Save One

 

Save One

Dark the night and grim the day

When rose the standards for the fray.

On winds of death the threads did sway

When a dragon led their Heart astray.

With gleaming eye and gloating tongue, 

The vile dragon breathed, “Save none.”

And so the dreadful deed was done

And all the cities fell, 

Save one.

Soldiers marched to beating drum,

A battle they had all but won,

To a city once called Heart’s Desire.

A city now engulfed in fire.

This city was the final stand.

The final bastion in the land.

The last seat of nation’s power.

To Heart’s Desire, Kingdom’s Flower,

Marched they ever on and on.

Now city sieged upon a hill.

Ash and smoke the air did fill.

With shattered hearts and broken will,

The people watched with blinded eyes

And on deaf ears poured out their cries.

All brought low and led astray.

In chains they went, now torn away

From hope and light upon that day.

Prince of darkness smiled on.

Day of shadow, night of wrong.

Virtue wailed in mournful song.

None escaped that day,

Save one. 

A single soul escaped the snare.

The fate of bondage did not share.

With all the flock they did not stay.

A single soul that slipped away.

Sole survivor justice swore.

The start and end of this great war.

To free all those still trapped inside

The dragon’s talons ‘fore they died.

One hundred more the one acquired.

With gold and glory they were hired.

“Let no one sleep,” the leader said.

“Until the evil here is dead.

All that answered this my call,

You fight with me, you fight for all.

From plague that rots unto the core,

Let us be free forevermore.

May each be paid with golden throne,

But serpent’s head is mine alone.”

With one great shout and sword held high,

On wings of hope they all did fly.

Went they back to Heart’s Desire.

Back to the city of flame and fire.

Same are both the end and start,

For every act flows from the Heart.

Brave the warriors, bitter the fight.

They fought with all their strength and might.

Even with no end in sight,

They fought on and on throughout the night.

The dragon laughed in scornful jest.

“How worthless is this foolish quest

To go against so great a foe!”

Defeat the creature did not know. 

The hero and the villain clashed.

The sky was filled with blinding flash.

When eyes could see the ending clear,

Joy replaced all doubt and fear.

Dead the dragon’s body lay.

Serpent’s head free and decayed.

Cheering filled the dawning day

When greatest evil was waylaid. 

Chains once bound now broke away.

Souls were counted, lives were saved.

The people free to live and thrive.

The plague was dead and all alive.

Save one. 

One hundred rallied to the call.

An evil dragon made to fall.

A kingdom saved upon the hill,

But a single soul was missing still.

One single soul was the price

Heads were counted once and twice

Their leader bold they could not save

The one under the dragon’s grave

Years have passed and none now read

Of this once monumental deed.

The name was lost and none now know 

Who brought down that mighty foe. 

Save one.