Round Five Lynch: A Hero's Death

The Villagers were after him. The brave Sir Eduardo Jones tried his best to make them understand that he was simply trying to bring to justice those foul evil doers who had been plotting the downfall of their peaceful hamlet. It was to no avail; he feared that he had finally come to the quest that he could not complete, the heroic deed that would be left undone.

Eduardo stood atop a mossy rock, otherwise known as rec room chair, and pitched his voice to be heard over the angry masses.

“My good people do you not see the evil among you? Do you not want to be cleansed of this blight? Why do you not heed my warnings? I only seek to save you from yourselves.”

He cast a somber glance around at the faces of his accusers and saw not one sympathetic eye amongst the crowd. Being a sensible man, Eduardo weighed his options: he could run like a coward but the hamlet was small and out of the way or he could face them down and die a hero's death. The choice was obvious and the young knight lifted his chin proudly and spoke once more.

“May your conscience remind you of the deed you do this day. Innocents have been slain here and their blood is on our all of heads, for the things we have done and the things we did not do. Take my death as a warning; you must come together to fight the evil.”

The mob rushed him then with their torches and farmers' tools held aloft and the proud knight fell from his mossy rock and rose no more.

****

The group stood around the broken body of Eduardo, the young kid who lived in his own little world. Where did such people go when they died? Was he now chasing windmills and saving maidens in some after life of his own making? Several of the group put down their heavy books and bloody chairs with a heavy feeling of regret. Perhaps he was guilty or perhaps he was as innocent as he claimed but they knew that these murders were not what they were meant to do. They had come to battle school with the lofty goal of saving the world from the buggers; a quest worthy of the late Sir Eduardo Jones.