We have a winner. - Tale of The Week 56
Congratulations
Legio has won his third victory in ToTW, his enchanting story Home secured this triumph. Well done.
Home
The boy stood, his knees shivering and his hands fidgeting. He should have stayed home. He should have fought the urge, but no. He just had to leave. And now he was. Here. In the front line.
It's not as if he was a coward under fire. He had been in fights before. Staged brawls in the alleyways, spontaneous punches thrown in crowded taverns. Frantic blows to ward off brigands at night. He could take all those without a second though. But this...this was different. It was too....regimented? Controlled?
Or maybe it was because the boy already knew the outcome of this battle. He knew the opponents he would be facing. No excitement, no well-titted barmaids he had to impress. Only the rugged officer who had dragged him from the street corner. The boy didn't want to impress him, he wanted to run.
He hated these open plains, these flat expanses. He hated the sprawling churches at his back, and most of all he hated the homes of the merchants he had been conscripted to defend. He hated the merchants, too. It was all he could to to restrain himself from breaking and running, from turning tail and attacking his so-called benefactors. He belonged on the streets. Not in a battle line.
The boy would have chuckled if he hadn't been terrified. He had always heard the stories of warriors thinking of their homes and wives before a battle. He had always written it off as that- a story. No true warrior, no true man would think of that. He would think of nothing but killing! Killing....
He looked behind him, straining his eyes to see the part of the city in which he lived. He could just see it in his mind's eye. Filthy. Grimy. Disease-ridden. Crawling with thugs and prostitutes. But it was home.
And as the enemy approached, a tear came to Niko's eye. They were trying to take that home away from him. And they would have to die.
Originally Posted by Simon Cashmere
jokes 
