Although it happened
so long ago,
my memory hasn't faded.
The sound of the arrow leaving
its home still haunts me.
Ands I does the image of
the scuffle and the
uproar, and the
baffled soldiers twisting their
heads to get a better look at that corner.
In the roof, there was a small
corner just below the
towering arch. The bow wielder
and a couple of his mates
had opened and came through
the mosaic window, edged across
the roof trim, and hauled one of them
on a remarkably high ledge.
My father was giving his speech
near the end of the gathering. Something
about alliances and the golden age.
It wasn't so golden for me, though.
It was more like
an age full of
overcast skies, the kind that
was over the dining hall
on that terrible day.
My father adjusted his cape,
after standing for his speech, preparing
to sit back down in his gold-rimmed
throne when the first one died.
A few screams and pushes later,
the girl. And then the king.
They were deadly accurate, too.
Through the hearts, all of them.
And if you are wondering how I am
managing to tell you
all this, then I tell you it is hard.
So I'll stop.
After this part, of course.
The awful killer fled,
with his awful friends,
leaving no trace of his existence.
Except for those bloody arrows.
Those bloody, blind arrows that
ripped through the air
and afterwards faced no guilt.
Blind because it was like
they just killed for the sake of killing.
There was no purpose,
and you could feel the lack of it.
My father was a good king.
But those arrows
were filled with blind rage,
and blind wrath,
and horrible things.
I know I am telling you the word
terrible and horrible often,
but that is because
those words were that day.
Thus, in the midst of the
chorus of the yells of orders,
I ran.
Little did I know
that it would be my final time
leaving that castle.
At least for a very long time.
I ran and I ran,
for hours and for hours,
my trail burning into the forest near the
edge of the castle.
Just as the fire would burn
though our firewood
back at my old home in the castle.
And it rained.
YOU ARE READING
Banished
AdventureShe was the ultimate suitor; she had riches, status, and most of all, she was the daughter of the Great King. Until the arrows came. And her greed for power turned into something else, the hunger for justice, and revenge. And she was banished. ...
