Long Live the King!
By Crystal Fleming
It is A.D. 385, and there is a great battle raging this day, a battle fought for the throne of Angleland. In the throne room, King Troneum bravely fights his most fearsome knight, Sir Laceton. The battle seems to be in favor of the king until Sir Laceton calls out:
"Perhaps taking over the throne is not enough. How would it be if I sold your children to be slaves as I had to when I could not pay my taxes to the kingdom?"
The king roared and charged the despicable knight, but Sir Laceton smacked the king's unguarded ribs with the flat of his blade. As the King cried out and fell to his knees, I slipped out of my hiding place behind the curtains and crept up behind the loathsome knight. I swung my sword at the knight's neck in an attempt to behead hem. Before my blow fell however, he spun around and slashed at me with his own broadsword. I parried, trying to test his strength. Though I was not as strong as he, my fresh arms were more than a match for his exhausted ones. I had him disarmed in moments. He fell to his knees, whilst I kept my blade pointed at his throat.
Gasping for breath, I managed to say, "Who is the rightful king of Angleland?" When he did not answer, I shouted into his face, "Who is the rightful king of Angleland?!"
He ground out his words through clenched teeth, "Troneum. Troneum is the rightful king of Angle Land."
I lowered my sword from his throat and looked around. The once-beautiful throne room was now completely desecrated. The curtains were tattered, the marble walls and floor were cracked and splattered with blood, and the throne my father had carved by hand was shattered.
"Well," I thought to myself, as I gazed at the splintered throne, "even if he had succeeded, Sir Laceton would not have had much to sit on."
During my fight with the evil knight, more royal guards had flooded the room and surrounded the wounded king. He waved some closer to him and told them to escort Sir Laceton to the dungeon.
As they were doing so, the king strode up behind me and placed his hand on my shoulder. I jumped, thinking it was another enemy, and spun around. Upon my seeing the king standing behind me, I hastily dropped to one knee and bowed my head.
He rested his hand on my head and asked, "What is your name, child, and your age?"
I answered, saying, "My name is Azalia, and I am sixteen years old, my lord."
"Rise, Azalia, so we may speak face to face." When I did, he inquired, "You have considerable skill with a blade, though I have not seen you in the training grounds among the other children learning the same skill. Why is this?"
I replied, "My eldest brother, Stephan, has been teaching me at home, my liege. He goes to the training grounds every day and is very proficient with a blade."
"That answered," he said, "I wish to thank you for saving my life. How may I?"
"If it pleases you, my king, I would like to have my mother and father released from the dungeon, where they were imprisoned under Sir Laceton when they would not support him. This very moment, as well, my younger siblings are being transported to the coast to be sold as slaves."
The king gave his word that he would help, and, in a matter of days, my family was put back together.
Thus was my experience saving the king.