philophobia → the walking dead ³

thirty.

CHAPTER THIRTY,
the kingdom.

The group entered The Kingdom and saw that they were thriving. They stopped and looked around.

"They have the numbers." Michonne said.

"But can they fight?" Rosita asked.

"Oh, they can fight." Jesus replied.

"Maybe." Daryl said from beside Aiden.

"Morgan?" They all heard Tara call. They looked and saw the man standing beside Richard. The walked towards him and Tara hugged him followed by Sasha.

"How do you know each other?" Richard asked.

"We go back to the start." Rick informed him.

"Well, the King is ready to see you." Richard said. The group followed him.

"Holy shit." Aiden said loudly.

She stared at the beautiful animal on the stage. On the stage sat a man in a large chair, a King's throne. And two men stood beside him. Aiden looked over and saw that Xavier held Elliot. Aiden was hesitant to bring him but Daryl insisted that they did.

"Jesus! It pleases me to see you!" A man, Aiden assumed he was King Ezekiel, shouted. He was African American and he had long gray dreads.

"It pleases him, indeed!" The larger man shouted.

"Jerry." The King said firmly.

"Tell me, what news do you bring good King Ezekiel? Are these new allies you've brought me?" He asked. The group couldn't help but stare at the orange, black, and white animal.

A tiger.

"Indeed, they are, Your Majesty. This is..." he trailed off when he saw the looks on all of their faces. "Oh, right. I forgot to mention that-"

"Yeah, a tiger." Rick said. The tiger roared causing Aiden's eyes to widen and excitement to fill her heart like a kid.

"Oh, my God. It's so cool!" She exclaimed in amazement. Ezekiel's eyes flew to her and he grinned.

"This is Rick Grimes, the leader of Alexandria, and these are some of his people." Jesus introduced.

"I welcome you to The Kingdom, good travelers. Now, what brings you to our fair land?" Ezekiel asked. "Why do you seek an audience with the King?" Aiden stared at him. He was an odd man, clearly. But she thought it was cool. He held himself high. His people respected him and Aiden would respect that.

"Ezekiel. King... Ezekiel. Alexandria, the Hilltop, and the Kingdom- all three of our communities have something in common. We all serve the Saviors. Alexandria already fought them once, and we won. We thought we took out the threat, but we didn't know then what we know now. We only beat one outpost. We've been told you have a deal with them, that you know them. Then you know they rule through violence and fear." Rick said.

"Your Majesty, I only told them of the-" Jesus started bur was cut off.

"Our deal with the Saviors is not known among my people- for good cause. We made you a party to that secret when you told us of the Hilltop's own travails, but we did not expect you to share-"