the serpent laughed as bursk approached the deserted battlefield.
overhead a few crows and murder birds circled lazily.
the serpent, who was none other than eve the enchantress, changed into the form of an old crone when bursk drew even with her, and laughed in his flushed face.
late for the battle again! she croaked, this is most unseemly of you, my friend!
let me tell you i am growing weary of this, bursk growled. i have been tricked yet again!
bah! retorted the crone. who do you expect to believe that? tales will be told that the mighty bursk the barbarian has failed yet again to appear on a bloody field - one ripe with gold and plunder!
you choose to jest, mother, but rest assured, my day will come, and i will have the last say to those who would dare to mock me.
and with that, bursk gazed out across the field, over which the blood red sun was quietly setting.
it had all begun in a low tavern in a distant outpost of the messianic empire.
to pass the time, bursk had engaged in a game of cards with a few beggars, for a few coppers, the coppers not even the official coin of any of the many warring realms of the age.
bursk in his time had won and lost fortunes in gold and silver, as a mercenary in the service of all of them.
the game had broken up, the beggars had slunk away, and bursk, who had lost a few coins and thought nothing of it, returned to a seat in front of the fire with his glass of strong grog.
he became aware of a pair of mocking eyes twinkling at him from a dark corner.
they appeared to belong to a bent old woman dressed in black rags.
but bursk was not fooled. he knew it was a witch - a creature that could choose to take the form of a woman so comely as to blind and bedazzle the mightiest barbarian or the doughtiest soldier of fortune.
it was in fact jezebel the jestress, one of the most cunning and powerful of such creatures.
jezebel laughed her crone laugh.
bursk went along with the game.
does something amuse you, old woman? he asked.
indeed, something amuses me very much.
well then do not keep me and the rest of this distinguished company - bursk indicated the dozing tavernkeeper and a few ragtag vagabonds squatting in front of the fire - in suspense. what is that makes you laugh so melodiously, mother?
just this - that you have just won and lost the key to a kingdom!
bursk yawned. and what kingdom might that be?
the kingdom of ka-lee, the apparent crone replied.
ka-lee? a burning desert, barren of wealth, and ruled by a madwoman? i think i might well be rid of such a kingdom, bursk laughed.
but even as he spoke, a chill crept over his mighty frame. and his very sword seemed to grow cold in its scabbard.
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