At five o'clock the guards came for him. Once more placed in iron shackles, Felix was led to the executioner's block that had been erected in the castle courtyard. Forced to his knees, the Regent stood over him. "André Twain William Tudor you stand accused of practicing sorcery, how do you plea?" Felix remained silent.
"Not guilty," a voice yelled out across the courtyard. Felix looked up and saw André fighting through the crowd. He spoke again once he was at the front of the crowd, "I am André Twain William Tudor, heir to the English Throne. I demand you release him." He held up his hand that once more wore his royal ring.
"Then this boy shall still be executed for imitating royalty and practicing sorcery," the Regent growled.
"On the contrary my dear Regent this boy is royalty. He is my twin brother, Prince Felix Marcus Harold Tudor and like our mother, the late queen," his voice hitched at her mention, "he has inherited her ability to wield magic."
"You should've died with your mother. To have magic infiltrating the royal family, it's disgusting. The execution shall continue, I would advise you to be silent young prince unless you plan to follow your brother's fate." Guards surrounded Felix's twin. "The King's law states all Mages are to be executed after the night the queen was struck down by a Mage's cursed blade in her sleep."
"How did you know she was struck by a cursed blade?" Mrs Hendon asked from the crowd, "you were out of town the night she was killed and only myself, the queen's brother, and the Captain of the Guard ever knew about the blade."
"The Captain of the Guard told me." The Regent stuttered.
"I never breathed a word except in my report to the King in which I said she was killed by a curse," the Captain of the Guard spoke up.
"You killed my mother, you killed the queen," André spoke up.
"You tried to have me killed, you forced me away from my family," Felix added.
"You sent hundreds of innocents to their deaths."
"You have caused Mages to live impoverished and in fear, and you tried to kill me last night believing I was André." André looked at his brother, startled by that revelation.
"Andrew Bodgen, you are hereby under arrest for multiple counts of treason," the Captain of the Guard proclaimed.
The traitor snarled, "if I'm going down, I'll at least remove the tainted blood from the royal family." He threw a knife at André. Both brothers cried out in pain as the knife plunged into André's shoulder knocking him off balance as the Regent plunged an iron blade into Felix's chest. The guards fell onto Bodgen and led him away. André, blood pouring from his shoulder, reached his brother and knelt beside him. Felix's vision began to blur, the last thing he heard before unconsciousness claimed him was his brother begging him to hold on.
YOU ARE READING
Gemini Reges - A Prince and the Pauper Retelling
Fantasy"How would you like to be the prince for a few days?" The other boy laughed, "if only." André remained silent. "You're serious?" Prince André needs an escape from his life, between his ailing father and his studies it all is too much for the young...
