A long day of excitement and celebration was drawing to a close in the court of the First Lord of the Great Western Desert. The dancers were long gone. One old blind musician remained. His familiar tunes were now competing with the dry evening winds that were already gathering strength.
With dusk beckoning, the First Lord stood apart from the few courtiers that remained. Quietly he looked far out into the final moments of the sunset on the great desert. Those who knew him well saw something was changing in his posture. Was age or tiredness finally catching up with the great warrior?
Few dared to approach uninvited, but the old Chancellor had been on many campaigns with his Lord and they were like brothers. He spoke quietly as he drew close. "My Lord we have been through much together. You have won many great battles. Our ancient enemy is defeated. His lands are now your lands. The war is won and today we celebrate. But why do you now seem so sad?"
"Ah, old Chancellor. If only it were so easy. At heart we are men of action but now there is all the paperwork."
"Paperwork my Lord?"
"Yes loyal old friend. We have won the war but now we have to sit down and rewrite all the history."
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Copyright Colin W Campbell. Published pdf & print editions, Gold Dust Issue 13, 2008. First published as winner wearewriters.co.uk flash fiction competition, Aug 2006.
So how would you rewrite history?
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