The Traitor (250 words) – written 5/17/2016

The traitor stood before the king, iron shackles binding his arms and legs. Guards stood at his shoulders, blades already drawn, tips wavering near the floor, ready for the slightest twitch from the prisoner.

The King looked down on the man, but felt no pity for him. Even if his city, family had been destroyed in the war, that didn’t give him the right to rage against his ruler – especially considering all the others that had been saved.

The King leaned forward. “Do you have any last words?”

The traitor’s eyes were hard, piercing. “Nothing will stop me – not dragons, or spiders, or the leviathans of the deep. Even if I have to claw my way from the depths of the seventh hell, through a never-ending army of demons, I will return.

“And I will come for you.

“Then, I will stab my sword through your black heart and as you lay beneath me, eyes glossy from the pain of my steel, I will have only one answer when you ask me why:

“Because I hate you.”