What a good king would do to help his people when faced with disaster...
Kingdom of Largo
Chapter 3
The Flood
The sun has not been shining for the past several days and all it has been doing is raining.
The gods must be crying. Teardrops are falling from the sky now. King Aylard thought, looking up into the sky while the rain beat down upon his face.
The sky was grey, marred by many dark clouds. It seemed the teardrops had been falling for days.
With his clothes now soaking wet, the king walked back into the castle from the courtyard.
I hope the farmers are going to be okay. Please, gods in heaven, stop crying! King Aylard continued to silently pray for the kingdom. He did not want anyone in the kingdom to suffer from all this rain.
King Aylard had always been a kind-hearted king. He ruled his kingdom with compassion and kindness. Whatever his people needed, he provided, helping them with food and clean water. With the help of Queen Isabella, the Kingdom of Largo had always been peaceful. All families had been living in harmony. King Aylard made good with the feudal lords too outside of the kingdom and he would send them gifts of crops and harvests from the farmers from time to time just to make sure they, too, were well-fed. Consequently, the feudal lords developed a special kind of respect for King Aylard and Queen Isabella.
But as for today...
It had not been a good day. King Aylard woke up and sensed that something bad may happen, and he was right.
A farmer on horseback had come before the King and was urgently asking for help.
“Your Highness! Please send some men to the east coast to help us secure our lands. We have experienced a landslide and flood last night because of the heavy rain, and now many crops have been swept away. We are in need of help urgently, as we do not know what to do. The circumstance is now out of our control. I'm afraid many farms and crops are now gone and cannot be recovered,” the farmer continued, weeping uncontrollably.
King Aylard was stunned! He rose to his feet immediately and ordered the Royal Army to accompany him to the disastrous area to see what he could do to help. When he and the troops arrived they witnessed the most devastating event that was unfolding in front of their eyes!
Where crop fields had spread as far as the eye could see before had now become a river, flooded with strong currents of water, sweeping away the farmers and their houses. The troops immediately set out to help anyone they could from drowning. Some farmers were too late for help and they had been swept away. King Aylard stood at the edge of the water bank in awe. He could not believe what was happening. It seemed the current had come down from an angry gust from atop one of the higher mountains and made its way to the lower ground. He needed to stop it immediately by redirecting the water to flow away from his precious farmers and their lands.
The king and the troops immediately got to work. They got hold of some heavy sacks from the farmers and some large pieces of stones and worked from the upper areas of the mountain. They built a dam, solid and secure enough to redirect the flow of the water away from the crops and back into the ocean below. With the current now flowing toward the other side of the mountain, the water flow became manageable enough to begin the process of recovery. Many farmers were safely pulled from the water toward solid ground. However, some lives had been lost. King Aylard comforted everyone by stating that his troops would deliver some crops from the west side farmers to compensate for their loss, and ensure the farmers that no one would have to face hunger or poverty. He also ordered his troops to rebuild the farmhouses that had been swept away and to assist in the cooking of food for the farmers' consumption.
As he was speaking he noticed one little boy was running toward the assembled crowd, crying. The boy was obviously in some kind of trauma. He could not have been more than two seasons old. King Aylard asked the crowd who the little boy was. The farmers told him both the boy's parents and the farmhouse had been swept away, their fate was unknown. The boy was now left on his own. King Aylard immediately felt an ache inside him for the boy's tragedy. He held the little boy's hands to comfort him.
“What's your name, little one?”
The boy did not answer. All he could do was cry. Tears flowed out from his deep blue eyes. The child was not old enough to talk yet, but he was aware that he had lost his parents. His blue eyes shone with fear and the unknown and lost. The lad made King Aylard remember how he had held his second boy, Galien's hands whenever Galien cried after being bullied by Theo, his first son. He was empathetic to this boy who had faced such tragedy in his young life. He sensed the fear and the loss in him.
Why not take this boy to the palace with me? He thought. He could be a friend to Galien. He could keep him company. It would be nice for Galien, and also for Theo as well, to have a little friend close to themselves.
He lifted the little boy up to his chest. “What's your name, boy?” He asked.
“His name is Xavier,” somebody from the crowd answered. “Good little boy, but he can't talk yet. He had just learned how to walk a while back, I'm surprised he can run already.”
“Oh, is that so?” asked King Aylard, looking right into the little child's blue eyes, taking notice of his fine head of dark hair.
“Hey, Xavier! You're quite a good-looking boy, aren't you?” he said to the boy, which, oddly, stopped at once the child from crying. Xavier looked into the kind stranger's eyes. He could feel the warmness seething through from his chest into his little body. It was the same kind of warmness when his father held him to his chest. He felt comforted by the sensation. Before he could give it a second thought, Xavier immediately responded by wrapping his arms around King Aylard's shoulders. The king was overwhelmed with empathy. A teardrop escaped from one of his eyes.
He told the crowd he would take Xavier back to the palace until his parents' safely returned to their farm. Some of the troops had already begun searching for the missing farmers. During the search, the soldiers found not only victims of drowning, but citizens who met their ends by blunt force trauma - being crushed to death by heavy fallen stones and rocks – and others still, found nearly wholly consumed by mudslides. This had not been a good day in Largo's kingdom.
The King stayed with the farmers for most of the day, comforting each family. By day's end, he began his journey back to the palace, with the little boy, Xavier, on his horseback, leaving some of his royal armies behind to the rescue.
This was an exceptionally interesting and well written chapter Sandie…I love how the story is widening and showing the King’s empathy and compassion…again it really touched my emotions..
Skilful writing and story telling…you have a real gift for this!
I loved it!
Thank you, all, for the wonderful comment on this chapter! It means so much to me! This is going to be a long story and many events will happen as this story moves forward.
This is a story about two kingdoms, and I have just barely begun talking about the first kingdom which describes how Xavier came into the royal family. I am greatly inspired by the thoughts that come into my head for this story.
The other kingdom I will be talking about is Princess Zena, the Lightning Sword Warrior. I have not yet begun to tell her side of the kingdom yet. Prince Xavier-Largo and Princess Zena will meet one day and fall in love. Please stay tuned for the progress of this story.
A very touching account, Sandie. May inspiration continue to grace you. Love, peace, and best wishes,
Regis. 🌺🌼🍁
Reviewed by Miyanna Law
10/9/2021
I'm worried how Prince Theo is going to treat Xavier when he is old enough to know that Xavier isn't his real brother. It will be interesting to see how this royal family develops in the future. A very good story! Thank you, Sandie!
A very well written story, displaying King Aylard's compassion & concern for his kingdoms citizens and their well being and how you wove Young Xavier character into your story line....Well Done....
Poor farmers are very fortunate to have a king and queens' such as Aylard and a queen Isabella. Xavier, though I feel would become a brother to one young prince but a play thing to the older prince.
Such a well-written chapter, I could feel the plight of the villagers. I shudder to think of Theo's treatment of Xavier. Looking forward to the next chapter.
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