Ellas Past
David (Al’Kar)
And so I told them. Not all, but enough that during parts their faces showed horror, fear and disgust at what I was and what I had done.
When it was clear who I was and who I had served, only Anna’s gaze kept many from leaving, and still more from trying to take my life.
Even then, I did not tell them all – they knew me for who I was, but not from where I came. To believe that I had escaped him was tall enough a tale to swallow, but had I told it all – that he had already once been destroyed, had risen again, and that that was where I had served and escaped him, and that I had then been sent back to their time to lead them against him – they would have stoned me to death, after they had stopped laughing.
It was simply too much to expect them to believe… I was not sure I did.
And then I was finished, my story told. Silence filled the room and all stared at me, at least until I met their eyes – then their gaze would fall and they would seem to contemplate the floor before them.
All that is but Anna… Anna and one other; a bear of a man, six and a half feet of solid muscle, a man who had known battle, if I was any judge. A man with a stare that was pure hatred, and again if I was any judge, a man who’s hatred was aimed at me.
His stare did not falter, no matter that my eyes did not leave his.
This, I knew, was a man who would never be dissuaded from his beliefs, a man who would be strong no matter the pain, a man I needed to be mine.
And yet his look told me that would never be. Already I was condemned in his eyes. He would never willingly follow my lead, and if I wanted any to follow… if Anna wanted any to follow, this man had first to be eliminated.
His bearing and stance showed his confidence, showed his dominance amongst those present.
Anna alone stood as he, and in her I saw doubt as her eyes, too, saw the threat that was one of her perceived followers.
That I could kill the man was never in doubt. But his death, here in front of these people was not an option, even had I still been the person who could contemplate such an action. I needed to win him to my cause, to Anna’s cause. I needed to convince him that to follow Anna, he needed to believe, as she did, in me.
And if not that, then I needed to destroy this man’s credibility with those before me, and yet also ensure that he stayed true to the cause, Anna’s cause, and did not betray us all.
‘You,’ I said, ‘you, whose eyes are filled with loathing. Was my tale, my life so abhorrent to you? Have you not done that which you regret? Have you not done wrong, and after sought forgiveness?’
At my words, the hatred that shone in his eyes, intensified. A moment longer he stared, and then with a grunt of disdain, he turned and began to march from the room.
‘Gadrid!’ Anna called, ‘Please, do not leave. Stay, and listen to what we must do. We must stay united if we are to have any hope.’
Her words barely slowed the man, Gadrid. And then he only slowed to turn that look of hate upon her.
Others now were turning too, watching Gadrid pass and considering whether to follow in his wake or remain loyal to Anna.
I knew that little time remained to me if I was to gain control.
‘Gadrid,’ I said, quietly, but in the silent room where all seemed to hold their breath, it carried to every corner. All heard, and all felt the command and terror in that single word. For I had used that voice, that tool of terror that my master had gifted to me, that tool that had so effectively struck terror in all who heard.
Gadrid stopped, turned and looked again into my eyes, his stare of hatred now something else, and yet still not the look of submission that most would have returned at hearing that voice. And in that look, I knew what was to come.
His arm reached over his shoulder, the motion almost a blur, as he drew his sword. An instant later he was two steps in front of me, his sword swinging in an arc down toward my shoulder. I saw it all happen, and did nothing.
I saw Anna’s mouth open in a scream, even as her hand moved performing an incantation that we both knew would be too late. I saw the something that shone in Gadrid’s eyes transform into a look of victory, and I saw the helpless fear in the eyes of those who looked on.
Last of all, my eyes looked upon the sword as, in my mind's eye, it ever so slowly journeyed through the arc that would bring to me such great pain.
I did not move, could not move if I was to defeat this man and win those that would followed him.
Then time, that had slowed such that I could contemplate all before me, surged back to reality as the blade crashed into my shoulder, cutting through my flimsy summer jacket, on through the thin shirt below, through the flesh and on deep into bone.
Had I been a normal man, the blow would have surely cut me in half, and I would already be dead.
But I was not a normal man, and I knew that I would soon enough heal from Gadrid’s blow. But that did not stop the pain; his gift gave no protection from pain; pain, he said, was what made us learn, made us strive to do better.
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My mind screamed as the sword crashed through my flesh and cleaved through my bone, but my mouth stayed silent and my eyes stayed locked with Gadrid’s.
Even as Gadrid tore his sword free and thrust it forward into my stomach, I did not attempt to defend myself, nor did I utter a sound. Blood gushed from my wounds, covering Gardrid's face and arms, as he again pulled his sword free and readied for another blow.
Behind him, Anna leapt forward and grasped his arm, whatever spell she had planned discarded in the destruction Gadrid's blade wrought to my body, but even as Anna pulled at him, Gadrid turned, and swung his sword toward her. That he could strike at Anna infuriated me. What I had said of who I was and what I had done was enough to instil hatred in any man, but to turn on Anna, that I could not understand.
Time seemed to slow again as I stepped forward and pushed between Gadrid and Anna, my good hand grasping the man’s wrist and with a twist forced him to the floor.
Through gritted teeth, I said, ‘You would harm she who has led you, she who has kept you safe, kept you all from his grasp? What manner of man are you? That you would see me dead after all I have done, I can understand. But to harm this woman, that is a deed to rival any that I have committed.’
Despite my words to the man, I hated what I had done. I had forced this confrontation; I had forced him to act. And yet I had not expected him to turn on Anna. That, I had not wanted. And yet, I knew that few would follow him now, now that he had shown what his hate was capable of.
That he would take Anna's life, should turn all but his most ardent of followers, and those few we would be better without.
Anna moved forward and began to inspect my wounds, and then seemed to ready herself for some healing spell.
‘Wait, Anna. My body does not need your help, and it is doubtful that your magic would take effect regardless of your strength,’ I said, quietly for her ears alone.
‘I will heal soon enough… a gift from the demon that I would more better serve him. Fitting that such a gift be used against him, is it not?’
Turmoil filled the room around us. All eyes moved from Gadrid at my feet, to my standing very much alive form with its so very obviously mortal wounds, to Anna's bewildered face, awaiting her direction.
Where there had been silence, now there was bedlam. All spoke together – cries of horror at the sight before them, pleas for mercy for Gadrid held fast against the floor by my foot, and shouts for Anna to tell them what to do.
The pain from the wounds and from the healing that had instantly began, was as great as any I had faced since Dar’cen had personally inflicted my pain. But I had to bear it, had to show these people strength, show them that now Anna was not alone, that they all now had an ally who was something more than mortal man… and I had to show mercy.
‘Please, be silent,’ I said, my voice loud and pitched to carry, yet with none of the fear and terror that his gift brought. ‘Stand, Gadrid. Stand and face she who you would dare to harm.’
Anna stared at me open mouthed as Gadrid pushed himself first to his knees, and then to stand erect facing me. As he surveyed my wounds and the blood that covered almost the whole of my body, a look of dismay and defeat, absolute and final defeat, came to his face. ‘I do not—’
‘I am not who you must answer to, Gadrid. Turn and face she whose life you would have taken, for it is she who leads here, she who will always lead, she who I, too, will follow.’
His face, and the faces of all who looked on, including Anna, looked shocked at my words. But I knew that what I said was true. It had to be Anna.
I did not know this world, did not know the fight they fought, nor did I have their allegiance, for that belonged to Anna, and no man of prophecy could hope to usurp what she had earned with the strength and determination of her resistance.
It was strange, but an hour ago I was almost consumed in a sea of confusion and doubt at the new life that fate had brought me. Yet now, all doubt had fled, and I knew that all I did and said were what was intended, and that once more my life was in the hands of others beyond my reach.
‘Why, Gadrid? Why did you act so? Have we not waited all these years for this man's coming? For Al’kar’s coming? We have never been close, Gadrid, but I would not have thought you capable of this… and you would have killed me, too. Why?’
Gadrid’s face was filled with confusion and shock. He seemed not the same man that had tried to hack me to pieces only minutes earlier.
‘I do not know… do not understand what…’ he said, his words trailing away as his eyes became blank and almost lifeless.
Anna rushed to him and took his head in her hands, panic filling her eyes.
‘No, no,’ she muttered. Mere seconds passed, and she released the man, a curse leaving her lips. ‘He has been taken! It was not Gadrid that acted so; it was the demon's compulsion. Quickly, take him below, restrain him, and I will come as soon as Al’kar’s wounds are tended to. All you others, disperse. Go… and speak nothing of what you have seen here today.’
Gadrid was taken away, and slowly, with disbelief and shock plain on their faces, the others left, until only Anna and I remained.
Her face was stern as she again asked to be allowed to tend my wounds, but with my refusal, a strange calm seemed to come to her.
‘You would follow me?’ she asked. ‘The prophecies say that you come to lead in this fight, that it is you who must finally defeat him. How then can it be that I am to lead?’
‘They follow you, Anna. I am but a dream to them, a man that your dreams foretold of… and now that they know of my past and what I have done in his name, they will never truly trust me. Better, far better, if I am but your tool to use in this war. And if you doubt what I say, then you must listen to your dreams and prophecies… they say that I command here… and I command you to do as I say. You are to lead, and that is an end to it.’
I smiled weakly as the pain finally broke through my resolve. ‘Do you have somewhere that I may rest. The healing is not an easy process, nor is it painless. And it is better by far if I am left alone when it is upon me.’
‘You let him do this to you. You could have stopped him… I saw it in your face when he attacked. Was this the outcome you expected? Did you know that he was his?’
I sighed. Was what I had done so very transparent?
‘I knew only that he was a threat, that some followed him and that yet others would turn to him if I could not discredit him. I sought only to confront him, force his hand and perhaps unmask the man I thought lay behind the hatred in his eyes. I did not know that he was taken… though perhaps I should have seen. Then when he attacked, laying myself open to him seemed the perfect, if very painful, manner of discrediting him.’
‘You cannot die? Cannot be killed?’
‘I do not know. Not easily, but perhaps it could be done. Certainly Dar’cen could take my life if he so wished. But that is enough talk, I need a bed…the pain grows as the healing takes… it becomes greater, far greater than the hurt taken. A gift of his… to ensure that I would do all I could to avoid injury when on his errands.’