Collection Of Short Stories

The King's Doom

Once upon a time, in a kingdom far far away, there lived two best friends.

One of them was a cheerful blond male, someone who laughed the loudest in the room and always had a smile on his lips. He was what one would refer to as the "golden retriever" of their village.

Living up to his reputation, Lucas was often seen hanging out with villagers of all ages. One minute he would be playing with a little girl, the next he would be helping an old man carry his heavy load. He was truly a gentleman and was honoured for being so by being invited to one of the villagers' houses almost every day. Maybe it was because the village was curious about him - after all, he wasn't perfect.

After all, Louisville was hardly a place people moved into. More often than not, people were dying to be let out of this place. Thus, it was bound to be a surprise when Lucas and the other girl popped up out of nowhere. The villagers, so far, hadn't been able to find any information about the strange duo. The only bit of information they had succeeded in gathering was that they had both lost their parents in a famine years ago and had stuck together since. Other than this, they had no idea who these people were, or even why they were so close.

The other half of the strange duo was a sulky female, someone you could always expect to see sitting alone in the corner of the room. Her nose was always stuck in a book whose covers alone gave the kids nightmares. Sometimes you could even notice her peeking her eyes over the book and observing the people around her with distaste.

It didn't help that she always wore black even in the village's blaring heat. Her dresses were always covered in mud. While this seemed irreproachable, the villagers seemed to be intent on assuming the worst. Day in and day out, they grumbled relentlessly about how she believed herself to be above them and wished to shove her riches in their faces.

It was funny how they could assume so much about a woman, but had no issues with their king when he told them to offer him better things as his gift.

How mud-covered dresses translated to riches was beyond the writer, but it is assumed that this was because in 17th-century Louisville dresses were seen as symbols of royalty. Only the king and queen were allowed to wear dresses of any sort, while the peasants were forced to wear pants. The reasoning behind this was that this attire made it easier for them to work, but it was evident that the royalty only wished to have a monopoly on something, no matter how stupid the situation was.

This rule wasn't legally enforced, so no one could force anyone to not wear dresses. Yet, anyone who did dare to wear them while not having any important position was frowned upon. In those times, being frowned upon was the equivalent of being banished, and no one wished to be banished over a matter as trivial as their wardrobe. There are far better and more interesting reasons for being banished.

Even at a mere glance, it was evident that these two people were polar opposites of each other. And yet, somehow, they stuck together. So, I guess opposites do attract.

Oh and, one of them was supposed to be a mage. An evil one.

It was a shame, really, because everyone knew that the girl - Valerie - was the mage. They whispered about it behind her back and called her names to her face. In their opinion, while her horror-inducing library, her choice of clothing and her manners weren't proof enough, the villagers also had a certain feeling that assured them that Valerie had dealt with dark forces, or perhaps even the devil himself. They could swear that every time they were around her - not by their choice, obviously - they could feel chills going down their spine. Many even admitted that they had passed out soon after they had left her presence, and had the worst nightmares of their lives.

However, these weren't concrete pieces of evidence. Thus, free she was, roaming around the kingdom's streets she hated oh-so-much. What else could they do but question her? They couldn't very well just burn her on a stake and get it done with. That idea wasn't going to be presented to them till the end of the century.