Darius sat on his throne in the king’s hall, he could hear the outraged people of his great city chant his name. The general of his guard, Azrael, looked to his king for instruction, but the king had a face of stone.
Darius rose from his throne – a sheer brute of a man even without his armour – and walked calmly across the king’s hall, almost glided, to the balcony that overlooked the vast city of Greyhaven. As he reached the balcony where the people of his city stood hundreds of metres below, a blanket of silence fell over them, as this great man stared down at them. The people could feel his burning rage, the disgust he had for the disrespect they have shown towards him, the man who put the unspeakable back in their place so that this city could live without fear.
“My people, my friends!”, he bounded out. Silence still across the crowd below. “We have lived without fear for almost 100 seasons! I have helped provide your families with a safe and secure city! I fought beside you against the unspeakable! I have provided all of you with homes, jobs”, a pause, “everything!”, he raged. “And you have the nerve to rebel against me over hearsay?”, he looked down at the crowd from left to right, the crowd felt his drilling eyes pierce them, “For anyone who has information on the whistle-blower, bring them to me, rebelling against your king will not be tolerated!”, and at that, he swung round and left the balcony. Silence lifted from the crowd below to nervous chatter as the crowd slowly dispersed until there was no-one below.
In the king’s gardens, his twin sons were practising swordplay. The younger of the twins was Felix, a tall broad-shouldered boy with a slumped back, he had a natural strength from his mother’s side that were to be marvelled at. The oldest of the twins was Caesar, he took his father’s genes, he was intelligent and a natural-born soldier, and not to mention more human in appearance than his younger twin. Caesar stood tall and proud in comparison to his brother Felix, the people could barely believe they were twins.
Darius stood at the top of the gardens watching as his sons practised their techniques using heavy wooden swords. It was clear to see that Caesar had the better technique and was more efficient with his footwork and timing, although if Felix landed a blow with a wooden sword, it would take the wind out of any hardened soldier, maybe even split them in two if it were a real blade. He watched as his eldest son mocked the younger twin’s appearance,
“You look like one of those savages from across the gap, you’re probably as dumb as them as well!”, taunted Caesar knowing that Felix will blindly and tirelessly lash out with his wooden weapon.
“I can’t look that bad, after all, I am your twin brother” replied Felix as he swung his weapon downward, only for Caesar to roll to the right to escape the strike.
“You may be my twin brother, but at least I don’t look like mother” sneered Caesar dancing around his brother’s efforts. This angered Felix, who then threw his weapon to the side and chose to drive at Caesar, spearing him to the ground.
“Do not speak ill of our mother!”, he screamed, punching Caesar’s face repeatedly with great power and accuracy. At this point Caesar was stunned and could not find the composure or strength to remove his oaf of a brother from his chest. The king expected the brawl and raced down in good timing to pull Felix off Caesar before any real damage could be done.
“ENOUGH! Both of you get to your chambers, now! I will deal with this matter later”, he yelled at the sons. They walked off in different directions, heads down knowing they were going to feel their father’s wrath later at feast. Darius looked around at both sons walking off realising how different they were, something had to be done, and soon.
Allan's Short Stories 