Anywhere Else

Reos Dekal, guard commander, stood in line with the rest as the ceremony progressed. He stood tall. He stood precise. He stood with his eyes dead.

In truth, Reos would rather have been anywhere else. That truth he could never show.

Nor could he ignore the portrait slowly lowering into the bonfire’s flames. The gigantic monstrosity stood nearly a story tall. A masterpiece which wouldn’t last the day, with a visage he should have known. The man had been his best friend since childhood.

It was all wrong.

The hair was too light. The eyes were too… His thoughts stumbled, refusing to give voice to the issue there. Reos was no artist. He lacked the words for what he saw. What he knew.

At best, the burning ceremony was brief. As far as royal ceremonies went.

The queen stood on the balcony. Her black veil covered her face as it had the last two years. She bemoaned her losses: her husband, her father.

Reos flicked his mind from the painting, from her voice and withdraw within himself. He’d rather be anywhere else.

No, he’d rather be in the tavern. Tucked away in the warrens with a pint, staring into the dark depths for the oblivion at the bottom.

How could everything have gone so wrong? Everything had been right. They’d won, but in less years than it had taken to retrieve their now queen, everything, everything had fallen apart.

Reos stared at blankly at the painting. No, he didn’t want to be in the tavern. He wanted to be then. He wanted hope and joy again.