photo Prompt #308 - Photo

[comicfan]

Use the following picture to create a story.

 

 

[JMH]

This is the first promt I've tried so I hope it follows all the rules.

 

 

When is a river not a mere stream? 

 

In the case of the Barony of Abbott it was the thin borderline between two spiteful brothers.  Ever since their father’s death two years ago the family had been divided between which of the two brothers would inherit their father’s land and title.  While their father’s will had clearly stated that both sons were to rule over the barony together the former baron left behind no instructions on how the estate was to be divided.

 

Addison, the eldest of the brothers, claimed that as the first born son he should inherit the title and most of the land.  His younger brother Olson, however, demanded that the land be divided in equal parts.  Olson would “generously” let his brother keep the castle while he would take the lands west of the river. While it seemed to be fair on paper, Addison knew his father’s lands well enough to know that most of the family wealth came from the silver mines that his conniving brother would take for himself.

 

Hoping their mother would settle the dispute, they went to the Baroness and asked her to settle the issue once and for all. The Baroness however refused to divide the barony between her two sons.  Instead she pleaded with them to serve as co-rulers of the Barony.  By this point, however, the bad blood between brothers made any hope of them working together as equals impossible.

During another one of their arguments Addison’s rage brought his hand to the hilt of his sword.  He drew his father’s jagged vorpal sword and charged at his shocked brother.  Before the sword could hit its mark their mother threw herself between the tip of the sword and her younger son’s heart.  The blade, which once slew a dragon, slid through her body like a knife being thrust into a bucket full of sand.      

Horrified by what he had done, Addison let go of the hilt of his father’s sword and stepped back a few steps.  This pause allowed his brother to escape.

 

 Though Olson was also shocked by his brother’s deed he did not remain in the castle to mourn the death of his mother.  Olson fled, taking with him a pair of knights and a third of the castle’s men-at-arms.  They ran on horseback to the hilltop fortress which overlooked the mines.  It was Olson’s hope that he would be able to use the wealth provided by the mines to hire an army of mercenaries which would allow him to defeat his brother once and for all.

 

While both brothers looked upon each other’s lands on either side of the river, two innocent individuals did not looked across the river with hatred and greed in their hearts but with longing and love.

Cavish, the son of the master silversmith and overseer of the mines, sat half submerged in the river.  Surrounded by reeds he was almost completely invisible from the soldiers patrolling up and down the stream.  Looking between the reeds Cavish could see a fine looking white stallion and the young man leading it to the river to drink.   The horse was Sir Hector’s, captain of Lord Addison’s guards.  The young sandy haired youth holding the horse’s reigns was the knight’s squire, Peter.

 

Once he was sure they were alone Cavish dug into the bottom of the stream and picked up a rock.  He then skipped it across the stream to land on Peter’s left boot.  He saw Peter look down at the rock and picked it up.  Peter looked around as if to see who had thrown it.  Finding no one, he tied the horse’s reigns to a nearby tree. 

 

Hearing Peter whistle like a mocking bird, Cavish crowed three times to tell Peter there was no one on his side of the river for them to worry about.  He then rose from the river and walked out of the reeds.

Peter laughed when he saw how wet Cavish’s pants were.  “I hope you didn’t pee yourself while waiting for me.”

 

“Very funny Peter.” Cavish grabbed Peter by the neck of his tabard and threw him into the river. 

 

Peter cursed at him for a while but eventually began to laugh as well.  “I guess I will have a lot of explaining to do when I get back to the castle.”

 

“Not if I can get you out of those clothes long enough for them to dry.”  Cavish wrapped his arms around Peter’s waist and pulled the squire’s body against his own. 

 

They kissed and drew each other’s breaths from their mouths.  Reaching to shore hand in hand they made love to each other until the sun began to set.

With their clothes now dry.  Cavish knew they would soon have to depart.  By now his father would be worrying about his son being missing.  The same was true for Peter.  By now Sir Hector would want to know at least where his prized warhorse had gone to.

 

Cavish looked into Peter’s blue eyes.  He could see Peter looking deeply into his brown ones.  They were playing a dangerous game meeting like this.  Not only would Sir Hector and Cavish’s father be upset about their son’s buggering each other but the opposing lords each of them served might see their friendship as marking them as traitors.

 

That was exactly what the archer thought when he raised his bow and aimed an arrow at Cavish’s back.  Sir Hector had indeed began to worry about his squire and missing horse.  The Archer had not seen their love making but he knew what Lord Addison would want him to do.  If a man loyal to Addison saw a person they knew was loyal to his brother, Olson, they were to be killed on sight.  The archer didn’t know how loyal Cavish was to the archer’s hated rival lord but everyone knew Cavish’s father had swon fealty to Lord Olson.

 

The archer let the arrow fly but he was a second too late.  Peter had seen the archer and just as the archer let loose his arrow, Peter pushed Cavish to the ground.  Peter was therefore the one who was hit by the arrow.  The arrow pierced his throat and came halfway out the other side.

 

Cavish yelled when he saw what had happened.  He took hold of his lover and wept over his dying body.

 

The archer cursed himself for having killed the knight’s squire but that did not stop him from letting another arrow fly.  This one hit its mark and now both young men were dead.  The archer did not stop cursing as he went over to the bodies and examined them.  While he was certain Lord Addison would be pleased that he had killed the son of his rival’s most important ally, Sir Hector might see the archer dead for killing his squire.  The archer knew he had to get rid of the bodies and with the river so close it was the perfect place for them.  He loaded their pocket and shirts with stones and let the two lovers sink into the river.

 

The river turned red as the young men’s blood flowed from their fatal wounds, but their blood was not as thick or as red as that was being shed further down the river.  There the two brothers and most of their men lay floating among the reeds having killed each other in reckless battle.

 

When is a river not a mere stream?  When it flows with the blood of love shed by hatred.

[joann414]

Excellent and wonderful take on the prompt.  I loved it.

[Valkyrie]

How sad, but well done and I enjoyed reading it. 

 

Here is my take.  I seem to have a penchant for cats lately. LOL

 

https://www.gayauthors.org/story/valkyrie71/2014promptresponses/7