The Unknown King

Prologue:

 

Charles had never been special. He never stood out among the other village boys. He didn’t have time to be special. He had always been the man of his house. It was him, his mother, and his sweet little sister alone on their farm.

Charles was forced to take on the responsibilities of the house at a young age. His father left before he could remember, and his mother could barely take care of herself after he left. So Charles had to be the man of the family. He remembers the day he realized that he had to step up and support himself. His mother had spent the day crying, as usual, and he was left unfed. At the age of 6 Charles had just learned to make himself a cup of water, he surely couldn’t prepare himself a meal. But Charles defied these odds and did as he had alway seen his mother do.

Thence forth,Charles has always prepared the food for himself and his sister. Who was the byproduct of an in and out step dad who was only around long enough to get Charles’ vulnerable mother pregnant. But Charles didn’t blame his sister for this. He loved her with all his heart. Nothing would ever happen to her as long as he was around.

But back to the story, it was a dreary day in the middle of September. The year was 982 A.D. and Charles was of the ripe age of 16. Most boys his age had already decided what trade they were going to be in. But Charles was undecided, he had always thought that he would have to stay home on the farm and provide for his mother and sister. Man was he wrong.

Charles woke up in a cold sweat. He had dreamed of a man beating on a slave. Charles wanted to stop him, but the dream would not let him. He was forced to stand and watch in horror as the boy was beaten and beaten. Charles spoke out, saying something like “leave him alone” or “stop you scoundrel”. With this the man turned toward Charles and caused him to awaken. Charles was scared awake, scared awake because the man had no face.

After shaking himself off and reminding himself “it was just a dream” Charles got up to do his daily chores. First he had to water and feed the two cows they could barely afford to keep; Bessy and Missy. Who Charles’ little sister had named. Bessy was a regular black and white cow, as Missy was a Chocolate brown cow. Both the same in the never ending pit they called their stomach. But Charles did not dread the cows, or how much food they ate, because he knew that next spring when he was to butcher them they would bring in a hefty amount of money.

Next Charles had to feed the chicken. So he ran back up to the house to get the seed. As he did he could hear the sounds of his mother waking his sister and her whines of protest.

“Come on Anabell, you must get up. Your brother has things for you to do for him.” said Charles’ mother.

“But why? Why must I get up so early?” protested Anabell.With this Charles walked into the door ending all the commotion.

“Ana, you have responsibilities on this farm that must be taken care of.” said Charles.

“Ahh, the Chicken won’t die if I don’t collect the eggs today.” joked Ana.

“But you might starve because you have no breakfast to eat without the eggs.” said Charles.Who could always outwit his sister into doing something.

“Fine, I’ll get up.” said Ana with a sigh. Trusting that she truly would do so, Charles grabbed the pale of seed and set out for the Chicken coop. As he rounded the corner of the coop Charles could hear some rustling in front of it. He turned the corner to find a man. A man beating on a boy no older than Charles himself.

Charles could not believe his eyes. They were the people from his dreams. But as Charles spoke out and the man turned toward him, Charles worst fears were confirmed. The man, the man from his dream, still had no face.