Date: Sun, 19 May 1996 17:45:55 -0400
From: Carrie Krumtum <CKrumtum@GNN.COM>
Subject: Betrayal (1/1) Spoilers: Last Knight

This story contains spoilers for the episode Last Knight.


This story is based on characters created by J. Parriott and B. Cohen for the TV
 series Forever Knight.

Betrayal
   by Carrie Krumtum
   c.  1996


        "How does one betray a soul? I will tell you how. Yes. Perhaps I am the only
 one qualified to tell you. You see, one must be guilty of the crime in order to
 describe the crime, and a crime it is.
        "It is an attempt at corruption, really. An attempt. Nothing more. Surely, at
 one time, I would have insisted that I had been successful. It would have been
 a lie. But then, I have grown accustomed to my own brand of sel
f deception.
        "You must lie to a soul in turmoil, find it thus, and, capitalize on the
 vulnerability. It is a fine art, one in which I am well practiced. Oh, I
 mustn't forget to mention, it is always a special treat to find that such
a soul is a noble soul. The sense of honor makes the conquest that much more
 tantalizing. Quite.
        "You see, it is the attempt to extinguish the light, to entice the noble soul
 to step out of the light and into the darkness. I was once a fool, so great a
 fool as to believe myself accomplished in this particular matter
. I am no longer a fool. Now, I am alone.
        "The real problem arises when one attempts to subdue the soul of an honorable
 and noble spirit. It is a task that cannot be accomplished. Not by my kind. Not
 by me. Not with him. All the signs of my ultimate defeat where
 there, from the very beginning. I was too arrogant to see them, to recognize
 them for what they were. Over the years, it was so easy to lose sight of the
 truth in the midst of the struggle. For that is what I did, strugg
le, in vain. Attempting, for the sake of my own vanity, to force the noble soul
 to accept the darkness, to reject the light, as I had. Folly, that is what that
 was, pure and simple.
        "It was the nature of his soul to be unable to relinquish the light. He did not
 have that much darkness within him. I do not believe that there is enough
 darkness in all of the universe to put out his light. I have come
to understand, far too late, that his light was his soul. It was the nature of
 who he was. His very spirit depended on it's glow. The darkness could beacon to
 him, yes, and there may have even been a part of him that wish
ed for the darkness, but, not his very soul. For him, it was the pain of too
 much death, battle, regret, betrayal...life. He was merely weary, no more. It
 is when we are weary that we submit to seduction. When we lack the
 strength of will to fight any longer. He still possessed some measure of will.
 His seduction was never complete. He was never able to relinquish his light.
 Or, to extinguish it.
        "We tried, he and I. Sometimes as allies, sometimes as adversaries. We tried to
 rid his soul of the light. The light in him would not die, could not die. It's
 death meant his death. It was only at the end that I knew thi
s to be true. Perhaps he became aware of this as well, at the end. I fancy that
 he did.
        "His was a soul full of the guilt caused by his weakness and vulnerability to
 the seduction. Guilt compounded by our attempts to extinguish his light. An
 impossible task that only fed the monster of his guilt, until that
 guilt finally consumed him. Consumed us both, really. You see, he could not
 live without his light. He could not suffer the darkness. He could not. What
 pain those long centuries of struggle must have been for him. What
pain the conflict must have wrought on the very fabric of his spirit. My folly,
 his weakness, now evident by his death.
        "Betray a soul? It is simple, really. All you must do is ask of it what it
 cannot give. Demand it to betray itself. Coerce it to lie to itself, to the
 world. Then, and this is a most important point, then, you must tell
it that you love it. That it is love that motivates you. There is no lie so
 great as the confusion of vanity and love. Need, selfish need, and benevolence.
 The noble soul will be easily betrayed by this. Gullibility follo
ws on the heels of honor. I know. I have seen it in the most noble life. A life
 that I have taken by my own hands. I life that should have known nothing but
 light. That is the tragedy. This one light could have burned so
very bright.
        "Perhaps I do a disservice. His light did burn brightly. Even in his
darkness. It is his legacy. A creature of the dark that burned with the light
of the sun and was consumed by that light. It is the wages of betrayal, you
know. That I, now alone, seeded the roots of this destruction long ago and
lacked the wisdom to recognize it until now. Now, when it is too late.
        "Would it were possible to rekindle his light. Would that I could know
intimately the nature of his nobility, his bright spirit, his soul. I look
back on him with the only love I can possess. As honest a love as a creature
of the darkness may possess, and say, I did not know him well. It is a lose
to me. Only now, at the end, do I sense to depth of what I have lost. Now,
when the loneliness causes a kind of introspection best reserved for those
beings who have never tasted the darkness. Now do I understand the nature of
my betrayal. Only now. And, now, it is too late.
        "How does one betray a soul? It is simplicity itself. You must only
be...me."

All comments welcomed.



Carrie, Slovenly Knightie AKA Carrie the Cruel
CKrumtum@gnn.com
It's hard to judge someone when you're blinded by your love for them.
--Mother Teresa