The Sword Thief

chapter 11

In the king of Hollerdand’s Quarters

“Have you found the sword yet?” the king asks busily scribbling away at a piece of paper.

“Sir we’ve searched North and South, East and West, looking for this sword. I’ve lost thirty men, in the search for a rusty sword!!! These men deserved more honorable deaths, than to die looking for a weapon!” The leader of the army belts.

“Find the sword.”

“Sir, its not possible we don’t even know what it looks like!” Quincy (the armyGeneral) sighs.

“Quince, It’s not me who wants this stupid sword! It’s my brother! You know the king of ALL the lands! If I don’t get it for him not only will you loose your position, but me and everyone else in this blasted castle will be stuck raising pigs for the rest of their lives!” the king bursts turning around to face his most trusted friend.

“Hah, that dense fool again. He’s leading this kingdom into a bloody oblivion.” Quince says running a frustrated hand through his hair.

“Don’t be so hard on him. He’s been through a lot. You know none of my family wanted him to marry his wife Elizabeth. She was poorer than poor, and had no sense of social class. She would always treat everyone the same. If you were a criminal she’d treat you like a king, if you were a king she’d treat you like royalty, even people who had murdered someone she knew, she’d always treat them lovingly. And My mother hated that, she wanted the girl to realize her place in this world, that some people just didn’t deserved to be cared for. Mother hated that girl even before Matthew (the king of all the lands, Matilda’s dad) loved her. She was always waiting for her to slip up so she’d be able to send her to prison or something. Oh, woops am I boring you with this?” The king asks Quincy realizing he's gone off on another story. 

“No, No, please go on. I’ve always wanted to know what made the man so bitter.” Quincy says taking a seat.

“Alright, well Matthew was THE best. I mean the best everything, older brother, fighter, scholar, there wasn’t a thing he couldn’t do! He was nice and polite and not to mention good looking, so of course he immediately became my mother’s favorite. But we never got jealous or anything, because he just always made it seem like she loved us even more than him. If he got a compliment he’d turn around and whisper two compliments to us.

Anyway, one day he went to check on some business in a developing village and met Elizabeth there. He loved her instantly, but she was a little hesitant. She thought maybe he was only faking it, so his mom could do something awful to her. But soon she fell madly in love too, and they were going to get married as fast as possible. But Matthew being the honest man he’d always been wanted his mom to be happy with his decision, but she wasn’t. She hated it and hated him for making such a decision. She disowned him and threw him out onto the streets. Of course my siblings and I were furious with her, and secretly went to visit him every now and then.

But Elizabeth felt terrible for making him loose his position, but he could care less. He was going to marry the girl of his dreams in a week for pete sake! But she couldn’t take it anymore, she ran away and gave him back the proposal ring, writing him a letter of how she never wanted to see him again, how she hated him. And he believed it too, after that he had to suck up his dignity and come crying back to mother to let him back into the family.

Mother lorded the fact that the poor girl had reduced him to ruins over his head. But he never paid her much mind. I was bumped up to being next inline for king, while he had to command the army. And one day we had the bloodiest battle ever, our father died a gruesome death and Matthew was next to him the whole time. He saw his own dad stabbed everywhere thirty-six times. There was nothing left to even burry! While the kingdom was in mourning, I was too worried about having to become king. I was terrified of the position! And the first thing I did after becoming the king, was hand over the title to Matthew. He was shocked and looked sick having to where the same crown dad did. But he took the position and handled it well. The kingdom was thriving under his control. Mother went back to loving him more than ever, because of how wealthy he was making her. But he wasn’t content.