a few dollars more

How long had it been? Months? Years? More than that, he had to reckon. He had left everything behind, his children, everything and everyone. Jesus, how far gone was he? The question boiled and stuck in his brain like a hot iron poker. He could not avoid it and could not shirk the regret that had clutched hard at his throat whenever he gave the question little more than a brief thought. He had left the lands behind him where they belonged ? in the past. The future lay sprawling out before him with yawning jaws. Not so much blood lay spilled on those crisp horizons, or at least not blood that meant his own heartache. He had made his escape when all else seemed to be closing in, decided that leadership was not his calling and left the lands to find that life which he had given up.
From forest to forest he had wandered, a loner once again to those around him. A mercenary simply looking to sell himself. The mercenary was one in a million others ? he stuck out, but not enough to warrant those around him remembering his identity. And so he had drifted from one new land to the next. Food caught by others rested easily in his stomach. Each meal paid for with scars and blood. The man believed himself a problem-solver, who solved each problem with violence. His size and battle experience was what he peddled, for it was what he was best at. He had killed and maimed and wounded to make the world a better place. At least, that?s what he told himself.
And so, Icarus Vonecci had arrived in yet another land to search for problems to solve. It was only briefly that the silver leviathan pondered if it would be these lands that would sign his death certificate. Would this be the place that would claim his last, wretched breath? Brilliant orange eyes searched the dark gloom of the forest, searching for a singular face to appear from the darkness. Without the ones that he was familiar with? He could have scoffed at such an idea ? he had trained his entire life to die alone. Trained his entire life to fight with honor and duty. And to die with it as well. No one would hold him as he fell, and he would not expect anyone to do such a thing. Colossal paws propelled the man forward, not allowing him to stop and think of his fatalistic ways. There was business that needed tending.