GUARDS
“Guards! Guards! Come quickly!” You yelled without even thinking of the consequences, you began to call your guards to the scene.
“What is it princess?” They asked you, your advisor didn’t even have the chance to interject before you began to address the enormous muscular protectors.
“That guy is probably a thief! Go do something about it.” You demanded. The three of them immediately ran out onto the stage and tackled the mysterious stranger right where he stood. He struggled and screamed in a high pitched voice as they all wrestled him to the ground, binding his hands and feet. Your people gasped in surprise, and silence fell over the once cheering crowd. Their enormous orbs watched as your most skilled nights took over the weak looking young foxtaur’s body with ease, and slowly, a quiet mutter began to overtake the people as they watched in horror.
Unbeknownst to you, the young man was truly skilled at his trade, and had already planned out what to do in the worst case scenario. It sounded as if he gave some kind of signal to the crowd, and to your understanding, it was. Almost instantly you saw an incredibly buff group of other, rogue looking taurus and anthros, they looked angry, and from the stage, you could see hundreds of men peppered throughout the audience.
It didn’t take long for all of them to come upon the stage and begin attacking your guards. Your pupils widened as you realized what was going on, and by the time your feet were able to whisk you away from there, several bandits were already upon you.
Shaking in your shoes, both sets of your knees quivered as you shrank into a defensive position. You looked around to see that every last one of your guards had already been tied up and taken captive. Among them, you saw the mysterious young stranger, he smiled and laughed subtly as he unraveled his limbs from your guard’s weak traps.
“Well this was a bit easier than expected.” his red eyes glowed with intensity as he walked right up to your face. Mockingly he scoffed in your direction, and when his lips parted to release his treacherous high pitched voice to speak yet again, your stomach dropped. “We thought it would have taken a few extra steps to penetrate your inner defenses, but you just opened your doors and let us in!” the joking tone in his voice angered you to the core.
“What the heck!” you shouted at him, struggling futilely. Two enormous thugs had you by the arms, and despite you kicking with your front paws, rearing up to nearly their height, you were still completely physically incapable against two grown men.
“What? You were the one who called ME up onto stage.” he laughed, bearing his sharpened yellow teeth. “And the entire kingdom is here to attest to that sentiment!” Even though his treachery cost you the kingdom, his charismatic tone still sounded somewhat hypnotic as he revealed his plan.
The crowd was still taken aback, yet nobody knew what exactly was going on. In an instant, the foxtaur turned to the podium once again and continued to talk.
“As you can see, the princess just turned over her project, as well as the entire kingdom over to me, fair and square. Upon regretting her decision, the hasty political structure of this kingdom never seems to deliver its promises!” The crowd began to cheer once more. “It is clear what the people want based on my kind words and offering to you all, and therefore this monarchy must be deconstructed and rebuilt into one that is more favorable to you all!”
Arms flailed as he spoke, the screaming voices of your kingdom as they went crazy in the audience nearly drowned out the fox’s voice, yet his powerful high-frequency calls still rang out across the viewers with confidence.
“No! Don’t listen to him! It’s all a sham.” You yelled into the crowd. “How could this… happen?” you thought to yourself as you kicked and screamed. “Where’s the king and queen? Where are my parents!?” you began to panic, and your last line of defense must have been the actual rulers of the kingdom. Surely it couldn’t have been that easy to be overthrown, the people loved you and your family… Right?
The feeling of dread began to take over your entire body as you trembled, helpless to your fate; your stomach dropped even more when you saw them lining up your parents and sibling, also captured and tied by the wrists. Loud screaming cheers rang out from the audience when everyone began to watch their ‘beloved’ rulers lined up and captured. You had absolutely no idea that your kingdom felt that way towards you all.
“As you can see here! These are the culprits” the stranger continued on the podium. “They were the ones oppressing you all, using your money for failed projects. Have any of you even thought to yourselves what is it that you will be benefiting from their work? When will you see the fruits of your tax gold? Why are they taking the coin from your dinner table just to pay for their own trips and tricks.”
The crowd’s enormous roar almost seemed to hurt your ears just as much as your aching stomach. Was this the fall of your empire?
“Oh no… What am I going to do?!” tears began to fill your eyes as the thought crossed your mind. But by the time you realized your misty eyes had begun to leak, you were already being taken off the stage.
“Don’t you agree! We must do something with them?!” He yelled at the crowd, only to hear them cry back in excitement with twice the enthusiasm. “Well right here! And right now! You will finally get the justice every one of you deserve! Are you ready to get the show of your lifetime!”
“YESS!” The crowd yelled in unison, you wondered how many of these people would be hoarse in the morning. Yet the idea didn’t seem to wipe your emotions of the deep setting dread you were feeling.
“Oh no!” Your pupils shrank when you saw the thugs bring out a chopping block, a thick long axe, and a basket, for something you didn’t want to even think about. The horrifying view was quickly washed from your vision as your pooling tears completely obscured your vision, maybe it was for the better.
The treacherous stranger made sure you suffered the most, tending to your parents first, then your sibling, then you knew it was only a matter of time before it was your turn.
With each heavy thud of the axe, agonizing cry of the most familiar voices, and a cacophony of cheers following, you felt yourself slipping away more and more. Your head became dizzy and it was clear on your face that you were close to passing out.
“How’s your head princess?” He said while touching your chin with an evil smile on his face. You didn’t reply, yet he wiped your tears from your eyes. You didn’t dare to look at what was in the basket, and you didn’t want to look into such an evil man’s eyes, but you did anyway. His playful red gaze was almost sickening to you, and you could only hold it for a few seconds before tearing up again, closing your eyes tightly, and jerking your hand from his slender fingers. “Why don’t we help her with her headache!”
He turned to address the audience, not even facing you, which for some reason, stung the most. The last footsteps you took were weak and shaky, and luckily for you, the memory of your last moments didn’t even feel like anything before your epic journey was abruptly ended.
Written by Driftingdragon on 10 November 2020
The end (for now)