“This is it,” he thought. “my last attack will finish this once and for all. I’ll finally be free of all this madness.” Memories flashed through his mind. Everything that he had done up until now. All of the pain and torment that he had went through just to get to this one moment. There were good memories, a young womans moan of pleasure, the smile of the little girl who was finally reunited with her parents, his friends laughter around the campfire. Those memories all played through his mind in crystal clarity roughly at the same time. It was just the way of things he thought.399Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYULNBLQQ6a
He wondered briefly, as he executed his final thrust through his enemies chest, if this was how Jorvek the Mighty felt as he crushed Bohdan the Merciless beneath his legendary maul ‘Kjersti.’ Did he remember all the feats that brought him up from his humble youth? Did he remember in such clarity just how he had become the man that he was? Maybe it didn’t matter but maybe it did. Were heroes and villains chosen at random? Why were some people so special and others not?399Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaKukpW3N6d
Those thoughts hung in his mind like the pots and pans in his mothers kitchen. They dangled there useless waiting for someone to use them, waiting patiently for Basir to use them, to explore their depths to expand his horizons. He was, after all, the one putting all this madness to rest. His sword pierced the body of his enemy and made a soft sound, easily lost in the chaos of battle, but oh so beautiful when it can be heard. Basir was almost upset over not being able to hear that sound over the constant chattering of the man he was killing. It was the one sound that he wanted to hear at that moment.399Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJDrJVFPvaI
“I’m not supposed to die.” The man said. “I’m the good guy here, not you. How could you, of all people, kill me.”399Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3bvQXE0hdQ
“Did you ever stop to consider that you were the bad guy?” Basir asked. The man, who now had a sword sticking out of his chest looked confused.399Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOes2yRjQUk
“N-no.” He said, there was a stream of blood coming out of his mouth. Basir was reasonably certain that he had missed the man's lungs, so why was blood coming out of his mouth? It didn’t really matter but this always seemed to happen for no reason at all. Who ever came after him would lay on his nice carpets and bleed to death as he told them exactly why they were going to die. Basir took no pleasure in it, really it was the witches fault, she was the one that kept sending these poor young men to kill him. Basir really just wished that there was some blasted way to remove the mental control Cari had put on these men.399Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO8j8di8db1
“Look, I’m the real hero here. It’s kind of the reason why I have the palace that you had to infiltrate. The guards that you killed,” Basir looked around at the blood that flowed down the other rugs and fixed a serious stare at the young man. “Ruthlessly I might add.” The young man thumped his head on the floor in aggravation, Basir was sure that the sword in his chest didn’t improve the man’s mood.399Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvhKqZk3bzK
“But you’ve killed so many people!” The man screamed.399Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPdkq4AZlfG
“Is that what she’s telling you people now? Look I haven’t personally killed anyone since the last time one of you fake hero’s came calling on me. That one died quicker, I don’t actually like to keep people in pain, she died quick and easy. She didn’t have anything on her conscious as she just snuck in and tried to stab me with a poison knife. Heedless to the fact that poison hasn’t worked on me since I bought my magic ring that nullifies poisons.” The young man glanced down at his sword, it fell from his hands not even thirty seconds ago. “Oh, come on! Really? You poisoned your blade?” Basir spat, his voice finally rising above his normal calm and even tone. The young man, for his part, looked properly ashamed.399Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0QmVavmxU4
“The woman who gave me the quest said that it was a strong poison that would kill you in seconds.”399Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXRuotLuRSj
“Of course she would say that!” Basir said ‘she’ with such venom the young man paled and tried to sink into the stone floor letting out a soft groan as he moved and made the sword wobble. “Do you understand son?” Basir asked. “Do you understand why I had to kill you?”399Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAmYSMIV5eb
“But I’m not dead yet.” The young man trailed off as more pain pulsed from the wound.399Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5UzIoSk5hb
“Right, yet.” Basir said. “But you understand right? She’s just using you to get at me! Did she promise the country? The world? What was your reward for killing me?” The young man looked pained. Well not physically pained, he already looked like that, no this pain was something deeper, something that hurt more than the sword in his chest. The temptation to remove the blade and call a healer passed through Basir’s mind but he rejected that violently from his thoughts. A King had to make the tough decisions, this young man had to die for all the death he caused. Again his eyes flashed up to all the dead that surrounded him. At least half his guard was here, dead, save for himself and those that were just knocked out. No, this man was going to die for those that he killed. He owed the families that much.399Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDNdokYjLzZ
“A love potion.” The young man said quietly. Too quiet for Basir to hear so he said.399Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ67sV8cyR6d
“What was that?”399Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1odLZvjTcY
“A love potion. There’s this… arhk!” The man coughed up some more blood. The man breathed in quick shallow breaths that eventually slowed to deeper pained ones. Blood flowed freely from his wounds. Eventually he regained some control over himself and continued. “There’s this woman who I have always wanted, then one day as I was tending to some animals this woman showed up and told me she could make what ever wish I desired come true. After she left I made my way here.”399Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgv469Ksavz
Basir looked around at the dead bodies again and said, “So you’re telling me that some untrained farmhand came into my palace, slaughtered almost all of my guards then almost bested me in one on one combat?” The man just looked at him like there was nothing in the world strange with that. “Did it ever occur to you that you might die undertaking this quest?” Again the man looked at Basir without even a flicker of comprehension. “Oh that’s just… just… evil!” Basir said ‘evil’ and prolonged the ‘il’ sound for a couple of seconds with a clear grimace on his face. Basir sat down in the young mans blood, much in the same way he used to sit down at a campfire all those years ago. Before the war. Before the kingdom. Before the betrayal. He sat with his knees poking his breastplate. The young man’s breaths started becoming more shallow, the pool of blood grew every second, always expanding. Basir thought this would be a good metaphor for his biography if he ever choose to write it. Just like the young man laying next to him, blood expanding on the floor, Basir expanded his influence in the shattered kingdoms. Much like the young man next to him, he was dying, albeit slower but still dying none the less. In this moment the memories of past glories and victories didn’t taste as sweet, seem as vibrant, or feel as good. In his mind he remembered a different young womans husband finding them, the arguments he had with his friends during those years of war and exile, but that little girls smile remained.399Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUI6fyVj7q2
Basir looked at the young man on the ground and said, “You know, we used to be friends, her and I. She helped me get where I am at now. We were the best of friends, you know?” Basir turned his head and stared at the blank wall. He could see the events unfold like they happened only moments before. Her beautiful smile, infectious grin, and lackadaisical manner. People change he guess, she had changed drastically since she left and he couldn’t really blame her.399Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNq4zMakYnH
The young man to his right just coughed up some more blood and continued breathing. The sword bounced and sunk a little deeper into the mans chest. The young man didn’t react so much this time. He must have been fading out pretty fast. “My tongue feels weird. Do you have any water?”399Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaSgZmwwY2W
“You’re dying from blood loss, soon you won’t even be able to think in sentences.” Basir grabbed a bottle of wine that miraculously didn’t shatter during the fight. He uncorked the bottle and tipped some into the young man’s mouth. “I seem to remember someone from long ago saying that wine was good to reminisce with.” Basir said then took a great swallow himself. “Mmm, Elderberry.” He said with a faint smile and poured some more into the young man’s mouth, who had just managed to swallow the last bit of the first pour.399Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAR9EFUeRzA
The young man swallowed and asked, “What happened? Was it all the people you killed?”399Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDKshGBMc51
Basir glared at him then slapped him with a roasted fish that had been on the floor next to the bottle of wine. “That’s Cari’s magic influencing your mind son. Don’t bring up the people I’ve killed. I atoned for those years ago. No, it was far more personal than the trail of death the war brought with it.” Again the memories of the young woman and her husband came to him. He could almost taste the wine he had been drinking that night, smell the perfume the woman had been wearing, feel the wetness between his legs that was the source of all the trouble. Basir sighed and poured a little bit more wine into the dying mans mouth. “No, it goes even deeper than that.” Basir was quiet then for a long moment; collecting his thoughts, brooding, and selecting his words very carefully.399Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQKvHf5AJsR
Finally he said, “I was married once, you know?” The young man shook his head but Basir didn’t see him. He was in his own world now, a world of memories and pain. “For ten years she fought by my side, ten years of blissful happiness, ruined in ten minutes of drunken thrusting.” Basir stopped and wiped a tear from his eye, took another drink of the wine and continued. “It was the night we finally won. We led our troops to victory, Cari and I were drinking in the old inn outside of town, you know the one that burnt down five years ago, she went out to do whatever she needed to do and this young woman starts talking to me. I was just drunk enough and just stupid enough to think I could get away with it.”399Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO5EV5sue4R
The young man was silent next to Basir, so he took that as a sign to continue. “It was her husband that found us in their bed. He was relieved early so he could celebrate with us. It was a day of celebration for everyone. He was furious, he ranted and yelled eventually screaming us out of the house, once we were outside he caused such a commotion that people started to notice and came to see what new and interesting thing was happening.”399Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwXWYhLjMbF
The young man coughed twice then fell silent again. Basir looked at him again blood was running down the side of his face. “Move your head to the side unless you want to choke to death on your own blood.” The young man complied and Basir continued.399Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkzk1cL51Tt
“Of course the guard didn’t know I was his new king, not like that would have changed much now that I think about it. So there I was butt-ass-naked outside of an armed guards house. I had just taken his woman, who had flirted with me first, and he was not too thrilled about that. I was too drunk to talk myself out of it and was about to fight the man when she showed up. Cari in all her glory defended me, with all her power she just decimated the poor man.” Basir was silent for a long time after that.399Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsIOIVVcWGx
“What happened next, sir?” Respect, that was new. Cari’s magic must be wearing off his mind now that he’s almost dead Basir thought.399Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzjthXWn4U8
“Turns out she wanted to kill me herself.” Basir said with a mirthless chuckle. “She would have too if the rest of my companions hadn’t shown up to stop her. I can’t really say that I blame her. It must be a terrible hurt, she has sent assassins regularly ever since. The truth is I almost wish one of you would succeed. Eventually one of you will, I am getting old now eventually one of you young whips will get me and that will the last of my line.”399Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXSoTHHRt0k
“Huh?” The young man asked.399Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡltUDm3r56v
Basir sighed and took another drink from the bottle, again pouring some in the young man’s mouth. “Son, after that day I couldn’t sleep with another woman. I knew what I had done was terrible. To me it was worse than everything I had to do to take over this country. If I had one chance to go back and fix something in my past, it would be that night. So I decided that until she forgave me or until I died I would be celibate. It was difficult at first, a man has urges you know?” Basir laughed. “But I stuck with it, even drunk I still have never touched another woman. Believe me, it’s difficult to turn down a woman who’s throwing herself at you, one woman even tried to force me to sleep with her. I killed her before the drug she used could fully take effect.” He leveled his gaze at the young man. His breathing had stopped and his eyes had closed. The last of the wine dribbled out of his mouth onto the floor. Basir sighed and drank the last of the wine.399Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7PbtQTSLCK
He sat there in the middle of all that death, in a pool of his would be assassin’s blood, contemplating his life. He wondered again if any of the other heroes in the past had such clarity in their memories. To almost see the past as it happened. He supposed that it might just be him, just as well, some of the other heroes of the past had much worse things happen to them. Rapes and murders right in front of their eyes; villages being burnt and pillaged. Wars being fought not for freedom but for oppression. No, he supposed that to have a perfect memory of those things would be more of a curse than a gift.399Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT4M4vrZ2jH
Basir stood and pulled his sword free from the lifeless young man. “Have you really been celibate all this time?” A female voice asked. It came from the shadows of the room.399Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlS3RPi6Ah5
“Cari.” Basir smiled. “I don’t remember your voice being quite so beautiful.” He turned to face his love. “Yes, I really haven’t had sex since that night.” Basir’s heart was pounding, his tongue and throat was dry, and strangely his palms had grown so sweaty that he had to wipe them on his pants.399Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXHufaMAZgs
She walked out from the shadows and circled him. She kept her arms folded and was giving him a shrewd look. “I don’t remember you being quite so fat.” She was silent for a moment then added, “You also stink.” She stopped her circling in front of him and turned her nose up and looked away.”You could at least bathe every once and a while.”399Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkwWLkCAsG8
“I know you’re trying to fight with me but I’m just happy you’re finally talking to me.” Basir said with a huge grin on his face.399Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSVIvilwLDj
“Of course I’m talking to you, you big fool. How can I not after hearing you say that?” Her voice cracked almost imperceptibly.399Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqANIxigDSQ
“Well you could have just stabbed me.” He said. He eyed the dagger in her hand. She saw where he was looking and looked down herself. She blushed, said “Oh.” then moved her hand behind her back then brought it back out a moment later, minus the dagger.399Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR2koAXYBGq
“I could have but didn’t.” She paused and eyed his face. “I don’t remember you having such an honest streak in you. I was expecting you to dispatch him quickly then clean up this awful mess he made.” She winced as she looked around. There were many more dead bodies than she anticipated. “Truth be told I was just going to use him as a distraction to kill you myself. But when you…” She broke off and brought her hand up to her nose and mouth, she blinked and tears fell from her eyes. She took a moment and collected herself sighed deeply then started talking again, “When you started talking about that night I thought you would start gloating, talking about all the women that you had seduced since. All the wild adventures that you had since you became king. After all, I’ve seen it all happen before. Remember, with the last king?”399Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcj8oH0VZLk
Basir nodded and said “I remember.” He didn’t like to think about what started this war, but he knew exactly what she was talking about. She was all the drive he needed to pick up the Shattered Kingdoms and bring them under his flag, to utterly destroy the man who had done such terrible things to his subjects. To Basir’s wife. To Basir himself.399Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCTvnh3U1MM
“When you said you hadn’t slept with anyone since, all I could think about was how large your appetite was. All the nights and the sore mornings we had.” She had a sly smile on her face as she said the last part. “The Basir I married couldn’t go a full night without killing or fucking something.” Her face shifted to curiosity and said, “So how did you do it?”399Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN0LV3UxQpQ
Basir laughed. Different, Cari noted, from how he laughed earlier. It was deep and hearty, full of the life she remembered. The life that she desperately wanted to go back to. Despite herself she smiled with him. “I guess I spent many of the first nights killing things. I just couldn’t bring myself to sleep with anyone else but you. I always wished I had the chance to tell you how sorry I was for everything that happened that night. So this is me saying it.” Basir, the giant of a man that he was could not hold back the tears any longer. They flowed out in a steady stream, with an obvious effort he shook and brought himself under control. “It happened and I am deeply and truly sorry for what happened that night. I know you will never forgive me for what I did, but I needed to tell you that.” Basir walked over to Cari and hugged her. She went stiff for a second then returned the hug. “I never stopped loving you.” Basir said.399Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5HtMMXu3eS
Hearing that broke Cari and she dropped from his arms, crying. Seconds later Basir followed her down and wrapped his arms around her again. “I love you Cari.” He whispered. “Ten years and all those assassins and I still love you.” Cari cried even harder and pulled him tighter to her.399Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3cle6JuoHr
Cari’s sobbing gradually grew quieter until her body finally stopped shaking from the force of it, she lifted her head and kissed him as passionately as the first time they made love. When she pulled away she said, “I love you too, Basir.” They sat there in the pools of blood weeping and whispering to each other until the rest of the guards found them.
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