Portrait of a Knight

Chapter 10: The Golden Knight

The sun set in the west as it always did. The ocean quenched the rest of the burning daylight as the blanket of stars unfurled across the heavens. I sat inside my grass hut near the stone hearth. I was warming mine fingers. Tonight was the night.
I rose from my kneeling position and strolled out into the village square. The Kemsi people were working diligently. They knew that if my mission failed, the warlords would be coming for them next. I watched as the small children helped their adult superiors load bone spears into crates near the tall walls. The village was surrounded by walls of towering logs that had been sharpened at their peaks. Anyone attempting to scale the walls would not come over unscathed. If a breach did occur, the men of the Kemsi village were hearty and strong. They would not let their home fall without a fight.
Lahari, a girl of about three and ten, with short dark curls and a brilliant smile approached me from the left. She had been a good friend to me over the years, and had educated me many a thing about survival and fun in the jungle. "Jaktorius," she said to me in her native tongue, "The Don wishes to see you. He says it is near time."
"Thank you, Lahari," I replied in her language. "Go to your brother. You will need to hide in your home soon." I ruffled her hair and off she trotted to fetch her sibling. I followed her orders and marched to the grass hut that housed the armory.
I pushed the palm leaves aside and entered. Diego sat upon a stool at the end of the room. He was hunched over a table examining something. My new armor, I noticed, was strung up on the right side of the hut.
I approached Diego.
"I almost didn't hear you come in," chuckled Diego. "Your step is much lighter. I am proud." He spun on his stool and faced me. Diego was older now, slower but no less sharp. His rapier rested sharply on his left hip. I could see that my old set of armor lay across the table with my new helmet.
"Master, the preparations of defense for Kemsi will be complete very soon. They will be ready. I am ready."
"I know you are. Eres mi hermano, ahora. Your skills are beyond what I could have dreamed. You are faster, stronger, and smarter than nature's most elite beast. The slavers have gathered in the city of Awansoka. Their numbers will be dense, their defenses formidable. I will not be with you on this task."
"I know master. The duty of liberation will rest on my shoulders." I approached my new armor and admired it. The pauldrons were seamlessly connected to the chest and abdominal plates. The whole look of mine armor was aesthetically pleasing. The curves and lines were smart and dangerous. The weight was close to not and bulkiness minimum. The suit fit like a glove and functioned like an extension of mine body. I dare say I have never crafted a finer work.
Diego rose from his stool and approached me. He laid a hand upon my shoulder. I turned and met him.
"Jaktorius, you listen to me and you listen good. I'm not sending you on this mission to kill a few warlords." Don Diego Aragones wiped the sweat from his brow as he spoke to me. He always had one hand dancing across the hilt of his rapier. "Eres fuerte. You are strong, but you are still brash. Tonight..."
"I understand, Master. Tonight, I become the Golden Knight. Tonight, I end the tyranny."
"Make me proud." Don Diego Aragones turned his back to me and strode out of the grass hut.
I turned to the table where my armor lay and picked up my helmet. The polish was pristine, and my physiognomies were reflected back in perfect array. I tucked it under my arm.
"Tonight, I take back Awansoka."
I turned to my new set, and then looked to the weapons rack. My golden blade was poised and ready to be taken. I approached it. Tugging on the ivory handle, I released it from its stand. I admired the sharpness and beauty of the sword. The Destroyer of Kings, I thought. "Katavasil," I said aloud. I sheathed mine blade in scabbard and entered my armor.
***
I crept through the brush under the cover of night. I had been warned of the many dangerous animals-large and small-in Africa's Gold Coast, and of the poisonous snakes and rampaging hippos, and especially, the brutish and cunning warlords...
My golden armor reflected the silver rays from above in dazzling beams when I entered the open. It was of no consequence. Being seen by the encampment of spear toting slavers and child soldiers was the least of my worries. Tonight, I was Africa's most dangerous predator...
After several hours of sneaking, I entered the city of Awansoka from the south. It was encamped in a basin. Surrounded on all sides by high rock walls. There was no easy way to escape it. I wasn't here to flee.
I examined the field. Grass huts were alive with candlelight and men stalked the streets. Children marched in groups, two by six, along the alleys and under the watchful eyes of their masters. Swords and knives adorned their belts. The men carried war hammers and axes.
But where was Atoapem Ureki? He was the chief warlord of Awansoka, and the most notorious slave trader south of the Niger. He was the enemy of all, and the target of mine.
There! I spotted him on the far side of the village. He was toting a large war axe on his shoulder and was in the process of beating two children with a club. My teeth clenched.
I gripped the hilt of Katavasil, and slid down the cliffside. Mine boots contacted the ground, and I started my run.
I was spotted near immediately. I understood the language of these people as they threatened me.
"You there! Stop!" A slaver charged me, axe raised. I cut him down and continued my charge.
The order was given and the children turned on me. They drew their weapons and rushed. I was not here to kill them. Easily and with more agility than they could have perceived, I dashed their weapons away and knocked them down with the flat of mine sword.
"I'm here to save you!" I shouted. "I will kill Ureki, and you will be free!" Some of the children heard my words and stopped their assault. Others were too far brainwashed to stop. I did not hurt them. I merely sent them into unconsciousness.
The children far outnumbered the adults, but as they saw that I was not here to harm them, and tho that attempted harm to me were quickly incapacitated, they quickly backed down. The slavers took up arms, whipping the children into combat and assaulting me. They were no match.
I dispatched the slavers with due disdain. Heads rolled and limbs flew as I cut my path of destruction to Ureki. Not half an hour past and I had wiped out most of the slavers. I would be done shortly. I mused at this, and cut down a spear toting slaver.
I was painted in red, but my gold shone through in majesty. The children dropped their weapons and lay themselves prostrate in the dirt as I turned their captors into pools of blood.
"Atoapem Ureki!" I shouted. He appeared from behind a hut. His war axe was drawn. "You will answer for your crimes. You will die by my blade."
"I don't think so," He spat. Pointing to his right, I followed sight to a lone slaver holding a child in grip. A knife was pressed to the child's throat. My free hand slipped behind mine back. "You did not come to kill them, right? Well, this bloodshed will be on you! Kweku, now!"
Before the slaver Kweku could kill the child, I had revealed another of mine master's skills. Kweku fell dead, my knife through his head.
"Run!" I commanded. The child fled. Atoapem could not fathom mine actions. He raised his axe, wailing like a beast, and blitzed me.
His axe came down hard. I pressed my left hand to Katavasil's flat and caught the blow. He was strong, no doubt the herbs he and his men took. I stayed his strikes with technique. He would tire soon from the weight of his axe. Or not!
Ureki charged me recklessly. I slashed and stabbed drawing blood frequently, but he advanced nonetheless. He shrieked lunacy and swiped low. I jumped and planted mine boots on the weapon.
"It's over!" I slashed. Ureki hollered in mortified madness. He stumbled to his knees away from me.
"What have you done?" he wailed. "My hands! My hands!"
I looked upon the bloodied stumps now at the end of Ureki's forearms. I looked to his axe. His dark hands still gripped its hilt.
I stalked towards the wicked warlord. His time of causing suffering on this Earth was at its end. Releasing a flurry of non-mortal stabs across Ureki's chest, I sent him sprawling a bloody mess.
"Please," he warbled with the blood spilling from his mouth and throat. "Don't kill me. I will change my ways. I will make Africa safe from warlords. I am a new man after tonight. I swear it!"
I bent down, grabbing Ureki's scalp, and hoisted him upward. He looked upon mine armor in absolute horror. It was as if he had just seen the face of Satan.
"You are a most heinous creature, Atoapem Ureki. You will stain this continent no longer. With your death, Ghana will be free."
Tears flowed from Ureki's eyes. He was a weak being, a terrible being. He only ever delighted in causing pain to others. I could see it now. When faced with his own death rather than the thousands he caused, he crumbled like a castle of sand in a tidal wave.
"Who are you?" he wept.
"I am Jaktorius Chrysós. I am the Golden Knight."
I set him on his knees and placed Katavasil on his shoulder. I looked around Awansoka. I had killed nearly all of the slavers. Tho that escaped my wrath then met their end by the very weapons they had given the children. The tiny soldiers now circled around me. They kept their distance. I could see so much pain in their eyes, but I also saw their hearts. They were bright and warm for the future. They only needed the key to release them from their last fetter.
"Before I go... I need one thing from you."
"What's that?" Ureki spluttered.
I turned mine helmet to face Atoapem Ureki. "Your head."