Friday, April 5, 2013

A True Warrior


     Okay y'all, I just wrote a relatively crucial scene, in which Glamoriel, who has a bad history with Avären, has a conflict with Kieran.  They used to be lovers, but eventually Glamoriel's rabid hatred for Avären drove Kieran away.  Nonnah's connection with Avären makes her an obvious target, and a rather easy one when she's not with Kieran or any of his siblings.
     So Glamoriel has her own plans for Avären's demise that are somewhere along the lines of gaining Avären's confidence by making his enemy (the Covenant) hers.  This obviously doesn't sit well with Kieran, who is sworn to see the Covenant consecrated in its proper form.

     “Glamoriel,” Kieran said, dodging the strike of a long and sinister blade.  “What have you become?”  She stopped her onslaught, and Kieran spoke.  “You once wanted to fight alongside the Covenant, and now you are so desperate to undo Avären that you will destroy it!”
     “I have decided to do what I can to achieve what I must, even if it means destroying a taboo pact that I used to worship.”
     “But do you not see that the sentiments you hold are the same as those of Avären?  You hate him, but you are so much like him.  You have become the very thing you have long striven to defeat.”
     “I am not a philosopher,” she spat through her teeth.  “I am a warrior.”  She lunged forward and swung her sword, grazing Kieran’s exposed neck.  “A true warrior fights for what she believes in, and I believe in the death of the Great Usurper.”
     “A true warrior fights not to destroy what she hates, but to protect what she loves.”
     “Who are you to tell me what a true warrior is?  You are but a coward and a fool!”  Glamoriel once again struck out like a snake and caught Kieran on a rib before he could block her blade.  He felt the rib crack beneath his armour and staggered backward, clutching his throbbing ribcage.  He recovered only enough to feebly divert her blade, which only slid down Kieran’s and sliced his wrist.  He stumbled again and into a shelf, the contents of which rained over him.
     “Do you yield, loved one?” Glamoriel asked.  She knelt in front of him, grabbing the front of his leathern hauberk and bashing his jaw with the butt of her sword.  “Will you love me and support me, like you once did?”  He did not reply.  She punched his broken rib, causing him to cry out in agony.  “Stand beside me!  Do you not wish to see the Great Usurper dethroned?”
     “And be usurped?” was his strained reply.
     She beat him on the jaw again.
     “Do you not see how you are the same?”
     Rigid with anger, Glamoriel stood and stepped back.  She took a bow and arrow from the foot of Kieran’s bed and drew it.  Kieran tilted his head back and proffered his neck.
     She released the arrow.

     Enjoy the cliffhanger.  *Grins deviously and recedes into depths of cruelty*

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