Monday 24 October 2016

The Spoils
PHOTO PROMPT © Claire Fuller
                                                                                         Photo prompt © Claire Fuller

Every house that the soldiers ransacked had a sad tale to tell.
“They lied to us.”
“They fooled us.”
“There’s nothing but misery everywhere.”
The soldiers had won a victory but now felt defeated. They had not found even a trinket in the ransacked town.
He was hardly seventeen but had chosen to volunteer; he too wanted the riches promised by the war-lords.
He diffidently entered a house. He found nothing but wretchedness and some worthless things in a cupboard. A tear dropped from his eye; cupboard reminded him of his grandfather who too had collected similar worthless things in his cupboard.
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A post for FridayFictioneers on a picture prompt

Word count 102

17 comments:

  1. Broken promises are always hard to swallow.
    But, the tearful memory was bittersweet. Nicely done ...
    Isadora 😎

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  2. Maybe this was a lesson well told... maybe he will see the humans in the enemy... maybe the war-lords should get some blame other than the scarce loot.

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    Replies
    1. war-lords would always dupe or how else they would get fodder for their canons. thanks for stopping by

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  3. Very nice take on the prompt :) it is painful to be duped.

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  4. UNfortunately some warlords will hire young people to do that work, only to find they have reminders of what they were fighting for before they became the puppets of the dictators. Good story with a sobering end.

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  5. May he keep his humanity through all this

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  6. Replies
    1. well depends on many imponderables. thanks for visiting

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  7. A young mercenary with a heart. Very well written.

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  8. If only all soldiers remembered that their enemies are humans just like them. A very hopeful story, great take on the prompt.

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  9. War has never proved profitable to anyone, even to this young man...sad reality indeed...

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