“ . . . Master Kiel, do you believe in love. . . ?“ My voice was broken. There was an ugly sob that sat like a slimy clot in my throat and hot tears bruned in rivers down my face.
“I believe in freedom. Go home, Captain Elan. Or go beyond. I do not care.” He said, turning away from me.
“I will not allow you to flee me!! Coward!!” I barked, foaming like a rabid dog.
His white hair lifted and in the rising breeze as he barely moved to look over his shoulder. The monstrous glint of a golden eye pieced me.
His voice was calm. So calm.
“Take the day I offer you. Or die.”
“—Kiel!”
A women called in the wind, up on the hill across the battlefield, and the Elsalvian looked to it. It was the empress in the distance, her face smeared in dark red and her armor shattered. She smiled. Not at me. At him. A true smile that told me their secret.
My sword shook in my hand. The rage. The rage. Itching me!! Burning me! Devouring me!
I lifted my blade.
“YOU KILLED KATLA!!” And with that, my iron ran through him, like a spear through linen.
.
.
.