Thursday, July 29, 2010

Twofold: Prologue Two - The Knight in Black

He will honor his words; he will definitely carry out his actions. What he promises he will fulfill. He does not care his bodily self, putting his life and death aside to come forward for another's troubled besiegement. He does not boast about his ability, or shamelessly extol his own virtues…

The poor and unfortunate adore and love him like an angel from the heaven, or even like the Lord Himself; the rich and arrogant fear him like a messenger from Otherworld, like the lord of all evil. The breakers of law and order turn him into a legend, a marvelous marvel; the authorities see him as filthier than sewer rats and bear a hatred on him that is deeper than the deepest sea. He who is the bravest and darkest man in the Kingdom of Gryphon -- the Black Knight. Never deliver the fate he delivers to the rich to the poor. Gold and silver and diamonds are his gifts to those in need. Respect and applause are his renumeration from his duties.

“Hoorah, hoorah, the man in black.
From the messenger of God,
Gold and copper and rubies.
Enemy of law and friend of people.
Wields the sword of justice,
With the bravest of all hearts.
Agony and Grief,
The two friends never exist
When he comes along.
Hero of ours, the king of knights.
God save the Black Knight!”

There comes the song of Man in Black. Sing by the people of Gryphon, a well-known rhyme in the hearts of the people.

And as the song echoed in the damp air of a cold night, a black shadow lurked in the forest behind the stone castle of Osmir Palastin, Earl of Flinstein. Swift and suave, the shadow entered the castle without hardships. His silver sword in his armored hand and the sheath in the other; his feet tapping on the marble floor soundlessly; his black mask secured on his face mysteriously; his black cloak flowing behind him like a dark storm of wind; he was well-prepared. And he was, none other than, the infamous vigilant, Black Knight.

The Black Knight slipped through the doors and gaps of the walls slickly like a silent predator, without being noticed by the guards standing by the gate. He opened the wooden door to the Earl’s bedroom and stepped towards the sleeping Earl and his wife. He raised his sword and pointed it below the chin of Lord Flinstein. As if he felt the pressing aura of the king of the thieves, Lord Flinstein jogged awake and stared at the Black Knight with big round, terrified eyes.

“Where are the gold and money you’ve robbed from the villagers?” the Black Knight asked in a deep muffled voice.

“I…I didn’t rob them. Those were…pay…payments for the taxes,” Lord Flinstein replied in a trembling voice. He knew it would be useless to call for the guards, or perhaps he was simply too terrified to scream. Never in a million years would he have expected to come face to face to the fearsome vigilant of the whole Gryphon kingdom.

The Black Knight did not care to hear the pleading Earl’s explanation. “Rubbish,” he said. He pointed the sword on the Earl’s throat and a small drop of dark crimson blood dripped onto the Earl’s night shirt.

The Earl and his wife, who had woken up from her husband’s desperate nudges, opened a secret door to a small room connected to their bedroom. With the sword still pointing towards Lord and Lady Flinstein, the Black Knight took all the jewelries and gold he could find in the room and put them into a sack. By giving Lord and Lady Flinstein a gentleman bow, the Black Knight rushed out of the bedroom.

“Guards! Guards! Seize the thief!” shouted the Earl as he recovered from the numbing fear, his wife crying in tears of relief beside him.

Facing few tens of armed guards, the Black Knight threw the heavy jewelry-filled sack over his shoulder and tied it around his chest. He smiled and wielded his sword with poise. He gave it a few swings and defeated the guards effortlessly. He laid a rose on the stone floor at the gate before he disappeared into the moonless night, his black cloak flowing behind him like a fierce gust of wind.

And there goes yet another tale of the Black Knight unfurled to be told by the people, to the people.

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