The Revolutionary Dog
By Amy Batey
As I stood above the sea of faces I never knew, I felt like a god among them. In their lit eyes I saw myself in them, and in that reflection was the image of a messiah. Their liberator, their leader, me. Their hands reached out to the tall stone that I had made the site of my rest, as if by touching it, they would be healed of all other wounds. They were a swarm of varied bodies, pushing against each other to reach me with their raised arms like the thorns of a bramble wall. They screamed in tongues so foreign and shrill, and yet it was so clear to me what they cried for. Who else to offer their lives to but me, their lord? I realized, in the mass, who I was. I was their everything, and yet I was nothing.
It had taken all my strength and time to finally defeat and conquer the guards. I saw them as dumb, welding weapons of flying pellets. However, despite my bitter resentment, I had my father, Rick, to thank for my great skill in combat and agility. The endless days and night of bloody heels, dry and dust-coated eyes and sore muscles, practicing technique after technique had practically held my hand and lead me to victory. But after the fight, instead of those little aches and pains, I felt loosened and ready, strangely. It was a good enough feeling to smile to.
As I raised my head, lips strewn with the mark of their death, in the cages that kept my brethren and their young in slavery, I witnessed the sparks of hope. I doused the flame. With my very own hands I snatched the keys from their master's desk and swung open the doors to freedom.
I had freed them. It was I who raised the flag of injustice for the eyes of the ignorant. It was I who brought the crackling storm the struck down the wall that trapped them. I was but one, one for all. I could see it, the sun! Oh, it casted such a light on my form that I was certain that my body would ignite on the very mountain I stood upon. I turned to my side and suddenly realized I wasn't alone. There, beside me stood my love, my sweet, my companion. Who better to be with the ruler than his mate? But as the fire in my eyes met her blue oceans, I saw terror. It was terror that had seized her.
