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Fireballs flew furiously from a nearby hilltop. Sir Everest laid on his back behind a felled, rotting tree watching explosions land all around him. Stripped of his armor and weapons, the exiled former commander of the Kingdom’s military, hoped for a miracle.
God, I realize I haven’t known you long, but…
A fireball exploded within feet of Everest. Flames reached out and bit his leg. He instinctively rolled to smother the fire. He was now exposed. He could hear the catapult captains call out his position. Everest rose to run but an exploding fireball knocked him to the ground. Finding himself hidden under a temporary blanket of smoke, Everest began to crawl. He remembered seeing a large rock about fifty feet away.
The attacked ceased as Everest reached the rock. There was an eerie silence.
Maybe they think I’m dead?
Familiar swooshing noises interrupted the brief respite. Hundreds of burning arrows began slicing through the swirling smoke. A circle of fire soon had Everest trapped behind the rock.
I trained them well. God, so this is what you meant for me?
The thunder of approaching horses approached Everest’s position.
Through the fire of the burning arrows he saw the king sitting atop his white stallion.
“My dearest, Sir Everest, the greatest commander the Kingdom has ever had. I come to give you one last chance.”
“And?” Everest’s burnt lips pained as he spoke.
The king alighted from his horse and unsheathed his sword, slashing a path through the ring of flaming arrows around Everest. He pointed his weapon at Everest’s heart.
“I cannot have a Christian as commander of my army. I knew you were spending too much time with our slaves, but I never expected you to pick up their religion. Look all around. Here is proof. Where is your God? You’re at my mercy. Now, do you still claim this foreign God as your King?”
Everest tried to stand, but his scalded leg was throbbing. The king’s sword was piercing the skin of his chest. Everest tried to remember what the slaves had taught him, but all he could remember was their counsel not to go straight to the King about his conversion before he knew God better.
Everest’s words were spoken painfully.
“King, I meant no disrespect in telling you about the only true and living God. I was even advised not to, but I knew your rule about the God of the Christians, so I told you. And, what you say seems to be true. I see no signs of my God, but I feel in my heart He is with me, even with the point of your sword pressed against it. My God is the King of all Kings and I plead my loyalty to Him.”
The king pulled his sword back from Everest’s chest and remounted his steed.
“Very well,” the king spoke. “I’m going back to the hilltop and give the troops you trained to kill Christians the order to slay you with the arrows you taught them to make. Today you will die.”
As the king and his guards rode off, Everest’s face dropped into his hands. A quiet voice interrupted his thoughts.
“Tell him again you are a Christian.”
Amidst flying arrows, Everest crawled out from behind the rock. He started whispering, “I am a Christian.”
With each foot he crawled, he proclaimed louder, “I am a Christian.”
Finally, Everest struggled to his feet and stood and yelled, “I am a Christian,” and began walking up the hill.
The first arrow struck him in the shoulder, the second in a thigh, yet he kept walking.
“I am a Christian.”
Arrow after arrow stuck into Everest’s body as he continued his mission up the hill.
He saw the king slap his stallion and charge with his sword drawn.
“I am a Christian.”
Everest, weakened by blood loss, could barely make out the king draw back his sword to strike the fatal blow.
An arrow struck Everest in the heart. He gasped.
“I am a Christian.”
With his last ounce of strength, Everest pulled the arrow from his chest and collapsed to his knees ready to be beheaded. He was surprised though to see the king fall from his steed to the earth. A stray arrow had struck his heart from the back.
Everest crawled over to the King, his blood pouring unto the king‘s outstretched, trembling hands.
The king wheezed, “Tell me about your God.”
Sir Everest smiled.
“I am a Christian.”
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