The Ancient King

Act 16

The door creaked, warm light filled his vision as he was met with an antiqued room.
Candles filled every inch, at the far end was a window which had been opened.

A man stood on the stone balcony.
He wore armour, yet had an empty scabbard.
His hair was grey and withered.

"The Ancient King".
Merek moved into the room as the words left his mouth.

"Hope".
The man's voice was as withered as his hair.
He turned.

Old.

An old man.
Even if he did yield a weapon he'd never stand a chance.

"You, Merek Kawolskii, you are the killer of hope".

"What?"

"You blind fool, don't you see!"

"No, all I see is a coward who has ravished and raped a poor region!"

"Ravished and raped, I was saving the place before you came here!"
Merek squinted his eyes.

"You don't know who I am, do you?" The old man continued, "The bastard, King Rodrick, didn't tell you! Ha, thought as much!"

"Didn't tell me what, who you are?"

"Aye, my name is Nadjaya, general of the fifth Boswordian garrison!"

"You're Boswordian? Thought the accent was familiar, you invaded this land what your people did, what you did was-"

"You truly don't know..."
The man entered the room, Merek moved forward gaining distance, yet he still seemed so far away.

"Sit"
The man moved to a table conveniently placed between the two.
Merek moved to the table and sat down on an ancient chair, the Ancient King also sat down opposite him.

"I trust you at least know why the region was invaded all those years ago?"

"Aye, silver"
Merek replied, and the old man nodded in approval.

"Aye, silver. During that time, one of the Boswordian generals and a Knight went missing, I was tasked with staying behind undercover to find them. Me and twenty men I single handily picked out, we were here for near a year, and oh. I met a girl. Oh such a pretty girl, in the time the army was heading back I was too escort part of the Silverback to the border, round six hundred men were there"
A tear escaped his narrow eyes, yet a smile glimmered on his face.

"I had seen what our army had done to the place, I was there at one of the villages, Aloh.
A crying man came out of a hut, I had tried telling everyone to calm down but no one listened. A slaughter ensued,
babies had been burned in fires, girls lay on the side of the road naked and raped.
I couldn't stop it, and yet after it had passed and all our soldiers had left I refused to leave.
And this father came out of the hut, I met up with him, he wanted to cut my throat I could see it in his eyes. The army had moved on but I stayed, oh I stayed because I knew that my wife lay in one of those burning huts".
The man grimaced and his smile faded away.

"I asked the man if he knew the women, he did, he showed me a hut at the end of the village. A charred body lay there, it was her, it was my Natasha. I screamed I cursed, I beat the floor till my knuckles were bare and my hand was bloody, that's when I heard the sound of her little cries, my little daughter".