A Dream?

The old knight lowered his head after his prayer to Tyr and turned towards the direction of his old friend. His steps were slow and deliberate as he made his way through rubble that had once been a celebration of life, joy, friendship. The old knight stopped as he entered the clearing where his old friend lay so peacefully. "Does he know I yet live" he wondered. The sight reminded him of the last time he’d seen his old friend. What was it, he asked himself. Thirty..thirty five years. At first after the agreement, when the old knight was still young, he visited Ki’teleth Tel’hedrita every new moon. It seems it takes dragonkind many years to complete the transition into the deepness of the long sleep. So they had many long talks during his visits. They grew to be close friends. Ki’teleth Tel’hedrita taught him of the past, and the way things were before the rift. Of wars and wonders a millennia gone. They spoke often of philosophy. It appeared that philosophy differed according to life span and beliefs in what lay beyond. Many a night was spent each teaching the other. Nights that each looked forward too. For many years the two met and talked at each new moon. Each time the young knight visited Ki’teleth Tel’hedrita seemed closer to his long sleep. Till finally, he was asleep. The young knight continued his habit of visiting on the new moon, each time finding the dragon asleep and safe. Somewhere along the way the visits became less frequent due to the needs of the land. A war would break out and he would go. A famine would threaten and he would go. There was always something. Finally he stopped visiting altogether. The forest had grown up around his cavern and nothing had threaten for years to awaken his sleeping friend. So his mind switched entirely to the problems of man, bidding his old friend farewell. Now he found himself once again facing his old friend. Had he caused this? When had he awoken? How long had he been there alone without the friendly sound of another voice? He couldn’t help but feel maybe he had a part in all this. Maybe if he’d kept his solemn vow to visit. He’d broken a vow to a friend! Did I cause this!? Fealty, Spirituality, Courtesy, Honesty, Valor, Honor, Humility. The very code the old knight lived, slept, and fought by. Taught to his people by this very dragon! "How can I take his life, even after what he has done?" he asked looking up hoping for an answer. "Has he not earned his life? Has he not earned the right to err? Or is that only man given that right." The old knight continued in ever increasing volume. "Has he not given up all for us? His own kind shun him, his chosen family hunts him, and it appears his last friend will kill him!" this last part yelled to the heavens in rage. The old knight dropped to his knees, his dagger, the only weapon left to him between his praying hands. A position so familiar before a big battle. One in that he usually asked for strength to defeat his enemies and forgiveness for what he was about to do. Now though, it was different. He was not asking for strength in battle against and enemy, but a friend! "Tyr please hear me, I Melazar, Knight of the Round Table, ask thee for guidance. How am I to do what I must? Am I so brave as to strike down a friend for acting out his rage at being alone? Could I have survived what I had so easily demanded of him, a life alone? He has done what he has done, who am I to judge him?" he stopped when he felt the dagger long forgotten in his hands grow white hot. He tossed it to the ground, then examined the burn. There in the palm of his right hand was the shape from it’s hilt. A shape he had long ago let slip from his memory, that of a dragon. And on the left, Tyr’s symbol. Was this a sign? If so, what was the answer? "I have Tyr on one hand, Ki’teleth Tel’hedrita on the other. Am I to choose?" he asked Tyr. "Is this my punishment for breaking my vow?" he waited. "If this is true, then I know what I must do." He awaited an answer that came not.

Standing up, he felt a weight lifted from his shoulders. He took a deep breath and moved towards his old friend. He made his way to with but an arms length from Ki’teleth Tel’hedrita and spoke. "Wake up my old friend, I but live" he said in a voice he had not heard for many years. One not born of battle and death, but one of love and friendship. Ki’teleth Tel’hedrita’s eyes opened with a start! He slowly raised his massive head to peer at what surely was a ghost. "Nay, I have killed you my friend" he replied in pain and sorrow. "No my old friend," the old knight answered softly, " tis I, Melazar breaker of vows." At this the old dragon raised to his full height, and bellowed, "No! Tis I who have broken my vow to thee, Sir Melazar, Knight of the Round Table, Keeper of the Truth" "Aye that I am, Keeper of the Truth, and it is that I have broken my vow to watch over thee and keep the company and safe. Yet I have not kept that vow! For here we are! That..is..the..truth!" "How are we to end this? I am ready." Ki’teleth Tel’hedrita asked as his reached for and grasped the dagger the old knight had tossed away. Upon seeing this, this old knight bared his chest, "I too am ready my old friend." Once again the dagger felt the earth as it was tossed. "Thee have misunderstood mine intentions my friend, it is I who must pay." The old dragon said softly as if to a young child. "Then we are at an empass, for I will not take thy life!" he stated flatly. "My old friend, my son, it is no longer my time…" "Nay! You.." the old knight interrupted. The old dragon halted him with a blast of fire into the air! "Aye, tis true and we both know this! For all things there is a time, and mine is long past." Ki’teleth Tel’hedrita stopped to look into the eyes of his old friend, searching for understanding and seeing only pain he continued. "have I not lived a grand life? I have flown the skies with gods! I have loved. I have helped raise an entire race that I am ever so proud of! Most of all, I am proud of you." He said moving face to face with the old knight. "Did you think me ignorant of thy deeds, locked away as I was? You yourself told me of your deeds. And I have ways of seeing that which I want without leaving my cave. You may know it as dragon sight or by some other name. Why did you think I went to sleep when I could surely have set in that cave for one hundred years? I saw that your kind needed you more than me. But your vow kept you coming to me." "I knew it! Twas my fault!" the old knight yelled in pain upon hearing what he had already figured. "Nay, my old friend. Twas not your fault I have outlived my time. Man does not need me now, I know this….They must grow into their own. I will not leave them totally alone…I leave them you my friend." Finished Ki’teleth Tel’hedrita, smiling as a father smiles at a child how has made them proud. "Me, what am I but a knight who could not keep even a vow to watch over his friend!" the old knight ended falling to his knees, head down. "Rise Sir Melazar!" commanded Ki’teleth Tel’hedrita. This so shocked the old knight he jumped to his feet. "Drop not to thy knees my Keeper of the Truth, my Knight of the Round Table, My friend. Know this. I have taught thee as no other. Have thee not lived by mine code? Have thee not saved a child from death, brought life to village where none thought possible? Have thee not offered thy life for another without a thought for thyself? Vanquished evil, healed the sick..I could go on forever with thy deeds and not tell all….Aye, I will leave this world knowing that I have truly left it in good hands. I leave it my son! For that is what I have come to think of you as I have no other." He smiled at the bewilderment in Melazar’s eyes.

"Aye, you are my son if any be. Do you not feel anything for me?" he asked of the old knight. "The question does not need an answer for I am here. Have I not offered thee my life! I have offered it before only in battle! Never before, freely with chest bared." He said hoping for understanding. "Tis for this very reason I can depart. The world has it’s champion, my champion! I could not leave without the knowledge that there was one such as yourself to look over my children. For now you are their teacher, healer, protector…..Will you not do me this honor? Will you deny me this right to give freely what you have just offered me?" "Am I not as worthy as you to give up my life for another?" Ki’teleth Tel’hedrita asked. "Aye, you are worthy! But how am I to do this?…. As you think of me as your son, I think of you as the father I lost so many years ago. Would you ask a son to kill his father?" Melazar pleaded. "Aye! Just as you asked of me a short while ago." Softly spoken, Ki’teleth Tel’hedrita saw the realization strike the old knight. "We both know this has to happen." Ki’teleth Tel’hedrita slowly opened he hand in front of the old knight. In it’s palm was the dagger. Sir Melazar reached for and retrieved the dagger, all the while looking into the eyes of his mentor, his friend, his father. Never was there any hint other than the love he felt. No pain or sorrow, only peace. "I will do this, only because it is thy wish. Not for the world. Not for myself. Know this too…the world shall know of thee as I know thee. Not as City Crusher, but as Ki’teleth Tel’hedrita, healer, teacher, protector, father. This I vow. On the day I break this vow, I shall return to your side. This I swear." He took another breath and aimed for the killing spot so long ago taught to him by Ki’teleth Tel’hedrita. With a mighty lunge he went for a quick painless kill. The world went black. "What happened?" he asked. <I have taken away thy pain> "The pain?! I must finish what I have promised! Would you have me once again not keep my vow?" <No my son. I would keep you from a pain that would have surely killed thy soul.> "But what of Ki’teleth Tel’hedrita?" the old knight pleaded. <He has gone on, I have brought him peace, so long asked of me. But twas never time.> "And now it is? Why after so much pain? So much destruction. Had he not earned the right of peace long ago?" <Yes, he had earned it. But you were not ready> "Me? Ready for what?" Melazar asked the voice in apprehension. <Has not Ki’teleth Tel’hedrita already told thee? Did he not state the reason?> "What? Who am I to be all those things? I am but an old knight." <Have thee not already done these things thy whole life?> "Aye, maybe so. But why wait till now?" <Would thee have offered thy life before this day? Would thee have taken upon thyself the burden asked of thee?> "I see thy wisdom, for I would not have had the heart, and now I fear it is forever broken," Melazar flatly stated. <Then look upon this my son, see if it will not mend that which can not be> The blackness slowly faded. Twas just after dusk . <Look to the east, just at the horizon. What do you see?> The old knight peered hard at the horizon. At first he saw nothing but the blueblack sky. Then something odd began to appear. Twas a star. A bright one, red in color! "What is this? Am I not on my world? This star is new to me. Where didst it come from?" <Tis the last request of an old friend.> "Ki’teleth Tel’hedrita?" <Aye. He shall forever be there to watch over his children at night. He will be a guiding light once more. …Does this not help mend thy heart Melazar? > The old knight said nothing. He felt the warmth once again flood over himself, and he knew that Ki’teleth Tel’hedrita was at peace. He knew also that he carried him in his heart, binding that which was broken.

<Know this my son. The destruction of this day has not happened. I would not have it be thy last memory of Ki’teleth Tel’hedrita. You shall awaken only with only the memories of long talks with thy friend, and that he has come unto me> "Will I not know of his final words?" the old knight asked quite sleepily. <You will know of his love for thee and thou> "Then all is well…." Melazar felt a sudden need for sleep. <Be well… Sir Melazar..Knight of the Round Table….Truth Keeper> "Truth… Keeper…" he said as he fell into a deep sleep. <Sleep well my son… for you have much to do>