Side by side the four
captains walked back to the village with the boy trailing along. Still fearful that they might decide to slit
his throat, he lagged behind, keeping a wary eye on soldiers. The captains had already called their men to
attention by the time the boy reached the town square. He watched as Demetrios calmly explained
their predicament to the others. Again,
he suspected rage, fury and perhaps violence but the soldiers were men of
valor. They did not spiral into hatred
or lash out in anger. They accepted
their fate with courage and honor. It
was only when Demetrios gave the order for those whose fate had not been sealed
to leave did the outcry of objection sound.
There was a resounding “No”, called out from those free of the curse.
“What happened next shocked the captains. The young villager nearly fainted,” Grandpa
expounded.
His audience was
captivated. The children stared up at
him, holding their breath in anticipation.
Erica kept checking her watch as the second hand ticked on and on past
the children’s bedtime. She gave her
father the universal symbol for hurry up and he nodded. Just to see their reaction, he made a
dramatic show of looking at his own wristwatch.
“Oh my!” He exclaimed.
“It’s way past your bedtime. I
guess we can pick up here tomorrow.”
“Dad!” Erica
squealed. “That’s not funny. You tell them what was so shocking first and then
bedtime. You used to do that to me all
the time when I was little and it drove me crazy. I’d be up all night wondering. I am not going to stand by while you rob my
kids of their sleep. So, out with
it! What was it that shocked the captains
and nearly made the village idiot faint?”
The children cheered and the
old man laughed at Erica’s outburst.
Even Grandma came in to see what the commotion was all about.
“I was only teasing,” the old man laughed. “I just wanted to see if the kids were still
paying attention, that’s all. No need to
get so worked up, Erica. Now, when the
other men realized that their comrades were cursed, I’ll bet you were thinking
they’d be relieved. Most people would
have breathed a sigh of relief and high-tailed it out of there, thankful to be
spared. Well, these men had all fought
side by side with each other and developed a bond a tight as brothers. The ones
who had avoided the cursed blade before were overwhelmed with guilt. All of them had repeated the words because
they believed in their cause and they believed in each other but some of them
had chosen not to pierce their skin either because they felt it was unsanitary
or they didn’t much care for the sight of blood. Unwilling to abandon their brothers to fight,
the men demanded Eleon’s tainted blade.
When he refused, they rushed forward and snatched the knife from him and
bound themselves to the brotherhood for eternity. It was that day that they came up with the
name: The Brotherhood of Eternal Glory.
One of the men was commissioned to create a coat of arms, sigil, and
emblems to represent their new crusade against evil. Their banners were a deep crimson to
represent the blood they freely offered emblazoned with a black curved blade of
the demon horn knife. Once it had been a
symbol of evil but their pledge made it a symbol of hope and honor. They embroidered the name of the brotherhood
in a gold thread to represent both purity and refinement through fire. From that day forward, all men of the
brotherhood could be identified by the unique scar on the palm of their right
hand and the badge of their order.”
Despite wanting to hear
more, the children trudged off to bed while the old man fixed himself a cup of
tea. 
No comments:
Post a Comment