{"id":4485,"date":"2025-08-09T10:54:44","date_gmt":"2025-08-09T17:54:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/?p=4485"},"modified":"2025-08-09T10:54:44","modified_gmt":"2025-08-09T17:54:44","slug":"the-kings-blade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/?p=4485","title":{"rendered":"THE KING&#8217;S BLADE"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>THE KING&#8217;S BLADE, by Aidan Redwing, art by Lilith Graves<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/TheKingsBladeSHIllustration-scaled.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-4500 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/TheKingsBladeSHIllustration-scaled.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"464\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/TheKingsBladeSHIllustration-scaled.png 1978w, https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/TheKingsBladeSHIllustration-232x300.png 232w, https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/TheKingsBladeSHIllustration-791x1024.png 791w, https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/TheKingsBladeSHIllustration-768x994.png 768w, https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/TheKingsBladeSHIllustration-1187x1536.png 1187w, https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/TheKingsBladeSHIllustration-1583x2048.png 1583w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 464px) 100vw, 464px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I am your blade<br \/>\nbloodied and broken.<br \/>\nI am your word<br \/>\nharsh and unspoken.<\/p>\n<p>I am your angel of mercy,<br \/>\nyour hand outstretched.<br \/>\nSpilling all in your name<br \/>\nI am a bloodstained wretch.<\/p>\n<p>I am your servant<br \/>\nblessed and unholy.<br \/>\nMaking kings into gods<br \/>\nI sin yet I&#8217;m saintly.<\/p>\n<p>Forged by your hate,<br \/>\nfueling your rage<br \/>\nI am the flame that you stoke<br \/>\nand the beast that you cage.<\/p>\n<p>From dusk until dawn<br \/>\nI am the shadow that creeps,<br \/>\nI am the dagger that&#8217;s drawn,<br \/>\nthe last breath in their sleep.<\/p>\n<p>I am your servant<br \/>\nblessed and unholy.<br \/>\nMaking kings into Gods<br \/>\nI sin and I pray they forgive me.<\/p>\n<p>I am your dishonour<br \/>\nand I am your shame.<br \/>\nI could be your undoing<br \/>\nfor crimes yet unclaimed.<\/p>\n<p>I am your discretion,<br \/>\nyour lies and deceit.<br \/>\nIn a graveyard of silence<br \/>\nI am the secret you keep.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Georgia, serif; color: #993300;\">________________________________________<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #993300;\">Aidan Redwing can be found telling tales of elves, pirates and other fantastical beings to any willing to lend an ear. They are happily Nova-Scotian, and acknowledge that they live on the traditional territory of the Mi\u2019kmaq. When not telling stories, they can be found having their own adventures at LARP or around the TTRPG table with friends. Ravens can reach them at <a style=\"color: #993300;\" href=\"mailto:a.redwing.writing@gmail.com\">a.redwing.writing@gmail.com<\/a> or you can find them on Facebook and join the crew<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #993300;\">Lilith Graves is an alumni from the University of New Mexico with a Bachelor\u2019s in studio arts. She currently enjoys doing fr<a style=\"color: #993300;\" href=\"https:\/\/lilithgraves.wixsite.com\/portfolio\/portfolio\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">eelance illustration in various media<\/a>, from 3D digital sculpting to charcoal and watercolor.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>THE KING&#8217;S BLADE, by Aidan Redwing, art by Lilith Graves I am your blade bloodied and broken. I am your word harsh and unspoken. I am your angel of mercy, your hand outstretched. Spilling all in your name I am a bloodstained wretch. I am your servant blessed and unholy. Making kings into gods I [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[90,3,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-issue-65-archive","category-main","category-poetry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4485"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4485\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4516,"href":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4485\/revisions\/4516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}