Musings of a Broken Mind

Not All Kings Were Born To Rule

In a village, far from here, the people pray each night,

that God shall watch them whilst they rest, and that he'll hear their plight.

For something strange is lingering, it haunts them while they sleep,

and every single person longs, the safety of the Keep.

The regal beard adorns the face, of good King Althalos,

His hair worn long, his pious stance, his eyes upon the cross.

"I've waited 50 years for you, you stalked me in my dreams,

and chased me through thine barren valleys, chased me through thine streams!"

"Chased me through thy humble fortress, mocked and blamed my kind,

saw all these years laid before me, etched within my mind.

Yet one day, Algernon, we'll meet, and when this time bears true,

I'll run the sharpened edge of silver, through the heart of you!"

"My people go to bed each night, and pray for simple things,

they never would have known the glory, fit for Queens and Kings.

They never would have had the chance, to sample all things grand,

and never would have known the joy, of waiters at their hand!".

Yet as the King began to think, of Algernon anew,

and how he'd torn the trust of all, and how he'd ran them through,

A shadow crept the hallways of the castle, tall and strong,

the meeting of the unbeknown, had waited far too long...

In deepened tones, a voice called out... "King Althalos, it's true!

I never could have dreamt of someone, twisted more than you!

For is it not the truth amongst, those people in the know,

that when I stalked their streets at night, they had no place to go?

And who here held the power to help each and every one?

Who here held the scepter in his hand when hope was gone?

Who here lives behind these walls, a coward and a fiend?

Whilst they were saying prayers at night and no-one intervened?"

"So it is true, we meet again", said Althalos out loud,

"I wondered why you'd never shown your face within the crowd.

Instead you stalked them all by night, you tore their lives apart,

you ripped a hole within their chest, and tore away their heart!

You ate their soul and ate their love, whole families torn in two!

And I have nothing more to say, not to the likes of you!

For in my hand I hold the truth, the one thing that is right,

and trust me when I tell you, you won't leave my home tonight!".

Algernon began to laugh, "You count yourself a King?!

You've sat and watched me dine each night, and didn't do a thing!

As blood ran down your shadowed streets, you watched it from up here,

you didn't dare to show your face, because it showed your fear!

Who are you to judge me now? Who are you to care?

Each night I pick out six of them, and take them to my lair!

I picked their bones clean, shined them up, I used them as my tools,

and when night came around again, I used them on THOSE fools!".

Althalos walked slowly over, took a deepened breath,

and wondered if he'd garner fame, or fortune from this death.

He drew his sword and humble torches placed upon the wall,

adorned the sharpened edge of reason, handled by his thrall!

Yet Algernon, he simply sighed and whispered "If you must...",

He raised his paws, a sign of gesture, just to garner trust...

Alas the King was mortified, for right there on his chest,

the family crest of which they shared adored his silken breast.

"Oh my lord, this can't be true! I beg this be a dream!

I beg this night be filled with laughter, not a single scream!

I beg this night revert to day, and all shall be just fine,

I beg you rid me of this beast, who taints these halls of mine!".

Yet true it was and with one pounce, the king was on the floor,

the fur of Algernon was but one final thing he saw.

And with a sigh, contentment spread across the lips of he,

for this was what he'd longed to do, and how he'd come to be.

"I never would have thought i'd have to kill, who I just did.

But something that had changed my mind, I learnt when just a kid...

My mother was the same as me, was bitten by her foe,

and off she ran into the woodland, nowhere else to go."

"For years I had understood, not who else bore my name,

was ridiculed and hated on, was taught to feel but shame.

I always wondered if i'd ever meet the man who bore,

the seed within my Mother, who was back then, just a whore.

"Alas the truth had dawned on me, when one man, frail and weak,

had opened up his lips to me, and then began to speak,

"Before you take my life from me, look over, in that chest,

you'll learn the truth of who you are, then you shall know the rest!"

And as his life ebbed softly, from the wide and gaping hole,

the very one from which i'd torn, his heart, his lungs and soul,

I wandered over to the place, he'd told me I should look,

and found a small and shiny emblem, bound within a book.

The book was but a diary, which my now dead mother kept,

and every single page I read, until the daylight crept.

And that is when I learnt the truth, that brought me where I stand,

King Althalos was but my father, ruler of this land!

© Copyright Janine Bignell 2014