Descendants of old

It was a dark night,

a cool breeze flowing

The king was tired,

his face taunt with dread

Those who knew him,

prayed with their hearts

Those who didn't

prayed for him in church

 

With his queen gone,

an army wiped out

A smile on his enemy's face

a sneer on his treacherous friend

"Where will I go?" He asked

Before crossing the bridge

"Far away from here."

The enemy replied for all he cared

 

"What of my people?"

The ghost of his words echoed

down the trail as he went

"You have no power to help."

The traitor sounded out

"They are not your concern."

Haunted the king on his way

The tears falling from his eyes

 

Not once did he look back

No weakness did he show

Only a promise did he leave

Even as his tracks, were covered in snow

"I will save the people of my land,"

The king called out

As the burden of a fallen kingdom,

came down upon him

 

He braced his shoulders

Against wind and snow

Long did he walk

Across lands that were once his

Now only held sorrow

Under his heavy gaze

The land called for people gone

It cried for people gone

It cried cold tears for their king lost

 

Even the dead had something to say

For the ghosts could be heard

For those who said naught a word

If you listened you could hear

The howling and wailing of the dead

Waiting year after year

For their king to appear

Looking for hope in days ahead

 

21 years are come and gone

now a stranger comes

Uninterested before the enemy sits up,

wanting to be entertained

The traitor sat silent, unsure

Wary and untrusting being a liar that he was

Yet the stranger did nothing

The enemy, disappointed, turned away

 

But then the traitor saw a glow, a light!

Something unfamiliar coming into his sight

The stranger had pulled out a shimmering sword

In the enemy's own Great Hall

"You must be mad," The enemy chuckled

Sending his soldiers forward

The soldiers went down one by one

Their breath taken, their lives done

 

With surprise the enemy stood

A strange feeling came then

One of terror and fright

The enemy saw that he feared this man

"What do you want?" the enemy wanted to know

The enemy stood alone, the traitor gone

Then the stranger spoke

And the words shook the enemy to the bone

 

"You took this land by force

the people you enslaved.

My father offered peace,

yet you threw it away.

You wanted a war,

one that you could win.

You tricked my father,

with a traitor who was his friend."

 

"Now I cry vengeance,

I cry to fill my father's place.

Hi promise will not be forsaken.

Yet I give you the right to choose

Leave this land never to return,

and I will let you leave alive.

Otherwise fight this very hour with me,

and let God decide who will die."

 

The enemy's felt on fire!

Heat was his friend as he reached

for the sword that made men's blood run cold

He cried out in anger,

for He was the conqueror, not the conquered!

That was the mistake he made

Instead of walking away

He lashed out , first to draw blood that day

 

The stranger ignored his wound

and with a battle cry of his own

He came forward with a crash

Sword against sword, blades of steel

They kept on, neither yielding

fighting on with zeal

Then a fatal blow was struck

A warrior went down

 

Gasping for breath he fell

The sword dropped from his hand

"Get it over with," the enemy cried!

"I will not finish an unarmed man."

Was the only reply for the condemned

the enemy lay in his blood

and knew that he was done

the stranger looked on

 

Once more the enemy struggled and tried

Then very slowly he nodded and died

The stranger leaned down and closed the eyes

Saying a blessing for those who had died

Quickly the stranger stood

and through a door he fled

He hurried along

Not a sound did he make

 

Then a dagger slipped under

into the strangers back

He fell gasping, turning.

The traitor looked on

A smile crossing his face

"A shame" was all he said.

The traitor's sneer was filled with contempt

The stranger closed his eyes and said nothing

 

A noise made the traitor turn

Someone he couldn't see

The shadows of night

enveloped all three.

The one that was bleeding

The one that was sneering

and the one with sword in hand

A silent shadow born of this land

 

The traitor made no sound

As his silent body hit the ground

killed instantly, and inadequate death

To feel no pain, when he had hurt so many

The shadow not caring, fell to the floor

Beside the stranger dying beside the door

No hope filled either one

Only dread and sorrow resided in them

 

Then the door opened

The shadow caught her breath

A man stepped out

And all there were blessed

The man and the shadow looked

Eyes met peoples' destiny divined

love was there between two intertwined

Breaths caught, they stared into loves design

 

Then reality came as always it must

The stranger lay at deaths door

"If you can help, you must."

Cried the shadow

The man looked down at the stranger

hurrying to his side

The man pulled a vial from his pocket

And poured the liquid down the strangers throat

 

The stranger swallowed, then coughed

The shadow cried out again, this time with joy!

Stranger and shadow embraced,

love was evident between the two

the man turned to go, a sad look in his eye

The shadow moved into his path

As the stranger stood with new breath

Life and hope renewed in both

 

The shadow spoke what both would say

"Thank you for my brother's life."

The shadow moved closer

The man surprised turned to meet her

The stranger left, laughter on his lips

The man's heart was captured

both man and shadow embraced

A kiss expressed all that was needed

 

Now the stranger was rightly named

He was crowned and made a king

His father's lands he'd won

his people rejoiced, every single one

the enemy was vanquished

The traitor dead

A wedding was planned

New life was born

 

Now if you look upon the wall

hung up in that Great hall

You can see a sword hung there

Giving light to all who seek

You can also see shadows escape

as they move silent as their mother before

While others healed,

like their father before.