The Border City Ord 11

Win ignores the frail old man and focuses wholly on Rolant.

“Rolant, where is Anzo?” The old man shies back at the power in Win’s voice. Rolant looks confused, all the anger once filling his body knocked out of him.

“What are you talking about?”

“Anzo is the city lord, correct? I intend to put an end to his corrupt rule of Ord. I will allow him to take the money of the people no longer. Not a single child more will be held hostage! Tell me where he is! You cannot intend to protect such a man any longer!” The old man nearly falls backward onto the stone floor. Rolant smiles slightly, only for it to vanish quickly.

“Sorry, but I have my own business with the city lord.”

“I see. So you intend to take the glory yourself.”

“I suppose so, little lord.”

“Loyal when it suits you, traitor when it suits you… it’s all so vapid. Why bother saying it’s all just for money if you’ll abandon the job in the end? Why bother saying honor won’t earn you anything if you’ll take on this burden just for the sake of what you believe in and what you intend to protect? Why bother protecting that man when you’ll just kill himself in the end? It would have ended up like this regardless, so why bother pretending? What point was there in pretending to be empty?” Rolant smiles.

“Little lord, surely you have an answer of your own for that question. It’s because I’m a fool. Just a fool that doesn’t understand anything. My vice commander murdered my wife and daughter and framed me. In light of my service, my lord, who I once thought magnanimous and benevolent, spared my life and banished me without anything to my name. I should have faced execution then. I should have died there with them. This whole time I should have been dead. And yet… I still live. Perhaps I am just a husk. Taking one foolish step forward, pathetically trudging on, running from what’s in my own heart. Like the fool I am, I pretended I couldn’t see what was in my heart, all because I was afraid it would break if I did. But my heart was already broken. And when I look at Anzo as he is now, I know it still beats. Stay out of my way, little lord. This is a fight worth staking everything. It’s my battle to win.”

“I refuse. It’s my rightful duty. I refuse to let anyone else handle the shame of humanity. A jaded old man who scorns the world has no right to punish evil.” Win begins to approach the old man and the glowing orb in the center of the room. “Old man, tell me where Anzo is or get out of my way.”

In a panic the old man waves his thin arms around the orb. A small blast of purple light shoots out towards Win. The orb itself begins to dull. Win feels something slamming into him. Rolant pushes Win out of the way, taking the full brunt of the strange attack. He flips over and slams into the wall. He ends up sitting against it, unable to move any further as he grows weak. The old man begins to ascend the staircase behind him as Rolant groans in pain.

“After him… Anzo—!” Rolant’s head droops as he loses even the strength for that.

Win follows after the old man up the stairs. He didn’t take the time to find his sword. He refuses to allow the old man or Anzo to escape, and so he must be quick. He resolves himself to simply win regardless. There would have been no point in fighting if he just loses in the end. The evil wouldn’t end, because there would be nobody else capable of stopping it. Those with the strength would benefit, while those who hate it lack the power. The strong take from the weak without mercy and the weak have no recourse. That’s the pattern Win has learned. The only one who might be able to rid this city of evil is Dagobert, but even then Win worries if he would truly be alright.

The stairs emerge onto a wide platform hidden within a crook of the mountain. There’s a large opening where the stone expands far beyond the side of the mountain. At that edge is the old man, not a single other person in sight.

“Tell me simply, old man, where is Anzo?” The old man speaks as though he wants to maintain his dignity, but his voice is too weak to give him that presence.

“It is I. I am the great warrior Anzo, lord of this city.” Win flinches as he comes to realize it is not a lie.

“So even the great warrior, said to be unmatched under the heavens, cannot defeat old age. To think even a man of your caliber has grown so frail.” The pity in Win’s voice seems to enrage the old man.

“If you just obediently got hit, then I wouldn’t be like this at all! Damnable brat!”

“What? What sort of dark magic is in that orb, old man?”

“And even now that you know who I am, you still don’t show me the respect I deserve! I discovered that orb several months ago in an old record in the keep. Ord, you see, was once the capital of a great kingdom, ruled by an eternal king. The king used that orb. He would suck away the life force of criminals, keeping himself young in perpetuity. He only died when he was defeated in battle, leaving the orb untouched for millennia. Fortunately, I have no such weakness. I will return to my prime, and in that state I will never again be defeated by anyone! I will rule Ord forever! I will conquer the world and become the master of both time and space! And if it weren’t for that damnable traitor, I would already be returned to my youthful state.”

“Rolant is the traitor in your eyes? You’ve brought shame to your masters, the Lufian family! You have decided to harm those you are sworn to protect! You suck dry the people of the march for your own gain! You line your pockets with their wealth! You return to them nothing! You are naught but a parasite! A traitor to the Lufian family, nay, to humanity itself! And for what!?”

“Eternity!”

“And for what!? What value does eternity have!? To relive your youth!? To return to your glory days!? What’s the point!? It’s the most vapid, most worthless goal of them all! Your glory days are behind you! You are no longer unmatched under the heavens! You cannot be! You are an old man! Frail like any old man! You will never again be that great warrior! You’re just scared of being old! Of being weak! And you’re scared because you already are! And you lost all that you once were because of it! Even with the strength of your youth, you would not be that great warrior! You are another man entirely! You would be less than a husk devoid of any substance! You would be a facsimile perverting the image of that once great man! No longer mortal and no longer yourself, what’s the point of that kind of existence!? What’s the point of an eternity where you can’t even be yourself!?” Anzo shuts him down with a dark look.

“Silence, brat. What could you know of life? What could you know of undying? I will return to my body and all will bend to me once more.” Win responds with firm conviction.

“That is your body! You shamed yourself, so at least face the end of your life with grace! Face judgement and live out the rest of your days in peace!”

“I refuse. All your nattering is irritating, brat. All the world will fall to me! And I’ll start with you!”

“Old man, you’re the worst of us. A world like that would be the most miserable of them all. I won’t let you make it.” Win clenches his fists and exudes sheer power. Anzo smiles madly.

“You intend to bear witness to the final moments of Anzo, the greatest warrior under the heavens! Announce yourself! Let your name be carved in the first stone of the path I now take!”

“My name is Winfred Lufian! On behalf of my father the margrave I will bring you to justice! Anzo, your ambition will never be realized!” Hearing his name seems to sober Anzo up. He doesn’t move. And neither does Win. His face becomes disheartened, melancholic in a way he wasn’t as he was called a traitor. Now he knows it to be true. His voice is soft. Far too quiet for Win to hear clearly.

“So you’re the heir… strong even without me, then… you, and now that I think about it, Dagobert too, even at such a young age, you shine so beautifully… How did I forget? Why did I forget? Was I truly so far gone? Drunk on my own fear? And yet I still sought to be a warrior.” He raises his voice just enough for Win to hear. “Young Lord, you’ve bested the warrior unmatched under the heavens. Allow me to face my proper judgement.”

Anzo takes a small step backwards. Win chases after him. Anzo’s body, so frail, so slight, as if it might be taken away by the wind, begins to fall backwards. Win runs to him, desperate yet again to keep him from escaping. Anzo falls. Win reaches the edge and can only watch. Win slams his fist against the stone beneath him and weeps.