The Trials of Boy Kings Read online

  The two men were up front and jesting about the girls in white. “I wish they had stayed when they dropped off the boy. They would have been better company than you,” said the man piloting the ship.

  The other man said, “They wouldn't give an ugly dog like you a second glance … is something wrong?”

  The man said, “We're losing height. Strange …” the man said, looking around, “Hey!”

  He spotted Gordon at the back of the ship, standing on the railing, reaching up to the floating section of the ship. Being spotted, Gordon worked faster, using his longknife to slowly slice through the airship's rear floating section. He could feel the air escaping quickly as the airship lost more height.

  The pilot stayed at the wheel, while the other man came running for Gordon. As he approached, he shouted, “Wake up!” Gordon saw the heads of three men pop up from near where he had been on the rope bed. Gordon realized that there were other men aboard after all. They had just been napping. His situation just got even more dangerous.

  Gordon cut faster.

  The pilot shouted back, “Stop him now, we're losing too much air… you two! Start throwing things overboard. We won't clear the gates.”

  Gordon stopped cutting, hearing what the pilot had said. He didn't want his first airship ride to fall from the sky. He thought if it sank slowly enough, he might be able to get close enough to the ground to jump off. That seemed more and more unlikely.

  The first man reached him. As the man reached for him, Gordon jumped down off the railing. Gordon slashed his longknife at the man. The curved blade connected with his calf and the man went down, screaming with surprise.

  Others were fast approaching, and they all drew their knives when they saw the boy attack. Gordon hadn't really thought of what he would do next. He looked around and noticed that the ship was headed straight for a large gate. It was enormous. He knew the pilot could not get more lift with all the gas escaping. A few men were throwing things overboard, but they were still sinking.

  Two more men were almost to Gordon, who sheathed his longknife and dove for the railing. He grabbed for the rope hanging there, as the man closest to him shouted, “No!”

  Gordon was over the railing, hanging from the rope. He doubted the men would cut his rope and let Gordon fall, but he had a bigger problem. The large gate was surrounded by sheer mountain cliffs.

  Gordon struggled to stay on the rope as the airship lost height and veered towards the mountainside. He was nearly flung against the jutting rocks and small trees growing out of the cliff wall. He slowly and painfully made his way down the rope, while one of the men climbed down his own rope about six feet from Gordon's. The man was being swung around wildly, “Fool boy, climb back up…”

  Before he could finish his thought, the man's rope hit the mountain and an outcropped tree caught him. The rope went slack with the man no longer on it. Gordon was not close enough to the ground to let go. They were still at least fifty feet in the air, and the airship was going down so quickly, that he would have been killed even if his feet touched the ground.

  The ship was dropping faster, and Gordon wondered if he should have stayed onboard after all. The airship came close to the mountain again and Gordon saw the tree before he hit it. He grabbed for the leaves, and let go of the rope. It was no use, he realized. He lost his grip and started tumbling through small trees and brush, down the steep mountain.

  Chapter 5: The Two Kings

  “Will they be much longer?” asked Brenddel of the blue guard.

  “The king is a busy man. He does not work on your schedule,” said the guard, “just be honored he has agreed to see you at all.”

  Brenddel turned his attention to the other guard on the orange side of the room. “And your king? Any word on how long he might be?”

  The other guard said, “My king never takes an audience until the blue king arrives.”

  Brenddel tried to control his anger. One of the thing he hated most was waiting on others when he had things to do. He thought that finding his airship, killing Mantuan again, and finding out what Trunculin was up to, formed a pretty important list.

  More than anything, he hated politics.

  Another hour passed before a large group of people came through the king's blue door. There were at least twenty people that arrived ahead of him. A few of them stayed near the king's chair, but most of them went out into the larger room, chatting and milling around.

  The guards opened the other, orange door. The same thing happened, with more people filling the room. Somewhere a loud musical gong sound vibrated through the room. Brenddel had been told how much ceremony there was involved in the kingdom of the gods. I'm lucky I left when I was a boy. At least I avoided all this waste of time, Brenddel thought to himself.

  A young man came out of each king door and loudly announced their ruler. They did this at the same exact time, so that Brenddel couldn't understand what they were saying. They were talking over each other and each man got louder as his presentation went on. He assumed they were both announcing the arrival of their own king. Sure enough, both kings walked out at exactly the same time.

  Almost.

  Brenddel noticed, as they both stepped into the room. The orange king paused for just a moment so that the blue king was actually in the room first. By the gods, they're acting like children, Brenddel thought. Both kings looked straight ahead as they sat in their chairs, not looking at each other.

  A man standing next to the blue king said, “My king Ninnith of the kingdom of the gods of Artoth, high priest of the pact with man, bids you welcome, most humbly.”

  A man standing next to the orange king said, “My king Tethon, son of Torr the magnificent, king of Artoth and high ruler of the gods of punishment, offers welcome to these worthy visitors.”

  “Who's in charge of this attack?” said the blue king on the left.

  The orange king on the right said, “Please ask the other king if he is sure it was an attack.” the man next to him repeated what he said to the other king.

  The blue king responded, “Tell the orange king that my reports confirm that there was a battle. Tell the other king that we know he knows this. They were his men after all.”

  Neither king looked directly at the other.

  Brenddel began to speak, “I am the…”

  “Come forward and stand on that circle. Yes, the one on the floor there,” said the blue king.

  “You will speak to both of us, looking forward, never looking directly in our eyes,” said the orange king.

  Brenddel had the sudden urge to jump between them and punch them equally in the face. He resisted this urge and carefully stood on the circle, looked forward and said, “Kings of Artoth, let me first say that I meant no disrespect to either of you personally, nor any of your people. I am on a mission from my king to find two men. Men that we believe poisoned the king of Thure. While searching, I saw a man that I thought was dead. We fought.”

  “Who is this man?” said the blue king.

  Brenddel hesitated for a moment and said, “His name is Mantuan.”

  The crowd was suddenly paying attention. There were whispers and gasps throughout the crowds.

  “We remember Mantuan. He fought with us in the war of Asgonan that spilled blood in our good kingdom. You say that he is alive and here in our kingdom?” said the king on the right.

  Brenddel started to look at the king. The blue king warned him to keep looking forward. Brenddel complied reluctantly. “Yes, he is alive. And he was in your kingdom. Before he stole my airship and fled.”

  This caused laughter and chatter in the room.

  “Yes, we… we heard about that,” said the blue king, barely containing a smile.

  “With your permission, Kings of Artoth, I would like to hire a watership and get my men back to my own kingdom.”

  “And who will pay for my men?” asked the orange king, barring his sharpened teeth.

  “I don't understand,” said Brenddel.
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  “Who will pay for my dead soldiers? Their burials? Make amends to their families?” the orange king asked.

  “None of my men touched your soldiers,” said Brenddel, who was beginning to lose his patience. “That was Mantuan.”

  “You are speaking to the king of mighty Artoth. You will watch your tone,” warned a man standing next to the blue king.

  “My apologies. But, Mantuan killed your men. Take it up with him, if you can find him,” Brenddel said, trying hard to control his tone of voice.

  The orange king barred his sharpened teeth again and said, “I am taking the matter up with you.”

  “My airship is gone. I couldn't pay you even if I wanted to, since all the coin I had is on my ship. And I can't go and retrieve my ship until I leave your kingdom and get another airship to find him.”

  The orange king sounded concerned. “You have no coin to make amends?”

  Brenddel clarified, “I am saying there are no amends to make. I am not responsible for what Mantuan has done. And yes, I'm saying there is no coin. I will have to find a ship that will take me to my kingdom to be paid when we get there.”

  The king on the left said wearily, “I see. The matter is clear then. Does the other king understand and agree?”

  The orange king replied, “Yes I do, if the other king also agrees.”

  “Agreed,” said the blue king.

  The king on the right looked directly at Brenddel and said, “If there is no way to pay this debt, blood demands blood.”

  A look of confusion crossed Brenddel's face, until he heard the commotion behind him. Four of the orange guards quickly stepped forward and opened the throats of four of Brenddel's men. There was no time to defend themselves. The four men dropped to the floor, dead.

  There were gasps from some of the guests while others actually clapped their hands, as though they had just seen a performance.

  Brenddel and his men quickly drew their longknives and formed a circle, with their knives facing outward to protect every man. None of the guards from either king made any attempt to attack them.

  “You are mad, both of you. My men were innocent!” said Brenddel.

  “No one is innocent,” said the blue king.

  “The gods must be paid,” said the orange king, bearing his sharpened teeth again.

  “We would have preferred the coin, of course,” said the blue king.

  Brenddel and his men stood in formation. Brenddel asked, “So, what happens now?”

  “You are free to go,” said the blue king.

  “Since you have no coin to bury your men, you will have to take the bodies with you. We will not charge you for cleaning up the mess,” said the orange king.

  Brenddel wanted nothing more than to leap onto the platform and kill both kings right there. But since he had no easy way to escape, he decided against it. I suppose Trunculin might be a little annoyed if I did, he thought darkly.

  Brenddel said, “Sheath your knives and stand down,” and his men did. Brenddel and his men started to carry the bodies outside.

  In unison this time, the men standing at each king's side said, “Stranger to this land, you will show the kings of Artoth the proper respect.”

  Brenddel stopped. The murderous urge came over him again. He turned around and walked slowly to the circle on the floor, his hand firmly on the hilt of his longknife.

  He bent ever so slightly at his waist to the king on the left, giving the smallest bow he could. He did the same to the king on the right, looking directly in the king's face. Both kings had turned their heads to face forward and did not acknowledge him.

  Brenddel walked out with his men, both the living and the dead.

  Chapter 6: The Father

  Gordon was standing on an airship, but something was wrong. He looked around. From this height, he couldn't tell which kingdom was below. It was burning. He looked at the waters below and they looked like they were boiling. Everywhere there was the smell of smoke and fire. Airships were exploding out of the skies all around. He thought he might be dreaming, but then he felt two hands close around his throat, squeezing. Can you feel pain in a dream? He thought wildly, and tried to pry the hands away, but they were too strong. He felt his own neck snap, then someone threw him from the airship.

  Gordon eyes shot open and he raised his head off the pillow. He felt for his throat, but that's not where the pain was coming from. The real pain made him put his hand on the back of his head. His wound screamed at him as he touched it, but he couldn't remember why it hurt. He laid his aching head back down, blinked a few times, and realized he was in a large bedroom. There were blankets over him and pillows behind him. They were soft and warm.

  Despite the pain, he forced himself to sit up. He was in soft bed clothing as well. He thought as hard as he could to remember why he was here. Then he remembered the real airship, the cliff, and falling. He had no idea how he'd survived.

  He wondered briefly if he was dead, but the throbbing pain in his head made him doubt it. This was the third time recently that he had woken up in surprise or pain. He did not like that at all. He also had no idea where he was. How many times will I wake up in strange places? Gordon thought.

  Before he could get up to look out the window, a man came in with a small tray. “Ah, you are awake. That is good. I hope you slept well, Gordon.” said the man.

  Gordon responded, “You know my name. Who are you? Where am I? Why was I brought here?”

  The man smiled, but did not answer his questions. “Would you like some tea?”

  The man had a beard and was dressed in a plain gray shirt and pants. Strangely kind smile, Gordon thought, but he needed answers. “Why am I here?”

  “Direct. I like that. My name is TrTorrin. Many people here call me the father. I am the leader of the people's inner council. I wanted to make sure you are safe. From what I understand, there was a large group of guards headed to arrest you, maybe even to kill you. Artoth is a treacherous place.”

  “So you had people knock me out and bring me here by force?”

  He laughed. “No, no. the girls feel terrible about it, but when they startled you, you turned and hit the back of your head on a low archway. The girls wanted to get you to the best healers.”

  Gordon began, “Wait…but…”

  “You hit your head very hard. You were asleep for many hours. Since the airship, you have been asleep for much longer than that.”

  “So where…?”

  “You are in Extatumm.”

  “That large gate. Were those the Gates of Dard I saw?”

  TrTorrin laughed, “We don't call them that anymore, but yes.”

  “Why bring me all this way just to be healed? That makes no sense.”

  “We have the finest healers anywhere. The healers in the kingdom of the gods use methods from a hundred years ago. We use all the most modern techniques. I would never trust you to them, they might have killed you with their ancient ways. To that point, my healers tell me that you have the sweetblood sickness. They have done the best they can for you. We found the metal case full of medicine … medicine bread, I suppose? Do many in your kingdom have this sickness?”

  Gordon was uncomfortable. “No. It's rare. My… our healers has invented some new ways to control it.”

  TrTorrin nodded, “they must be very good healers. To be a fine, healthy thirteen-year old with the sweetblood …”

  “Am I a prisoner?” Gordon asked, changing the subject.

  He laughed softly. “No, son. You are my guest. We wouldn't heal you and then keep you prisoner. We could punish you for damaging our airship, of course. I lost five good men. But since you had no idea what was going on, you were simply protecting yourself. It is only because of our healer's skills that you survived your injuries. We will keep your weapons and longknife safe. It's a lovely replica by the way.”

  “If I'm not a prisoner, I can just leave then?” Gordon started to get out of bed.

  “Of course. But if I may
ask, where would you like to go?” asked TrTorrin, sipping his tea. He looked at Gordon with piercing eyes. Kind, but intense. Maybe dangerous, Gordon decided. Gordon had no immediate answer.

  TrTorrin continued, “I mean, you were about to be arrested in one kingdom, another kingdom thinks you poisoned their king, and your own kingdom calls you a traitor. Most of the world thinks you are dead. And there has been no one contacting us to find you. It seems your friends are not looking for you. So, where would you like to go?”

  Gordon knew that this man had secret reasons for wanting him and that he was lying about the girls and hitting his head, too. But this man was also right. His friends had no idea where he was and everyone else thought he was dead.

  “Perhaps we could contact your friends for you. If you would just give me their names and where we can send the message.” he said, pulling out a small notebook and pen.

  Gordon knew he couldn't name his friends, since the world still thought Mantuan was dead. But he also knew that he had no idea where his friends were, and he wouldn't tell this man even if he did know.

  “No? I certainly understand loyalty and friendship,” he said as he put his note pad away. “Maybe you could be our guest until we figure everything out?”

  Gordon didn't know what else to do. “I suppose I have no choice. Oh, and thank you for …” as he touched the back of his head.

  “No trouble,” TrTorrin said getting up. “There are men just outside the door in case you need anything. Please don't hesitate to ask.”

  “I will … um … thank you, TrTor…” said Gordon.

  “TrTorrin. Goodbye for now, Gordon,” said the man as he left the room.

  TrTorrin informed the guards outside the door that Gordon was not to leave under any circumstances, and to send word to him directly if the boy asked for anything. The man seated outside Gordon's room got up with a book in his arm and followed the father.

  “How is the boy?” asked Coltun, the father's assistant. He no longer wore the red cloak he had in Artoth. Now his small, slim shape wore a gray outfit much like the father's.