The King & the Brother

Chapter 6

Huxley was pretty uneventful during the rest of their lockdown since Cecilia's main targets were both stuck in their room. It had been three days since what happened with Adam, he didn't see the boy much but the few times he had seemed pretty upset. Cessair had barely slept from the anxiety of recent events and getting food on his stomach was rare at best. He felt trapped in his thoughts and couldn't bring himself to eat anything that was brought to him. He looked forward to the end of the isolation Cecilia forced onto them, but she gave no inclination of when that may be.
When Cessair was finally brought into the kitchen to join Jabez, even he was concerned by how his friend looked. "You look pale! Have you eaten anything recently? You look like you're about to keel over." He said, approaching Cessair, who backed away towards his work.
"I'm fine." Even his voice sounded weak, but was insistent through Jabez pestering. He was hurt that Cessair was being so distant, no matter his mood, he never seemed quite like this. Jabez quit bothering and let him have his space, beginning their typical routine, every once in a while looking over his shoulder to check on Cessair.
After a couple hours, Jabez couldn't help but notice Cessair wasn't nearly as far as he'd usually be by now. He wasn't trying to claim that his friend was slacking, it only worsened his worries and he didn't love the idea of not finishing before Cecilia arrived.
He came over to his side of this kitchen and began picking up, hoping to help pick up the slack. "I don't need your help!" He spat out, he didn't even turn around to look at Jabez. Jabez was stunned silent, Cessair had never yelled at him like that.
"...I was just trying to help, you seemed tired..." he replied quietly.
"Get back to your side, I didn't ask for your help!" This was the strongest his voice had sounded all day, it even frightened Jabez a little, but sadness is what mostly filled his chest. Cessair didn't want him near, and couldn't bear the idea of accidentally hurting him somehow.
Jabez returned to his side and officially surrendered. He felt grimy, he knows he didn't do anything exactly wrong, but he couldn't stand the feeling between the two of them at the moment. It filled him with an anxiety that formed as a heavy rock in his stomach.
It wouldn't be long before the dreaded caretaker would barge into the kitchen, for the first time she almost seemed pleased. She stood back and simply watched the boys clean for a few moments, Jabez hated the feeling of her watching them from the back of the room. He wondered why she wasn't saying anything.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity of silence, Cecilia would speak up with a slight grin on her face, "I knew ya worthless orphans couldn't do it." Cessiar dropped the dinnerware he was holding in the sink and moved from the station.
"I'm out of punishments for you sick kids. There isn't anything in this world that could turn you into decent human beings." She continued the barrage of insults, Jabez couldn't help but stop cleaning and look over at Cessair, who had at some point turned around to look at the woman spewing insults. His heart began to race and time slowed as he watched Cessair's expression slowly change and come more alive.
Cecilia kept on tormenting the boys, likely to aggravate Cessair, still holding a grudge over Cessair's out-of-line behavior from more than a week prior. Jabez picked up on this but there wasn't anything he could do to stop it, the escalation was inevitable in his eyes.
Cecilia continued, confident in her position of power, "I couldn't be more disap--" She was interrupted by a loud series of knocks on the front door and it only added agitation to her expression. "Keep cleaning until I get back!" She spat hustling to the door as the knocking became more forceful.
Jabez gave Cessair a look and said, "Please calm down, you're going to get us in more trouble." He couldn't tell if he actually heard him or even read how serious he was. Cessair returned to cleaning, Jabez hoped this meant he was going to be able to keep himself under control.
Cessiar and Jabez had managed to finish cleaning before Cecilia returned. It felt strange that she had not returned yet, the clock in the kitchen didn't work and there were no windows to tell the time of day; They had no idea how long they had been waiting. They remained rather quiet, only exchanging words here and there about what she's doing that's taking so long. Cecilia had never taken this long to collect them before.
"Maybe she forgot about us." Jabez said hopefully.
"Don't be naive." Cessair said back.
"Maybe another kid was acting up." Cessair remained quiet. "Well what do you think, then?"
"I don't know. Maybe she fell down some stairs." He mumbles, thick malice in his voice.
Jabez decided to go back to being quiet as Cessair's violent mood was off putting. Not too long later, Cecilia returned with a handful of guards beside her. The boys immediately perked up, what had happened?
Jabez was concerned they were here to arrest Cessair for something, his mind raced trying to grasp at all the potential reasons why there were so many guards with her. Cecilia would be the one to break the silence, "Come on boys." Her calm, polite voice was even more unnerving than the set of guards accompanying her. Neither of the boys had ever seen her react this way, it was strange and made the fear run freely in their minds.
They followed the squad down a set of hallways, the metal boots clamoring in sync against the ground until they eventually came to a room filled with six or seven other boys and girls who all looked just as scared and confused as them, one of which was Adam. They were sent into a line, side by side with the rest of the children and another long silence would take place. Adam's eyes were red and puffy, he had clearly been crying for some time; Cessair worried if this could all be about what happened with Adam's rat. Could he have really snitched despite the backlash of trouble that would come his way? After contemplating, he couldn't think of any valid way Adam would know if he had something to do with it. Maybe he even suspected one of the boys in his own group, it was possible given most kids here would double-cross one another if given the chance. Cessair's thoughts did nothing to ease his mind as the silence of the room only intensified the uncomfortable feeling hanging in the air. He did however take some small semblance of joy in seeing the sorrow on Adam's face.
When the silence was finally broken, it was by the tallest one of the guards, he was the sole member of the troop with his face exposed. Some of the children must have thought his appearance was amusing as a few of the girls quietly snickered to themselves. Jabez thought the guard's mustache made him look like a children's toy with the way it's thin ends curled and plastered itself against his face.
"King Fantast has requested a few orphans be sent to the castle. He will be coming in momentarily with a few other members of his council, they will examine which children they would like to collect and take back with us. Do not be confused or hopeful, this is not an adoption." He explained plainly, making eye contact with each child as he did.
"Why?" One of the younger boys asked, Cecilia tried to shut him down but the guard replied curtly.
"It's confidential, you'll know if and when you arrive."
The boy spoke up again, boldly correcting the guard, "I meant, why us?" The guard took a second to process the question.
"There is no particular interest in this Orphanage other than it's located in a slum. You few were chosen because you are considered troublemakers and we do not want to take the opportunity of having parents away from children who deserve it."
The room had a new hostility toward the guard, but nothing would be done other than a glare here and there when he wasn't looking.
The guard suddenly perked up, standing straight as a post. "Now entering the revered King Fantast, followed by members of his Royal Council!" His voice rang across the walls of the small room they were in. An older hefty man walked in, dressed in an exquisite robe made of exotic fine furs, interlaced with jewels in every available space. His crown featured the largest adornment of gems with three long decorative spikes emerging from the clusters. He was followed by two even older men, who seemed smug even standing next to a King like Fantast.
The Orphanage had a few weeks every year where they would teach the children about the King. Cessair especially hated this curriculum as he had plenty of reason to dislike the King. Cessair didn't enjoy his family life, but King Fantast demanding a head tax on the Kingdoms households only made matters worse. His family had abused him enough without it costing them a fourth of their savings just to keep him in the house. He listened in class just enough to pass any test relating to the subject. King Fantast led the soldiers of the previous regime, he was their trophy commander, his name was known across the seas as a mighty and triumphant warrior. Word spread far and wide about the nation's wealth through it's expeditions, it wasn't long before the kingdom attracted unwanted attention. The enemy was quick to lay siege when they discovered they greatly outnumbered the Kingdom's forces.
Fantast and the rest of the Kingdoms forces managed to drive out the enemy, but it was already too late. The King and Queen had been slain during the invasion, the palace had been ransacked and burned to the ground. The surviving citizens and soldiers were quick to rally behind Fantast, with the King and Queen being dead it seemed only natural to appoint the commander who led the Kingdom to survive the assault as the new leader of the Kingdom.
Most blame his underwhelming performance as King on him being overwhelmed with the difference between governing a barracks and governing an entire kingdom, but a small sect of conspiracy theorists believe he killed the beloved King and Queen. This doesn't have much traction in the Kingdom, it is a rumor that is carried among most people on the street these days. No one else would dare say a thing about King Fantast in fear a guard was in earshot and would make an example of them in their hometown courtyard. Cessair did not care for King Fantast's accomplishments as it was abundantly clear his prime had ended long ago. The history books painted him as a hero and anyone who said otherwise was treated as a traitor; but word still got around. People aren't fond of keeping their frustrations quiet. It was clear he maintained his rule through underhanded tactics, assassinations and a complete lack of democracy.
The King and his followers walked slowly in front of the line up of children, silently judging them. The examination didn't take very long, the two older men certainly seemed pleased when they spoke to the King.
The guards made a path for the group to exit but not before the King stopped in front of the guard with the toy soldier mustache. "We'll take them." He said roughly.
"Which ones, sir?"
"All of them." He said making his way out the door, a smaller group of guards following behind. He looked like he wanted to object but had kept whatever he had to say to himself.
The guard turned back to Cecilia and the children, "We will be taking all of you." The room was struck with confusion, kids began whispering to each other but were quickly halted by Cecilia. "We were not expecting to be bringing back so many, we will need time to make travel accommodations for you all. We will be back tomorrow at the same time to collect you." He turned directly to Cecilia, "Please make sure they're ready when we arrive."
Cecilia swore up and down the children would be ready and waiting at the doorstep as soon as she spotted the guards coming down the road tomorrow.
"I'll escort you out." She said turning to another staff member in the room, "The Recycle Agency will be here any moment, get Cessair and Jabez back into the kitchen to load the truck." She directed her attention to the rest of the room, "Get the rest of these lot some dinner and back in their rooms." Then left with the rest of the troop of guards.
The pencil thin man Cecilia had spoken to approached the boys, he hurried them along in a kinder manner than Cecilia ever would. The boys weren't sure what they were supposed to do once in the kitchen but before they were able to ask, the man spoke up.
"You'll need to put all the garbage into the wooden crates found in the back of the kitchen, I'm sure you've seen them. When the agency knocks on the door, answer promptly and do the same when you load the truck, it fits five crates, so make sure you fill all five crates. It's not too bad, I'll come back when I finish helping the others get everyone into their rooms." He spoke fast, but it came off with a somewhat reassuring tone. He dropped them off in the kitchen, stating he would be back soon one more time before departing.
The crates were heavier than Jabez expected, he struggled to carry one on his own. Cessair could carry one on his own but figured it would be faster to lift as a team, so they lined all five crates up and began to fill them with all sorts of trash, it wasn't too difficult considering the boys had already collected the trash earlier in the day. Cessair was dumping another load into a crate when the thin man suddenly burst his head through the door, his face was red like he had run there, "I forgot to mention, please don't put metal in the crates, they aren't too happy if they find metal. I can't stress this enough." Then he slipped his head back out and presumably ran off. The boy's felt on edge, they hadn't put any metal in that they were aware of but they didn't know it wasn't allowed until now, they wouldn't have thought to take out metal from what they collected and they already had four crates full. Jabez decided to dig around for metal bits while Cessair filled the last crate, this did this until the trash had reached the brim, there was then a knock on the metal door leading outside.
Cessair rushed to the door and politely greeted the men outside, they were all wearing long white garments that seemed similar to a cloak. They didn't look like how Cessair expected a recycling company to look but didn't question the group. They entered the kitchen and one man backed the truck up closer to the door, and then lowered the hitch. The men remained silent, rarely even glancing at the boys loading the crates into the truck. The boys had to team lift a crate which was now significantly more difficult from the added trash and had to carefully maneuver through the door which wasn't much wider than the crate. After they pushed the crate to the back of the truck, the walk back to the next crate was like a drip of water in a desert for the strained muscles in their arms.
Once all the crates were loaded, Cessair closed the hitch and without a word the men all gathered into the truck and drove off. Neither of the boys could shake the weird feeling the men had given them, such a strange company. When they walked back into the kitchen the staff member from earlier was already waiting for them and he was carrying a single plate of food.
"I've got some food to send you back to your room with... but Cecilia instructed me to not give you any Cessair... I'm sorry." He spoke softly, it was the first time someone at the Orphanage had actually apologized to Cessair, he would have been more surprised by this if he wasn't so angry Cecilia was always tormenting him. Cessair growled under his breath and the man handed the food off to Jabez before sending them to their rooms.
Jabez hadn't had dinner in so long, the food wasn't good but he was so hungry he could almost imagine himself liking it. He was disappointed his friend wouldn't be receiving any, so on their way back to their rooms he insisted Cessair take a napkin full of his vegetables. Cessair didn't feel like arguing after all the confusion today so he took the offer. When he entered his room, he set the food down on the nightstand, laid in his bed and ended up just staring up at the ceiling.