Free Paper by Kell Inkston Page B

Nice scar, Ralic, where did
you get it?” The figure says, ignoring the man next to
him.
    Ralic glances down to the dried up
closure of blood on his face. “Got it while walking here actually.
I’ll just tell the people of the town that I got it from
you!”
    The figure shakes its head. “I’m afraid
that won’t work, ‘hero’. Each Ralic is supposed to kill me ‘without
a scratch’. But it’s okay considering no one saw you get it,” the
figure says as it raises its hand and begins gesturing its fingers
over the large piling of paper in the shape of a person. Ralic
watches in disbelief as a man that looks exactly like himself
manifests over the paper body.
    “ Wh–what’s that?” Ralic
asks, easing into a guard.
    Under its cloak, Ralic can see sharp,
white teeth shine.
    “ Why, it’s Ralic the
Twelfth–just without the scar, as they would expect. We can’t have
the people of the town getting suspicious that the legend could be
flawed in some way, can we?”
    Just as the fake Ralic rises from his
chair with a cruel grin, the real Ralic’s heart drops.
    “ Hello, Impostor,” the fake
Ralic says to the true.
    Ralic raises his sword and starts
forward. “I’ll end your ruse, magician!”
    “ Oh, but the rusing is only
about to begin. With a single wave of my hand, I’ve prepared this
paper body for its many–year performance.
    “… Performance?”
    “ You see, I’ve just made a
doppelgänger more perfect than yourself, and after it beats you in
a fight and throws you in a cage with the other yous, it will go
and take your place, eventually become mayor, and slowly, year by
year, push the town into oblivion–this is their punishment for
defying me, lifetimes and lifetimes of misery.”
    Ralic had always heard from Tenay’s
father that the food shortages were worse than ever, and often the
adults had to go without food for a day off and on so that he, the
hero, could develop into a strong, energetic man. He sees it now.
The man he knows as his father, more properly the thing he knows,
was made of paper and magic, lying and making mistakes day after
day, but still trusted by the people because of what they thought
it had done for them.
    He runs forward to the fake Ralic,
yelling at the top of lungs.
     

     
    II
    Tenay has been sitting in the center
room of her father’s shop, sifting for metal shearing when a gaunt
lad rushes in.
    “ The hero’s made his
return!” he says with a yellow–toothed grin. Tenay rises up from
dust, brushes the shearings off her apron, and hurries to the
gate.
    A young man blows the great horn as the
gates open way. Standing in the center of the road is Ralic, tall
and with the blood–stained cloak of the overlord gained under his
arm. Cheers abound and music begins as, like clockwork, the hero
returns six hours after he left, just like every previous hero. He
looks over the crowd and sees the way Tenay looks at him, the
expectation in her eyes.
    “ I’m back,” he says,
radiating strength that Tenay’s never quite seen in him. His
shoulders are broader, just a tad, and in his eyes exists not a
hint of uncertainty, but truly, she can understand he would be
filled with pride–he did just kill the overlord.
    She kisses him and wraps around him.
“Welcome home,” she says, nudging against his chest as he throws
the cloak aside. At that, they all sit down for the great feast,
Ralic and his father sharing knowing glances as they sit together
at the end of the round honored table. While the others sit in the
dirt or stand, only the two Ralics and their wives may take the
small table. As the poverty is great–only the hero’s and mayor’s
homes consists of more than three rooms.
    “ What was it like?” is the
first thing out from Tenay’s mouth before her first bite. The young
Ralic smiles and pats her on the back as he shoves his mouth full
of beef. Tenay stares Ralic down a moment with a bland look about
her and gently taps down with her heel into just above