A Game of Keep Away

Chapter One - Varian

"All rise for the honorable judge, our beloved king, Frederic!"

No...

Varian's breath hitched - the rest of the world seemed to stop with it. This couldn't be happening... It couldn't! His only hope for survival had been hinged on this one moment... and now...

No. No. NO! This is a nightmare! It has to be! I'm going to wake up! I'm going to wake up and find I've fallen asleep in the holding cell! I've got to be asleep!

He gasped for air, only to hold it in once more, as the king walked past him onto the small stage in the front of the room.

I hate him.

It was all he could think as he stood facing his ever-so-merciful and law-abiding king. His pure hate and anger towards his beloved monarch who was so fairly presiding as judge.

He looked up at the king, not sure of what he was hoping to see. Remorse? Guilt? Even a flicker of an apology? A change of heart? Yeah, like that would ever happen.

He was looking into the face of pure evil-

Or maybe more like 99% evil... he's got to have something good inside of him... right?

He searched the king's face a moment more, desperately looking for any sort of well... anything! Anything to give him even the tiniest bit of hope that he would make it till the next morning.

But all he found was a glint that clearly said, "Did you really think you could escape me?"

I failed... There's no way I'm going to be alive come this time tomorrow. Not with him in charge. I thought...

"Thank you, thank you." King Frederic smiled at the people in the crowds, acting as if he wasn't about to sentence a fourteen-year-old to death. To him, and everyone else sitting in the room, this was all just another meeting they had to attend before heading to tea.

Well maybe... maybe not... not everybody?

Varian cast a futile look at his friends- or so-called friends. Surely they weren't his friends anymore, sitting up on their fluffed pillows, crowns on their heads, cookies being served as they watched him being condemned to death. Surely friends didn't do that.

But what would he know of friends? He was a traitor anyways, was this all just karma for his acts of high treason?

Could you call a person your friend after you kidnapped their mother?

He cast another, though this time shameful, look at his old friends. There they were, laughing away as if this was just another task on the to-do list. Sign a treaty, pass a law, and enjoy a slight sit-down while someone dies.

No. This... This isn't... None of this should be happening... I should never have kidnapped the queen, but regardless, none of this should be happening!

"As you all know, we are gathered here today because of the multitude of crimes committed by this boy!" Frederic dramatically pointed to Varian, to whom the crowd booed.

"Kill him! Kill the traitor!" Echoed the people, giving him flashbacks to the attack on his home.

"I am glad that you, my people, care so much for our country that you say such things. But I cannot condemn a boy like him to death. He is just a boy after all."

W-what?

He lifted his downcast head, confused. Had he misunderstood this entire time? Was there a small sliver of kindness in the king's heart?