homes. Tom was about to descend to the ground, when he heard an ear shattering sound of splintering wood. He took a quick look at the gates and realized they had been shattered. He started to smile, and then realized something was wrong, the gates had been knocked out, and all four score of his men had either been crushed by the gate or killed by whatever unknown force that had knocked it out. His hawk-like eyes scanned the ground below, and he saw the source of the destruction. An old man with a gray beard down to his waist, and a billowing purple cloak that swirled around him in the already huge and building gale. Though the man was bone thin, he radiated with an enormous amount of energy. The old man (whom Tom knew to be the Magus) looked up at him, and his eyes flashed over with purple light, and he wore a look of pure hatred on his face that almost burnt Tom. The Magus then placed his free hand in his satchel and withdrew it quickly; he now held in is hand a silver and gold powder. The Magus then hurled the powder at the West Wall with a quick horizontal movement of his arm. As the powder made contact with the wall it exploded into green flames, and the wall blew apart, shattering the siege tower into millions of pieces, and the two score soldiers fell with it, landing among the ruins of the wall. Only approximately one and a half score survived the fall, and a half score of those were injured.
"HAH, just an old man, they thought! Now they will see the powers I possess!" The Magus roared out loud and clear, and for a fleeting moment he thought he may live, and save the kingdom, but he new it not to be, his powders were running low, and still a score lived. He took out the last of his powders and flung it at the oncoming onslaught. As it burst into green flames, about another half score was blown apart. The Magus realized his defeat, and knelt to one knee, and let out a silent prayer both for the villagers and the kingdom peoples. He placed his crucifix upon the ground, and ran his index finger over it. A second later Tom had reached him and ran him threw with his sword.
"Foolish man!" Tom yelled out, although he was still shaking from his loses and from the overwhelming power of the Magus. He knew that if the Magus had had one more handful of powder, all would have been lost, but he knew he mustn’t show any fear. "Continue!" He yelled out to his men. They scoured the Kingdom, killing everyone in their wake. They were disappointed, however, to find no treasure in any of the houses, but they decided it was all the more they would find in the treasure room, where the ultimate treasure lay hidden. Finally, Tom finished off the last survivor in the Kingdom, and then he heard a low rumbling sound, he searched for its source, and found it. Where he had slain the Magus, the crucifix was glowing, producing a low rumbling that shook the whole kingdom. For a moment he didn't know what it meant, and then he saw. Everybody that his men had killed started to glow, and then a misty form arose from each dead body, and soared high into the sunlight, and he heard a distant laughing, the laughing of the Magus.
"Curse him!" Tom yelled out, even though he had no idea what this meant, perhaps later he would sit and figure out what had happened, but not now! He was so close to his goal! So, taking the rest of his men, he led them to the treasure house and soon located the largest treasure chest he had ever seen. It could hold enough treasure to keep his village wealthy beyond imagination for generations. He used his sword as a lever and began to pry the chest open, within a few minutes he had it open, and greedily he and his men gazed inside.
Inside they found a single piece of crumpled parchment that read, "Peace on Earth and good will to all men."
AND THEN IT RAINED
“The valley people sent a message
To the kingdom on the hill,
Asking for that buried treasure,
Tons of gold for which they'd kill.
The mountain people sent their answer,
"With our brothers we will share
All the riches of our mountain,
All the treasures buried there."
- Segment from a Christian Folk Song: One Tin Soldier
EDIT: Changed "admiral" to "General"
__________________
3DS Friend Code: 2707-1776-3011
Nintendo ID: Valabrax
Last edited by Vampyr : 10-12-2003 at 05:16 PM.
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