A Knight's Sorrow
I wanted to scream, as tears streamed down my face and I looked on in contempt at the once love of my life. I stood yards away, at the bottom of the mountain in disbelief.Ā A voice from behind did it for me, sending a shriek tearing through the air, yet I couldnāt even flinch. Loud enough to make even her, Safie, turn her head towards us from the top of Mt. Abormore.Ā
Her smile melted me as it usually did, genuine, putting all her teeth even those missing, on display. I stumbled forward as bodies collided with mine from behind, crowds of people who had previously been hidden away in the surrounding woods and dilapidated homes, came running out to witness their saviour.Ā
The sword I held hit the ground and surrendered to the feet of the joyful herd, I once thought it was made for me, as I was made for this battle. I swallow hard onto the lump forming in my throat but canāt break eye contact with the woman I love. The woman currently holding the head of the monster whoād been terrorizing her home for decades. The cheers and cries from the crowd were drowned out by what I swore was the sound of my heart breaking. Blood ran down her cheek from a gash that opened up the right side of her face, from her hairline to her brow.
Ā One step back turned to two, I hadnāt noticed when I stopped looking at Safie, nor how far my feet had taken me. Just as I hadnāt noticed her planning this all along. She mustāve.
I did not know if it was possible for me to harbour a drop of hate for that woman. But as I saw her wielding the blade I taught her to use, something in my heart was changed. Going behind my back to take on King Gathar, stalling my journey spinning tales of love, to even falsify feelings of worry all to steal the glory of killing the cruel King. My eyes had long since run out of tears to cry as the picture of her charming smile turned to one of sinister duplicity.
The cold metal armour wrapped around my hands was my comfort, while I wiped my face. A knight should never show a face of despair, not even in a vast and thick wilderness. Looking around it was a given that I was alone, Iād come to wonder if it had always been this way. My destiny was to slay that beast of a man, to free my love from the shackles of her father. I could hear the voices of the townsfolk cheering me on as I left with Studwick, my steed. Taking a moment, I sat beneath a Willow tree, before my legs could give out below me. As the memory played in my head the voices changed and faces warped, everything was just as I remembered it, except they cheered for her instead.
My body was riddled with exhaustion and shame. At that moment I could not bring myself to move an inch of my armour, instead closed my eyes to rest them for a minute. A minute which turned into years.
And that was how I ended up here. Covered in weeds and the overgrowth of this forest for a century waiting, unwittingly, for this kingdom to need a knight once again. I vow this time, never to let the deceit of another claim my fate again, even if it means destroying every princess that lies in my way.































