By Richard Sexsmith
Upon a rickety wooden bridge the ronin waits. He turns his eyes skyward, eyeing the rain clouds on the horizon.
The old samurai in his cart halts and gets down, eyeing up the foe blocking his passage, thinking of their twin fates.
The
ronin steps forward. "I know your kind. You still follow bushido. Those
times are long gone, my friend. The empire is no more."
The old samurai shrugs and loosens his katana in its sheath. "Empire or not, I have not forgotten the old ways."
The
ronin smiles bitterly. "Good for you, but only one of us will walk away
today." He drew forth his katana, which judging by the rust on the
blade had seen better days and was in dire need of oil, but looked to
still be razor sharp.
The two men drew closer, but the old samurai still had not drawn his blade. He was walking slowly closer, at a snail's pace.
The ronin's eyes narrow, he saw that the old samurai was only pretending to be feeble. He was likely much faster than-
The old samurai took several rapid steps, drew his katana and stepped past the ronin.
It was over.
The
ronin fell forward, a faint smile on his lips. He, who had abandoned
the ways of bushido, had still died by the ways of bushido.
"Maybe there is hope yet for the old ways," muttered the samurai, kneeling by his old comrade.
The End.
Author's Note
I
wrote this as an example to show people how to balance story elements
like description, dialogue, action and exposition. If your story doesn't
have balance, it is going to be crap. Too much exposition, action,
dialogue or description will quickly ruin a story.
