King Aylard woke up feeling sad the morning following the race. He could not believe the rumours he heard the day before. It seemed words had spread among the Kingdom of Largo about the horse sticks race.
Those rumours which had been circulating inside the palace, spoken so softly, and yet heard so loudly by King Aylard. One particular rumour, which had plagued the kingdom for the past few days - even before the horse-sticks race - concerned Theo. It was said that Theo, along with his two brothers, had been going around to several big kids, threatening them with physical harm if they would dare to surpass him in the big race. He even threatened them further by stating that if they would not let him win the race, something was going to happen to their family members. He boasted that his father, the king, will punish them if they would not go slowly during the race to ensure his victory.
Another rumour circulated was that the king had paid a large sum of gold to Woodworker William, ensuring the victory of his three sons, but this was not true . He gave William the gold only to encourage him and also cover for all the woodworking projects he had done so far for the kingdom, and to begin putting William on schedule with the Palace's Treasury to receive a regular payout of gold for the expense incurred from his woodworking projects. This had been done through the goodness of his heart to support Woodworker William's selfless act in creating all those wonderful things for the Kingdom's children. There was no other reason for him to reward William with the gold. How this rumour had spread and how much the truth had been completely distorted had broken the king's heart.
King Aylard knew he had a hot problem on his hands that needed to be fixed to ease the hearts of the inhabitants of his kingdom. He had been a wonderful king who was good to his people, and everyone respected him, he did not want to be regarded as a bad king and a bad father by his people.
How did Theo manage to convince his two brothers to go around with him to threaten everyone like that? It was so unlikely for Galien and Xavier to have agreed to go along with Theo's plan. Theo's physical appearance may have given others a false impression that he was older and much stronger. As for Galien, although he was almost the same height as Theo, he appeared to be much slimmer and physically weaker. Lastly, Xavier whom both King Aylard and the queen loved so much as the youngest child in the family, had always been considered still a baby that required some growth. Never could the king imagine Xavier would do such a thing. What then, convinced both Galien and Xavier to agree to go along to do this shameful deed?
King Aylard confronted Theo after they came back to the palace from the race about the rumours he heard, but Theo flatly denied it. Both Galien and Xavier fell into silence. They would neither admit nor deny the rumours. Now, the only thing for King Aylard to do was to attempt to appeal to the hearts of the people within his kingdom. He needed to consult Samuel, the Palace Advisor.
Samuel had been devastated over the rumours, he appeared before the king and the queen the moment he was summoned.
“Your Royal Highness, how about doing the two things,” Samuel began by saying.
“Firstly, you will compensate... ah...no, actually do not say the word compensate for if you do, you will admit that the rumours are true . Let's just say... for the public's sake, and to hold their interest in the first Playhouse event, that you will reward every household with some gold for their future commitment in support of the kingdom's first playhouse,” Samuel paused for a moment. Then continued.
“And secondly, you will reward Woodworker William with more woodworkers. I'm sure William has been affected by the rumours too. He does not deserve to be misunderstood by the people for his selfless deed. The palace will recruit some wonderful workers who are into creative woodworking. They will help build another section of the playhouse, which will be added to the existing Lambert and Son's Playhouse as an expansion. Then after the new section is built, the workers will help make more playthings to be displayed.
Now, with the gold rewarded to every household, the children may go to the Playhouse, either to obtain the playthings by paying William with the gold they have received or simply just browse and observe there. This may inspire more creative woodworking young people, and the children as well,” suggested Samuel. He tilted his head, and looked into King Aylard's eyes, seeking his approval. The king appeared to be impressed.
“My dear queen, you know this may work. Samuel does have a great idea! I'm all for this!” King Aylard said to Queen Isabella, who was sitting across the table. His eyes widened with newfound excitement, and a wide grin beamed across his face.
“Yes, this may be the way to gain back the trust of the people to let them know we have their best interest in our hearts. Poor Woodworker William may, too, get a boost in his spirit. He deserves so much better for all his hard work!” Isabella looked at the King, and then at Advisor Samuel, content with the solution that has just been offered. She exhaled a big sigh of relief!
“So, we will just agree on this and please send words to the people that the king will make an important announcement the morning after the next two moons. Please advise all the people, if possible, to be at the town courtyard for the announcement,” the king instructed Samuel.
Samuel concluded the meeting by making a mental note of the decision and retreated to his own chamber in the palace. He immediately summoned the palace's guards out to advise everyone about the upcoming King Aylard's announcement. He was happy that the king and the queen had both agreed upon his solution to the matter. Ever since the rumours began to circulate he had been busy thinking of a solution and this seemed to be the best approach to win back the hearts and the trust of the people.
I will advise the king and the queen about how to teach Theo after the announcement is made. The announcement is a priority now.He thought.
Samuel had not come up with a plan yet to advise the king about Theo. He knew he had a hard chore on hand in dealing with this future king. His only hope would be that his two sons, Drake and Durwin, would not run into a lot of problems with this future king. He was afraid for his two boys' safety, and yet, for the palace's sake, he had to allow his two boys to get associated with the king's three sons. In his mind, if Theo cannot be taught better, there will be a dark time when the throne is presented to him after the king's demise. He would not know and was afraid of what may happen when Theo reigns. Will his two sons be safe under Theo's reign? Will the Kingdom be safe?
In Samuel's mind, he had never approved of the king and the queen drinking the magic potion from the magician. He considered it black magic, and in his mind, he thought that something that is conceived through black magic would always have some flaws in it. He often wondered about Theo's character. He thought the flaws in Theo's character may have been caused by black magic. He needed to suggest to the king to find that magician to confront him, but where had this magician come from? And where is he now? It seemed that no one had seen him since Theo was born.
The magician was not an inhabitant of the palace or within this kingdom. But who had sent him into the kingdom and be in front of the king and queen on that fateful day? Did he belong to one of those Feudal Lords' tribes outside the kingdom? Which tribe had this magician come from? It seemed no one had even asked for his name. The Palace only referred to him as the magician. What was in that potion that the King and the Queen consumed and ingested so as to give birth to Theo?
Samuel had so many questions in his mind, but it seemed that no one could answer. It would fall upon his shoulders now to do an investigation into this so-called magician.
Yet, where can he start? And with whom? Who will believe him when he begins to talk badly about Theo, the future king? Will they support his mission to investigate the magician, or will they report to King Aylard for his intention? Will the king support his mission to investigate? Samuel had not yet mentioned a word about his intention to King Aylard so far, but after this horse-sticks race and the rumours, he felt compelled to seek the magician to confront him. He felt this magician is using Theo to harm the kingdom. He might even want to bring King Aylard down sooner even before the three children are grown! Samuel must advise King Aylard to pay caution whenever he was out of the palace visiting the farmers around the outskirts of the East and the West of the Kingdom.
XXXXX
Two moons have gone by quickly and today the sun rose bright and early, prompting everyone in the kingdom to gather at the town square courtyard. The early birds came as soon as first light, and the rest gradually came to fill up the town square.
Around noontime, the courtyard was packed with citizens. The crowd extended from the front of the Palace to all the way down the streets. Many people were there, including Woodworker William and his father, Lambert.
The Town Crier stood in the courtyard near the front of the palace to make the announcement. To his back was a platform that had been freshly built to seat the king, the queen, and their three children.
He was heard saying,
“Good day, fellow citizens! Following is an announcement from His Royal Highness, the King, and Her Majesty, the Queen:
My dear fellow citizens:
It has been an honour for me to have witnessed two moons ago the first, ever, contest of the Horse-sticks race event held at the Lambert and Son's Playhouse. I thank you all for your show of interest in this first race event in the Largo Kingdom.
Firstly, I extend my congratulations go to the five winners, Drake, Theo, Madison, Emma, and Oriana, who consequently will move to the next phase of the contest, the Dog Wagon race, which will be held six full moons from now. There will be a lot of training involved for the five winners as well as their dogs that they need to get acquainted with. There will just be one winner this time, and the reward will be a two-seater dog wagon that will accept up to two dogs to operate.
Secondly, there will be free gold to reward every household. I wish to extend my thanks to all my fellow citizens for their show of interest in the horse sticks race event and the support which was given to our Woodworker William, who has been selflessly working endless hours to produce the horse sticks and the dog wagons. To thank you all I have instructed the Royal Treasury to award 5 golds to every household to spend on future Playhouse events. You may also use the 5 golds to buy playthings too from the playhouse.
Thirdly, we are going to reward Woodworker William with more help from other young men who may like to be trained as woodworkers in the kingdom. In the next while, a team of royal officials will be formed to assist Woodworker William in the recruitment of those who are interested in woodworking or have established some working experience already. The new crew of woodworkers will first help Lambert and Son's Playhouse to expand. They will help build a new section for the Playhouse. When completed, they will use their expertise to create and produce new playthings for the playhouse.
In closing, I wish to remind all contestants of the upcoming dog-wagon race that the event will be closely monitored and all contestants will be judged fairly. Your hard work and training will be required. You are to get acquainted with your dogs as you and your dogs will work as a team. Any misconduct during the contest will render the offending contestant disqualified.
Yours regally
King Aylard of Largo”
XXXXX
As soon as the announcement was read in completion, the crowd cheered and chanted loudly.
"Long live the king!"
"Long live the king!"
“Long Live King Aylard!”
"Long live King Aylard!"
Many other people from the crowd, both young and old, flocked to Woodworker William's side, to introduce themselves and offer congratulations and any assistance if needed. Woodworker William stood beside his father Lambert, both looking up at the king with much appreciation and thanks in their eyes. All the misunderstandings during the past few days seemed to have suddenly disappeared. Today, Woodworker William felt good. He felt like he had just been awarded a brand new personality. He felt renewed and he felt like a big boss already, thanks to King Aylard's and the Queen's support!
After the announcement was read, King Aylard and Queen Isabella heard cheers and chanting from the courtyard. They both breathed sighs of relief, but as they looked over to their son, Theo, whose eyes stare blankly, it seemed his thoughts were far away. It hurts King Aylard as much as it hurts his son, but the dog-wagon race needs to be monitored wisely so there will not be any misunderstandings.
For the next while, the king secretly watched his son Theo from a distance. He watched him going to the Playhouse to practice everyday and he seemed to be accepting the fact that in order to obtain any measure of success, hard work and training would be required. At times, he watched Theo talking to his dog, and petted him gently. The dog seemed to understand him. King Aylard was happy to see this softer side of Theo which he had never seen before. Theo also learned how to put the harness on the dog, and flicked the leash to signal the animal to move forward. Then at times, he would give the rein another flick to signal the dog to run faster. Those big wooden wheels that Woodworker William put on both sides of the wagon seat appeared to be well secured, preventing the wagon from toppling over while rounding corners around laps. The king was now secretly congratulating himself that his son Theo was doing so well in handling the dog wagon and his dog. But in his mind, Theo still needed to learn to speed up. He hoped Theo would learn that in time.
Well written chapter. Interesting introduction of Samuel and William.
Story is interesting and does hold my interest even at better than 2,600 words. Theo, the bully is up to his rotten self by warning his brothers that they'd better let him win the race.
Good progress of this story! All the lying and the distorted facts are not too far from the political real world that we are living in. I'm glad the problem is resolved for now. Great chapter, Sandie!
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