Robyn Seay
English 9
9 December 2013
Shadows of Those Who Have Gone Astray
"And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day." (Jude 1:6 NIV)
It was a somewhat normal start of the day in the kingdom of Hampshire, sun radiant across the fields and shimmering on the lake, birds were chirping to their morning melody, but there was something different. Something wrong. Sir Thomas looked out his chamber window to look down upon the courtyard of the citadel. Another execution. There were five executions just this past month. "These people are being killed because they believe in something. Because they have hope. What reason does the king have to punish those who have hope?" Thomas thought aloud, "Are we to believe nothing? Are we to never hope that something better will become of this doubtful world? Just let darkness grow from our shadows to conquer what is left illuminated?" He finishes his thought as he feels cold eyes staring at him, seeming all too familiar.
"Brother, you continue speaking in such a way, Decius will have your head. He is our king and knows what must be done to help us." Thomas' brother Cyrus says with a menacing tone. Cyrus has always been loyal to Decius in all his years, even killed his uncle because his king thought he would become an enemy, though he was only a baron, and did not have much power.
"So you're on his side then? Thinking we are better than what they believe in? We are wrong, sinful, all of us. They have hope, what do we have? We have a king who seems to want bloodshed in every village of the realm. We are knights not murderers." With his final statement and only a harsh glare from Cyrus, Thomas left to the armory.
The day continued with the shade of darkness burdening the young but wise knight's thoughts. He could not walk through the kingdom even for one day and not find wickedness. Malicious talk of those who have done no wrong, women treated unfairly, and those who are weak carrying the heaviest burdens. No harmony amongst what Decius calls a camaraderie better than other kingdoms.
A number of days later, Decius captures the prince of Britain and their king has declared war. Younger to elderly men had been chosen to follow Hampshire's king and his knights into battle.
"Come Thomas. I am to kill whomever refuses to fight. Do not make me have to let that rule be used." Cyrus told Thomas, who refused to follow him.
"If we win this war, what comes of it? We have a prince whose father is taking him back by force, not a trade. Is that what Decius wants? A trade or to watch others die? Is that what you want brother? Watch your opposers die? Let us go retrieve Uther's son and bring him to their border line. We could stop this from ever starting. The war that never came to be." Thomas begged of his brother to listen to him, but Cyrus was blinded by hatred and could not see reason.
"No." Cyrus breathed through his teeth, "War has been declared, battle must begin. Come or die by my hand." He continued and pressed a sharpened dagger to his brother's chest.
"Would you Cyrus? Kill your own brother?" Thomas asked, distracting him as he reached for his own weapon.
Cyrus' eyes cold as the winter months, no guilt, only hatred residing in his eyes.
"I'm sorry." Thomas whispered, as his own weapons pierces into Cyrus' chest, his eyelids brimming with tears prepared to fall and form salted streams upon his cheeks. He watches as his brother's form falls to the stone floor. He leaves and finds the prince pacing in his cell.
"Hello Prince Arthur. I believe it's time to bring you home." He takes a rusty old key and opens the prison door with it's loud creaking following. The knight and prince leave the castle and make their way through the dark forest before Decius' army arrives at the border. The war is stopped and Thomas hopes not to return to what he once called a home.
"Father," the prince said to the king "Sir Thomas has helped us in avoiding loss of our men's lives and helped me escape from their dungeon. I believe he deserves a place here, as a knight of Britain."
"You are right, my son. He has assisted Britain and brought you back to me. He will become a knight and live in Camelot." The king replied, grateful for his son to still be breathing.
Sir Thomas was knighted and the darkness no longer grew from the shadows of those around him, he saw what all those who were executed not a month before saw. Hope.
