Daniel of Dinnigan...

Daniel Parsons leaned against the cool dampness of the rock wall, arms folded across his chest and peered out of the shade to the dusty field before him. His eyes studied the man tethered to a burned out stump some twenty paces to his front. Held securely under the heel of his left boot was the end loop of small intestines that had been stretched from the tiny slit in the screaming man’s belly.

Cautious buzzards pecked and pulled at the gut between sideways glances at Daniel. Two brave coyotes had joined in the feast as well. They snapped, pulled and growled as they ate the painful treat. When they neared the feet of the howling man they would race backwards several meters pulling a new supply of their meal from his abdominal cavity.

"Please," he cried in a hoarse rasp, " Make them stop! This is no way for a soldier to die."

"I see no soldier here other than myself," Daniel answered. "It is hardly a soldier that would do the thing you have done. But that being what it is, as I have told you, I will bring your suffering to a quick end if you answer my query."

"I cannot. I gave an oath!"

"An oath? By a fool to a fool! Only those endowed with honor are worthy of such loyalty and neither you nor your master is qualified to receive it, scum! So be it then."

Daniel turned to his horse and mounted it in smooth fluid movements and reined it in the direction of the distant mountains.

"Stop! Stop and I will tell you what it is you are seeking."

Daniel stopped his horse and spoke without turning to face the agonized man.

"Speak up then, scum," Daniel said.

"Lord Sandoval of Dunmore sent me. My orders were to kill you and bring back your head."

Daniel jerked the reins up and right, which caused the horse to whirl to its rear and lunge in the direction of the helpless man. He stopped the horse astride of the man’s legs.

"So, when you were unable to find me you did the next best thing, eh? Capable soldier that you are. You murdered and burned my wife and young son in their sleep! I will make certain that Lord Sandoval knows that it was your treachery that caused death to fill his eyes as I wring the last breath from him."

Daniel pulled the reins again and the horse started off in the direction of the mountains once again.

"Stop! You gave your word that you would not leave me like this! Honor it!"

"No, Arnac. I promised you that I would end it quickly for you. And you can believe this, the buzzards and beasts will finish you much quicker than I would if I were to stay. I feel that my word to you has in fact been honored."

A smile touched the edges of Daniel’s eyes as his fingers touched the locket about his neck. He remembered when she gave it to him with a lock of her hair inside it. The distance between him and the mountains had grown smaller when he heard the last faint scream to his rear. The lazy moon floated across the clear sky as full as the sated coyotes behind him.