We Really Stepped In It This Time

The king looked markedly different from the first time they saw him. His shoulders were not slumped. His eyes were not drooping. They were alert and ready for anything. His back was straight up and his poise had confidence dripping from it.

There was another man there. He wore dark robes and had shifty eyes that seemed to be everywhere at the same time. Tum immediately distrusted him. The princess had told her about the palace advisor that seemed to have everyone under a spell. 

The advisor was the king's right-hand man, responsible for most policies that had kept the peasants miserable. The man standing behind the king fit into her description. Tum noticed the man had his eyes on him as the king waved them to their seats.

"The crown demands your services," the king started without the usual shenanigans. He seemed impatient, unlike the first time they met him. Tum hoped he had not found the other side of power, the side that made men drunk and drove them mad.

"What does the crown desire?" Bonnie asked.

"Be quiet, woman!" the advisor screamed. "The king is speaking.

Tim blanched. He wished he could slam his fist into the man's face. He could see that his outburst was deliberate, and not at all heartfelt. He was deliberately trying to intimidate them and get into the young king's good books.

"Do not shout at my guests," the king growled, turning towards him.

He cowered, bowing reverently. "Forgive me, your grace."

The king turned to Tum. "Sir Greg, pardon my advisor. His zeal makes him take leave of his senses."

Tum nodded.

"The crown needs your services quickly. The crystal crown of which we spoke about," Harodin continued. "This is the map."

Tum saw the map on the table for the first time and wondered why he had not seen it immediately he got into the room.

"This is where the map is located," the king said, pointing at a point in the map. "A forest. We don't know what lurks behind the foliage."

Tum, Bonnie, and Buckle all stood up to observe the map better. Their eyes followed the king's hand as he pointed.

"You are a knight, Sir Greg. This mission is dangerous and may cost you your life," the king said.

"I am well aware of that," Tum said.

"And you have made your choice?" the king asked.

"Yes, your grace. We will find the crystal sword and bring it to you."

Buckle fidgeted at this. They were peasants, but they were not ones that gave their words away too easily. Peasants had nothing but words, and the words meant a lot to Buckle. He still remembered their promise to Quil, and he shuddered to think that they would double-cross Quill after taking his precious stones.

"Well, you have to set off quickly. A scribe has made a copy for you. But this copy only lasts for a few days before the ink washes off," the king said. "In this way, the palace remains the only place where the map stays."

"When do we go?" Tum asked.

Bonnie and Buckle had resisted from commenting in order to play their role well. A servant and a dressmaker that constantly interferes in their master's business would begin to look suspiciously like his friends instead.

"Tonight, the farewell feast holds. I have never held a feast for anyone going in search of the sword," the king said, his voice dropping low as if he was meditating to himself.

"May I ask why, your grace?" Tim asked.

"Well, because they were all thieves. Sheer brings them from the dungeon and sends them after the sword. None has returned. None has ever made it out of the forest."

At the mention of 'thieves', Tum's mind went back to his encounter with the police chief.

The man had branded his parents thieves and seemed to know many things about him, so much that he could not find the heart to argue with him. They were orphans, all of them, and they knew nothing about the people that brought them into the world. He wondered what the king would do if he got the news that he, Tum, was the son of two thieves.

Sighing, he tried to convince himself that the king would not be like his father. He would not ask for him to be put to death. The king would show mercy. They were not all power-drunk and corrupt.

"Tomorrow, you will leave with your er… servants," the king said.

"Your grace." Tum bowed as the king stood up.

That was the sign for Tum and his friends to leave the king's chamber. They walked towards their own, got into it and Bonnie pulled the door shut.

Immediately the door was shut, Buckle turned on Tum.

"What were you thinking? What were you thinking promising him that?"

"What was I supposed to do? Tell him we would not help him get the sword?" Tum asked.

"Tum is right," Bonnie said. "We could not have said anything. The king has been gracious to us."

"What about Quil?" Buckle asked.

"We will answer all of these when we have the crystal sword," Bonnie replied.

"What chance do we have against hardened criminals that have been sent by the king?"

"We can fight," Tum said.

"You can fight? Like a knight? You would be floored in Jo time by the captain that stands in the hallway," Buckle said.

"Do you want us to tell the king no to his face them?" Bonnie asked.

"We have no business staying here this long. We have to leave."

"There is no leaving for us except to find the sword. Don't you think the king knows our faces all too well and will send his soldiers after us if we run away?" Bonnie asked.

Buckle swallowed. Apparently, he had not thought of that.