Pure of Heart

I was outnumbered by 30, but spears were nothing like fire sticks in Arkan. They charged me with the spears, assuming that I had nowhere to go, but they created a platform in which I could stand on, and I carved through their soft necks like cutting butter with a hot blade. More had come through, but no matter the amount of enemies, I was determined to capture this keep. In the corner of my eye, a man with a hand cannon was aiming at me, and before he pulled the trigger, Juliana arrived, driving her dagger into the back of his head. She propped the body against hers and fired the hand cannon at the crowd before me, scattering their bodies all over the halls.

“I evacuated the slaves, so we can go all out if we want to.”

“Good job, and thank you for the gate.”

“You can thank me later when we rip Axten’s spine out of his body.”

Juliana and I fought through the elite guards towards Axten’s chambers. Each guard fell to our blade faster than they could blink. More and more appeared after each wave was cleared. Our armor and clothes glinted with dark red and pieces of bone as we ripped through their weak ranks. Alas, the Captain-at-Arms appeared. He held a glaive made of pure gold-steel. He dropped it, and surrendered.

“You pitiful piece of shit! Why the fuck did you surrender when I pay you and you damn family hundreds of gold to protect me?!” Axten barged out of his chambers and attempted to behead the Captain. Due to improper technique, he was unable to cut all the way, so he pulled his sword out, and tried again and again. The Captain wailed horribly until he no longer could.

“Now, you filthy dark loving fucks!” Axten pointed his blade at us. “Is this how you fucking treat your allies?! I hope the Duke feeds your grounded flesh to your Princess while he sodomizes her!”

This obscene piece of shit. Julian and I looked at each other for a short moment, nodded, and charged at him. Juliana disarmed him easily, and pinned him down to the ground. I pointed the sword to his face as he squirmed. I stomped on his stomach, and he vomited the feast he had before the siege. He coughed, and then grinned at me.

“You think you won something, Rytus? You actually lost. You have lost so long before this battle.”

“Not at all. We have your castle, and you have no more soldiers to protect you. You can surrender now, and we will let you go.”

“Let me go? You think you’re a hero. You think justice wins in the end?”

“I do not care about justice. I want to protect my people and my loved ones. That is all.”

“How do you think you can protect your people, when you could not protect your family?!”

“Be quiet.”

“Poor poor Rytus, with no parents, and wife dying from unbirth syndrome…”

“Shut your mouth.”

“Oh, and then your new wife and kid died too! And the Count Veraxus, right?”

“I will stab you in the throat.”

“Do you even know what happened in The Capital?”

I pushed the blade closer to his weasel face. The sharp point grazed along his cheek. He barely flinched.

“Did you know the King is alive and well? After torturing him, he was still able to walk somehow. Wilhelmina, oh gods, she was pitiful. Kicking, and screaming, she-” I kicked him straight in the teeth. How dare the Duke torture his own daughter.

“Did you kill the prince?”

Axten spat a tooth out of his mouth.

“And it was such an honor to be called to his side, our new King Gregus. He said he needed me for his conquest. I told him I could do anything he wanted. What he wanted was for me to prove myself to the new crown. Want to know how I proved myself?” The twisted fiend smiled at me.

“I destroyed The Capital. I killed the Royal Court.” He laughed hysterically again, to the point of tears. “I marched the new King’s black-capes into the streets, and I crumbled the castle! Oh, such a weak symbol of power for a weak kingdom. And after we killed everyone in the city, I found Count Ulises holding your baby and your whore wife! Ha ha! It felt like I was reading the Divinity of the Eleven! What a dramatic end of a legacy-”

I dropped my blade and began bashing his face in. Juliana tried to stop me, but I was not willing to let this dogshit live without suffering.

“Sire, STOP!” Juliana kicked me aside. She pulled an ornate knife, embedded with the Veraxus Crest, and stabbed Axten in the chest. Over and over again. And again. And again. And again. She then took the knife and dragged it across the neck, severing the head from the body. She took the head and slammed the severed neck into a spear and stormed off.

I fell to my knees.

I felt neither pain nor pleasure.

I felt like an eternal blackness had tried to swallow me whole.

Did I truly avenge my family? Was this the same Rytus that Laila married? That Helena married? That my father and mother had raised? For the first time in my life, pure rage had left my body and manifested into animalistic violence on someone. Yes, Axten killed my family, and rubbed it in my face. Yes, Axten was a sadistic noble with a lust for power. But did a man deserve to be punished the way Juliana and I punished him? Who was I to exact punishment? I was not a god.

I limped out of the castle and into the courtyard. Juliana had placed the speared head of Axten in the center of the courtyard. Former slaves were throwing rocks and spitting on the disfigured head. Some of my soldiers took turns boxing the dead man’s face. I could see the pure hatred of nobility in their eyes, and the irony of it being that they served a noble with untested loyalty themselves.

I found Juliana sitting by herself within a row of bushes in the garden. I sat next to her. We did not share any words, but we comforted each other with our presence. It was hard to hear the truth for me, but I could not imagine the lost time between a daughter and her father, or a sister and her younger sister, that she could never regain. She lost her nephew without even knowing him. All of those losses caused directly by that severed head only a few paces away.

“Juliana.”

“What?”

“We exacted revenge, did we not?”

“Not you. I couldn’t let you.”

“What do you mean?”

“You are pure of heart. You’ve killed and maimed, but not for the sport or for vengeance.”

“That does not mean I am pure of heart. I have lied, schemed, chosen to do wrong for pleasure.”

“You are a man. You know that. You broke yourself becoming a savage. I had to pull you back into yourself.”

“What about you? You stabbed him and threw his head on a pike. But you are kind and loving. You did not hesitate to help the slaves, and you volunteered to come back to this place to help me.”

“I found out that I enjoy the thrill. Do you know what I mean? The thrill of taking a life. I find the enjoyment of killing those who deserve to die. You clearly don’t. I don’t mean this disrespectfully, but you’re like a puppy.”

We laughed together for the first time since we had met.

“I see you as someone who is beyond counties, kingdoms, empires, governances, and whatnot. I see you as someone who could change the world. So don’t let go of yourself like you did before. I hate to see that.”

“Thank you. I feel inadequate at times, but I have my circle to help me see the purpose in my being. My purpose was to never be a noble, to act out like an animal because of my own power. I was meant to help people. I need to be more grounded in my purpose again.”

“And thankfully, you have a woman to keep you grounded again. That Princess, she is gorgeous. You need to check on her leg soon.”

“I -”

Before I uttered any word, Juliana embraced me.

“You’re a good man. You deserve the world and its fortunes. I’ll be by your side too, if you need me. Just send me a letter. I’ll be waiting in the shadows.”

She stood up and walked towards the castle.

***

I finally arrived at my keep after a week or two of helping Juliana clean her new keep. The freed tunnel people were so appreciative of Juliana that they offered to come back to the castle to serve her. Since she did not need personal servants, they became her new elites. I heard from my soldiers that they spotted her training her new force in strange combat techniques. She probably had learned those techniques from across the seas somewhere. I should invite her and her mother to tea to hear of her tales someday.

Stephania was healing in the keep’s infirmary. It was my father and mother’s final place before they perished. I had not used it since, but I was surprised to see that my court and my guards maintained this place for so long.

Losing part of a limb used to be a death sentence, but I had long since improved my realm’s medical accessibility, which saved Stephania’s life. The shin was covered in Thraliga gel, which stopped the bleeding early, and allowed for extreme pain relief, which caused her to be frequently in and out of consciousness. I held her hand for the remainder of the day. Her hands felt like years and years of sword training, as every finger on her hands were callused, just like mine.

I witnessed many of her followers and soldiers paying respect to her. She would pick her head up, smile, and lay back down to sleep. She fought the Thraliga drowsiness to acknowledge her people. I saw that she was fit to be a ruler. A true ruler of this kingdom. She was the hero that the commonfolk prayed to the gods for. She embodied her beliefs, and people respected her for it. I respected her for it. I loved her for it. She was so precious to me.

A few weeks passed by with surprising peacefulness. The black-capes had stopped scouting our borders, and autumn was about to end, with the first drops of snow melting on the side of the keep walls. I found a letter with similar binding as before.

“My Dear Beloved,

I request a deep embrace, one that will warm my heart during these cold seasons. I long for your arms, your chest, and your smile. I want to express my deep admiration of your kindness, your determination, and your handsome face. I want you.

Please meet me at the infirmary when you have some time.

Love,

Stephania.”

I wept. It had been so long since I received a letter from her. The love of my life was finally here.

I rushed down to the infirmary, sometimes accidentally running into guards and servants. And there she was. She sat upright in bed with a gorgeous lilac gown. She looked at me, smiling brightly. I took her hand, and we shared the kiss we had longed for, after so many years.