the
land cried out for a hero
but
herc being a family man was busy
what
they got was as far from a hero
a woman who had a dark and dirty past
filled
with rage brutality and death.
she
wasn't what the doctor ordered but she
fit
the bill perfectly because she had no heart
no
worries about getting the job done
no
man too big to kill no woman too young to pluck
she
was the best man for the job
so
the great powers stripped off her black cowl
played
on her sense of guilt making her somewhat
more
sympathetic and dangled the promise that
one day she could feel something anything at all
besides
the dark rage that blew across her soul
while
she could do the job alone she was only a woman
what
could she do by herself
so
they gave her a horse and a bard to cook and clean
only
the girl took it into her head to dust
the
spider webs where she thought a heart might be
adding
a bit of light a bit of joy and total acceptance
she
began weeding the bad out for the good
there wasn't much but she had green fingers
being
the daughter of farming stock
after
many battles fought and won
the
warrior couldn't even recognize herself
where
was the blood and gore
and
the nice clean kill
not
to mention the battle lust
swept
away with the bad leaving a hole where the
light poked through grew something
that
bumped
in the night making her guilt grow unchecked
the
little girl grew up proud and strong
blonde
and hard
a
perfect pupil the yin to the warrior's dark
yang
complimenting
each other in every way
but
the inborn sense of blood
she
craved it but the bard knew what she
and
in that moment the bump had a rhythm
and
a melody rich with depth and breadth
and
with the heart came truth and tears
and
shame and pain and more
how
broad can her shoulders be
that the sins of the land could sit so
easily
and
remain all but unremarked
no
more the wild child who raged across the land
who
still had an eye for the ladies
and
a sense of bushido that would shame
any
samurai or his shogun
because
she was still just a woman
and
couldn't possibly know that the right man
for
the job was indeed a man
standing
toe to foe with anyone
her
back guarded and heart held
the
air was filled with the beat beat beat
of
a part tamed beast
the
best man for the job
in
leather and breast plate
who
owned a sneer a smirk
and
a cocked brow just an itchy trigger finger way
from
making you wish you'd never been born
all
dusted off and prettied up
she
now had depth of character
and
what grew in dark places was ignored
for
the most part only showing up as a glint
in
her titanic eyes
enjoying
the job no one else would take
and
then after giving her the gift of love
and
making her learn how to give it up
they
marched her into legend
after
cutting her head off
cutting the bard's heart out
and
proving that perhaps she wasn't
the
best man for the job after all
herc
would have walked away
with
smile intact
being
a woman she gave until there was
nothing
left but that beat beat beat
of
the wild child
going
on inside the woman
with
the flaxen hair
and
the hard ocean eyes
of
a teacher reborn
(c)Trish
Shields
061901