A Word Out of Place - Part 2

[tekuno]

This story is now complete. Content warnings and description for this story accompany part 1. Each part has a link to the next part at the end for your convenience.

Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | Part Five | Part Six | Part Seven | Part Eight | Part Nine | Part Ten

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Once again, I'm busy tonight so I'm posting this a bit early.

I wish the other story I'm posting had such clear breaks in the action. Cutting that one up isn't going so well.

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A Word Out of Place
Part 2

"I say, Father, that's a very remarkable bodyguard you have created. Are you sure I can't have him, and leave one of mine for Andrew?"

"We have outlined Our decision already, Alfred. Andrew will be facing the unknown here to a far greater extent than you shall be in the capital. It is necessary that he shall have a guard with extraordinary capabilities."

"Yes, but he just disarmed every member of the royal guard, one after another! Claus has never been defeated in a tournament before, you know."

"We have reason to believe that the boy is capable of even more. Watch this." The King beckoned to the servent, and whispered an order into his ear.

"Yes, Sire." the servant walked to the edge of the enclosure, and bellowed. "Oyez! Oyez! The King wishes me to announce a special round to end this tournament. The challenger, having emerged victor from the previous twenty rounds, shall compete in the next round without a weapon or armor." The crowd let out a gasp. The figure in the winner's circle shrugged, and began to struggle out of its armor. "Furthermore, he will simultaneously face all ten of the Royal Guard whom he has defeated in the previous rounds." The crowd let out another gasp as the guard formed a line facing the boy. "Any form of attack whatsoever shall be considered fair in this round. The contest will begin when the handkerchief reaches the ground. Go!"

"Father, aren't you taking an awful risk? If the boy is killed, you will need to start all over."

"He won't be killed. We have information. Watch carefully."

"Father, you must be joking. There's no way anyone could-- how did he do that? That's not-- Oh, I say, what a blow! Look at Claus stagger! Remarkable! Very remarkable! Oh, good move! Amazing!"

"We told you, Alfred. This boy was prepared very specially. Had we set all twenty of the other contestants against him, he would still have conquered all."

"How is it done?"

"We have had the usual spell adjusted. It has required certain changes to the usual procedures, but the boy has many times the strength and speed of even the best of Our normal men. Furthermore, We have issued certain instructions over the last year. We believe this boy will put an end to Our problems with Andrew."

"Oh?"

"In addition to his training as a bodyguard, he has been taught to track, and also educated in all the subjects of Andrew's tutoring. We will set him as Andrew's new tutor, with an order not to allow Andrew to flee his lessons. If even the Royal Guard cannot overcome the boy, Andrew will have no choice but to attend his lessons."

"Very efficient, Father. Well, if he has special training, then I suppose Andrew will just have to take him. But I want the next one, you understand? I suspect that I shall be selecting a bride soon, and it would relieve my mind to know that I had such a guard to rely upon. Ah, look at that! Claus was actually knocked off his feet!"

"It cannot be done, Alfred. We are reliably informed that the necessary changes to the spell will only work if the subject is a baby. We had this boy put into training within a week of your brother's birth."

"What? You mean that the 'stolen baby' which the rebels keep babbling about--"

"--is that boy, yes. We had the Guard search for children born in the capital within a month of Andrew, and We selected the largest and healthiest of them."

"I say, Father, that might be going a bit too far. I always thought that the rebels made that story up. Is it true that the parents were not even told where the boy was taken?"

"Our decisions are not subject to criticism, Alfred, even from you. Our subjects live at Our pleasure. We only took one child, and We had the parents compensated afterwards. One hundred gold pieces is more than that class usually earns in a year. Now fall silent; the tournament has ended. You note that the boy was victorious after all."

"Yes. Well, I hope this boy is worth the trouble he has brought us."

"Silence, Alfred. We must proclaim the victor."

As the young man approached the royal enclosure, Prince Andrew, sitting alone in the lowest level, watched him, eyes blazing.

-----

"Ah, there you are, Andrew."

"Yes, Father. What is it now?"

"Do not be petulant, Andrew. It is time for Us to teach you about Our family's guards."

"There's some sort of magic involved, isn't there? I've heard about it. They can't attack one of us or disobey a direct order."

"There is far more to it than that. The spell was devised centuries ago, and has been active ever since. There are two distinct portions to its effects. The first is as you say. Those under the spell cannot disobey a direct order from the royal family, provided the royal family member issuing the order has one of these amulets, nor can they attempt to kill any of us. The amulets likewise are of two types. The ordinary ones, such as the one Alfred holds and this one We bestow on you now, give the wearer the authority to issue orders. You must wear yours at all times. The King's Amulet, which We are wearing, is the central focus of the spell. It can override orders from the other amulets, and can issue orders from afar if specifically held in the hand."

"What happens if an impossible order is issued? Can I make the guards fly?"

"Impossible orders are ignored. But the King's Amulet has powers far beyond those of the ordinary amulets, which means that to the King many more orders are possible. Let Us give you an example." The king grasped his amulet. "Claus, come to Us." The door opened and Claus entered and knelt.

"My liege!"

"Claus, you permitted yourself to be disarmed and defeated by a mere child not once but twice this afternoon. Furthermore, you were thrown 10 feet and knocked unconscious by an unarmed opponent, when the other combatants were merely disabled. Do you think this is fitting performance for the captain of Our guard?"

"No, sire."

"Very well. Your utility to Us is now at an end. Burn to death immediately."

As Andrew watched, aghast, the former captain burst into flames. The heat was intense; within a minute, nothing remained of the former guard but a smoldering pile of bone and ash.

"As you can see, Andrew, orders from the King are not taken lightly, even by ordinary guards. But the spell defines a second group, even more tightly bound by its magic. We refer, of course, to the royal bodyguards. Bodyguards are more difficult to bespell, but the spell greatly enhances their strength, agility, and rate of recovery from injury. The boy who won the tournament today was the latest bodyguard to be created, and he is to be yours. Enter, boy!"

The young man entered the throne room, and knelt.

"Henceforward, you will guard the life of my son Andrew. Furthermore, you will instruct him in deportment, politics, history, astronomy, and mathematics. You will not harm him in pursuit of his studies, but you will not permit him to skip a lesson, even in the face of any countermanding orders he may issue. You will watch over him at all times. You will only be willingly apart from him when you have ensured that he will be kept reasonably safe from all harm for the duration, and you will immediately come to his aid if he calls you."

"Yes, sire."

"Andrew, this is your bodyguard, and now your tutor as well. This amulet will allow you to give him orders, outside of the general restrictions We have outlined. Beginning tomorrow, you will receive tuition from him. The rest of the family will return to the capital, but you will remain here."

"Yes, Father. ...Father?"

"Yes?"

"What is my bodyguard's name?"

"You may assign any name you like to him. The royal bodyguards exist only to serve. Their lives are entirely the possession of the royal family, and they have no personal life outside of their service. This particular guard was raised in service from a child, and was never given a name. We suggest you think the matter over, and assign a name in the morning. Now, it is late, and you must go to your bed."

"Yes, Father."

"Please have the guard in the hallway summon the second-in-command of the royal guard. We must inform him of his promotion."

-----

Prince Andrew lay awake in his bed, staring at the ceiling, for several hours.

In the hallway outside, the guard slept, his back against the door.

Part 3

[muscl4life]

I agree, the story is great even though it is flowing in a very blocked pace but maybe it's just because I get sad everytime the chapter ends Don't worry the tale is great and I can't wait to see what else happens to this boy as he grows older

Cheers!

[cutlerfan]

Sorry, I don't like this story! He incinerates the head of the royal guard with a thought? NO sorry that is totally messed up! Arrogant piece of garbage for a so called king!

[nnnrg]

I really dislike that King there. He seems arrogant beyond the usual bounds of kings, and is headed for a fall which should be quite spectacular. The unnecessary murder of his own guardsman for the crime of being what the King knew he was, and his general disregard of everyone but himself, and his use of the royal plural in situations where it is neither necessary nor appropriate, all indicate that he's not only the largest problem in his country, but may even be the true villain of the piece.

Although, thinking about the too-ready use of magic here (by the royals) and the way that the King seems to be stuck in the plural has me a bit worried that he's also being ridden by his predecessors, so he really is a "We", and that curse would be unbearable.

I also foresee a downfall for the King based in the fact that the amulets empower those who have the royal blood - and in what kingdom of any length of rule is that royal blood not somewhat present in others?

I also wonder what happened to the wizard and whether there is something going on there as well.

[tekuno]

It's interesting to see what people think this story is going to be, since it's already complete. I'll say this: nobody has actually posted, yet, anything which is the real direction the story will go. It's both more straightforward and, in its own way, more horrible than you think. (We need a smilie named "sinistergrin".) In a way I'm proud nobody has guessed where I'm going with this yet. If I'm keeping you on your toes, then Doing It Right.

This story is one version of a scenario I used to think through while lying in bed trying to fall asleep during adolescence. I would think through it, and every time it was different -- the only constant was that the guard was always a good guy; everybody else was sometimes good, sometimes bad, sometimes nonexistent. There were also characters who will not be appearing, and one character who shows up in this version usually had a wider role. The ending -- which will, I think, disappoint some of you as much as the ending to the rewrite of 'Ryan, My "Little" Brother' made some of you happy -- was only one of a string of possibilities. If there's demand, I'll pull together an alternate ending (it wouldn't be difficult at all, really).

I may pick up the pace (that is: post longer segments) just a touch on this and on the other story. I was just very very busy for a while, and since this stuff has (so far) all been completed in advance, I didn't have to do any actual work to put up what I've posted. And I was worried that I'd stay busy until I started having to sweat to keep up with the posting schedule I outlined. But if I didn't give myself a cold today by forgetting to bring an umbrella with me while running lots of errands on foot in the rain, I should have time to work on things tomorrow. (And on the bright side, feeling horrible and worn out on the first night after the time change means I can get to sleep early. Yay!)

[tekuno]

Oh, one more thing: the king is horrible -- in fact, he's a walking stereotype of an evil king, and I'm kind of ashamed to have written such a one-dimensional character -- but he's no worse than several real monarchs out of history, just more concentrated. My favorite evil king is Charles I; even his hagiographers -- which is to say: every court-approved historian from the time of his descendants' rule -- couldn't make him out to be better than extraordinarily stupid and arrogant. Start reading about his actual actions and it's clear he was exactly as much of a tyrannical evil bastard as you would need to be to have the English -- who are so besotted with the whole idea of monarchy that even now, when they are powerless, they keep them extraordinarily pampered and wealthy -- rise up and chop your head off.

[Rarity]

More horrible than I think? Well I think I'll stop reading now just to save myself from the saddy-sads when the bad guy wins. :<

I'm jussa babby.

[cutlerfan]

Sorry I sounded so angry with my previous post. Your story was well written and easy to follow. I am sensitive to abuses of power since my older jerk of a brother was my boss for a while. He would be the perfect son for the king in your story. Doesn't care about anyone but himself and his two kids and he favors one over the other too. Sorry to vent..I do not mean to criticize the quality of your writing just the actions of one character. I like your writing..in general so don't let me discourage you. Peace!

[tekuno]

Don't worry too much about the king, for a while. As already suggested, he's going to leave his son in the current setting and depart, and we're not going to follow him. (Although he will, uh, leave his signature on events, so to speak.)