The Silvershield Knight // Steem Monsters Common Card Fantasy Story Contest! // Week 14

      Honor, iron and sweat mixed with blood and dust. A summary of my life as a knight. Every scar received in battle is like a son to me. The golden lands of Valinka are my home. After many years the war was over. As winners, we enjoy the times of peace and prosperity. Wine and mead flowed in the taverns. The clean streets full with local trinkets. Begging was an extinct phenomenon in our kingdom. The orphans products of the war lived worthily educated under the protection of the crown. Some children studied to be soldiers, others were immersed fully in the arcane arts, many had been assigned to families without children.

     The last months had been spent with an enviable bliss. I guard the palace doors during the day and at night with my beloved wife we ​​ate and drank. Ariana was a very intelligent and talkative woman; with a splendid mood. I was rather quiet and a man of few words, so our relationship was balanced. We sweetly loved each other. In warm times we slept in the garden, under the light of the moon, feeling the caresses of the summer wind on our bodies. The cold nights in the living room in front of the home, on a soft bed, covered with thick furs. Now that the war was over, I was thinking of anticipating my retirement and dedicating myself to writing the memories of my travels. One bright morning, my wife announced that she was pregnant. I put a stupid smile on my face the months that followed. I thought that the happiness of the gods would continue to illuminate my destiny.

     He returned from the guard at dusk, along the usual street. The silly smile remained firm like statue hair. I saw the sun hide behind the walls, mired in happy thoughts of a promising future. A heartrending scream took me out of my reverie. I turned without believing what my eyes communicated to me. An army of goblins loomed over the wall. The guards fell from above. Their lifeless bodies crashed on the ground. Alarm bells rang. The defenders began to emerge in the streets, but the enemy was already inside. With an explosion the entrance door was detached from the wall. An old orc magician came out of the cloud of dust, walking over the bodies and debris. He had in his hand a black orb, a tunic red as blood and a long gray beard, dirty and disheveled. Behind him the horde entered like a green tide. The arrows of the royal guard stabbed at the invaders. They fell inert, who were behind roared defiant. Stepping on the lifeless bodies of their companions, they rushed at the archers. The soldiers came forward and raised their spears that were threaded on the orcs, who still advancing with the iron inside their flesh, burying the spears to the depths of their entrails. The enemy line behind, jumped over the corpses and fell behind the defending shields.

     Stunned, unsheathe my sword and with a quick move i cut the head of an orc. Thick black blood spilled from his neck. The enemies jumped the wall from all cardinal points, I saw them behind my back, looting shops and beheading civilians. A cold sweat ran down my back and sent me toward my home. I made my way killing dozens of orcs, many distracted by acts of pillage, they lost their heads before they knew what happened.

     The heart galloped inside my armor, a dark premonition monopolized my thoughts. I turned the corner of my house and, horrified, saw my dead neighbors and some orc bodies on the street, the black blood mingled with my own compatriots. The old baker lay on a puddle. I checked that the door of my house was broken into several pieces. I entered my home, everything was destroyed, the curtains, the pillows, blood on the floor and all the cupboards looted. I entered the room with a knot in my chest, on the bed she lay, immobile, her lifeless body was mutilated. I felt something broke inside me. I approached him trembling and embraced his still warm body. I stroked her hair and kissed her forehead. I turned on my steps and left the house. Some neighbors had gathered outside and cried to their loved ones, approached supplicants. I could not hear them, a dark shroud covered my thoughts. In the distance I heard the orcs laugh, mechanically I ran towards them. I shouted at them, they were more than ten away. I did not stop. Some left what they were doing and looked at each other, they laughed when they saw me alone three of them rushed to me. Cut one into two halves, throw aside my shield and plunged my fist into his face, felt his skull give in to the blow. Their bodies fell to the ground, the third with a dagger jumped to my neck. It was not even close. My sword buried to the hilt in his chest, his fragile armor did not resist my hatred. The remaining orcs watched the scene and laughed pointing to their dead companions. Three archers had already tightened the arch. I threw myself at them, I did not care about the arrows. My mind was drowning in the deepest darkness. No arrow touched me, or I dodged them; I do not remember really. With a few strides, the distance that separated us disappeared. Three of them, the bigger ones raised their shields and they tried to stop me. My sword, like a guillotine possessed, their shields where like butter to my hunger and two of them being butchered. The third fell down His head touched the ground just as the sole of my boots reached his face. Those who were outside the struggle no longer laughed. The smartest of them fled. My movements were mechanical, cold, I did not hate them, the pain had pulverized my heart. When I finished, my white armor was stained with blood. The spearmen finished off the few orcs that were dying on the ground. Trusting in our victory brought us the most humiliating defeat that our kingdom had ever suffered. Mothers embraced to the lifeless bodies of their children, disconsolate cries. Our home bathed in blood and fire. I was not going to rest for a single day until I had exterminated them. Each thought was a prayer to holy death. Nothing I had left, only this thirst for blood, that wakes me up in the nights bathed in sweat.

Hope you enjoy the read as i enjoy the write. Let me know if you find any error, im improving my english at this.