The Kindness of Kings

by Chelsea Ballinger

  Sedgwick’s blade was only inches away from Louie’s neck, but it failed to meet as Louie’s hand, the hand with his mother’s scarf tied over it, blocked it from its goal. Loud gasps and screams filled the room, as Louie grabbed hold of the blade. Blood stained the scarf, but Louie held on. Sedgwick struggled to pull the sword from his brother’s grip. Louie, still holding on, stood up. The Bishop and Caius both stood up in shock as Louie’s shadow rose above them all. Caius, terrified, watched as his son stood straight, his eyes not dark, but calm, his expression not arrogant, but confident, his aura not hidden, but free. He stared at Sedgwick and released the blade. Sedgwick stumbled back in shock and saw the difference in his brother. Sedgwick looked back at his father, searching for answers on what to do next.

  “Damn it, Sedgwick! Kill him!” Caius yelled, stomping his foot.

  Sedgwick charged and Louie slid gracefully to the side. Sedgwick tripped and fell on his stomach. He quickly stood back up and charged Louie again. This time Louie let him reach, but blocked every strike with his blade, not fearful of getting weakened again. He blocked all the pain from his wounds and focused on anticipating Sedgwick’s every move. He saw plenty of opportunities to hurt Sedgwick severely, but he was not going to do that, so he waited until he finally saw an opening and sent his sword through Sedgwick’s thigh. Sedgwick screamed, staring down at the blade inside of him. Louie pulled the sword out and the pain was worse for Sedgwick as the blood poured out. He fell back and banged his fists on the floor, breathing in and out, trying to block the pain. When he finally pulled it together, he realized his sword was far from him. He must have dropped it when Louie stabbed him. He looked up at his brother, who was standing over him, his sword tightly gripped beside him. Everyone watched as Louie raised his sword over his brother. Sedgwick closed his eyes, but quickly opened them when he heard the sword drop beside him. He saw his brother, holding out his hand to him. Sedgwick, hesitant at first, grabbed his brother’s hand and with his help, stood up. Louie stepped back, holding the wound on his side, sighed and shook his head.

  “I will not let us become like him,” Louie said to him. “I’m sorry, Sedgwick. I’m sorry… that I didn’t fight harder to tell you the truth about everything. I’m sorry that I did not fight harder to keep our promise. Brothers to the end. I will not let him bring us down to the bottom of hell with him.”

  Tears formed in Sedgwick’s eyes.

  “So what will it be Brother? Enough is enough.”

  Sedgwick looked around him at the balcony, his eyes trailing until they stopped at his father who was the mirror image of the future he had been scared of his whole life. He faced his brother and remembered one of the many last words of wisdom his mother had told him.

  “Remember, Sedgwick,” she’d said to him when he was fourteen. “You are better than the one-sided ethics of a King. You, my Son, are better than what you fear will overcome you.”

  His mother always had an idea of their strengths and weaknesses and it made sense to him now.

  “Enough,” Sedgwick agreed.

  Everyone was shocked and relieved at the Princes’ truce, and Christina and Jezebel hugged Mina, who released the balcony railing, proud of Louie and Sedgwick. The Sedgwick she once loved and knew was still there. The Bishop smiled broadly, nodding his head at the amazing outcome of the dark day and Bartleby high-fived Wesley.

  “What are you talking about, enough?!” Caius broke the happiness with his cruelty.

  “I said enough,” Sedgwick said calmly.

  “It’s not enough!”

  “Dad!” Sedgwick yelled back. “I said enough! He’s right… I won’t let you bring me so far down that I can’t come back.”

  Caius stared at his son, hurt at him and even angrier at Louie.

  “You, you’re free to go, no exile, no nothing, just free to stay or leave,” Sedgwick told his brother, looking in the balcony section at Mina. “Both of you.”

  His eyes were filled with sorrow and Mina knew how sorry he was. She faintly smiled at him and nodded, silently forgiving him.

  “No! You of all people, you can’t win! You can’t beat me! You hear me?!” Caius yelled at Louie.

  “Arrogance isn’t becoming of you… Father,” Louie smirked, turning his back on him.

  Caius’ anger fueled him, finally setting him on fire. He couldn’t let Louie win this. He couldn’t let Louie take Sedgwick away from him.

  “Louie!” Caius yelled for him as he started limping away.

  No matter how many times he yelled, Louie still walked away, through with all of it. Mina ran towards the stairs and smiled at Louie. He smiled back at her. Infuriated, Caius glanced at the gun in the holster of the royal guard next to him. Without thinking, snatched the gun out of the guard’s holster and pointed it at Louie.

  “Louie!” Mina screamed, seeing the gun.

  Louie saw the horror in her eyes and turned back toward his father.

  Caius pulled the trigger. The bullet nearly missed Louie and Caius quickly centered it. Screams surrounded them and Louie’s eyes widened at his father, pulling the trigger.

  “Louie!!” Mina yelled again, running towards him, intending to save him, but she was too late.

  Sedgwick had already stepped in front of his brother, facing him and letting the bullet enter his back. Louie watched as his brother’s eyes stilled. His mouth dropped as he saw the pain in Sedgwick’s face. Sedgwick dropped to his knees and Louie followed, grabbing his brother by the shoulders and pulling him close. He looked over Sedgwick’s shoulder and saw the blood on his back. Sedgwick sighed and laid his head on his brother’s shoulder.

  The guards tackled Caius to the ground as he screamed in agony over shooting Sedgwick.

  Mina reached them as Louie sat down with his brother in his arms.

  Sedgwick was calm as the pain caused him to drift off; he was numb.

  “Get help!!!” Louie cried out. Mina kneeled in front of Louie and looked at Sedgwick, crying over him and brushing his hair from his forehead. Sedgwick smiled at her and Louie, and he saw it. The reflection from the sun through the window on Louie’s head. The golden shadow that displayed over his head the same way it did when Mina saw it.

  “Hold on, Sedgwick, hold on,” Louie pleaded with his brother.

  Sedgwick, still staring at his brother’s glow, began to speak.

  “It’s o... it’s okay. It will be okay. I hear Mother’s voice.”

  “What?” Louie’s eyes widened.

  “Sedgwick,” Mina called to him, holding his hand. “Please hold on.”

  “I’m sorry,” Sedgwick begged her.

  Mina nodded and smiled as tears fell. ‘‘I’m sorry too.”

  He looked back at his brother.

  ‘‘Forgive me,” Louie said.

  Sedgwick grinned. “No, Brother. Forgive me.”

  Louie whimpered at his brother’s words, and then the unthinkable happened, as Sedgwick grabbed Mina’s hand and placed it on Louie’s.

  Louie and Mina looked at each other in shock. Sedgwick had given them his blessing to move on… together.

  Sedgwick, his hand still over theirs, smiled faintly and closed his eyes. His heart beat slower and slower until there was nothing left, for he had drifted off to reunite with their mother.

  Louie gaped at the lifeless Sedgwick in his arms and Mina sat back, crying and allowing him to pull Sedgwick close to him. As people watched the heartbreaking image, Louie struggled not to break, but he finally let it shatter.

  “AHHHHHHHHHHH!” His cry echoed through the throne room and the whisper of death surrounded Serenity. It had officially become the darkest day in the Kingdom.

  Chapter 29

  Brother’s Keeper

  Anchorwoman: “It has been twelve days since the battle between Prince Sedgwick and Prince Louie. The duel was surprisingly stopped by both brothers, who decided to call a truce. Unfortunately, the event still ended in bloodshed when former King Caius Perry took a royal guard’s gun intendi
ng to kill Prince Louie. But Prince Sedgwick heroically intervened, resulting in his death. With Caius now on trial and the Republic saying they are seeking the death penalty, our beloved Crown Prince is deceased and Prince Louie is in line to inherit the throne. The question is, will Prince Louie take on the role as the leader of this great nation? Or will he let the Republic take over? Still no answer from the reps of the Prince or the Republic, but either way Prince Louie has until tomorrow to decide.”

  Christina turned off the television in Mina’s room and faced her friend who was sitting in her bed, leaning against her headboard.

  “So you haven’t spoken to him?” Christina asked her.

  “No… I figured now wasn’t the appropriate time to talk about what’s going on, you know? He needs time and space. I needed it too. Sedgwick is gone and everything is just confusing.”

  “You mean your feelings for Louie?”

  Mina smiled to herself. “No, my feelings for Louie are still loud and clear. I love him… but everything has changed now.”

  “What do you think he’s going to decide?”

  “Now, I don’t know,” Mina shrugged. “Louie is unpredictable.”

  “Well, what are you going to do if he chooses to takeover?”

  “I don’t know… I honestly don’t know… I just know that he has waited for me all his life… so now I’m waiting for him.”

  +

  The funeral consisted of four hundred guests in the Bishop’s church and thousands of Serenians outside of it. That’s all Louie could think about when he sat in the first seat in front of his brother’s coffin. Royalty didn’t get buried in Serenity, they were installed in crypts and the crypt located on his family’s property was considered one of the most beautiful and monumental graves ever, with its stone walls outside and beautiful angels carved outside and inside it, the reflection of gold surrounded each member of the royal family’s headstone of black marble engraved with their names and legacy in pure gold.

  The funeral had longed passed, but Louie could not stop thinking about it. He couldn’t stop coming to his family’s crypt and staring at the gold carving of Sedgwick’s full name on the black marble. He could not stop staring at the headstone that was attached to the large wall where there were only a few open spaces for future royal deaths. There were two in particular under his brother and mother whose graves were right next to each other. He wondered if his father was allowed to be buried there. He instantly vowed to himself that he wouldn’t let that happen, if he could help it. But what could he do? He wasn’t going to be King. He decided it wasn’t right. It wasn’t fair. Sedgwick had wanted this, not him.

  He pressed his hands against his face and put one hand against his brother’s grave and the other against his mother’s. He closed his eyes briefly, not wanting to let it all out again.

  “Sir.” Louie looked up to see Wesley at the crypt’s entrance. “I’m sorry, but the Bishop is here to see you.”

  Louie nodded and arriving at Serenity Castle, he was told the Bishop was waiting in his father’s office. Louie reluctantly stepped into the office of the man who tried to kill him, and instead killed his brother.

  “Bishop,” Louie nodded.

  The Bishop bowed his head. “Hello, Your Highness. How have you been coping?”

  Louie circled his father’s desk. “Not so good.” He looked at the Bishop. “My family is dead, Bishop, so yeah… not good.”

  “So you called me. I guess you want answers,” the Bishop said.

  “Yes, I do. You know more than you like to put on.” Louie folded his arms against his chest. “The man who speaks to God,” Louie spoke in more of a mock tone. “Why?”

  “Why what?”

  “Why is everything… not right? Sedgwick is dead, Serenity has no king, the Republic is out for blood, so you tell me.”

  “Why does anything happen, Louie?”

  “I don’t have time for the guessing game, Sir.”

  “I know you don’t. So what if I told you that this was all destined. Well, the ending is destined, at least; the journey was created by all of you. Your actions, your wants, desires, fears, every accomplishment, every mistake led you here. Every action has a reaction, Louie.”

  “So what?”

  “What if you would have died, Louie? And Sedgwick did become King. What if I told you that was a bad thing?”

  “And that’s bad why?”

  “If Sedgwick became King, this country would have been at war. A war so vile that no one would have survived. Sedgwick would bring this Kingdom down because of your father’s teachings. There has been peace for years between the countries, but it would have ended if Sedgwick started the new royal blood line. What if I told you that every sign I have seen since you boys were born pointed to you?”

  Louie shook his head and walked away. “This doesn’t make sense.”

  “It never makes sense, Louie…Louie, did you know your mother knew she was pregnant with a boy?”

  Louie whipped his head around. “What?”

  “Your mother knew you were intended to be a boy, but everyday as you grew inside her womb, she felt it… the amazement inside, of you, the potential for greatness. She did not want to give that up, so when she found out, she came to me and confessed and asked if it was right. I told her the heart is what is right. And you, Louie. You are the heart. The journey is written as it goes, but the destiny is what it is. You are destined to become more than what you always thought you were. Your mother knew it. Even your father knew it. Everyone now knows it. It’s you, Louie… since you were born, you changed it all.”

  “Yeah? How am I supposed to do that, huh?! Sedgwick is dead! Was that part of it too?! God just offs everybody, including my brother?!”

  “No… I believe the future could have been different. Where Sedgwick wasn’t so easily influenced by Caius… but your mother’s love reached you, not him. When I made the mistake telling Caius, he made sure of that. See that’s why I didn’t tell you. The only way for you to learn is to discover it yourself. To overcome all obstacles and that’s what you did, Louie.”

  “What if I’m not ready for this? What if I’m not it? This was Sedgwick’s destiny, he was the first son.”

  “Then… Louie, you are not worthy of a crown,” the Bishop stepped closer and placed his hands on his shoulders. “The unworthiest of creatures exist only within our fears, Louie. Everyone is worthy of something, and deep down you know. I know you do. Being a King is not about being born first, being stronger, faster, quicker. It is about this.” The Bishop pointed to his head. “And this,” he pointed to his heart. “This, Louie, is love, ambition, anger, sadness, growth. The heart is where a true King’s worthiness lies, and your worthiness, Louie… is in that heart of yours.”

  +

  Louie lay in his bed. He spent the whole night thinking about the Bishop’s confession. He wanted to reject it, forget about it forever, but the moment he finally went to sleep, his rejection turned into a revelation.

  He was in a room with a giant, colorful glass cross in the middle of it. Louie stared around the dark room until he saw the one person he could not let go of.

  “Sedgwick?” Louie blinked twice to make sure he wasn’t seeing things, but it was him, his brother in his blue suit and his gold halo crown.

  “Hey little brother,” Sedgwick said, and to Louie’ surprise he was smiling broadly.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “Nothing,” Sedgwick shrugged. “Just delivering a message.”

  “What?”

  “They want me to tell you to stop it… stop doubting yourself. You can do this Louie.”

  “Sedgwick, I... can’t. It was your dream.”

  Sedgwick shook his head. “It wasn’t my dream. None of it was. I was too stuck with the ideas of things that I never truly dreamed, Louie, and I will regret it. I was always stuck with doing what I was told. If anything, I missed out on knowing Mom… but I’m getting that chance now,” Sedgwick smiled
and Louie’s mouth dropped at what his brother was implying.

  Louie, still guilty, continued, “I’m so sorry, Sedgwick.”

  “Okay, you’re sorry… I’m sorry. We’re all sorry. It is time for you to take what is yours. I’m okay. Mom is okay too. Everyone wants you to succeed, Louie. You have to let it go. Let the past go. I love you and I will be watching over you, okay little brother?”

  Sedgwick grabbed his brother’s shoulders. “But I want you to remember, a leader is only as great as the people he loves and trusts. You can’t do this alone… and you’re not alone. Like I said…take what is yours. You got this…. Now wake up.”

  Louie woke up on Sedgwick’s command and even though it was a dream, he knew that it was really Sedgwick.

  +

  After Louie’s dream, he quickly threw on his clothes and fetched Wesley and had him go to Mina, who couldn’t sleep either, and bring her to the capitol headquarters and the throne room. When Mina entered, she saw Louie standing in front of the throne, staring at it and waiting for her.

  “Hey.” Louie turned around, facing her and politely smiled at her.

  “Hey.”

  “I didn’t know what to think when Wesley came to get me.”

  “Yeah, well I have been an ass, so of course, you’ve been confused.”

  “What? No, Louie. These past ten days have been horrible for all of us and…”

  “Mina, do you love me?”

  “What?”