Well I'm excited about this story and how well its going so I'm gonna stop talking and get to the story. Enjoy!
The carriage ride to the palace was bumpy as expected. Alfred was dressed up in his best clothes, meaning there weren't that many holes in it. This morning had been interesting.
Alfred heard heavy thunks and realized it was coming from the door. He groaned as he and Mathew got up to see who it was. "By royal decree of Spades, we summon Alfred F. Jones to the blue palace for choosing of the monarchy," The guard said with a broad voice. He was the captain. The twins could tell by the armor. The armor was bright blue with spades on the shoulders. He also wore a royal cape with the royal crest imprinted on it. The guard was just slightly taller than the both of them. He had a stern look, but they could tell by the laugh lines he was huge on smiling. The guard had spiked blonde hair with blue eyes. He was from Denmark, a city-state ruled over by Spades. His accent was heavy, but clear. Alfred waved his hand. "Yes, yes I'm up just let me get ready," he said. Normally he wasn't so rude, but this morning he had a right.
"Be careful and go out there and bring me back a shiny crown while you're at it," Mathew joked as he straightened Alfred's shirt. "Oh yes, of course mother," Alfred mocked with a crooked smile. Mathew chuckled. "At this rate I could be and yet you're the older one." He jested along. Alfred waved bye and stepped out into the bright crisp morning. "Ok I'm ready," He said with confidence. The Dane simply nodded, guiding Alfred to the royal blue carriage.
"OW!" Alfred yelled out in shock. He was too lost in his thoughts that when they hit a big bump in the road his head slammed into the window. Rubbing his head, he saw the Dane snicker. "What's your name anyway?" he asked. Alfred caught the off the guard. He soon regained his original position. "Mathias Køhler, Royal Guard Captain." He did a slight bow at the end of his introduction. Alfred lit up. "That's incredible, what do you do exactly, where do you sleep?" Alfred immediately started questioning Mathias with every question that came to mind. The Dane simply smiled and answered politely. They soon found out that they had a lot in common. "I take it me and you will be very close friends if you win," Mathias said. On the thought of the crowning, Alfred's mood immediately dropped and he became quiet, retreating into his thoughts once more. He caught the Dane giving him a sad look before returning his gaze to the window.
The blue palace was beautiful. It was huge really. The castle had a pointed dome for the roof. Alfred was even willing to bet that the inside had a painted heaven on the top. Two towers rose up on either side with a smaller one in between. He was told that just below the tower was a massive courtyard made to hold the people of Spades. The towers glittered a silver-grey, as for the rest it was patterned with blue and white stretching across the dome in parallels. "Wow," Alfred breathed. He could sense the Dane smirking across from him.
"I would close your mouth before something flies in there," Mathias said. Once they stepped out the carriage Alfred couldn't stop gawking. They reached a small courtyard leading to the stone steps. Once inside the door, Alfred was struck speechless. The hall was lined with pearl-white pillars leading down to a grand room. Both sides of the room had pristine grand staircases with a balcony for addressing guest. A man confronted Alfred. He was tall, but still shorter than himself. The man had long, brown hair wrapped in a blue ribbon resting on his shoulder. He had big brown eyes and a small smile. His robes were royal blue and flowed down by his legs with a pair of lighter blue baggy trousers beneath. The royal crest was printed near the bottom rim of the robes. The man was wearing red flat shoes, a small green shimmering pin shaped like a panda on his chest, and a small blue hat with a feather.
"Oh, this won't do. This won't do at all, aru," He said. His voice was recognizable enough. Not far from where Alfred lived there was a great nation. It brought in most of Spades' profits. It was called China, after how delicately the kingdom held the nation. Everyone with common sense knew this. The man seemed to realize what he had just said. "I'm sorry, sir I am Wang Yao, Jack of the kingdom Spades. I am most important advisor to the king and queen," The man said bowing. Alfred perked up a bit, making sure to put confidence in his voice. "I am Alfred F. Jones and may I ask what won't do?" "You, The way you dress, you cannot be king looking like Laji, aru," He said. Alfred didn't know what that meant, but he had a very good idea. He blushed slightly. Wang began waving his hand for him to follow, "Come, come," he beaconed.
Where in the hell am I supposed to go! Alfred mentally shouted. Wang had given him clothes and told him to head for the baths, where a warm tub was waiting for him. Only thing was Alfred forgot where to go after Wang left. He continued on for a while till he saw a silhouette. Thank god another person! He got a little closer to see a small man in deep thought. "H-Hello," Alfred stumbled. The small man jumped and spun around to reveal the biggest, pure, emerald green eyes. He was very small, scarcely taller than a child. He had dirty blonde hair with a small blue hat on. He had a blue button-up shirt and a long blue over coat with a big white bow around the collar of his neck. He wore dark blue pants and black boots that only gentlemen had. His hands were gloved with white and held a cane. He looked about 21 maybe a little older.
Once he settled, he gave small, apologetic smile. "Sorry my good man, you simply startled me, is there anything I can help you with?" he said. His accent was rich and smooth like honey. Alfred couldn't quite place where it was from. "Oh, I was just looking for the baths," Alfred said quietly. The man looked down into Alfred's hands, while he looked at the man. He was beautiful, a gorgeous masterpiece that Alfred was sure that God spent much time to create the seemingly smooth pale white skin and big green forest eyes. The man looked back up and pointed in a direction, telling him where to go. Alfred was about to head off before he stopped and said, "Excuse me, but may I ask where you hail from?" The man gave him a bright white smile. "I come from England, a grand ole place just on the edge of the kingdom near Diamonds," he said. Alfred said thank you and gave a slight bow running off to the baths.
After the encounter with the green-eyed man, Alfred eventually found his way. He was bathed and shaved and brushed by a group of maids in white and black outfits with blue aprons. He stood in front of a bedroom mirror with Wang nodding in approval behind him. He had a white dress shirt with a bright blue vest and a black tie. He also wore a royal blue waistcoat with thin cloth trailing down on the sides and black dress shoes. His hair was parted to the left except the one stubborn hair, which refused to be combed, causing the maids much distress. His glasses were clean and shone like new. In his waistcoat Wang gave him a small pocket watch with the crest for luck. He was superstitious like that. He patted down the shirt and turned around with a bright smile showing the Chinese man. Wang clapped in approval. Fixing the rest to make sure it's perfect his curiosity got the best of him. "Hey Wang, I ran into this one man earlier and I was wondering who he is, he had blonde hair, green eyes, dressed in blue?" he said. Wang was fixing his panda. "Oh that is-," he was interrupted. A maid knocked on the open door. "S-sorry sir, but it's time," she said quietly. Wang nodded and stood following the maid. He halted at the door, "I bid you good luck, aru," nodding to Alfred. He simply waved bye.
Alfred was taken by another maid five minutes shortly after the Jack. He was lead down a hallway to meet a small room with a big doorway in the middle. Another man arrived. He had raggedy looks, obviously poor like Alfred. He was probably about 25 and was dressed similarly to Alfred. He had black hair and a four o' clock shadow. Alfred was about to say something when he heard a cane smack the floor. He turned around to find his green-eyed mystery man. His jaw slacked for a second before regaining posture, slightly bowing to the small man. The man eyed Alfred's competition and when his eyes fell on Alfred his jaw tightened and became stern-looking. He looked like a business man rose for this type of thing, nothing like the man in the hall. He almost looked like he hated Alfred. He nodded to the Jack besides him. The maids moved from behind them to open the door. "Wait, what about the other one there is supposed to be four of us," Alfred exclaimed. The other blonde spoke up," Not this time, the last candidate was not appropriate for the crown." Alfred didn't ask why, but simply nodded.
"Presenting the Jack of Spades' and our all mighty candidates," a royal pronouncer yelled to the crowd. Alfred and the others stepped through the big doors to reveal a large courtyard with bluebells and other flowers growing along the pillars and walls. Below a massive crowd buzzed around. It was a mixture of blue, white, and black. Lining the rest of the courtyard were guards, flags, band members, and several others all sporting the royal crest. Wang stepped forward smiling and waving to the crowd. He launched into a speech about the passing of the king and the crowning. How could this happen, who was he to compete. Why must this happen to me! Alfred was interrupted from his thoughts when the crowd roared. Waving a hand back, Wang pronounced, "My people I present, the Queen of Spades, Arthur Kirkland." The small blonde stepped forward, giving a wide smile and waved, sending roars throughout the crowd. Arthur stepped back, still smiling. "And now we vote for our king, Here we hold Skylar Vonder," Wang shouted down. The other man stepped forward waving. The crowd cheered for him loudly. "Our other candidate is, Alfred F. Jones," Wang yelled to the crowd presenting him. Alfred stepped forward; going with his instincts he smiled wide adding charm to it. Every time he did this smile the woman he was trying to charm immediately fell for it. He gave a big wave adding different emotions to the smile, putting out a wave of confidence to the crowd.
The crowd went insane. The screaming was about to make Alfred go deaf. Wang settled the crowd down and explained how the whole voting worked out. Wang led both Skylar and Alfred to the front, putting a hand over Skylar's head. The crowd boomed immediately. Wang simply nodded, raising his hand over Alfred's head. The audience thundered with excitement, and eagerness. Alfred smiled once more and waved, sending everyone over the edge. Wang took Alfred's hand, "I present to you, your new King of Spades, King Alfred F. Jones." The sound of music started up resounding with the crowd. The noises grew louder and louder.
Alfred walked back inside with a big goofy grin. Wang simply nodded and walked off. Skylar came up behind him. "You did well; just make sure the place doesn't fall to ruins, ok?" he said gripping Alfred's shoulder. He promised the black haired man that he would and said his good-byes to him. Alfred turned around to find Arthur scowling. Arthur walked by him, "Just because you won doesn't mean I will start fawning over you. I did not want this fate, but I guess now we are bonded until we die, so I will play nice in public, but you mean nothing to me beyond that." He finished with wicked words and proceeded down the hall. All Alfred could do was stare at the disappearing man.
Wow that was a lot of work. Anyway hope you liked it I will update as much as possible. So have a beautiful day everyone and don't forget to review.