Royal Duties

Royal Duties By Geoff Wilkins

Blood trickled down his arm.

He held the severed head of the leader of the rebels triumphantly over his own, for all to see.
The crowd cheered the Hero, whose name was Anthracis, as he approached the King´s throne.

“ My liege your enemy has been vanquished” proclaimed Anthracis “ and his second in command has been captured to be interrogated” He pointed to the man to his left, who was tied and gagged.

The Old King stroked his beard and rose to address the people.

“Let it be known in all the realm that the Hero Anthracis has completed his quest successfully” He declared “ The leader of the rebels is no more, and with him will end the danger faced by our people. As promised, I officially declare Anthracis a Knight in the Royal Court”

The people cheered again and applauded, but in the confusion a spear pierced the King's heart. It was Vincent, the rebels second in command, who had freed himself and grabbed the guard's weapon.

He turned to Anthracis who in a swift movement of his sword disarmed him and with the guards help apprehended him again.

In the panic and mourning the wise men of the kingdom held an emergency meeting to declare the new king, and found that the recently appointed knight Anthracis was the next in line, for all the other knights and royal princes had been slain in the past weeks by the rebels.

Amongst the first points of order of the new king was to libetate Vincent as an act of good faith with the rebels, who in return declared a peace with the new king. Several days later they were given lands, as part of the agreement, and their new leader Vincent was named baron.
However the new king ensured the Baron Vincent was not in the line of succession. Just in case.

The Bloody End