Poem: "Scourge"

This poem came out of the April 16, 2013 Poetry Fishbowl.  It was inspired by a prompt from technogeekslass.  It also fills the #4 Scourge slot in the Rainbowfic Sunlight list.  It has been posted here as the free epic for the June 4, 2013 Poetry Fishbowl reaching the $200 goal.  This poem belongs to the series Path of the Paladins.

"Just keep walking,"
Shahana said evenly,
without looking at Ari.

"But he's --"
Ari protested.

"Yes.  I know,"
Shahana said.
"Just keep walking."

They kept walking,
into and through and
out of the marketplace.

Shahana's attention
remained with the man
they'd seen leaning
against the tavern wall,
his tousled brown hair
and cloudy hazel eyes
unremarkable, but his spirit
a jagged patchwork
of dark and light.

"Shahana.
You have to tell me,"
Ari said.

"That was Scourge,"
Shahana explained.

"He was a paladin?
Like Johan?"
Ari said tentatively.

"He is  a paladin,"
Shahana said,
"but not like Johan."
She sighed, then,
a little puff of air
soon lost in
a larger wind.

"Like what, then?"
Ari asked her.

"There are rules, Ari,
that paladins follow,
each according to
our own patron,"
Shahana said.
"When the bright temple
fell, there was one who ...
decided to leave behind
the rules of Gailah
and go hunting
in the way of Gorrein."

"You mean Scourge,"
Ari whispered.

"That was not his name
at the time, but yes,"
said Shahana.
"He left the service
but not, oddly,
his claim to Her vocation.
He took up the mantle
of vengeance, became
a scourge to his enemies,
and now he is feared
even among the raiders."

"Strange work,"
Ari said,
"for a paladin."

"Yes, but he has
always been strange,"
Shahana said.
"He held a certain regard
for Gorrein, and it was ...
tolerated, for the sake
of our Lady who loves
Her brother, fool though
he may be.  In a way,
I think that Scourge
serves them both."

"It's always hard,"
Ari said softly,
"to get caught
in the middle
when two people
you care about
get into a fight."