[RPG] [Atamara] The Mad King

[zmobiebob]

The hours dragged on. He found himself turning to his diary, reading it in
some amusement. He found his early naivete charming. Soon he found he could
alleviate his strangely growing restless indolence by writing some more.

*There are no diplomatic miracles. What was my mistake? If anything, I was
far too trusting, too lenient, too merciful. In my naivete I imagined
"honour" and "principles" could win the day. I wound up believing my own
foolish rhetoric.*
*Well, no more! For I see now the One Truth...

--

*

Gauihu stood next to his throne, ranting. Before him he imagined the whole
of Abington's nobles arrayed before him. The hall was, in actuality, mostly
empty. It reverberated with his echoing voice.



He lifted his right arm, shaking his fist enthusiastically as he expounded
on the true problems of the realm.



"Wretches! Scum! Traitors! Cowards! So you're all against me. Just as well.
It'll take you miserable lot combined just to oppose my power. Like rats
toppling a titan, your only hope is in sheer mass of your filthy little
bodies!"



He reveled in the imagery. *I've always been good with words, haven't I,
father? Haven't I? Better than you, at any rate.*

"And to think, for months I actually *worried* about your welfare, about
satisfying your mewling, childlike wants and needs! Well, no more, that's
for certain. You won't even stand together in your own bloody defense! Like
Redspaniard goats, you huddle and bleat and expect your betters to look
after you... then when the wolves come, you blame the herder and expose your
necks to the beasts! Hoping for mercy!"



In righteous fury he withdrew his sword and began waving the blade at the
crowd: "You make me sick, the lot of you! So, bring it on then. Let's see if
your whining will get you anywhere. I'll face all Atamara alone if I have
to, and in the end ... I will be triumphant."

He thought now of his plans. Yes, his destiny. In jubilation he continued to
rail against the angry mobs of shouting nobles.



"There is nothing you can do now to stop my triumph... my ultimate victory,
which your silly traitorous minds cannot even comprehend. But your
grandchildren will, oh yes - if they live!"

And now he laughed. Laughed, at the face of all their threats, their words,
their small-minded inferiority – he showed them what courage truly was. It
was the ability to look at death and destruction smiling at you – and to
smile back.



"Ha, ha! Ha, ha ha!"



And he continued laughing for many minutes, the choked guffaws echoing
throughout the empty hall of Riverholm.



--



Athys II was out in the city, doing some kind of work or another. He'd made
his protest, but he wasn't in a position to physically oust Gauihu from
Riverholm. And so the latter sat in the old palace of Riverholm, his crown
firmly on his head, his red robes flowing.

He sat, writing in his diary, words he knew would last a thousand years.

A single man approached the throne, respectfully, but with enough sound in
his boots that Gauihu knew he was trying to be noticed, listened, paid
attention to. It was Captain Bremham.

*Captain Bremham is here,* Gauihu wrote down calmly. *No doubt he wishes to
inform me of more protests. He's always seemed loyal to me, but I've never
known for sure...*

He looked up. Bremham's face was grave, ashen, conflicted. "Sire, there are
seven more protests lodged by Abington's nobles since last time."

Gauihu stared blankly. His calm was amazing to the captain of the guard. And
frightening. Then suddenly, Gauihu's lips stretched outward in a skeletal
grimace. With horror, Bremham realized he was smiling.

"No doubt he wishes to inform me of more protests," Gauihu heard himself
saying. "He's always seemed loyal to me, but I've never known for sure."

Bremham blinked and felt the acid taste of alarm. "S-sire, I - are you - "

Then Gauihu lashed out, with the steel letter-opener he had in his lap. The
stiletto blade penetrated into the startled captain's exposed throat
mid-stammer. Bremham, who'd made one such betrayal himself just to get his
position with Gauihu, staggered and fell, blood spurting from the wound, his
eyes already glazing over as he gurgled in shock and pain.

Gauihu stared blankly at the man, his eyes seeming to look straight through
the very floor itself into something darker. "Just in case, I'd better
eliminate him. He's only a commoner," he murmured to himself, and bent to
write this line down in his diary. Quill and page were both spattered in
fresh blood.

Then, standing up, as if a man just realizing where he'd left his ale-cup,
he announced to the empty room, "My children. My children. I can't have them
turning on me, either. I shall have to deal with them too."



--



Dawn came. With a smile he knew he was still the King. There was more to be
done, more glorious work to be done.



"Bremham!" he called, snapping his fingers. *Where is that dog?*

* *

Frustrated by the continuing disobedience, he found the nearest courtier he
could. "You! Find an ambassador, I have some important messages to deliver."



"I – I am an ambassador," said the young man, cautiously.



Gauihu frowned. "I thought our ambassadors were all older men."



"They were, sire. Unfortunately, some of the others have not been seen or
heard from in days, and I've been promoted in their absence by the
steward..."



Gauihu waved a hand, dismissing the blathering commoner. "Whatever. Tell
Darka, Tara, and Caergoth."



A moment of silence. "Tell them what, my king?"



"That we're at war with them, of course, you fool!" he shouted, his hand
lurching towards his sword-hilt. The ambassador cowered and backed away,
bowing constantly.



For hours he declared war, and stripped two young nobles of their titles.
Chaos ensued. He loved it all. He tried to write in his diary, but found his
left hand was inflicted with mysterious spasms and he couldn't accomplish
the task.



*No matter. I know what I have to do next... some more housecleaning. Yes,
housecleaning. Where is that Bremham? If he doesn't come back I'm stripping him
of his title. Ha, ha!*

* *

--



The letter came from Vatticus, as he knew it would. *The Wheel Turns,* he
found himself thinking. A savage grin played on his corpse-like face.



Yes. Prophecy was being fulfilled. The Lesson was to be taught. All would
learn... and some would learn the wrong lessons.



All was going, not according to a specific plan... but to *how it should be.
*

* *

The King of Abington smiled. The rebellion had begun. He opened a bottle of
wine to celebrate, chuckling to himself.



--



Gauihu paused, thoughtfully rubbing his chin with his right fist.

"My wife?" he repeated. "No, no... I would never hurt her."

*Never, never.*

The words echoed now in his own mind as he rode to where Armitage III was
encamped. Those in the Riverholm Palace breathed a collective sigh of
relief. Word of the king traveling spread quickly.
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