All Nightmare Long
Chapter 564
Author's Note: Another chapter already? Aren't you guys loving (just kidding) this quarantine? I'm loving the fact that these guys are ready to kick but! Ever since King Ezekiel came on screen with Shiva, Jewel was thinking everyone has a gimmick now a days. I swear I'm using that line, at some point. I see Summer just moving Gregory out of his office. It'll be fun! Please review.
Kingdom
Jewel blinked as she saw a Tiger coming from behind the man on the stage.
"Jesus!" the man, presumably King Ezekiel, bellowed. "It pleases me to see you old friend."
"Pleases him indeed," a bigger man said from the side.
"Jerry," Ezekiel chastised. "Tell me what news do you bring good King Ezekiel? Are these new allies you've brought me?" he asked.
"Indeed they are, Your majesty," Jesus answered as he turned to look at them. "This is...oh right," he said as he walked to the back. "I forgot to mention," he said.
"Yeah, a tiger," Rick said.
"A very big thing to forget to mention, don't you think?" Jewel asked as Jesus gave a smile and walked back toward the stage.
"This is Rick and Jewel Grimes, and Quinn Bledsoe, the leaders of Alexandria," Jesus introduced them. "And some of their people."
"I'm sorry to interrupt, but Rick and Jewel are the leaders of Alexandria," Quinn said as she looked at them. "It's the right thing to do," she told them.
"I welcome you to the Kingdom, weary travelers," Ezekiel greeted.
Lexie stayed behind Sasha. "I'm staying right here," she whispered to Sasha. Sasha just nodded.
"What brings you to our fair land?" Ezekiel questioned. "Why do you seek an audience with the King? Archie, it is good to see you."
"Thank you, King Ezekiel," Archie responded.
"Ezekiel," Rick started. "King Ezekiel," he corrected himself. "Alexandria, Hilltop, the Kingdom, all three of our communities have something in common. We all serve the Savior's. Alexandria already fought them once, and we won. We thought we took out the threat, but we didn't know then what we know now. We only beat one outpost. We've been told that you have a deal with them, that you know them. You know that they rule through violence, and fear."
Ezekiel looked at Jesus. "Your majesty I only told them," Jesus started to explain.
"Our deal with the Savior's is not known among my people," Ezekiel said. "For good cause. We made you a party to that secret when you told us of the Hilltop's own travails, but we did not expect you to share," Ezekiel said.
"We can help each other," Jesus interrupted.
"Don't interrupt the King," Jerry ordered.
"We brought you into our confidence, why did you break it?" Ezekiel questioned.
Jewel took a step forward. "Permission to speak, King Ezekiel?"
Jesus looked at Jewel then at Ezekiel. "I want you to hear what Rick and Jewel has to say. Hear their plans."
"You may speak," Ezekiel said to Rick and Jewel.
"Rick and I have been leaders of a lot of different communities, before Alexandria, but we've had to run or move for various reasons. We have lost a lot of people, a lot of good people, to different threats. But Negan is a new kind of threat, a dangerous threat. I come to you as a leader and a mother, to ask you for your help with Negan," Jewel stated.
"We came to ask the Kingdom, ask you, to join us, in fighting the Savior's. Fighting for freedom for all of us," Rick said as he squeezed Jewel's hand.
"What you are asking, is very serious," Ezekiel answered.
"Several of our people, good people, were killed by the Savior's," Michonne said as she came up and joined Jewel and Rick. "Brutally."
"Who?" Morgan asked.
"Abraham," Rosita answered. "Glenn, Spencer, Olivia. Eugene was taken. They took Daryl, he escaped. Every second he's out here, he's a target. You gonna say you were right?" Rosita asked.
"Rosita," Jewel warned.
"It's alright, Jewel. No, I'm real sorry they're gone," Morgan answered.
"Negan stuck a knife in my oldest daughter's hand, made her sit on her knees with a gun to her head overnight, possibility of bleeding out. He almost made Rick cut off our son's arm, just to make a point," Jewel said as she glanced at Carl. "He made Glenn's pregnant wife, who was sick, watch as he killed her husband."
"Negan murdered Glenn and Abraham, beat them to death," Rick said.
Terrorized Hilltop, set lose Walkers' just to terrorize them," Sasha added.
"We would have been in a lot worse shape if it wasn't for Sasha and Beth and two others from Alexandria," Archie explained.
"I used to think the deal was something I could live with, a lot of us did. But that's changing. So let's change the world, your Majesty," Jesus pleaded.
"I want to be honest about what we are asking," Rick stated. "My people are strong, but there's not enough of us. We don't have guns, not enough at least," he stated. "Not a lot of weapon's, period."
"We have people, and weapons," Richard stated. "If we strike first, together we could beat them," Richard said.
"What do you say King Ezekiel? Do you believe it is worth fighting for? For fighting for the young man and girl beside you?" Jewel asked looking at Benjamin and Tory.
Richard turned and looked at Ezekiel. "Your majesty no more waiting for things to get worse beyond what we can handle. We set things right, the time is now."
"Morgan, what say you?" Ezekiel asked.
Jewel and Rick both turned and looked at him.
"Me?" Morgan questioned.
"Speak," Ezekiel instructed.
"People will die, a lot of people, not just the Savior's. If we can find another way, we have too," Morgan said. "Maybe it's just about Negan, capturing him, holding him, maybe," he started to say.
"We've already stirred the bees nest, and he knows that the Hilltop is with us. How long do you think it'll be until he breaks his deal with you King Ezekiel? How long until you are on your knees?" Jewel asked.
"The hour grows late," Ezekiel said as he stood up. "Rick and Jewel Grimes of Alexandria, you have given the King much to ponder."
Rick took a breath. "When I was a kid, my mother told me a story. It was a road, to a Kingdom, and there was a rock in the road. People would just avoid it, but horses would break their legs on it and die, wagon wheels would come off, people would lose the goods they were coming to sell. That's what happened to a little girl, the cash of beer that her family brewed fell right off and broke. Dirt soaked it all up, but it was gone. That was her families last chance, they were hungry, they didn't have any money. She just sat there and cried, but she wondered why it was still there, for it to hurt someone else. So, she dug at that rock in the road with her hands, until they bled. Used everything that she had, to pull it out. It took hours, and then when she was gonna fill it up, she saw something in it. It was a bag of gold," he explained.
"Alright," Jerry said with a smile.
"The King put that rock in the road because he knew that the person who dug it out, who did something, they deserved a reward. They deserved to have their lives changed for the good. Forever," Rick finished.
Ezekiel looked at Morgan, then at the group. "I invite you all to sup with us, and stay til the morrow," he said as he invited them.
Rick looked back at his people. "We need to get back home."
"I will issue my decree in the morn," Ezekiel said.
"The girls? Hope?" Rick asked Jewel.
"They'll be fine, Hope has enough milk to last tomorrow afternoon," Jewel said as she squeezed his arm. "We'll be happy to stay," she said with a smile.