The Soul And The Sword

Chapter 8

Ruther over time made his way to the main front against a castle. The structure had holes all throughout it and some parts were still burning from the siege the day before. Now it was completly abandoned with no life insight. He traveled through the wreckage seeing dead warriors of both sides along with innocent people. This display of brutality struck Ruther right in his heart. He realized just what war does to people. He closely looked at each corpses face, atleast the ones that had one left, and thought about how every single dead body had family, friends, and loved ones. Now here they lay dead on the ground because of an argument between opposing sides. One of the knights had a face that seemed very familiar to him. He looked closer at it and saw it was the face of Carlos. "No...no-no-no-no-no... It cannot be," Ruther said,"Why must it be so? Why must these things happen? First my wife is taken away from me and I'm forced to go on this brutal journey to find her. Then my father is killed before my very eyes. And now here lies my closest friend dead on the ground becuase of a war."
Ruther begins to cry heavily as he slams his hand on Carlos's corpse. "Wake up! Wake up Carlos! I cannot loose another!"
Ruther then sits up and covers his face with his hands and continues to weep.
"I am so sick of all of this. I am tired of the pain. I just want to quit. I just want to give up, but my wife is in dire need of me... I don't know what to do!" After several minutes of continuous crying he pulls himself together and says,"No I must not give up. I cannot let everything that has happened break me. I must fight through this. For my wife, for myself, and for my family. I must be strong and push on. The pain will pass. It is only an obstacle in my way."
He wipes his tears and begins his search for the third member. The nearby grunts of agony of someone catches his ear. He shakes his head thinking he is hearing things. Ruther hears the sound again. He walks towards the noise step by step, honing in on its source. There is a pile of wood with a mans head poking out of it. He rushes towards the man and the man freaks out.
"Please don't kill me sir. I don't want to die," cries the man.
"I'm not going to harm you. I just want to he-"
"No you don't. You just want to kill me like all of the other knights in shining armor do. Come on then. Just finish me off. I'm tired of living in this pain anyways."
"But I am not here to kill you or any survivors. I am on a mission of my own. Let me help you."
Ruther then walks over to the wood and lifts it off of the man's back. The man stands up while limping on his right leg. He appears to be nothing but a peasant by his style of dress and lack on cleanliness.
"Did you get trapped under that wreckage during the siege," says Ruther to the man.
He brushes himself off and says,"Well not during. I was here during the bombardment of this castle. My wife, son, and family executed before my very eyes as their heads were chopped off when they were ridding of the survivors. I was hiding in some hay not to far away from them an witnessed every little detail about it. Somehow I was not found and stayed there until they left. When they were gone I looked around to see the damage caused. My home, gone, my family, dead, my life, ruined, and here I stand in a lower state than I was before as a filthy peasant. I was looking around when suddenly some wooden wreckage fell on me and trapped me underneath. I have been stuck there for 12 hours and just eventually gave up because I felt like I had nothing left to live for because all was lost. I still don't know if I should carry on and just join my family."
The man begins to cry as he covers his face as streams of tears run down his face.
Ruther puts his hand on his shoulder and speaks,"You know what? I am in somewhat the same situation as you. I lived a happy life with a wonderful wife. All was good until the day she was taken away from me. I was forced to go on this journey to find her and save her, but I have lost others along the way. My father killed before my very eyes by a member of this group called The Dark Sickle as I watched the life slowly leave his eyes. He trained me to become the man and warrior I an today from the time I was just a boy. I even had a sword made in his memory, but that was before this journey. And my friend Carlos, who was the best friend I have ever had, is dead. Died in the very siege against this castle. We had been through countless battles together and always stood by each others side, shared laughs and memories together, basically became brothers, but here he lies, dead by the very thing that brought us together and drew us so close. Look I know it hurts when you loose a loved one and have to live with that, but you mustn't give up. Live on for the sake of them. They wouldn't want you to join them because they are always with you in life and death. Plus they would want you to do great things, live on, and not be burdened by their death."
The man stops crying and looks up at Ruther and says,"I have never thought of it that way. And I believe what you say. Thank you very much. What is your name?"
"My name is Ruther. What is yours?" "Well.... I can't remember. I guess I was hit so hard by the wreckage and so hurt by my family's execution that it affected my memory. And with my home destroyed there probably is no way of knowing my name again. I don't know how it just made me forget my name and not everything else."
"What if I called you Phillip?"
"That sounds great actually. Thank you very much Ruther."
"You are welcome. Phillip."