"There is a saying amongst the copperfolk.
'All men have a limit.'
My father told me this when I was a boy, but children cannot comprehend such things.
Even though my family were mere blacksmiths, my father was able to convince a hedge knight to take me on as an apprentice. I didn't care that he was among the lowest ranking nobles.
I worked day and night until I became his squire, and when illness took the old man, he gave me his sword and his title. He owned a barren estate in the west, but now I bore the title of Baron.
As I rose among the ranks, I earned the trust of the second-born prince. While I was strong and tactical, he was wise and diplomatic. We achieved much mischief. I think back on those days with fondness.
I had recently been made commander of the Royal Guards when a delegation from a neighboring kingdom came to visit. Among them were two princesses. The king wished for our Crown Prince and their eldest princess to marry, hoping to secure an alliance.
She was a beauty, most assuredly, but it was the younger sister who caught my eye. Her hair was like spun gold, and eyes of shimmering emeralds. My heart, which had never once betrayed me even in the heat of battle, froze the moment I laid eyes on her.
But fate is a cruel mistress.
The old king was a warmonger in his youth, and I will not lie and say he was a good man, even as he mellowed into his twilight years.
The wedding of the Heir Apparent and the Eldest Princess was extravagant. Wine flowed like a river through the hordes of nobles, and the food was god-given. Of course, being a Captain of the Guard, I did not attend, instead I chose to spend time with my Princess.
When all had retired for the night, an assassin crept into the castle. He left a trail of bloodshed, ending in the royal chambers, where he slew the crown prince and his newly wedded wife. When I found the assassin, I made sure he was taken alive, much to his chagrin.
It was a tragedy of course.
The whole kingdom was thrown into a panic, and our neighbor demanded recompense.
It was then the gods showed they were against me.
My brother in arms, my friend, now the new crown prince, stole my love from me. While the wedding was a somber affair, it was no less extravagant. From the feast to the wedding my brother would not— could not— meet my gaze.
Now the two kingdoms were stronger than ever, and when we had finally tortured the information out the assassin, the king ordered myself, the new general, to wage war against those that wronged him.
When our enemies were nothing but ash on the wind I returned home. Still stinking of smoke and blood, I was given a dutchy and a medal.
Looking at the King and his Queen, I was filled with disgust for their weakness, for what they stole from me, and for their gall to presume me worthy of nothing but a duchy.
At that moment, I knew I deserved more.
So now, as I sit in the royal chambers, King Harold's blood still staining my hands, I think back to what my father said so many years ago, I know now he lied. Not out of maliciousness, but of ignorance.
There are no limits. Only men that are willing to accept them."
~ Excerpt from, "The Memoirs of a Soldier."
By Gavin Blacksteel, First of his Name, Lord of the Verdant Plains, King of The Reach, Commander Most High, The Ashknight.