Day 565: 5 Minute Freewrite: Wednesday - Prompt: delegation
"The delegation from Unbeton is on approach, Sire!"
The cruel and mighty King Bielshaaser smiled upon his golden throne. His kingdom he had inherited from his father and grandfather, and they all had ground up all kingdoms in their way, ruthlessly stripping them of all that they and their kingdom, Griid, desired. Natural resources, wealth, business, the bodies and souls of men -- Griid by its power had done what it would to all those in its path.
Unbeton was next, the next kingdom who was to be swallowed up. King Bielshasser had been merely surprised that the little kingdom had sent a delegation offering peace -- as if little Unbeton was master of the situation. This had intrigued the king, and so he had sent back word that he would receive the delegation.
On they came, Unbeton's ambassador for the occasion and her eight attendants. She was an old woman by all appearances, stooped with age although walking well on her ironwood staff. Her attendants were laden with fine gifts: gold and jewels and precious spices. All these things but quickened the king's desire to possess the entire kingdom of Unbeton. He openly laughed when he heard what the ambassador -- Justiss by name -- had to say.
"Greetings, Your Majesty, from Her Majesty the Queen-Steward of Unbeton. In her name and the name of Unbeton I present Your Majesty with these precious gifts and the show of goodwill that accompanies them, in the hopes that there will be peace between our peoples, and that Griid do itself no harm in attacking a nation that has as of yet offered it no harm."
His Majesty, I have said, laughed openly. And scornfully, to the point of hurting his ribs.
"Who are you, old woman, and where have you been, all your life? Do you not know that I am Bielshasser, heir of kings of kings and now the King of Kings?"
Ambassador Justiss looked back calmly.
"Your Majesty, I own you many things, but King of Kings we own you not in Unbeton, nor shall we ever."
The court gasped.
"Nonetheless, our offer to His Majesty is good. We do not presume to tell Gridd how it should perform its affairs, but we of this delegation make full show of the intents of Unbeton. We desire peace, and so far as it lies with us, we shall have it."
King Bielshasser became angry.
"Get out, old bag! Go and prepare your grave -- and that of your nation and queen-steward!"
The ambassador motioned with her staff, and the gifts were put down before the king's throne. Then they turned in unison to march out, but the king's quick and greedy eye caught a flash of something glittering green in the back of the ambassador's robes.
"Seize her!"
The king's guards did so, with rough and violent hands. The ambassador did not resist, and her attendants did not move.
"Bring that that jewel here, with the chain it sits on!"
And so the chain was snapped, and the green jewel stolen from the ambassador's belt.
"We bring you gifts and that does not suffice you," she said in a calm, clear voice. "So be it, Your Majesty. You, and your kingdom, must be what they are, to the end."
"What end!" the king howled as he rippped the twine from the little hole bored in the large green gem -- twine, mind you, not even gold -- and closed the gem in his hand. "There shall be no end of Griid -- to the ends of the earth, and to the moon, and all the worlds! I am King of Kings and heir to kings of kings and father of kings of kings! All shall be mine!"
Then he looked at the delegation in his rage.
"Throw them out -- but roughly!"
So they were beaten, and slapped, and kicked, before being set upon the road home. They did not resist, and at the end, the eight attendants carried the ambassador all the way to Unbeton.
The news preceded the delegation home: Griid had fallen. In a single week, a pestilence had destroyed the king, his family, his court, and his capital city -- all of it had to be burned to save the rest of the populace, and the kingdom was falling apart as the survivors of conquered nations declared their independence.
In her capital city, old Queen-Steward Justiss smiled as her attendants carried her to the royal infirmary for further treatment.
"King of a few kings, perhaps, but not of a queen, and her prepared hollow jewel with the twine that broke the pestilence's seal when ripped out. I warned him peace would be better..."
Photo Credit: Jens Johnsson on Unsplash
I wish I could #freewrite like this @deeanndmathews. 👍👍
https://steemit.com/freewrite/@mariannewest/day-566-5-minute-freewrite-thursday-prompt-free-event
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Thank you, @wonderwop -- the key is a LOT of writing and "freereading," where ideas come to hand from a wealth of material to apply to the prompts. Journalism background doesn't hurt either... gotta get those stories DONE on deadline!
hi @deeanndmathews
really a nice story with a very important message for the reader. How are the characters born in your imagination?
nice job, keep it up
congratulation and thank you to share with us
@road2horizon -- thank you very much!
My imagination is well-stocked! Here is the cast of characters, drawn from older history and stories:
King Belshazzar, last king of Babylon before the Medes and Persians took over, most famously referenced in Daniel 5 in the Bible. He inherited the Neo-Babylonian empire from his famous grandfather Nebuchadnezzar, and is living it up when "the handwriting on the wall" incident happens. He scorns the prophet Daniel who tells him his kingdom is about to be destroyed. He and his are destroyed that very night.
Edgar Allen Poe's whole crew from "The Masque of the Red Death," who decide to shut themselves in a castle and party hardy while cholera ravages the land, only to have Cholera himself throw on a costume and join the party. Prince Prospero takes a sword and attacks Cholera, but in doing so unleashes the disease on himself and everyone else.
So, there you are, with Bielshasser representing both Belshazzar and Prospero, and Justiss representing the prophet Daniel, Cholera, and of course, Lady Justice, who carries both a scale and a sword (or bio-weapon, as the modern case may be).
Hi deeanndmathews,
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Oh, WOW -- THANK YOU!!!
Such a powerful short story. It is concise but you managed to give the message that you want your readers to absorb. The plot twist is also awesome.
For the story, I believe that no matter how powerful you are, if you don't think intelligently, and be succumbed by greed or desire for more power, failure will always find its way and it will be catastrophic. One lesson that taught us about this story is that by all means, we should be humble for it's not being rich or ruthless that will make us a strong leader but being compassionate to the people all around you. It is just sad that because of his greed that tragedy has befallen not only to himself but the entire nation.
I love reading this kind of stories. I am fond of historical drama and other fantasy based plots. I do think you are as well, am I right?
I hope that you will be able to write more of this kind of stories. Well done @deeanndmathews
@edencourage -- Thank you so much!
This story is sort of my nightmare about the country I live in... not referent to any particular administration, but eventually, greed will run any nation right into the ground, because justice is going to come, and often in an unexpected and devastating way.
I love these kind of stories too, and write these things on the regular -- just SLOW in getting published. I only have one fictional work out there at the moment -- throw "Seasons Siblings Timeshare Tiff" into Amazon's search engine, and you'll find my take on family feuding and reconciliation, in the guise of San Francisco's CRAZY fall weather. I also use these short stories as ways to keep working ideas from larger stories yet to be published and also yet to be written. I WILL keep writing, for sure!
I loved the message behind this short story, and dang Justiss is a badass!
@ange.nkuru Justice -- I mean, Justiss -- certainly is! Don't let the slow pace fool you!