Endgame

Hi everyone. 

This is my second try at a story. If the backdrop to the last one was Sci-fi, and Horror, this one might be called Fantasy. But this isn't what this story is about. The fantasy is just an excuse. The story is about something else entirely.

Good hunting

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”Why are you doing this?” Her voice was like some far-away thunder, as if her cowl was some impossibly deep cave.

I smashed my head against the helmet of the man in front of me before he could draw his blade and slashed to my right, drawing blood from some other poor devil's throat. I bashed the third one with my shield, dropping him in place, unconscious.

“You are distracting me. Shut up.”

“My Lord, in front of you!” I screamed, my voice rough with smoke.

The kid whirled in place and faced his opponent. He faked to the right, then to the left, and drove his spear into his enemy’s neck. I smiled. Someone had taught him well.

Wonder who that ugly son of a bitch might have been.

Someone lunged for my neck head-on. It was an amateur’s move, and I saw it coming from a mile away.

It almost killed me nevertheless.

“You have brought many before me. That’s why I came for you. Why you can see me.” Her voice resonated over the sounds of battle, deep in my chest.

I moved to parry with my shield and only managed to do so at the last second. The blade singed my cheek. I was slow. Too slow to fight a half-blind cripple.

“I told you to shut the hell up.” I snarled between my teeth, my breath short.

I pressed into close quarters, thrust at his gut, and broke his neck with a savage blow with my shield. It made my whole body shake.

“You know what my presence here means. ” She said absentmindedly.

We had lit the camp’s stables on fire half an hour ago, at the dawn of day, and fought our way across the outpost in the midst of the ensuing chaos and mayhem. The dark, angry clouds in the sky still covered the sun.

This camp was the last obstacle. The bridge was close and, across it, the border. That meant safety for the kid. That meant being alive tomorrow.

We kept moving through the tents, and took out anyone who looked at us for more than a second. We couldn’t let anyone raise the alarm about us. This was our chance.

“It means you are to die today.” Her words rang like a church bell, drowning everything else. “And after you, the kid.”

I stopped my run at that for a second, looked at her for the first time and said, my voice very, very quiet:

“No. We won’t.”

I could almost see her smile from under her cowl.“Many before you have said those words to me. Such defiance in mankind. It suits your people. But you still haven’t answered.”

We hid under a canopy, breathing hard. Another group ran along, just a couple feet from us, towards the fire. They didn’t see us. We were almost there. I shushed the kid into silence and stopped for a minute.

I could still feel her staring at me. She seemed to be waiting.

“I care for him. A lot. Rescued the brat when they killed his father, some..."

I took a slow, deep breath.

"...twenty-five years ago.”

The woman nodded. “I know. I took him.”

“If you were there at that time…” I whispered, getting up slowly, my joints creaking. “Then you know of me. You saw me. You know my shame.” I looked at her harshly.“I will not fail twice.”

“On the count of three, my Lord.” I whispered.

The kid nodded nervously.

“One...two...three!”

We ran across the last stretch of camp, pushing the surprised guards out of our way. We hurled over the palisade. I took the fall wrong and winced in pain. The kid saw it.

“Are you alright?”

“Peachy, my Lord. Now keep running.” I lied. I had probably sprained my ankle.

“Is that your reason? Guilt? Shame? Do you think this will erase the past?” Her words weren’t harsh or undeserved, God knows that. But they drew a burst of strength from me.

I took my last bottle of oil from my belt, threw at the wooden gate and lit it.

We ran across the bridge, the escort our allies had sent just at the other side. The troops behind us busy with the flaming gate. We were almost there.

We could make it.

I smiled at the crone beside me. "Looks like you were wrong.”

For a moment, she looked at me, and the dim light of the dawn showed enough of her face to let me see her eyes. There was something that wasn’t quite pity on them. A small table appeared besides the escort, who seemed to take no notice of it. She walked towards it and sit, slowly preparing a set of chess pieces across a checkered board.

We reached the other side of the bridge, the escort frantically making signs.

“C’mon, you two. Let’s go!” He said, pulling at the reins.

I heard the sound of a horn, and turned around. I recognized it.

I saw him. I knew him. He was clad in a grey, worn armor and carried a huge axe on his back. He rode a blood bay horse, the animal huge and restless. I’d trained him. No horse in the land could outrun that beast.

The kid spun and looked at me, his eyes fearful, but controlled.

“We’ll get on the horses and run.” He said, trying to hide his trembling voice.”We part ways, distract him and meet up in the mountain.”

I smiled at him. He looked so young. He was kind, and would be wise, in time. He had a strong arm, a firm will, and a good heart.

I loved him like a son.

“...So close.” I muttered absently.

I decked him in his right temple with the pommel of my blade, and the kid fell like an ox. The escort looked at me, alarmed and puzzled.

“Take the king in your horse, go to the mountains, and don’t look back, you hear me? You don’t look back and keep going no matter what happens.”

The escort looked at me. I could almost see the gears turning in his head and, when he figured it out, he nodded slowly. He mounted up, the kid unconscious over the saddle, and looked at me one last time.

“...I’m sorry.”

I snorted. “Yeah. Me too.” 

I slapped the horse in his rear and turned around. My opponent dismounted and drew his weapon, and I could see the smile behind his helmet. I set my grip and exhaled slowly.

Rain started to fall around me.

“It really is my time, isn’t it?” I said quietly.

"Yes. It is." She gestured at the chair across her calmly.

I was in two places at once. I saw myself in that bridge, my sword and shield in my hands, the enemy in front of me. But I was sitting across a chess board, too. And Death played me.

“I have no time to play games.” I said, standing up.

I felt the weight of Earth itself against me, and I fell back into the chair.

“This is no game, and you aren’t going anywhere.”

“I...have...to.” I said through clenched teeth, my hands moving slowly.

Again, that horrible weight blanketed me, smothering my breathing.

“I wouldn’t cheat you out of life. That is not my purpose. You are alive still, and still fighting.”She gestured at the checkered pattern board.. ”You draw breath for as long as you don’t lose.”

It took me a moment to process what she’d just said. I was silent for a minute. I grinned.

“So...what if I beat you?”

She sighed, the question seemed to bore her.

“I wouldn’t know. It’s never happened.”

The bastard was a good head taller than me, had me by 40 or 50 pounds and was undeniably younger and stronger. Just my luck.

“We’ll see about that.”

I stepped forward, hoping a sudden attack might surprise him enough to end it . I faked left behind my shield, then turned my wrist to make my blade go upwards. Tall men always have trouble with blows from below.

I opened the game aggressively, hell-bent on ending it quickly. I doubted Death incarnate adapted easily to sudden movements, and chanced upon it.

He parried it with the haft of his weapon, sending my blow to the side, and kicked at my chest. I covered with my shield and got thrown back six or seven feet. I hit against the rail of the bridge, hard, and my helmet cut my eyebrow when my shield hit against it.

Ouch.

“Fast. Ruthless. It suits you." She said, stopping my attack dead on its tracks.”But not good enough.” Before I knew how, she had taken two of my pawns and was pressing me back.

He charged me, his footsteps sure and heavy, my back still against the bridge’s rail.So not only was he stronger, faster and younger than me, but he had learned how to handle that axe. It never rains but it pours.

She attacked in earnest now, her pieces moving by themselves. Her game was like the ocean, overwhelming.

“Your kind tries to fight me every step of the way, as if I was a bogeyman, or some evil thing. I’m not. I’m not a monster, I’m not some Dark Thing from the abyss. I’m just...”

"Fight smart. You are not a youngster anymore." I muttered to myself.

I sidestepped him to the right at the last second, his axe opening a long, shallow gash on the left side of my chest.I whirled in place and hit his back with my shield, helping his momentum and his charge. He hit against it like a ram.

“Inevitable?” I interrupted her calmly, taking her rook. “Unstoppable, maybe?” I said, steel in my voice.

I circled around him warily for a few seconds, getting back to the center of the bridge, noting my surroundings. Stone paved floor. Unequal and treacherous footing under the rain. His armor wasn’t a heavy one but it was mail instead of the leather cuirass I wore. I had my sword and shield, a dagger in my belt and the knife in my boot. All I could see on him was his double-headed, two-handed axe.

That thing would split me in half if I took a direct blow.

I looked at the board intently for a minute. Two minutes. Five. She was better than me. I didn’t care.

“Since you are taking so long to play, you can answer my question. Why?”

I moved one pawn forward and said nothing. A lot of it.

He shook his head and looked at me again, his gaze steady. Damn it. His steps were slower now. Wary, even. My mouth curled up at the edge. Some part of me, one that had been sleeping for a long time, felt pride.

The old wolf fangs' were still sharp, his claws deadly.

“Why would you do this? I know your reasons. I know of your loyalty, of your duty, of your passion. I know of your guilt. That’s not what I’m asking you.”

I started moving my pieces slowly, carefully. I didn’t think any defense could truly stop her, so I started playing misdirection. I did not open my mouth.

“You keep ignoring me. That is not polite.”She waved her hand at the table and one of her knights attacked viciously.

When he came at me again, I threw my helmet to his face. He batted it aside and, in that small window, I pushed inside his guard with my shield, striking at his helmet with the handle of my sword.

I heard his nose break and grinned. My shield arm was getting tired of taking his blows, even if I parried them instead of blocking. Might as well level the field.

I sprung the trap and took it. I lost another, and the exchange wasn’t even, but I wasn’t backing down now.

“You’ve realized you will die here.”

“...Yeah.”

“Do you think killing this enemy, this final battle, will bring you peace? Do you think anyone will sing your glory, or name you a hero?” She wasn’t mocking me. It was an honest question.

I thought I saw an opening on his right after a wide swing, and took it. A scream of challenge burned in my throat and my strike was savage.

Even if it wasn’t meant to, that question made my chest ache, and I almost lost my temper, advancing rashly.

It was a ruse, and I paid dearly for it. He stopped my blade with his arm, accepting the cut, and tried to grab my collar. I backpedaled quickly, but he had been waiting for that, and swung his weapon from inside my guard. The blow took my shield and sent it over to the water. I felt my shoulder tearing apart with its force.

“You were great once. Someone worthy of praise.” She muttered.“Look at yourself now. ”

She took my last rook with her queen, the trap obvious now that I was thinking clearly.

“In time, all things fall. All things go away. All things die, and come to me. You’ve done well. Stop now. Sleep.”

I fell on my back after the hit, my head hitting against the floor. I was dazzled for an instant, and he rushed me then, planting his armored foot in my gut violently. I felt my ribs cracking.

Desperate, I took the knife in my boot and slashed at his heel. It connected. His balance wavered and I rolled to the side. He struck me while I escaped my armor taking most of it, but another wound rested now across my gut. Damn, that hurt.

I moved my pieces without order or measure now, going every which way. She looked at me, her gaze steady. She knew she had me. I was running away.

I stood up, but my breath was growing laboured and my movements were slowing by the second. I had lost my shield, and my left arm felt like it had been ripped off. Every breath killed me when my ribs moved. The cut above my eye started to blind me, and I knew I was losing too much blood from my gut.

"God, I'm so old." I thought to myself.

I didn't have much left now. She had hunted almost every single one of mine, her game methodical and clean. It was endgame. My pieces laid scattered across the checkered pattern of the board, isolated and ripe for the taking. There had never been a chance I could beat her, and she’d known it.

But then again, so had I.

"Gotcha."I said, smiling wolfishly.

I looked back for a moment, and saw it. The mountain top was on fire, as if it were a beacon. All of it.

“Thanks for the sign, my Lord.” I murmured.

They couldn't follow him through that. He would be safe. The brat would become king, still. That hope relaxed my body, the pain sharper now.

She looked at the mountain, at the board, at me. I could have never won that match, not playing like that. But it would still take her time to finish me completely. That was my play. Time. Her cowl dropped back, and I almost looked away. I was sure I didn't want to see the face of Death, but I was slow.

She was...lovely. Not beautiful like a child, or gorgeous like a full-grown woman. She looked like everyone’s favourite niece. Her features were delicate, her skin porcelain-white. Her eyes were clear and belied her age and experience. She also looked surprised.

"You...You did this on purpose."

Her voice was unsteady, and she sounded very, very young now. It was sweet and uncertain. Childish.

I crossed my arms and started to feel dizzy. I guess the wounds were getting even to this other me now.

"You spoke of my past and my guilt. You asked me if I thought myself a hero. Of course I didn’t. I’m an old, weary warrior. If another person had come after us, one that could be reasoned with, I would have knelt and begged for mercy. If it could have been lied to,I would have just rambled." I coughed and saw blood on my hand. "But a soldier came and thus, I fought. There was no glory for me here. Just a weary, elderly man hoping to gain some time."

"You...You could have escaped." She said, doubt in her tone. "You may have saved yourself, and the kid too. You needn’t have stayed here. You know my work isn’t written in stone."

My face must have looked like a madman, so big was my smile. I lost another piece to her.

"Of course I did, child. But this world needs heroes, not old killers like me. Heroes like bonfires, like swords. Heroes that attract people with their brilliance, and make them stay with their warmth. That cut a path through story, and turn themselves into the stuff of legends."

"But...you could have been that. You could have done that, all throughout your life. You were special." It almost broke my heart to see her so lost. The poor thing. She almost hesitated to take my last knight.

I shook my head. "Bonfires need stones around them to protect them from the wind. And swords need scabbards for the elements. It could have been different, of course, and I regret not seeing what will become of him, but I chose my path a long time ago. I'm content with its ending."

My opponent sensed my weakness, and rushed me. I saw him coming towards me and it looked very, very slow. Everything did now. I could almost see the individual raindrops around me, and hear their sounds when they hit against the stone-paved floor.

"Are you...Are you sure?" Her voice was a whisper, like a small child that woke up afraid at night.

I felt...complete. The pride of fulfilling my duty, the joy of having cared for the kid, even the small heartache of knowing I would not see him again. They all added up to one thing, and one thing only: I was ready.

The axe fell towards me, and I tried to sidestep it, my body moving on reflex now. But I had been fighting hard for almost an hour, and it showed. I slipped on the stone floor of the bridge, leaving the side of my chest open. I was exhausted. I could hardly breathe.

I wasn't going to make it. I didn’t mind.

"...Yeah." I said quietly, and moved my king forward, offering it for the taking.

I grinned. It had been a good life.

Her pale hand moved towards the board with the weight of Earth itself and, with a small push, moved her queen left, away from victory. I stared at her, dumbfounded.

The ghost of a smile haunted her features.

"Your turn, hero."

For a single instant, my head was clear. My eyes were sharp. My body was light on its feet again. I turned my slip into a dive, throwing myself to the left, driving my dagger into the bridge and using it as leverage. I rolled and got up to my knees, looking at the huge warrior in front of me.

I saw the sweat on his skin, and the bloodshot look in his eyes. I saw his broken nose and the limp he carried. I thought about my bleeding arm. My shattered ribs. My failing strength. My broken, weary body.

I stood up, griping my sword on my right, my dagger on my left.

"Hey, ugly." I said, grinning madly."Care to try again?"

With a roar like a beast's, my enemy leaped towards me, throwing a diagonal slash towards my neck. He was fast, sure. And strong. I doubt I could have blocked that blow, even in my prime.

She kept moving her pieces strangely, as if arranging then. I didn't understand, but the pain in my chest and gut started to numb the rest of my senses. I kept moving my king.

But this wasn't about stregth, or speed. It was about timing. And I had a lifetime of experience to help me get the timing right. I took a half-step forward and ducked under the attack, getting inside his range. He tried to elbow me aside, but I had him now. I spun on my left heel, and slashed upwards, taking his right arm at the wrist.

I took her queen. She gasped, as if it had been some unseen mistake on her part. Most of her army was now in two columns, pointing towards my king.

He screamed like a madman and lunged towards me with his body, using his weight to move the axe. I felt the metallic taste of blood in my mouth, the adrenaline rushing my body and denying the pain.

I moved my king forward, passing between the two columns. I realized what it looked like now.

He tried to hit me with what was left of his weapon. I slapped it aside with my dagger, pivoted around him and let him roll across my back. I broke his balance with a kick to the side of his knee and stabbed him between his shoulderblades. He fell forward.

I drove my sword into his spine with all the strength I had left. The blade went right through him and broke against the stone of the bridge.

It was an funeral guard. The last glory a warrior could get. My eyes started to lose the light, my vision growing dark, but I remember feeling the tears running down my face.

I fell to my knees, my whole body screaming. It hurt so much. I panted and breathed wildly. I saw my broken sword and the patch of blood that had formed around me. I could hardly see. I couldn't move. 

My sword fell from my hands.

I fell from the chair, my strength gone. She moved, impossibly fast, and caught me in her arms before I hit the ground. She was warmer than I'd have expected. Or maybe I was just that cold.

“...Thank you.” I murmured weakly.

She looked at me with sharp eyes. I could have swore that I'd seen a tear staining her beautiful face, and that I felt it fall against my face, warm and sad.

Nonsense. Death would cry for no man.

I felt her lips against my cheek, a small kiss, and her mouth in my ear. And then the softest, most innocent voice. I could barely hear it.

"You did good. You deserved praise and legend. The bard would have sung a million songs. Your name should have gone down in history." She muttered as if she were talking to herself.

I remembered the game, weakly trying to reach for my king, to tip it over, to make it end. She held my hand and pushed it down, shaking her head.

"I can't bring you back, nor give you a second chance. That is not my purpose. I'm sorry." She embraced me and rocked me as if I were a small child. "But this I can do. I will sing you to your sleep. I will remember this day. I will never forget your bravery. Rest now, warrior."

Death started humming quietly, without words or instruments to accompany her. It was a beautiful lullaby.

"I concede." I whispered, smiling softly.

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