Of Jesters and Kings

Part 2- Games and Pictures

A Year later....

The kingdom the royals lived in was called Astrophel. When the royals first arrived they believed that it was a reference to Astrophel and Stella by Sir Philip. Though after being informed by it's local inhabitants, they soon found out that the word Astrophel means "Star lover".

The previous rulers had been fanatics of the great beyond, the countrymen remarked. Obsessed with the stars and the sky. A clergy man had said there was something horribly wrong with the previous ruling family, The Doyles. They were crazed about something called the Wanderer. But, that conflict was resolved centuries ago. Honestly houses like that come and go, the priest had said with a shrug.

After the appearance of the Jester's portrait, other unusual events had occurred through out the kingdom. The paintings hung inside the palace went through a very peculiar change. All the artwork that had portrayals of anything humanoid or animal were suddenly in black and white. The eyes of the figures were obsidian black and the frame containing the painting was starting to decompose at an abnormally fast rate. A couple weeks before the completion of the downtown theater, a series of mini earthquakes rippled through Astrophel. It wasn't the earthquakes that were disturbing though.

Earthquakes were quite common. Some of the towns were actually located on fault lines and occasionally felt slight tremors in the ground beneath them. But, those that occurred during that week were most certainly out of the ordinary. These earthquakes were powerful. The impact radius was small strangely enough. What the earthquakes revealed under the earth was what concerned the people the most.

Underneath the city was cavern so gargantuan, that it would take hours to fall from the surface of Astrophel and reach the bottom.

An enormous metropolis, towers that spiralled upward, lit with bright green lights.

A subterranean city. No one dared to go near the rifts. The areas around these were evacuated immediately.

Even worse, the Princess had beaten the Cook at an intense game of Uno. Thus the Princess vanquished Charlie's five year win streak. The Princess was shit at Uno too.

She never won.

Ever.

The Jester was in across one side of a checkered playing table facing a stout old man, in a second- rate tavern. The room was slightly packed with a few men hunched over at the bar. The table were beaten and one of them had an unfinished crossword on it. The young man didn't have to stay in the palace all the time. The King was expected to stay in the palace but for the Prince, his only job was to entertain the King. But, Kevin insisted that he was fine and that the sovereign of horses could do whatever he pleased. So that's exactly what the Jester did.

The old man had two stone pawns, they were sculpted to resemble foot men. One wielded a two handed sword and the other, a menacing pike. He had them placed in front of a Queen of Glass.

Interesting playing piece. Very hard to find.

The Jester smirked. Soon it would be his. He slid a wolf shaped piece made of gleaming bronze toward the two pawns. As soon as he hand let go of his playing piece, the objects came to life. The metallic figurehead suddenly split into five bronze wolves. The pawns dismounted from their stone pedestals and clomped forward. The wolves bounded forward, covering a half a square per stride. The pike wielder got one of the wolves. Spearing through it's shining chest with his stone spear. The bronze seemed to part as head met with the metal, as if the weapon was enchanted. But, in no time at all another beast fell upon him and his stone head crunched under it's alloyed teeth.

The sword wielder was being circled by three of the wolves. Each snarling and barking. The warrior paused and looked up at the old man. His master. The man looked back, there was nothing he could do.

The stone man hefted his sword and charged the one of the wolves. It lept toward him, fangs flashing. The warrior brought his sword down in a single arc, slicing clean though the beast. One down, two to go. Another attacked. It's fangs dug into his mineral encrusted shoulder. The man hack at it's lower half. But the creature refused to let go. The last animal lunged toward the pawn's face and found it had a firm grasp on his throat.

The sword was dropped. The man's mouth opened to scream in agony. But no noise came out. Because he was just a stone playing piece. And with that, the fight was over in a minute. The wolves reassembled into the wolfish figurehead, smaller this time. It had lost two members of it's pack. the old man shook his head and handed the Jester the Queen.

The Jester placed her in his bag and gathered the rest of his pieces. A golden stallion, another wolf figure head but made of wood, some unused stone pawns, and other types of fantastical creatures, composed out of interesting materials. The man quickly got up and slid the remaining half of his items into a black leathery bag; he left through the creaking doors with a light nod toward the barkeep and Prince.

Sighing the Jestered inspected the glass monarch in his hand. He rolled it between his thumb and pointer finger. It was surprisingly cold, given the fact that the tavern was pretty warm. Placing the Queen inside his bag, the boy called out to the barkeep.

"One Safron Drought please!" he exclaimed.

"Sorry sir, we're out..." the keeper said as he brought an empty purple bottle into view.

"Does Sprite work?"

The young man scowled and put on his Jester's cap, which had been seated beside the playing board. He dug his hand inside he leather backpack. It was a small compact bag that had two dark thick leather arms straps. His fingers clutched around something smooth and bumpy, and the Prince pulled it out of the front pocket with a fluid motion.

It was a small flat seashell. This seashell played music. It had been magically enhanced to act as a music player as well as an audio recorder. Neat huh? The Prince couldn't live without his music. He popped off the tip of the cone, where the spiral ended, and inserted a leathery twine. The twine had a glossy black end which fit perfectly into the tip of the cone. It detached into two strips of twine toward the upper half, and on each end there was a brass head that was attached to a small blue felt cushion.

The boy stood up and threw on his pack, and with a click of the shell music, which sounded strangely like rap, started to blare out of the ends as he placed the heads into his ears.

"Going out for some fresh air.." he called back behind him as he left. Not that anyone cared. He was answered with a few grunts and an almost inaudible, "YOU SUCK!"

It was fall right now in the kingdom of Astrophel. The trees fiery red and orange. They blazed in the noon sky. A few leaves drifted down toward the green grass. The Horse Prince walked for a while down a beaten dirt path that led away from the tavern into the bright forest. His music flowing into his ears and he hefted his colorful staff he held at his side.

The air was crisp and fresh. Small breezes drifted through the air, rustling the trees. The Horse Jester Prince nodded his head to the beat of his music. As he walked, a stout wagon rolled past him. He didn't take much noticed. The song was just about to reach his favorite part.

The wagon a royal blue. The color of the House Bryne. The house Kevin and the royals belonged to. The wheels were old, and the axle was slightly rusty. The boards that the wagon was composed of were of fair quality though; they were polished and had an unique dark luster to their appearance. Loaded on the wagon was a medium sized canvas covered board, with small iron nails to hold it in place. A strong gust billowed past it, and the cloth developed a tear. A second draft ripped the canvas off, bits of weaving still attached to the iron nails. The canvas waved gently behind it.

To reveal a black and white picture.

Of a bloodied King, that had solid black eyes.

He held a soiled Jester's cap.

Signing off, Gin