Follow the Clockworks

Chapter 1

The large bells rung throughout the city, alerting all the citizens what time of year it was. Jack Yao was resuming the yearly search for a new king, and now a queen. Spades hadn’t had a king for 5 years, after the old king died, he left his queen to rule the kingdom. She was a great ruler, she kept the kingdom of Spades well-kept, and all the citizens were happy under her reign.

Alfred, at the ripe age of nineteen, was finally eligible and even required to go to the palace for the search. So, on the day of the Finding, as Spades called it, Alfred set off to the palace with his brother Matthew at his side and a pouch of twenty gold coins in his pocket. “In case anything goes wary”, his mother had said when she insisted that he take it. He hadn’t wanted to take it, they could still live comfortably without it, sure, but that still didn’t change the fact that he didn’t like taking money from his mother.

“Hey,” Matthew spoke up as they were on the sidewalk, pushing through the busy market stands, “what would you do if you became king?” he asked.

“I dunno. Maybe I would finally sort out the treaty we have with Clubs that says none of Spade’s citizens are allowed in Clubs. And the reason is secret. Which is pretty damn stupid if ya ask me.” Alfred responded, nodding his head as he walked past the various busy vendors. 

As Matthew and he approached the large stone castle walls, they fell silent, chatter dying down as they listened to and admired everything around them. A guard stopped them, giving them a once over before sending Matthew in the direction of the Ace’s line. Alfred was shocked, staring after Matthew as he walked hesitantly away after shooting Alfred a timid smile. The guard looked Alfred over once before nodding his head in the direction of the King’s lineup. He stood in line, noticing that he could see the queen’s line from where he stood. He saw lots of people, ranging from pretty girls to tall and muscular men. One, in particular, stood out. He was wearing a grey vest and black slacks with a white cravat, even though it seemed all to hot out for such attire. What was even more odd, his clothes we’re well kept but his sandy hair looked unruly. And if that wasn’t bad enough, he had beautiful emerald eyes, with gigantic black stocky eyebrows… That were angled downward and were glaring at him. 

On the day of the Finding Arthur was in a worse mood than usual. He honestly thought the whole thing was ridiculous and wanted no part in it. But both his mother and father had ordered him to go, and since he didn’t want to argue with them, he finally gave in and went

His four older brothers were also in attendance and he walked with them all the way to the castle walls. When all four were sent to the King’s line he expected the same for him, but was a bit surprised to be ordered to go to the Queen’s line. He grumbled a bit but supposed it didn’t matter. He didn’t think he would become the next Queen anyway so he didn’t linger on the subject for too long. What was interesting to watch was how fast and how long the lines were becoming. There were more eligible people than he had thought.

Standing there in line was becoming difficult for him now. The clothes he wore were making him hotter and hotter as time passed. Yes, he could have worn much cooler and comfortable clothes, but he wanted to look presentable. He could endure the heat for a little longer. But looking around he noticed something, or rather, someone staring at him from the King’s line. He glared at him hoping that the other boy would stop his incessant starring. After a while it seemed to be going nowhere as the other blue eyed blond hadn’t ceased his staring. Arthur turned his head away and looked forward at the castle entrance.

Loud trumpets emanated from the entrance of the castle as large wooden doors slowly opened wide and Arthur took a deep breath. To be truthful he was nervous about this. Would he be chosen for the new Queen of Spades? And what would happen if he was chosen? He didn’t think he was capable of running a kingdom. There wasn’t much time to dwell on this thought though. Everyone was now ready to pick the new King and Queen of Spades.