The Unfinished Book
The king held the notion that every final banner lay within his iron ledger. His object was perfect order: every rider beneath a banner, every company equal.
The marshal raised a host that, beneath any banner in the book, could be set in equal companies with no rider astray. At dusk, a free spirit rode through the gate.
Whichever banner the marshal raised, the ranks refused to close: the latecomer waited beyond the line.
Still, every host must answer to some final banner. Part it, if it will, into equal companies, and those again, until a company yields no further save into solitary riders. That banner was not in the king’s ledger.
The marshal had brought the king a greater boon than any finished book: a way to find the banner beyond every final page.
The king reopened his book.