The Lady or the Tiger?
A Lady or the Tiger fanfic by Patworx
The citizens of a barbaric land had all gathered in one stadium to learn the fate of one man. What they didn't know was that the events of the night would impact every single one of them.
The man who was convicted of romancing the king's daughter stood in front of the door his beloved had signaled as the one hiding his arranged bride. Those who were watching in the audience had expected him to be afraid to choose which door to open. This man, however, was very confident in his decision, for he knew in his heart that his beautiful princess would never lead him to the slaughter . . . and he was right.
The door slowly opened to reveal a stunning woman in a pretty white dress. The audience cheered for the supposedly happy couple, but they had no idea of the heartache that the man felt, for though the woman was beautiful she could never replace the woman he was really in love with.
He was not the only person in the stadium who was heartbroken at that moment. The princess barely managed to fight back tears as she watched the man she loved stair into the face of his new wife. She loved him with a passion and she wanted him to live, even if she couldn't have him.
Everyone else who was present that night was filled with joy at the prospect of watching the wedding take place. Unfortunately, one man in the crowd stood up and broke the content silence.
"WAIT A MINUTE! THIS CEREMONY WAS RIGGED! I SAW THE PRINCESS GIVE A HAND SIGNAL TO HER LOVER THAT POINTED RIGHT AT THE DOOR HE OPENED!"
The audience gasped. Another man stood up and spoke.
"THAT'S RIGHT! I SAW IT TOO, BUT I DIDN'T REALIZE WHAT IT MEANT UNTIL NOW! THIS MAN IS UNDESERVING OF THE BRIDE HE'S BEEN GIVEN!"
The audience was now reduced to quiet mutterings and an occasional "BOO!" which filled the stadium with spitefulness.
The king turned to his daughter with a look of anger on his face.
"Is this true, daughter?" he growled threateningly.
"Yes," she said standing up. "I love him, father, and I will not let him be killed. By you or anyone."
Something broke in the king at that moment. He had always loved his daughter in the past, despite his barbaric personality, but now that she had the nerve to ruin the ambiguity of his ceremony all that love quickly drained out of his system. He no longer saw her has his child. His parental affection was gone, and it was replaced with feelings of cold, bitter hatred.
"You little harpy!" sneered the king. "Look at what you have done! You have tampered with my justice system! How can we know if he is innocent or guilty if he knows which door to choose?"
"Father, that is not how justice works," exclaimed the princess. "If a person did what he or she has been accused of, it makes them guilty. If not, it makes them innocent. No test that relies solely on pure chance can fairly decide a person's fate!"
The king stood towering over his daughter.
"So now you're questioning me! Nobody questions me! I AM THE KING!"
He grabbed his daughter by the waist and lifted her up from her seat.
"Father! What are you doing! Let me go!"
The king chucked her into the stadium, only for her to be caught by her lover.
"Rejoice daughter, for you and your lover will now be together forever-IN THE FIREY PITS OF HELL!" He pointed to one of the guards. "You there! Release the tiger!"
The guard walked carefully up to the other door, opened it and then quickly ran away. The tiger slowly walked into the stadium, sniffing the air. The first thing it saw was the woman in the white dress. It gave a ferocious roar and ran after her. It had almost caught the woman when the king's words caught its attention.
"NO, NO, NO! NOT HER YOU STUPID BEAST! THE COUPLE! ATTACK THE COUPLE!"
The former bride-to-be continued running and left the stadium in one piece. The lion set its sights on the man and the princess. It charged at its new targets. They started to run but a soldier blocked their way to the exit.
"I hate to disappoint you lovebirds," the soldier said in a sarcastic tone, "but it is my job to make sure that this beast has his dinner, and I do not intend to fail."
Thinking quickly, the princess's lover punched the soldier in the face and stole his sword right out of its sheath. He turned around and began to run towards the hungry tiger. The princess watched in fear as the man she loved ran right at the beast that intended to devour them both. However, as soon as he was close enough to the tiger, he jumped over it and plunged the sword into its back, shattering its spine in an instant. The tiger lay in a pool of its own blood and whimpered for the next few seconds before drawing its last breath.
The king was furious. Never before had one of his victims succeeded in killing the tiger.
"Soldiers! Attack them both right now!"
All the king's men within the vicinity gathered to kill the man and the princess. But they were no match for the man's swordsmanship and the king simply watched in frustration as the bloody corpses of his soldiers piled up on the stadium floor. He slowly started to realize that his men wouldn't be enough. He would have to handle this personally.
He stood up from his throne and jumped into the stadium. There were no soldiers left alive at that point and for the next half a minute, the man and the king simply stared viciously into each other's eyes while the princess and the audience watched. Finally, the king spoke . . .
"How dare you disrupt my ceremony? How dare you corrupt my daughter? HOW DARE YOU DEFY MY AUTHORITY?"
"To hell with your authority! This ceremony of yours is no justice system! It is merely a way for you to exercise your cruelty! You are no king! You are a tyrant! And something should have been done about you long ago!"
The king removed his own sword from its sheath and ran toward the man intending to strike at him, but the man immediately blocked him.
The battle that followed was glorious and it enamored the entire audience. The two men swung at each other swiftly and fiercely. Almost all the attacks were blocked, occasionally dealing a scratch onto its target. They ran around the stadium, always making sure to step over the corpses that littered the ground. The man had been trained in sword fighting since his teen years. The king was a master with the sword, but he was far past his prime. The battle ended after many hours when, out of sheer luck, the man managed to slice straight through the king's hand. The king dropped his sword and fell down on the ground. Sensing the opportunity, he man slowly raised his sword over his hand.
"You are not fit to govern this land, your majesty," he said to the king.
Without another word, he plunged the sword into the king's heart.
There was a roar of approval from the audience. You see, they did not care who victor of this duel was. All they cared about was the sheer brutality of the fight itself. As far as they were concerned, whoever emerged the victor was their king.
"Thank you, my friends!" exclaimed the man, "but alas, I am not fit to govern this land either, which is why I hereby forfeit the throne to my beloved princess."
The princess stood in the center of the stadium, and the audience was quickly captivated by her commanding presence.
"Share with me your attention, my people," she commanded. "My father's rule was a disastrous one. He thought only of himself and his own amusement. He did not think of any of you. It is because of this that many innocent people have died and many dangerous criminals have been allowed to terrorize all of you. I shall not let this continue. I shall create a new justice system that judges on guilt or innocence, not pure chance. This is the beginning of a new era."
At those words, the audience cheered loudly and triumphantly.
A year later, the princess and her lover got married. The princess' reign ushered in a new era of justice and equality, and her and her descendants ruled the kingdom peacefully for centuries to come.