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Short Stories Adventure The Longest Walk
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The Longest Walk |
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| Written by David Neve | |
| Thursday, 20 March 2008 | |
| Last Updated ( Thursday, 20 March 2008 ) |
Akakios staggered more than walked, as he followed the long trail of broken bodies down the path back to camp. Holding his side to keep the wrapping of his bandages tight, he limped slowly, using his spear for support. Gerasimos walked ahead of him, more gravely wounded.
A sense of responsibility placed Akakios behind his friend. Just two months ago he had talked Gerasimos into enlisting in the army. The two had dreamt of gold and glory in foreign lands. Now he walked behind him wondering if he had taken him to his death far from home.
After walking for what seemed an eternity, Akakios stopped on the path for a moment and looked around. Something wasn't right. He couldn't put a name to it but something in the air seemed different, thicker. After pausing long enough to determine that it was just battle fatigue, he continued walking. He had yet to take three steps when the largest horse he had ever seen appeared at his side, walking without making a sound. Sitting tall on the horse was a hooded man; bearing no markings to indicate which army he represented. Not that it mattered; Akakios was beyond using his spear as a weapon.
He looked at the hooded man trying to discern a face but could see nothing beyond the shadow of the hood; it was like trying to peer through a fog. The horse was a mottled gray and stood taller at the shoulder than Akakios, who stood six and a half feet tall himself. He looked again at the rider and found the rider gazing at him.
The eyes, or at least the place that he thought he would find eyes, looked like burning coals. Akakios immediately felt a rush of conflicting emotions, fear, elation, anxiety, joy, and anger; he froze in his tracks. The rider stopped along side him and stared as if contemplating something beyond Akakios' understanding. Akakios saw the rider nod just slightly before he moved on; his pain was gone. Perhaps the pain was just pushed away, he thought; gone would be too hard to believe.
Akakios watched as the rider quietly moved ahead and approached Gerasimos. The rider paused alongside Gerasimos as he had along Akakios. Then the rider offered a hand to Gerasimos that was willingly accepted and Gerasimos was pulled up behind the rider. After settling in comfortably behind the rider Gerasimos turned, smiled and waved at Akakios.
As Gerasimos turned to face the direction that the horse was headed, Akakios watched as Gerasimos fell to the ground right where he had been standing before the rider approached. Running forward, his bandages falling away from his body, he found Gerasimos dead from his wounds. He looked up to where the strange horse and rider should have been and saw nothing.
Akakios was in a perfect world, floating in a perfect state. Oblivious to the bolt that pierced his armor and entered his left lung, he looked up to the clouds and smiled. He knew this feeling. He knew this feeling well. More than a few times in his life he felt this pull, this perfection, this knowledge that his worldly burdens were about to end. All this was shattered by a faint sound, a voice...
"Captain Akakios!"
Reality crashed in on his perfect world as the voice brought him back to the present, back to earth - back to the battlefield. Gathering what little air he could, he raised his sword and shouted, "Here!" and then everything went black. From that moment on, his life became moments in time.
One moment there were men grabbing him by the arms and pulling him carefully to his feet. Another moment, he felt the hard table he was placed upon in a makeshift hospital. Then next, he heard the men of medicine speaking of his wounds and doubting his survival. It was the seeing that tormented him the most. Every time he regained consciousness on the way to the hospital tent, for even a moment, he saw the dead and wounded of his army.
He was a veteran of many battles, but this is the first time that men had died by his orders. Men that he had known and fought beside for years were strewn across the battlefield. Men that trusted him, that had trusted his military skills - men that are now dead. With great effort he forced himself out of his near death slumber, and to the astonishment of the men in the tent, sat up on the table.
"Open the tent."
"Sir, that is not recomm..."
"Open the tent. I want to see the battlefield."
"Sir I..."
"Now."
The soldiers immediately removed the side flaps from the tent and Akakios stood and stumbled to the nearest tent post. Supporting himself with the post, he gazed out across the valley. It was littered with bodies. Most of the bodies were those of the enemy they fought, many of the bodies his own men.
Despair overwhelmed him and he fell to his knees gasping for air. He closed his eyes and unwelcome words formed in his mind, ‘so many men, friends, husbands, and fathers...' Like an endless loop the words spun against the pain he felt in body and soul. His thoughts turned to a single wish, a single thought - I do not want to survive these wounds.
He opened his eyes slowly, and came to gaze upon a horse hoof. His gaze almost hypnotically followed the leg up to the rider. He knew this rider. Gathering all of his strength he stood up, facing him squarely. Anger grew when he looked into the burning eyes of the rider as bitter memories of the past came to the present.
He recalled his last encounter with the rider decades past, and the loss of a dear friend. He was grievously wounded but walked away from the rider miraculously healed; his best friend never walked again.
"I know you, vulture!"
A deep guttural voice answered, "Do you mortal? Pray, tell me of myself."
"You are Death. You've come to collect your war prize. You should be proud, more than an army and a half await you! Hundreds of good men lay about the field for you to feast upon."
The rider glared at him and the pain that Akakios had forgotten quickly returned. Grabbing his chest, he fell to his knees, once again gasping for air.
Again he looked up to the rider, "You've come to take me..."
"That choice is not mine. No, I have come to show you. Stand Akakios."
Akakios obeyed his command as one that has no choice.
"Move closer, place your hand upon my horse. Fear not, Pathos does not eat the living." Akakios felt he heard a smile in the final sentence.
Following Death's command Akakios carefully placed his hand on the neck of the huge horse that the rider sat upon. Immediately it seemed as though the sun was blotted out and everything turned to gray.
"Gaze out upon the field of battle."
Akakios looked out across the field at all of the bodies, and everywhere he looked he saw the battlefield filled with men, women, and children, sometimes what appeared to be whole families, helping the dead soldiers of both armies up off the ground. Generations past were leading their loved ones silently up the hillside to disappear over the horizon.
Akakios stepped back from the Pathos and looked up at the rider, confused, "I don't understand."
"Of course you don't."
Akakios thought back to the first time he encountered Death, "Gerasimos..."
"Had nothing to live for. His family had been killed by raiders while he was waging war by your side elsewhere. He had nothing to return to, and would not have survived another week on the road - I did not take him, he came with me."
"But what..."
Scorn and disappointment were evident in the voice of the rider as he interrupted Akakios, "You know nothing of me. Pale Rider, the Grim Reaper, Thanatos; your people call me many things. Even after what I have shown you, you still look upon me as a demon that stalks the innocent. Look upon me full Akakios!"
The final words slammed into Akakios like thunder. He stepped back and looked up at Death observing perhaps for the first time the details of the being that was before him. Noticing for the first time the worn black armor hidden under the black cloak, and the huge sword that was slung over Death's back. Akakios opened his mouth to speak, but before the first word could come out Death had drawn his sword in a blur of motion and placed the point at Akakios' chest.
"A thought." Death said, as he looked straight into Akakios' eyes, "If with a mere thought Death could remove your life from you, of what use is this trinket?"
The weight of Death's gaze suddenly left Akakios, as something Akakios could not discern in the distance caught Death's attention. Death turned his horse and rode into thin air.
Akakios shouted into the space that the rider once occupied, "What do you want from me? Why have you shown me this?"
"Captain Akakios? Sir?"
Shocked to hear another voice, Akakios spun on his heels and looked into the face a concerned lieutenant. Akakios looked around the tent and found everyone looking at him.
"Sir?"
"Yes soldier?"
"Sir, your wounds."
"Yes?"
"They are gone. You are healed."
Akakios felt where the hole remained in his breastplate and found no wound. He turned again to where the Death appeared and stared into the distance, deep in thought.
"Sir?"
"Yes?"
"Whom did you speak with? How did your wounds come to be healed? We saw nobody."
Akakios chose not to answer. He simply walked away into the battlefield to survey the dead, his friends.
Akakios sat in his tent and listened as the sounds of battle slowly went away. Thousands of men on both sides went to their graves to drive the invaders out of his homeland, and finally, after seven years of bitter battle - they had finally pushed the invaders against their own borders. Victory was nearly his.
His messenger arriving outside his tent interrupting his thoughts, "Sir?"
"Enter."
"General, I delivered your message to your Commanders and they await you in the war room."
"Thank you soldier. Stop by the tents of Hektor and Iason, and ask them to attend. I wish to have my advisors present also."
"Yes General. Anything else Sir?"
"Yes, after you deliver that last message, get some rest."
"Yes Sir."
Akakios watched the soldier leave then sat in silence for a few moments before getting up to leave his tent. What he had to say to his Commanders was something they will not be willing to accept, but necessary nonetheless. The walk to the war room was short, and when Akakios arrived, everybody was already assembled.
He turned to his senior Commander, "Isokrates, what is the status on the field?"
"We have the enemy on the run General," Akakios could feel the fight still running through his Commander's veins as he spoke, "We need perhaps only one more day to chase down the remainder of their army - then it will be over."
Akakios thought out loud, "Will it?"
"Will it what sir?"
"Will it be over? Will this battle, this war ever be over?"
"I don't understand General."
"Nothing, I was just..." Akakios stopped talking, distracted by the sound of clashing swords in the distance. "Where is the fighting taking place now?"
"Three miles to the south Sir. Just over the Avenide hills."
"One moment." Akakios left the room and looked out over the Avenide hills and listened. No, he thought to himself, this battle is taking place to the north. He mounted the nearest warhorse and headed north. Drawn outside by the sound of hoof beats, the war room had emptied onto the campground and the soldiers watched as their General rode north. One of the Captains started to follow, concerned for his General's safety but was stopped by Isokrates, "No. He is safe. The enemy lies in the other direction."
Akakios quickly covered the distance between the camp and the sounds of battle. As he came over the last hill he spotted two warriors in the meadow below him. Both were fully armored and mounted on magnificent horses, and each was armed with a huge sword. Most interesting to Akakios, was that the two warriors appeared to be the opposite of each other, light and dark.
Fearlessly he moved closer to the fighting, and as he came within fifty yards of the fight, he recognized the warrior in the dark armor. This was the pale rider - Death. He could only surmise that the other was Life. He watched almost hypnotized as the two warriors battled. Strike, and then parry, then reset. It was the dance of death; he had seen it hundreds of times. As he watched he saw the warrior in white lose his rhythm and he knew what was coming next.
The warrior was stuck with such intensity and strength that he was knocked completely off of his saddle. Fully expecting Death to take advantage and end the fight once and for all, he was surprised when Death turned his horse and canted in an oblique angle away from the warrior - never taking his eyes off of him.
Life's stallion approached the downed warrior and nudged him until he rose to his feet. Life struggled, using the horse to stabilize himself. The horse then went down on its knees allowing the warrior to fall into the saddle. As the Life righted himself he looked at Death for a moment then turned his gaze to Akakios as though seeing him for the first time. Hatred flowed from Life to Akakios, and for the first time since walking up on the battle, Akakios feared for his life. The rider then turned and rode into nothingness, leaving Akakios and Death on the field alone.
Sheathing his sword, Death approached Akakios, "Greetings Akakios. You have done well since our last meeting."
Akakios was calm, unbelievably calm, "What have I witnessed?"
"The eternal battle, General."
"That was Life?"
"Yes."
"Why, when you had the opportunity to do so, did you not end it?"
"One cannot cause either Life or Death to cease to exist. If I destroy that warrior he will simply be replaced. As it happens he is weak. It serves my purpose to continue his existence."
"The eternal battle?"
"Yes, the eternal battle. The battle of Life and Death."
Akakios was confused, "The battle of life and death - a phrase."
Death dismounted and faced Akakios, "No General, a reality. Alongside every battle that mortals engage in, there is also a battle between Life and Death."
Akakios shook his head, "But I have seen you on the battlefield, you do not take lives - you guide the dead."
Death smiled, "I do not give life therefore I cannot take it. That is the providence of Life."
Akakios understood, "You defend the living. You and he are the reverse of your images."
"Yes. Two things can end a battle and save lives, your decisions, and my skill. If you decide not to fight, Life has no choice but to concede. If you choose to fight, I must prevail to preserve the lives of those on both sides of the field."
"Three times you have come to me." Akakios asked, "Why?"
"Ever the impatient General, eh Akakios?" Death turned and looked across the meadow and sighed, "I grow weary. I have battled Life for as long as I can remember." Death looked back at Akakios, "I was once mortal, a long time ago. So long ago that I can no longer remember what it felt like. I was very much like you, a career military man. A man that had fought so many battles that I lost my taste for killing, and learned to love life. Not just my life, but also the lives of all of my soldiers, as well as the lives of the innocent conscripts that we fought. That is when Death came to me and made me an offer. A chance to regain my honor, and fight to preserve life."
Incredulous, Akakios interrupted and stated bluntly, "You wish me to take your place."
Death smiled once again, "Perhaps, but first a question must be answered, before that question can be asked. You called a meeting in your war room, why?"
Akakios looked back to the south as he considered his answer, as though remembering that there was a war going on, "The enemy has been pushed back to their borders. This battle is done. Yet, I know that my Commanders will ask to wipe out the army - thinking that it will end our conflict with our neighbors forever."
"And your answer?"
Akakios shrugged, "There is no value in that action. They will build another army, and return with a vengeance." He shook his head, "No, we need to sue for peace. This idiocy of invasion after invasion needs to be done, once and for all - we do nothing but kill our own families."
Death regarded Akakios for a moment and when he spoke he sounded almost human, tired, "I wish to retire. I have been fighting so long that I feel myself getting lax, dangerously so. I have felt this for many decades, and I feel that it is now time. I have watched you in battle, and I have seen your heart. Will you take the mantle from me and become Life's bane?"
From the moment that he questioned Death about his intentions, Akakios had already made his decision, "How is this thing done?"
"You need only agree and accept my sword as yours."
"What will become of you?"
"I will return to the war room and deliver my message, then take my army home."
"What must I know, as Death?"
"Know that if you fail in your duties, many will die."
"My duties?"
"Engage and defeat Life in battle. Be aware that from the moment that you engage Life in battle, men are dying. The longer the battle lasts, the greater the number of dead. You do not have to kill Life to end the killing, you need only defeat him. This Life is weak, remember that. Preserve him and you will preserve many lives in battle. Kill him and you will have to contend with a new Life, perhaps a stronger Life."
"What if the current Life retires?
Death smiled a rare smile once again, "Always, Death bears the true burden. From the moment that Death is called to battle lives are already being lost - it is Death's handicap. Life is handicapped in it's own fashion, even mortals understand this - Death cannot be killed. Yet only Death can retire, while Life is trapped, most often unwilling, until killed."
Akakios spoke without hesitation, "I accept."
Death uttered his final words as Death, "It is done."
Death found himself mounted on Pathos and looking down at his former self. He didn't realize how old and tired he appeared. In the distance, he could hear the sounds of battle, and Pathos was becoming restless.
"Akakios, one last question."
Akakios looked up at Death and smiled, "Yes?"
"When Life looked at me, I could feel cold hatred. Why?"
"He also has seen you in battle, and has seen your heart. Hunt him Death, keep him weak."
With that Death and Pathos turned and rode into battle.
Comments (4) |
 03-20-2008 04:43, Mr. Tarhead, this story just made my day. It's intriguing to say the least, the ideas are simply great and the language is exceptional. It's also really nice to see how you reworked a short sweet piece and turned it into such a magnificent story. I salute your efforts and your creativity. Keep doing what you're doing. » Reply to this comment...  03-20-2008 10:14, Wowe..this was a long one for you. As always, breathtaking » Reply to this comment... » See all 1 replie(s)  03-20-2008 15:35, But I just finished writing a story called "The Longest Walk" and came here to upload it and saw your story on the front page as I was logging in. Good grief. Irony. » Reply to this comment...  04-24-2008 13:12, i am serious when i say this can go down in history...this is truely a classic » Reply to this comment... |
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