fic: Conquered [Highlander]
Title: Conquered
Fandom: Highlander
Characters: the Horsemen
A/N: Stress... can do strange things to a person's creative process. My spin on the Horseman origins
The three Horsemen were travelling, looking for a war to pledge themselves to when they saw him. Kronos spies him first, in the far distance, walking out of the sun. He is dressed in grey rags and gaunt as a skeleton. (They don’t know he’s dropped from exhaustion and hunger and thirst too many times to count, but still goes on.) His only possession is the sword strapped diagonally to his back. It is not yet tradition for Immortals to slaughter each other, so the Horsemen allow him to pass by unmolested. Silas and Caspian ride looking ahead, but Kronos turns back to stare after the strange figure plodding away from him.
The next town the three Horsemen come across is afire with celebrations. People lay in the street thanking their gods, hugging their children, kissing their spouses. Kronos dismounts and finds the nearest group of friendly people, asking for news. Death has passed us by, they cry. He has left our people alone and walked on to someone else’s families.
Death? Kronos asks. The people tell stories about the walking skeleton that wanders through the world slaughtering with no discernable motive, who single-handedly raids villages at night and hunting parties during the day. He is a wraith, able to vanish into the elements. What awesome powers, the villagers speculate, he must have. What evil forces he must have bound himself to.
Which way did he go? The villagers point the way Kronos had just come from. He walked that way, into the sand from whence he came. He entered the desert without a cloak to cover him from the wind or a canteen to quench his thirst - but the people know he will walk out of it unharmed.
For you see, they say, Death is eternal.
Kronos calls for Silas and Caspian. The idea of a tactician who can wield such power over the mortals appeals to him. The idea of a legend who is not just Immortal but eternal, that makes his blood sing with desire. He rides into the setting sun, shadow long behind him and two loyal brothers in tow, to find Death.
The scarred one will not leave him alone.
At first it was questions
Where do you hail from, stranger?
Why do the mortals fear you so?
How long have you been walking?
When was your first death?
When those fail to rouse him, it is the ideas
Brotherhood
Power
Eternity
These possess more appeal, but they are fluid concepts, mutable. Unlike him, they bend before they break.
Perhaps he should learn so he listens
Walks, but listens.
The scarred one’s friends fall back to care for their beasts -
but the scarred one
persists
Atop his horse he speaks of
Brotherhood
Power
Eternity
until his throat is lined with sand
and his horse collapses from fatigue
The scarred one jumps clear of the toppling animal, scrapes his tongue clean of sand,
And begins talking again
Brotherhood
Power
Eternity
His stubbornness has been matched,
then surpassed.
The scarred one watches him stumble to a halt
(dropped from exhaustion and hunger and thirst too many times to count)
And continues talking
Brotherhood
Power
Eternity
Wavering on his own stubborn feat until Death’s eyes close
conquered.
Welcome to the Horsemen, Brother.
Fandom: Highlander
Characters: the Horsemen
A/N: Stress... can do strange things to a person's creative process. My spin on the Horseman origins
The three Horsemen were travelling, looking for a war to pledge themselves to when they saw him. Kronos spies him first, in the far distance, walking out of the sun. He is dressed in grey rags and gaunt as a skeleton. (They don’t know he’s dropped from exhaustion and hunger and thirst too many times to count, but still goes on.) His only possession is the sword strapped diagonally to his back. It is not yet tradition for Immortals to slaughter each other, so the Horsemen allow him to pass by unmolested. Silas and Caspian ride looking ahead, but Kronos turns back to stare after the strange figure plodding away from him.
The next town the three Horsemen come across is afire with celebrations. People lay in the street thanking their gods, hugging their children, kissing their spouses. Kronos dismounts and finds the nearest group of friendly people, asking for news. Death has passed us by, they cry. He has left our people alone and walked on to someone else’s families.
Death? Kronos asks. The people tell stories about the walking skeleton that wanders through the world slaughtering with no discernable motive, who single-handedly raids villages at night and hunting parties during the day. He is a wraith, able to vanish into the elements. What awesome powers, the villagers speculate, he must have. What evil forces he must have bound himself to.
Which way did he go? The villagers point the way Kronos had just come from. He walked that way, into the sand from whence he came. He entered the desert without a cloak to cover him from the wind or a canteen to quench his thirst - but the people know he will walk out of it unharmed.
For you see, they say, Death is eternal.
Kronos calls for Silas and Caspian. The idea of a tactician who can wield such power over the mortals appeals to him. The idea of a legend who is not just Immortal but eternal, that makes his blood sing with desire. He rides into the setting sun, shadow long behind him and two loyal brothers in tow, to find Death.
The scarred one will not leave him alone.
At first it was questions
Where do you hail from, stranger?
Why do the mortals fear you so?
How long have you been walking?
When was your first death?
When those fail to rouse him, it is the ideas
Brotherhood
Power
Eternity
These possess more appeal, but they are fluid concepts, mutable. Unlike him, they bend before they break.
Perhaps he should learn so he listens
Walks, but listens.
The scarred one’s friends fall back to care for their beasts -
but the scarred one
persists
Atop his horse he speaks of
Brotherhood
Power
Eternity
until his throat is lined with sand
and his horse collapses from fatigue
The scarred one jumps clear of the toppling animal, scrapes his tongue clean of sand,
And begins talking again
Brotherhood
Power
Eternity
His stubbornness has been matched,
then surpassed.
The scarred one watches him stumble to a halt
(dropped from exhaustion and hunger and thirst too many times to count)
And continues talking
Brotherhood
Power
Eternity
Wavering on his own stubborn feat until Death’s eyes close
conquered.
Welcome to the Horsemen, Brother.