Refraction | Part 2 | Multiverse
4) How the King Lost His Everything
The guerillas harried the royal party all the way to the ponja. The fighting was fierce, but the King and his men were up to the fight. The huge armored carriages lumbered slowly along, small arms fire pinging off their steel sides, their guns blazing with intense fire into the surrounding hills. Enormous trees that had stood for generations were felled as streams of iron spouted from the mighty cannons. Occasionally raiding parties would appear from nowhere and the infighting would begin. Steel clashed, as royal arms met the cruel curved blades of the invaders. Small arms popped and pinged off armor, as daggers poked and probed to find the chinks and connections. Two of the kings men were possessed by the Berserker when gouts of blood covered them, their controlled killing became frenzied murder. One of the men chased a group of three guerillas into the hills and did not return. The other had to be slain when he turned on the very men he fought beside. Blood flowed in a glorious and terrible river, the King himself felt the Berserker’s kiss on the back of his neck, but it was not nearly for the first time, and he had techniques to control it.
The night was a seemingly interminable nightmare. One by one the King’s Royal Guard were picked off until a platoon of thirty had been reduced to twelve. From Twelve tanks there remained but five, dangerously overcrowded targets, filled with the Royal Medical Staff and surviving members of the court. The King thought the worst would be over when the caravan reached the bridge, but he was sadly and sorely mistaken. The King was about to experience a triumvirate of tragedies the likes of which he could not have conceived of twelve hours ago.
The first tragedy came as a whisper.
When the King saw that they nearing Army controlled territory, he turned to his Captain at Arms, briefed him of His Majesty’s wishes, and mounted his vehicle. He Stripped off his armor in a cramped anteroom, and wash the blood of the dead from his hands and face. Though he was eager to see his bride and to meet his child, he was a King, and he took his time making himself presentable. When at last he emerged from the fore chamber, it was not to a smiling and congratulatory scene. Mosiva, the Kings long trusted Advisor and Worker of Magickal Deeds quickly filled his view.
“My lord,”, said Mosiva, the anxiety clearly showing on his face, “The Doctor was magnificent, as was Gimlet, Sire, but the Lady Alexandretta…”
“Out with it, Man!”, Demanded KRHM Charles.
“Your Highness, you have a son, but, My Lord, the Queen is dead.”, whispered Mosiva, his own emotion at the loss of his friend now showing.
The King storde across the chamber, shoving aside dukes and earls, and ladies in pearls. He found Gimlet with the child in her arms, the Doctor sitting quietly, looking at the shroud that covered the Royal Corpse. The King looked at the child and said softly, to no one in particular, “Alex, it’s a boy, he is Charles Xavier V and heir to my throne.”
From his finger he removed a plain golden band with an inscription on the inside.
“Know you here,” announced the King to those present, “This ring is my seal as it was my father’s before me, and also my Grand pa’s.”
He paused, and cleared his throat.
“And I bequeath it to my son should I fall in the battle at hand. It carries the rule of my Kingdom.” With that he placed the ring on his son’s tiny arm, it slid over the tiny hand and onto his wrist, like a golden hospital bracelet.
The Second tragedy came as a roar.
The Royal Caravan rumbled around a final corner, and onto the Bridge of Giants. Into the roar of an inferno. The Royal City burned. Streams of citizens poured across the bridge into the path of the Caravan. The Army was taking as many as possible into the protection of their camp, but many were running into the hills in the grip of panic. Still the fighting continued, the scene was an unbelievable melee of fear, anger, desperation, hate, and greed. The decision was made to push on into the city and regain the seat of power. News came that the Army still held the Inner Sanctum, the Citadel was safe. Of the citizenry which had arrived safely the able bodied had been armed and set to the watch. Skirmishes were still taking place all over the city, but in fact the worst of the fires had burned themselves out, as most of the city was built of ancient stone. The arrival of the Caravan at the citadel marked the beginning of a siege which would eventually topple the kingdom and push the King from his throne.
The second tragedy was a direct result of the third. The siege, although it marked the beginning of the second tragedy, may have been survivable, but the third tragedy occurred and sealed the deal.
And the third tragedy, the one that almost destroyed the King’s soul, made no sound at all.
The siege had broken the wall, and the Inner Sanctum became a scene of riotous battle. Gimlet in her fear of shrapnel hid the child in a chest, and Mosiva in his haste misspoke his spell of protections. And when the time came to flee, and they opened the chest to retrieve the The Prince of Realm His Royal Highness Charles Xavier V and carry him to safety, they found that he had disappeared. And with him disappeared the ring, the Seal, and the Kingdom.
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