Donning Feeble chainmail studded doublet
with ruby encrusted breastplate,
He readies his hilt grip on a true
two handed Great Sword.
Leading with his back step
as taught in old Maratha,
Sir Fig "The branch Knight" Merlansell
quickly unsheathes and slashes the air with a sweeping down cut.

As the volumes of paper turned pulp
ignited before him
the spectators eyes reflected the climbing flames.

When it had ended he sheathed "Gregarious"
and stood at a Knight's attention
and waited for the Flamerice Himself to speak.

Garbed in full black sans the red and white patches about his sleeves,
the Agner Flamerice stood before the company and before his entire country and began...

"For it was with words, they destroyed us, that we now purge deceit in the flames."

The roar from the crowds came and went abruptly with a thunderous "Maiv Dois" (Burn Treason)

THE BOOKS HOWEVER, FELT NOTHING.
They remained impartial even in their ashes.

Days after "The great burning"
as it came to be known, a kitchen boy walked home
amongst the million volumes of burnt ash.
Next to a stair ledge beneath a charred slab of lumber,
which Selvin had discovered (tripped over),
he found a single book there.

Dusting it's cover with a sharp blow of air and sweep of his sleeve
he wondered what the letters meant.

If only he had been given the opportunity to learn how to read.

He quickly shoved the volume beneath his small clothes
and walked briskly home avoiding the ever present street guard, the infamous Ricebane Troopers of Redblack Square.

Having exhausted his eyes
combing through the meaningless white pages with
the even more meaningless black letters
he decided to carve the books title
into the floorboards
beneath his bed.

"F A R E N H E I T 4 5 1"

Growing both bored and uncomfortable with his find
he soon tossed the book in fathers kiln and never thought of words again.

12/08/2014