The Sacrifice

"My Lord Keldor! Everything has been arranged as you instructed."

 

The familiar voice awoke him from his reverie. Keldor. Yes. That had been his name, once. It had been very important to him then, he was sure. But that all seemed - distant. Now, he regarded it as one might a childhood trinket. A reminder of someone he used to be, but ultimately of little relevance.

He eyed the leather gloves he had recently started wearing to conceal his skeletal hands. Yes, there was much that was unsettling about his new circumstances. But it did boast certain - advantages. He turned to face the new arrival.

 

"So I see, Leofric. Tell me, do you understand these people?"

He gestured impatiently towards the window, through which an ancient ship, recently made barely seaworthy once more, could be seen. An enormous head reared over it, a trio of his subjects screaming as tentacles tightened around the fragile hull.

A faint memory flashed through his mind - a sacrifice of a different sort, when he had claimed his birthright. Then, his subjects had been cheering. Or was that screaming too? What was the difference? It was all so muffled. He shook his head irritably.

 

"I explained it to them myself. Death is not the end, but a gateway to a new eternity of fulfilling their rightful duty to their lord. Should they not celebrate?"

 

"Quite so, my liege!" Leofric's grinning features glowed a little brighter in his fervour.

 

"Take this, for example." He picked up a bottle from the table beside him. "It is a gift from our new... patron." As he shook the bottle, a fat worm drifted lazily within the swirling liquid. "In life, this creature was insignificant. It crawled in the dust, it ate, and defecated. But in death, it has found a new purpose that it could never have imagined. As will my subjects."

 

He sensed a subtle change in the countenance of his companion. His grin had, perhaps, faded by a few candles.

"Speak, Leofric. Are you not my chamberlain?"

 

"Sire, why do we remain here and swear fealty to such... dissolute mortals?" Leofric eyed the bottle with obvious distaste. "The vault is working exactly as promised. Each battle swells our ranks with new recruits. Should we not ride forth and sweep across the land? For the honour of the house of Gormenghastly?"

 

Ah, yes. The honour of Gormenghastly, for which he had already sacrificed so much. He was certain that had seemed

important at the time, too.

"Leofric, my faithful retainer. It is centuries since we left these walls, and the world has changed beyond recognition."

And so have we, the treacherous thought came unbidden to his mind. "There are many new and mighty nations, and powerful forces at work the significance of which we do not yet know; like this 'Kevin'."

He returned his gaze to the scene outside the window, where the scene of destruction was taking its inexorable course.

 

"Our ascendancy is inevitable. For now we build our strength, watch, and wait. After all, we have no shortage of time."

 

Done