Bittersweet Longevity

Well… it’s Wednesday night… I’m still alive. I should be happy but… This hasn’t been a good week.

I feel that I was as prepared as I could be for the coming battle. He is a longsword fighter, which means that he had something around a 4 foot reach. Not too bad. The problem with the sword is that there isn’t a particular striking point, like a spear or a hammer. The sword is dangerous from the hilt to the tip. It’s also a midweight weapon. Lighter than a club means that its movement can be easily manipulated while heaver than a dagger means that it can use momentum wisely. I had practiced my lunge dodges, my head leans, my shifting balance, and my speaking voice. I was ready to try to talk him out of it even as he struck at my heart. I was ready to try to not die, but…

In memory of Captain Amazing, please give a moment of silence.

Yes, that’s right. He’s dead. I think it’s obvious though, that I didn’t kill him.

I awoke to a clamour at my door this morning, and shouting that ‘I was saved.’ I quickly went to the door, hoping that what I heard was true; that Captain Amazing changed his mind and he would not be dueling me. Instead what I heard is that Captain Amazing’s men found him dead. He was brutally murdered in his sleep. The story I’ve pieced together is thus:

Late last night, while we were all in bed. A mysterious man snuck into Amazing’s heavily guarded room. Not only did he manage to get in, he managed to get in without anyone noticing, including a sleeping Captain Amazing. He quietly but purposefully strode over to Captain Amazing, and beat his chest repeatedly until there was no chance of survival. The odd thing was that when they checked him out, he looked as if he had been stabbed and bludgeoned.

It wouldn’t make sense for a man to stab someone to death, and then bludgeon them (or visa versa). It also doesn’t seem like two men came in to do the same thing. I know a man who uses a weapon that can stab and bludgeon at the same time.

"Why did you do that!?" I asked Jonas.

"To save your life, Bishop!"

"You didn’t have to kill him!" I shouted.

"Yes, I did you goddamn moron! He would have killed you."

"There was another way. I hadn’t even tried to talk him out of it."

"You are an ungrateful bastard."

"No, I just stick by my moral values."

"Your values would have resulted in the death of a good person. My values resulted in the death of a bad person. Who’s really the moral one here? Huh? You make me sick."

Jonas walked off in a huff. I was angry, but Ren convinced me not to follow him. Now I’m just sipping a glass of water and wondering what I could have done differently to avoid this whole horrible mess.