A Dance of Two Worlds

The Surprise

Chapter Forty

The Surprise

The splendors of all great societies come to an end when their rulers give up courage and honor for treachery and deceit

Aden

5L 21/21/20/14

"Oh! That is very unfortunate."

Marcus was sitting on his exquisite golden throne and going through the routine proceedings of the Council when one of his guards whispered something in his ears. Marcus wanted to sing, even dance, but he made a face that made people assume as if he had lost a limb. His acting skills had improved a lot. He addressed his Council in a croaky voice accompanied by moist eyes. "Yesternight, one of our most distinguished Council members, Paul Andrews, breathed his last."

All the people inside the Great hall gasped aloud.

Marcus continued his performance. "We all know that his health had been deteriorating for the last couple of weeks. He had been unable to attend the Council meetings as well. And today we got this unfortunate news."

Marcus paused for effect and then took a deep breath. "Paul was one of the visionaries of our time. A great scientist, scholar but above all a very kind human being. He was a father figure to me and was loved by all Adeners. People always looked up to him for inspiration. His demise, in these turbulent times, is a huge loss for Aden. May his soul rest in peace. I declare three days of official mourning in his honor."

"Yes, there definitely should be mourning." A loud voice from the entrance of the Great Hall interrupted Marcus's poignant eulogy. Everyone looked in its direction. Many eyes became wide, some hands went to their mouths while others just froze. Paul stood there in flesh and blood. He walked menacingly towards Marcus and his booming voice echoed in the hall. "Mourning not on my death, but on the demise of honor and values of the person who occupies the throne. On the murder of morals and virtues in our beautiful world."

A ghostly silence engulfed the Great hall. Blank faces stared at the two adversaries. Marcus's face had lost all its color. Paul's face was flushed and his eyes were breathing fire. He stopped right in front of the throne and glowered at Marcus. "I assume you didn't like this surprise. Did you? You know what? The splendors of all great societies come to an end when their rulers give up courage and honor for treachery and deceit."

Paul gestured behind his back, where his son John, dragged a person into the hall. Paul turned his glare towards Michael, who was sitting to the right side of the king. "You bribed my butler to mix green-weeds in my food to make me ill. But you forgot that I am quite a decent chemist as well. It didn't take me too long to understand that someone wanted my health to worsen so that he can finish me off. I stopped taking that food and pretended to fall ill. My family and I tried to catch the culprit but were too naive to suspect our butler, who had been dutifully serving us for two cycles. But rapacity can corrupt purest of souls.'

'Then yesterday he tried to strangulate me in my sleep. Poor chap didn't know that my son was guarding me in my chamber. It just took a couple of slaps for him to blurt out your name. And I can take a very educated guess that on whose instructions you ordered him to kill me," Paul added returning his attention to Marcus.

Marcus slapped the side of his throne and stood up. "How dare you put baseless allegations on your king? I can put you on trial for treason and banish you from this world."

Paul gave a cold smile. "Do you know how hollow you sound? Your guilt is written all over your face and evident in your stuttering voice. I dare you to put me on trial and banish me. You know that is not an option or you would have done that long ago."