My Broken Knight

Chapter 1: A Picture

Note: This is a romantasy.

Be aware of described violence, death, and betrayal (not between main characters)

-William-

I stared at the picture for the hundredth time. Even though it had faded over the last seven years, she was still as beautiful as ever, and I remembered every detail about her. Every tiny little one. Like the soft freckles dancing over her nose. She always hated them. Her beautiful deep green eyes. Her dark raven hair that fell like a waterfall down her back. She had always been breathtaking to me. Even when we were kids, I had not been able to take my eyes off her.

“I promise I will come back for you...”

My own words echoed in my head as I thought about our last conversation.

“Don’t forget me.”

She had said those words right before she handed me the beautifully painted picture of her. She was smiling her sweet smile. Her lips were painted a soft red and her cheeks a sweet pink. I remembered what it was like kissing her. The memory warmed me even as the cold bit my cheeks.

“For seven years I have had to watch you look at that picture.”

My friend Greg came up to me on the big wall where I stood watch for the night. The torches beside my face and the big cape were the only things keeping me warm. He looked from the picture I held tightly between my fingers and then at me and smiled before he turned to look at the dark, snow-covered forest.

“Tomorrow,” he said. “Tomorrow you finally get to go home and claim your woman.”

I rolled my eyes and put the picture back inside my armor, where it lay safely secured to my chest, closest to my heart.

“You make it sound so... vulgar. I’m marrying her, not just f*****g her.”

“No, you even refused the whores that were brought here for seven years. Tell me, are you getting tired of your hand yet?”

I shook my head as we laughed together. We came from very different backgrounds—he was the son of a wealthy lord, while I was the son of a humble carpenter who longed for glory. How wrong I had been to think I would find it here. I really should have listened to my father…

“Don’t fight for a king you have never even seen, my son. There is no glory on the battlefield, only death and misery, as you hear those very men talking about it, crying for their mothers.”

His words were so clear to me. He had been right, but I had signed my name, promising to serve the king for seven long years and fend off the northern barbarians of Seeka. It was a damn ice block. Nothing but dark trees grew here.

I had seen more men die from hunger or freezing to death than in battle. There was no glory to be found, as my father had said, just misery. But it didn’t matter. What I was really seeking was Vanessa. Beautiful and sweet Vanessa, whom I had promised to marry once I returned home.

There were no rings, and I didn’t even get a chance to go down on one knee. It had been swift, as she said goodbye to me. We had grown up together, as our mothers had been close friends. Sadly, mine had died from a bad cough, and hers soon after, leaving her all alone since her father had died on the battlefield years before.

She was then sent away to live with a distant aunt but returned one summer to sell her parents’ house and belongings. We hadn’t planned to fall in love. It just hit us like lightning.

“You lovesick fool,” Greg said.

“You’re just jealous.”

“No, my friend,” he replied, placing a hand on my shoulder. “That, I am not.”

He walked away laughing, and I turned back to the dark woods. They appeared as one vast shadow covering the ground, but then the shadow seemed to take shape... no, many shapes. s**t! I turned around and yelled, “Flesh Eaters!”

The entire camp erupted into chaos as the barbarians began to charge toward us. They were dressed in heavy fur coats and wore skulls as masks... real human skulls. It was said that after defeating their opponents, they ate them and wore their faces, becoming one with them and absorbing their strength. I wasn’t sure if it was true, but I had fought many of them, and they were as strong as bears.

“Get ready!” I shouted.

I turned around just as a hook latched onto the upper part of the wall. Drawing my sword, I ran over to the large wooden pikes we had tied together and glanced down. Here they come... I thought.

I cut the rope, but four more hooks latched onto the wall. I fought to fend them off, but just as I reached the fourth, a Flesh Eater jumped over the side and raised his axe. He charged toward me. I dodged, managing to cut him on the back.

He fell forward, but I had been distracted long enough for the rest to get over the wall. They came at me one by one. I tried to take down as many as I could, but as I ran one through with my sword, his weight overpowered me and made me lose my balance. We toppled over the side and fell to the ground. I groaned as we landed, him on top of me.

I used all my strength to try to push him off while people ran around, yelling and screaming.

“Come on!” I urged.

But I couldn’t shift the man... I was ready to give up when suddenly the weight was lifted off me, and a hand reached down.

“Come, let us kill some Flesh Eaters,” Greg said.

I smiled up at him, grabbed his hand, and we plunged into the chaos of men, limbs, and blood. We stood back-to-back as the enemies closed in.

“How many are there?” Greg yelled.

“No idea! Weren’t they supposed to have been pretty much wiped out?” I asked.

“That’s what the last message said. I think they missed a few.”

“A few?”

He laughed behind me just as I pushed another Flesh Eater back.

“Come on. This is the glory they talked about. If we take them down, our names will be shouted from the rooftops of the castle in Catalla!”

I shook my head as we continued to encounter more and more Flesh Eaters.

“Concentrate!” I yelled at him.

“Come on, Will. We’re winning!” he said, turning to me.

I glanced over my shoulder, only to see a Flesh Eater charging at him from the side.

“Greg, look out!”

I grabbed him and pulled him out of the way, only to feel a sharp pain as a long spear was driven into my stomach.

“Will!”

I fell to my knees, the pain momentarily masked by shock, as I looked up at the man who was about to kill me. He twisted the spear in my wound and, speaking in a language I had studied for seven years, said, “Watch your friends die!”

I turned to see Greg, who had been grabbed from behind and forced to his knees. One of them pulled out a crudely made knife. All their weapons were poorly crafted but still deadly. He pulled Greg’s head back and slit his throat.

“N-No... o...”

Blood trickled down the side of my mouth as I watched Greg’s blood stream from his throat. He stared at me with wild eyes, realizing death had come for him. Then he fell forward, going completely still. I turned back to the man in front of me, gripping the spear tightly in an attempt to alleviate the overpowering pain.

“You lost.”

The language was as harsh as the man himself. The R’s rolled heavily, but the Flesh Eater was right. Greg hadn’t seen that we were the last ones standing. The rest of the camp was on fire, and some men were already being cut to pieces to be eaten.

I couldn’t believe this would be my last night. I wasn’t done living. I hadn’t married Vanessa yet. Even now, with the Flesh Eater in front of me, I could still see her in my mind. She was so clear, so beautiful... so warm.

The man laughed, watching me suffer, but I refused to let this be my final moment. Summoning the last of my strength, I pushed back. The sudden movement shocked him. He staggered back, releasing the spear as I pulled it from my wound and slowly got back to my knees.

“Who are you?”

He looked stunned. All of them did. I was too, but I couldn’t die yet. Not until I had married the love of my life.

“Death,” I answered.

He looked even more surprised when I answered in his language, but he didn’t have time to process it before I drove the spear right through his throat. His eyes, wide and shocked, remained fixed in that expression forever. I pulled the spear back, only to hear the faint sound of horses. An eagle’s cry joined the roar of hooves, and I knew help had arrived. I fell to my knees again, feeling suddenly weak.

“Vanessa,” I whispered just before darkness overtook me.