Knife in the Dark

This is my fight song

We didn't take long to be ready. We both changed into close fitting clothes and made our way onto the balcony, where we prepared to start our battle. We were set on the east and west sides of the front balcony, so I had a clear view of Dragor and of the stairs, which rolled down behind him, which he had unwittingly made himself much harder for himself. The sun was in my eyes, but I had the advantage, as I knew the layout of this balcony better than anyone, apart from maybe the architect. No one was going to trick me here, not even the owner of the house.

I stood there with nothing on my mind, except for my need to kill this usurper, his blood would be left on my blades, as a sign of my power over those who dare defy me. I waited while the king read out the rules of play in this battle, not that there was much, just that there was to be no poisoning or anything that would hinder the player's performance that was administered to the opponent before the match began, which, fortunately for Dragor, I hadn't. I stood there while I was told that I was not allowed to form a barrier out of anything that was not myself or my weapons.

Dragor stood there, glowering at me. He obviously thought that I was going to be an easy kill, but he had another thing coming. He had no idea what was going to happen. The guard blew a horn and the fight began. I immediately circled around to one of the protruding arms that looked like it was hugging the stairs. I stood there and waited while Dragor tried to follow, when he came within two metres of me I sprang onto the barrier, which was normally used to keep people from falling and ran along it, hurling abuse at Dragor, who had gotten his broadsword stuck in the chain links of the barrier where I had been standing. I stayed there, yelling that he had no skill and that he should simply give up, which made his face flush with anger and he ripped this sword out of the links. He turned to where I had been, but I was no longer there. The next thing he reacted to was my foot, which speared into his forehead, making him falling backwards. I rolled away from him, trying to avoid any attack that he might launch at me. I stood there and waited for him to try to get up, which he did. I then kicked him in the back of the head and then sped off, letting him crumple again as I reached the other side of the balcony, where I pulled out a book and started reading, which, when Dragor saw it, he became so enraged that he came at me, where I dived out of the way, skewering him in the side as I went.

He screamed from pain and swung at me, but I was out of the way by then, retreating to a distance of five metres. From there I waited until he had risen to continue my attacks, you can't beat up someone on the ground, it just isn't fair. I sheathed my two knives and drew my favorite ones, called George and Martha, who had served me well and would now help me again. Once the man had stood again, I watched while he drew his sword up, pointing at me. I copied his motion with perfect timing, creeping him out a bit. He  lunged, but with the same timing I lunged in the same manner, making him dodge right, meaning that my blade quickly overpowered the sword, sending it and its master crashing backwards. It cut him badly on the side of the rib cage as it went, making him scream out in agony. This scream was just enough time to attach a rope to the end of my knife, and by rope, I mean fishing wire. Dragor stood and looked at me, then his eyes darted to his sword, lying a few metres away from where he was. Before he could take a step, I had swept past him, grabbed his sword and circled back around. This movement was my version of  multitasking, because I had secretly just made a circle of wire around him. I then made a big gesture of throwing Martha, which sailed slowly, missing Dragor by over a metre and getting itself lodged in the wire of the barrier, making it apparently useless until after the battle. The man took one look at it and burst out laughing, sounding like a dying elephant more than a laughing human. Then I pulled my end of the wire tight. The wire caught him like a snare around the shins, biting in hard to the point where I drew blood. Dragor fell to his knees in pain, while I started circling him, making him more and more caught up. I pulled tight and his yell echoed from the mountain across the plains and maybe even to my friends, so far away. The moments pause was enough for Dragor to try to struggle again, but I held on, not letting him simply pull me around, I turned and made a loop in the wire, which I tied and smashed, similar to how tent pegs work, George into the ground. The knife found purchase in between the cobbles, and I was easily able to put it into the ground, allowing for no movement from my friend, who was now pinned down and unable to move even one muscle in his body without hurting himself one way or another.

As I approached, he looked at me, his eyes were bloodshot, like they could no longer cry. His mouth moved as if trying to form words, only to be met with pain as his head moved. He winced so much I was worried he would destroy himself in some way other than mentally. I stared at him for a really long time, finally seeing victory in sight. But he was helpless. I have always been soft hearted. As I stood, looking into the man's pleading eyes, all I wanted to do was set him free, but I also knew that, given half the chance, he would kill me. So that left me in a tight situation, if I killed him that would appear to be cowardice and the actions of a weakling, but if I let him go he would no doubt try to kill me, so I settled somewhere in between. I cut the wire and quickly retreated to the centre of the balcony while Dragor stood. He limped to grab his sword, which I had dropped on the ground as I had retreated, looking like it wasn't on purpose, which of course it was. I stood there and waited for him to make the first move, because I knew that even weak like he was, one swing from that sword would be the end of my life, and there would be nothing to give these people hope, no one to stand against this scoundrel, nothing to prevent further destruction of Sloce and Sandros. I stood there, puzzling over this, while Dragor began to raise his weapon feebly, but the time he was ready I had already gotten my knives at the right place to be able to block any attack which came from him, not that there was much of a threat. As he raised the sword it was clear how tired he was, his eyes were ringed with signs of sleepless nights and non-stop days. He looked at me as if to say 'you are seriously going to make me attack you? I know it's pointless already, so just finish me' which I replied with a blank but solemn face, which made him sigh and then he lunged, which was a decent thrust for how he was, and attacked me.

I instantly darted to the side and stabbed him just below the ribs, leaving him suffering from more blood coming out, how this man was still standing amazed me. He was bleeding from at least ten different spots across his body, and he had a black eye. He was deaf in one ear, but that was an old battle wound, not from any of our battle. His feet were beyond repair, the shoes completely destroyed and his skin lacerated by the fishing wire. He was obviously just hoping I would kill him soon, as he was doing attacks that if someone still had the will to live would not do. I was so pitiful of him, and then I remembered, he was the reason I did not sit on the throne of my fathers, he is the reason that my people starve in the streets, he is the reason that our country is at war for no good reason. This helped anger flood through my bones, obviously showing because Dragor's eyes widened, just as I sliced his hand, cutting it so deep that fresh blood flooded out, which made him gasp and drop his weapon, which I caught with my foot and pointed it at his chest. He tried yet again to puppy dog eye his way out of it, but there was no escape this time, too late for anyone to simply save themselves. If he had wanted to, he should have been nicer to my people. I towered over him, my eyes quickly flicking to the referee, who gave the go ahead, telling my I would still win, as I disarmed him. With his last remaining strength, he turned his head, so that he was looking towards the guard, then he turned back to me, a smirk was on his face, like he had won, and not me.

"Oh dear Braedon," his voice filtered into my head. "I tried so hard to save this kingdom from selfish people like you, but now that has come back to haunt me, as you have now shown me. I am but a weak person, who did what was best for his people, but they couldn't see what he did, so they found their hero to root for, and now I must die, as I knew I would. It was foretold that you would kill me, in the sort of revenge twist that you love to add to it, but really you are weak, just like the rest of them, you couldn't kill me if you tried. My life may be ending soon, but you won't kill me with that sword, I will just bleed out, and there is nothing you can do to stop it, you are too squeamish to do it, you may brag that you can to your friends, but really you couldn't do it even if you tried. My life is fleeting, just as yours is, but I believe that you will fall further than anyone who has yet walked the earth, the very idea that you could actually kill me makes me laugh, you are too stupid to ever be able to do that, it is impossible for anyone like you to do something like that," he paused and let out a withered cough, spitting out blood in the process, which made me laugh, this man was trying to psych me out. "I have met men that kill for a living, they would pick you apart like meat off a bone. You are not like them, they would kill and not let me talk, whereas you have let me talk for much too long for it to work properly."

"That is where you are wrong," this is where I intervened. "I let you talk so that you could have a sense of hope, as that is the only way to survive in this world. You don't know anything about my life for the past 14 years, so I will tell you. I became trained into one of the most vicious killing machines on the planet, and you are but a pawn, ready to die in the great game of chess." I swung his sword, which passed clean through his neck, killing him quickly and painlessly. The courtyard was silent, and then a cheer came up, and I was picked up and carried, with everyone underneath me yelling 'Long live the king!'