An Audience with the King

I walked down the hallway with a content smile on my face.

But as my eyes landed on the portraits of the King, plastering these beautiful walls, my smile instantly faded.

His eyes seemed to follow me, sending shivers down my spine but I've grown used to it. Now, all I feel is disgust.

I could never respect a coward like him. To think that the fate of this Kingdom is in the hands of such a person is infuriating enough. But it is true that this Kingdom needs him.

Without a King to rule, the wise turn into fools. Their benefit now standing above any sense of morality.

The common folk would tear each other apart. But there is also another reason why there hasn't been any resistance against this cowardly yet greedy King.

It is because of the Queen. As long as she stands behind him, he will never step out of line.

In Politics, the King is practically nothing more than a puppet and the Queen is the puppeteer.

He only knows how to eat, fill his stomache and couldn't be more disinterested about the well-being of his subjects.

He is an ignorant fool who would reject giving a helping hand to a dying family, if it meant he would've to skip dinner.

I don't need him and his ignorance. I only need to convince the Queen. If she understands how dire the situation is, the King will follow and hopefully cooperate.

I can do it.

If I can get enough men, it will be possible to subdue that thing.

With my confidence gathered, I entered through the door to the throneroom. They were magically reinforced, so the Guards with the scripture had to open them for me.

It was a giant wooden door, adorned with riches and gems. It looked etheral. And that sign, a purple Wolfsbane with a three headed hound drooling over it.

It seemed so out of place that it was weird, but at the same time, I could spot other flowers and animals on the door so I must be interpreting to much into it.

I walked into the room and was immediatly greeted by the royal guards. A shudder ran down my back as the King's gaze focused on me.

The Queen was merely observing, probably trying to figure out the reason for my presence.

I took of my twin blades, Vaelira and Vaelor now to my right. I knelt on one knee and bowed my head to the point where I could only see the ground.

Now first things first, I had to do an overly grand and flattering speech. They were nothing more than courtesy, hollow words for a hollow man.

But I was oblieged to do that, he was my ruler after all.

I quietly clear my throat and am able to force reverence and respect into my tone.

"I humbly greet your Majesty, King of Vaeloria and pinnacle of all humans."

I felt like gagging, but that's always the case when talking with him. I looked up a little bit and could see the face of that clown forming a smile. He seemed to be pleased by my words.

And the Queen?

She was silent, still observing and calculating. She had no use for grand words and spectacular entrances. She almost seemed bored. So I had to come to the point faster, she is the person I have to interest after all, not that clown of a King.

It had to be suprising, to catch them of guard so that the Queen would really and throughly listen.

"I came to report about something that could very well mean the end of Bordertown and maybe even the end of this Kingdom"

And like I expected, I suddenly had the attention I needed. The Queen fully looked at me for the first time today, with a skeptic frown on her face. The King was as cowardly as always and started to sweat a little. Even the Guards took a step forward, thinking that I'm lying to the King.

But the Queen stopped them and took a step towards me, her calculating gaze sending a cold sensation across my body.

"Explain yourself Baroness. What is that 'threat' you are talking about."

Yeah!

She is taking this serious enough. Now I have to be fast to reap what I saw.

"As we all know, Bordertown is like a wall, a buffer to keep the beasts and monsters away from the major cities. So usually I go out to fight those monsters, to fend them off. The majority of the money our village makes is due to selling the leather and flesh of those beasts"

I took a deep breath in, praying they take this serious as it is.

"And like animals, beasts follow their instinct. If a stronger beast arrives, the territory is now in its ownership and the other beasts leave."

"And? Why are you listing common knowledge? If you scared me for no reason, I swe-"

The King got cut off by the Queen who with her hands urged me to keep talking.

"Thank you. What I wanted to say is, in a radius of 10 or more kilometres around bordertown, there wasn't a single beast to be found. No corpses but also no beasts."

The Queen, now having understood how urgent this matter is gasped. The King was sadly not fast enough to follow and frowned but the Queen didn't even glance at him. She locked eyes with me, and a cold chill ran down my spine.

"So, now that I know the situation you're in, what is the request you have?"

I had a bad feeling about this, but I still had to get men for the attack.

"I would humbly ask for 1000 men under my command. In this situation, that would be the safest way to be sure. Since we don't know if it's main strenghts are physical fights or magic, I would suggest a balan-"

My words got cut short by the Queen.

"No. I won't let my soldiers fight against an enemy unknown. We don't know his attributes, and how strong he really is. Also we need to know his position to even attack coordinated."

She took a pause so that I could comprehend what she was saying. It made sense, but who would check that out, no scout in this world would take this mission.

But that smile of hers was devoid of any empathy. As if she found an oppertunity in this dillema and that look made my blood freeze.

"I have decided. You will be the one to go and gather information about that monster."

Because of the absurdity of this situation, my brain could only manage to formulate a single response.

"What the fuck?"