NBA Dramatique: Buried?

Years ago, he was a part of it. He was a contributor, had been perhaps their most valuable fighter. He kept the legacy alive, and added his own tales to the long story of the Western Banner. But that was the past.

The Big Resurrection was telling stories to the newer Followers about his years spent with the Western Banner. There was a part of him that missed life within the castle walls. He had certainly enjoyed success. If only he had been able to co-exist with the assassin. The two of them had fought side by side, year after year. They had captured the Prize three times for the Banner. Unfortunately, being a great warrior can be a heavy burden on the ego. The Big...what was he called then?...and the Black Knight had both sought to lead the Western Banner's forces. Neither was willing to accept following the other, and neither was willing to accept co-leadership. Though the particulars of his exile have decayed from his memory, the fact was he went to Hell, the assassin stayed in the castle.

*****

The assassin carefully moved his hands across the face of the cliff, looking for the entrance. He had located the lair of the Followers of the Sun, and was about to lead his knights into their lair. His mind shuffled through thoughts as his fingers looked for the point of access. He contemplated war with the undead and considered what he would do to destroy them. He thought about the men that the Followers had once been. He thought back to the days when he fought beside one of those men, and they had basked in the light reflected off the Prize. He remembered the days of contention the two of them had gone through, when the big guy had been unwilling to accept the ascendance of the Black Knight. He remembered that he had not touched the Prize since his former partner had been sent away, but that his former partner had. He found this troubling. He found the secret door and opened it, and his knights followed.

*****

Though they fought with conviction at the outset, the Followers of the Sun grew lethargic as the battle went on. They recognized that their lair was not in danger of being lost; the Banner knights had invaded simply to have something to fight, as they had done against several other forces. Once they saw that they were not going to be victors, the undead simply went through the motions until the Banner grew tired, claimed victory, and departed.

Unobserved by any of the participants in the fight was a notable parallel. It may or may not have had an effect on the fighting spirit of the armies, but two men in the battle, on opposing sides, were listless and disinterested. They did what they had to do - what was expected of them - but they had each ceased attacking before the battle had officially ended. Perhaps they were weary from the fighting, or perhaps they misjudged the deciding point of the skirmish. The possibility existed also that these two men, once friends, then begrudging coworkers, then bitter enemies, had no desire to do harm to one another any more, and that they took themselves out of the fight before that circumstance could arise.