My parents taught me that courage and conviction are a man’s most potent weapons… but I’ll take a sword and shield over sentiments any day.

… A Legionnaire’s ode

If fates be bitter, and today I fall,

then let it be with sword arm drawn.

Let my heart hold sure and strong,

let my spirit gladden soldier’s song.

And let them sing of my last stand,

that I fell, with sword in hand.

S.K

Back at our old barracks, there was a motto nailed above the door which read… “When death follows close behind, it is only by defying it that the brave escapes.”  With a sword in my hand, armour on my back, and comrades at either side, that made for a fine motto indeed. 

But here, now, empty handed, armoured in rags, and with only dread and panic for company, when death follows close behind… I flee.

S.K

How quickly one abandons hope when ones only prospect of freedom is solely dependent upon a door that has to be opened from the outside… but then at some point during the chaos of the uprising, someone liberates my hope.

I take one look at the bleak horror without, and for the briefest of moments, consider closing the cell door again.  Who would build such a place as this?

S.K

As the clamour outside the cell grew more and more there appeared before me the visage of an old man made wholly of fog and shadow.  This strange apparition spoke directly to me.  “I am the past and the future, both.  I am despair, and hope… … You must rescue me.  And I, in turn, must rescue you.”

S.K

I remember as a fresh recruit in the Imperial army, that our very first assignment was to assist at the prison which was under siege from within.  As we finally quelled the riot and began beating the prisoners back into their cells, this crazed old inmate grabbed at me and held me in an impossibly tight grip, begging me not to put him back into that cell.

I never gave much credence to his words at that time, assuming that they were but the ravings of a madman.  But thinking back now, his rabid pleadings suddenly seem very relevant.  I recall him saying that his every breath in that cell took him further and further from life, and that every day felt like he died with his eyes open.  As I struggled to free myself from his frenzied grasp, he impaled himself upon my sword.

You know it seems funny to recall because I really don’t think I could feel any further from life then I do right now.

S.K