Dream of Empty Crowns

by M. J. Sewall

  “Your kingdom seems fond of putting paper in boxes,” said Gordon.

  The king laughed, nearly spilling his wine. “Many great songs have been written about my kingdom. Many epic poems to describe the great deeds of Thure. And you have put them all to shame by one line that sums up my kingdom. To the kingdom of paper!” the king raised his toast and Gordon took his own glass. They both drank along with the rest of the table.

  Denogg leaned over and said to Gordon, “You're doing very well, my boy. Once my king likes somebody, they are a friend for life.”

  The king was still laughing and telling stories. When he tipped his cup over, there was a servant to instantly refill it for him. In fact, it was hard not to notice how many people were walking by, serving them. The line of people seemed endless. Gordon though, how much food are we supposed to eat?

  There was food everywhere: Piles of food, and more drink than they could ever finish, much more than in his own king's meal. A servant came by and filled Gordon's cup. He tried to stop him, since he was no longer thirsty, but the servant had already filled it and walked away.

  The queen seemed to notice Loren and Aline for the first time. “And who are these fine people, good King Gordon? You are very pretty, young lady. What's your name?”

  Aline responded with a bow of her head. “Thank you, my queen. I'm Aline. I think it is Denogg's choice of clothes more than anything.”

  “Oh, and modest as well. You are a very lucky king to find such a treasure. How did you meet?”

  Gordon nearly dropped his drink, “Oh no! I mean… Aline's not… we're not…”

  The queen smiled. “Oh, you don't think she's pretty?”

  “No! I mean yes, she's… beautiful, but we don't…” managed Gordon.

  “Don't what my king?” Aline asked with a smile.

  The people around them all laughed, especially the king. “My king Gordon, you are a deep shade of red. We'll stop asking questions… for now. But you could not do better. A toast to the beautiful Aline!”

  Aline nodded courteously, but Gordon couldn't look her in the eyes. As Gordon raised his own glass, the king said, “Wait a moment, good king Gordon. Why is your drink a different color than mine?” He took Gordon's cup and took his own and held them up, side by side for comparison.

  “Mine is not wine, my king, it's berry juice,” Gordon explained.

  “Berry juice?” The king broke out in laughter again, and this time he spoke to the entire room, “Everyone listen. Our great kingdoms have been friendly for over one hundred years, but always from an uneasy distance. We were born of the same waters, the same dirt. We don't always agree. We have been building great waterships for thousands of years in Thure. Of course, until your airships came along, what we built were just called ships…” Everyone laughed.

  The king continued, “…We rule our people, and we don't choose kings from among them. But I declare, here today, as long as Gordon is king that our great kingdoms will always be as one. And I also declare that a king visiting my lands can drink whatever he damn well pleases!” he finished, as he put his own cup of wine down in front of Gordon. Gordon looked around to Loren and Denogg for what he should do. Denogg winked at him, and Gordon took the cup of wine and stood himself.

  “My fellow king… to… friendship!” Gordon said as he took a drink of the wine and winced at the taste. He swallowed it anyway. The king and queen both laughed at the face Gordon made, as did the rest of the table. The king took Gordon's cup and downed it in one gulp. “Berry juice,” the king made a similar face to Gordon's, “Awful! How can you drink this?” The crowd erupted with laughter again.

  “Bring me more wine to wash that terrible taste out of my mouth,” said the king.

  Everyone was laughing as a servant brought more wine for the king. The king smiled broadly and began another toast with his new glass of wine when he started to cough. He laughed at himself for not being able to get out the next toast. He coughed again and stopped smiling. The sound he made after was more like a low growl, when he began to grab at his throat. People stopped laughing as they slowly realized the king was not joking.

  Gordon stood up from his chair, not knowing what to do. Everyone was quickly on their feet, with people trying to rush to the king, but the guards were keeping them back. Another guard protected the queen as the king kept clawing at his throat, a thick black liquid now dribbling out of his mouth. His neck was bloody where he'd scratched the skin. His eyes were wild, looking around, blinking, as though he couldn't see. The king flailed as the guards surrounded him.

  Loren shouted, “Let me through, I'm a healer!” as he was restrained by the guards. The queen was screaming at the guard to let him through. The king looked at the queen with wild eyes, then just stopped moving. The queen held her husband. She made a sound of grief that Gordon hoped he never heard again.

  She let the king's head rock gently back on the chair, shutting his dead eyes. She slowly rose from her husband with tears streaming down her face. She looked at Gordon with naked hatred, “You poisoned him. Guards, kill the boy.”

  The guards grabbed for Gordon, Aline had no weapons, but pushed the guards back anyway. She picked up a knife from the table to use on a guard when Gordon shouted, “Stop! I didn't poison him. I swear I didn't!”

  The guards had drawn their shortknives and were threatening Gordon. Loren said, “My queen, Gordon didn't poison him. He has no reason. It must have been one of the servants.”

  The queen was cradling her husband again. “Lies!”

  Denogg continued the appeal. “My queen. I carefully choose my servants, but Loren must be right. It had to be one of the serving staff. I promise you we will find who did this, but it was not Gordon.”

  Aline had Gordon to her back, the guards surrounded them with knives drawn.

  The queen wiped the tears from her face. “You swear that on your life…?”

  “Of course, my queen. I swear that on my life,” said Denny.

  The queen leaned closer. She stared into Denny's eyes and said, “Do you swear that on your life and your fortune?”

  Denogg hesitated for only a moment, then calmly said, “Yes, I swear that on my life and my fortune. Gordon did not do this.”

  She halted the guards. “If what you say is true, then I will allow you to find whoever you think did this. Take any men you need. But the boy stays at the palace, ready for trial, in case you cannot produce anyone else. Your fortune will be his guarantee,” said the queen.

  “According to the king's law, my queen?” asked Loren.

  “Yes, by the kings law!” said the queen, annoyed.

  “My queen, that allows for a volunteer replacement under the law. I volunteer to stand trial in his stead,” stated Loren firmly.

  “What? No, Loren. You can't!” said Gordon.

  “Oh no. The boy comes with me,” said the queen. The guards still circled Gordon and Aline.

  “But, my queen, by the kings law a substitute is allowed. There are no exceptions,” said Denny.

  The queen's eyes flared and she took a step towards him. Then she slowly looked around at all of the people. They were all standing, staring. The room was very quiet, “Fine. This man comes with us, but you and the boy are confined to this house.”

  “What if the murderer has already fled? How are we to find whoever did this if we can't leave the house?” asked Denny.

  “Don't test me further, Denny. My husband is dead. The…” the queen paused, tears threatening her ability to speak, “…the king is dead and someone will pay for it, or it will cost you more than your fortune.” She looked at Gordon again. “Someone dies for this.”

  Loren stepped forward to be taken. The guards abandoned Aline and Gordon to do their duty. Gordon said, “Uncle Loren, you can't do this. It's not fair. I didn't do anything wrong; you didn't do anything wrong.”

  “Don't worry, Gordon, you didn't do this. Denogg will find out who did and why. I have to go now,” said Loren, “no arguments.�
��

  Guards came up and took Loren roughly. His hands were quickly shackled. Other guards were already putting the king's body on a rug. They draped his cloak over him. The queen started crying again softly, but turned to look one more time at Gordon. She didn't say anything. She just stared, her eyes blazing. The queen gave quiet instructions to her firstman and then they all walked out with the queen, with the king's body and most of the guests. The queen's firstman and some soldiers were the only ones left behind.

  Gordon just stared as they took Loren away; another horrible situation he couldn't control. As they led Loren out to be a prisoner for him, Aline and Denogg stood with him, trying to figure out what to do next.

  Chapter 21: Bad Day for All

  Brenddel hadn't been this angry in a very long time. The smaller airship had found him in Dralinn to bring him back to the palace. They made sure to stay over land, far away from the coastline as they headed back. Brenddel was now certain the flying creatures were attracted to the rotators that propelled the airships. There had only been a few actual attacks before, nothing like this. They were getting bolder. For a few years there had been sighting of fins, and a few breaches of the water as they attempted to attack the airships. They had never attacked this close to land, and never two at once. The Jhalgon shadow fins were supposed to be just a legend. The legends just killed seven of my men, thought Brenddel.

  Once back at the palace, Brenddel didn't bother to go see the firstcouncilor. He was too busy making preparations to increase the arms on the other airships. Larger arrow guns meant they could shoot those winged creatures out of the sky, but it also meant more weight. The sun gas that filled their air ships could only lift so much, Brenddel would have to figure out what would have to be removed to balance the new weight of the larger arrow guns.

  Brenddel was not used to failing, but he tried not to dwell on the past as he prepared for the mission at hand. He would make sure that the ship would be ready for any threat.

  * * *

  The firstcouncilor was at the end of a very long day. The first few days of a new king's first trial were always taxing, but this day was especially grueling. He had heard from the head of every department. Brenddel's secondman in charge was worried that the new king was too frail for combat training. And very distracted, he commented. They had only used wooden longknives, but the boy had barely been able to take even the lightest blow.

  The secondcouncilor's assistant was gravely concerned that the king could not learn even the basic concepts of the kingdom or how it worked. He told Trunculin that he was so frustrated three hours into the teaching, that he nearly asked the new king if he had ever read a book.

  As the firstcouncilor made his way to see Brenddel, he was approached by his assistant Rolem. He handed Trunculin a message and told him that he might want to go see the king. When he arrived at the king's chamber, he could see the face of the guards looked a little strange, as though they didn't know what to do with this new king.

  As he came around the corner of the king's chamber, he could hear King Asa softly crying. Asa was sitting in the chair with his head on the desk, barefoot again. Trunculin could not understand the new king's strange aversion to footwear.

  Trunculin was annoyed. The last thing he needed today was a snot-nosed, crying boy king to deal with. He still had to go and make sure Brenddel was informed of the news he had just received. Instead, he had to deal with a weepy king. Just perfect, he thought, but Trunculin put on his famous smile and went to the king, putting his arm around the boy's shoulder. The king was startled; not realizing anyone else was in the room. “You scared me. Why doesn't anyone here knock?” asked Asa.

  “I am sorry, my king. I simply wanted to say congratulations on getting through your first day. There is no day harder than the first day of the king's first year. That's why we call it a trial,” Trunculin tried to sooth.

  Asa said, “But I couldn't do anything right. I dropped the wooden shortknife a dozen times in training. The man training me kept making me do the same moves until my shoulder was bruised. I don't understand anything that the councilor was trying to teach me about the law. It just sounded like… like a different language.”

  “I know, my king, the first day, weeks, even months are very overwhelming. That is why you have me, why you have all of these people working for you to make sure that everything goes smoothly. And I'll tell you a little secret, we do most of the work. We make sure the king is trained in all of these matters just as a precaution. You really don't need to do very much,” said Trunculin.

  Asa looked more frustrated than ever. “Then why have a king?”

  “My king, the people are very simple. They want us to take care of them, make sure they have everything they need; that they don't go hungry, that they have a healer if they need one. Most of all, they need the security of knowing that there is a king to lead them, one of their own leading them. You are the symbol of our kingdom,” said Trunculin.

  “I just want to go home,” Asa said as he broke down in tears again.

  Trunculin tried to hide his contempt for the boy by breaking into his famous smile again. He patted him on the shoulder. “Tomorrow will be a little easier,” he said as he exited the chamber, quickly going to Brenddel.

  Brenddel was busy giving orders and gathering equipment for the airship. He didn't seem to notice Trunculin approach. Brenddel popped a piece of chocolate in his mouth.

  The firstcouncilor asked, “Why haven't you been to see me? Since you got back there is much to discuss. We found out the boy is in…”

  “In Thure, yes, I know. I've been busy getting the airships armed against those creatures. We can't make our rotators any quieter, so we have to bring more weapons. But that means more weight, so we have to take less men and equipment. It takes time to do all that, so I didn't have time for a chat,” Brenddel said, continuing to work.

  Trunculin took a step towards Brenddel. “Don't forget who you truly work for, firstman. There is much you don't know. I've just received word that the king is dead.”

  “Gordon's dead?” asked Brenddel.

  “No, Russel, the king of Thure. He was poisoned sitting right next to Gordon. They think Gordon did it,” said Trunculin. “They nearly arrested him, but Loren volunteered to stand trial instead. So they're keeping Loren at the king's palace, while Gordon is being kept under house guard with some tradesman.”

  Brenddel stopped his work for a moment. “This does change things; I'm sure they won't just hand over Loren. Will they give us the boy?”

  “I don't know,” said Trunculin. “I'm getting information from a few sources, but it's all coming very fast. I don't want to contact Thure in any way until I know what our move is going to be. But I do have an idea that may work.”

  “Why did you have the king of Thure poisoned? Or was Gordon your target? I didn't know we had those kinds of agents in Thure,” asked Brenddel, going back to work.

  “What are you talking about? I didn't do it. It wasn't on my orders,” said Trunculin impatiently.

  “Why would anyone want to kill a king of Thure? They don't have as much coin as they once did, they mostly just have their reputation. The same families will always rule. What possible point could there be?” asked Brenddel aloud.

  “Those are all excellent questions. I have answers to none of them. Our relationship with Thure is stable, but not very… friendly. But, one thing is sure, they will have a large funeral for their king. And I think it would be a proper gesture to have our new king be there in his honor. And once we are there, we can negotiate for the release of Gordon and Loren.”

  Brenddel said, “The custom in Thure is to have the funeral within three days. We would make it, if we left soon. Is king Asa ready for this?”

  Trunculin softly chuckled, “No. He's barely able to put on his own pants. But he will have to step up to the occasion. We cannot let this crisis and opportunity in Thure pass us by. Also, you seem to have a connection with the boy. A few days on
the airship, you may be able to.… I don't know, find his brains?”

  Brenddel didn't much like Trunculin's instant contempt for the boy. He is small and harmless, he thought. Brenddel wondered why he felt differently about this king. He pushed the thought aside. “I'll do the best I can. We will leave in two hours,” Brenddel turned back around to his duties without saying another word to the firstcouncilor.

  The firstcouncilor hated insolence and was about to say something when he noticed a large new addition to Brenddel's wall, just next to Mantuan's axe, “What is that?”

  Brenddel said of his prize, “It's a Jhalgon shadow fin.”

  Trunculin said, “You… you cut that off yourself?”

  Brenddel did not look at the firstcouncilor, “Yes.”

  Trunculin thought better of making Brenddel angry. He rubbed his head as he made his way to tell the king that they were leaving. He stopped by the Mystic's room first, for some special help before he talked to the idiotic boy king again.

  Chapter 22: Escape

  Denogg went over the list of servants again as the midday sun warmed the house. The servants told him how beautiful the red sunrise had been, but it did not lighten his mood. Several servants had fled, probably fearing they would be blamed for poisoning the king. That made it harder to find the real murderers. He hired his servants carefully, always checked out by his most trusted assistants. Something had gone very wrong.

  “We have to get Loren out of there,” said Gordon.

  “That is utmost on my mind, my dear boy, but to do that we must find out who poisoned King Russel. Kings and queens have been poisoned for many hundreds of years… just not lately. Until last night, this was the safest house in Thure. Also, I liked this king. His family has been ruling for hundreds of years, but he was one of the better ones. Russel had a good sense of humor, at least. And he died in my house. Unacceptable.” Denogg looked over the list again.