Undeserved Misdemeanour In The Face Of Classed Society

• Jaidyn Weight, Grade 10
• Poetry
• 2014

His legs began to wobble as they reached the end of the staircase and the final door through which he’ll enter before confronting the Sulfurin King himself. The guards at the last door opened it without hesitation or any contact with third parties, and Gabranth became even more concerned with how unconstrained the whole journey had been. Behind the doors was a sparsely lit room with windows spanning all six sides and a large standalone throne overlooking the city, it seemed to be mounted on a circular platform intended to rotate at the operator’s will, the back of the throne facing the final door. The patroller who seemed to have lead them the entire journey spoke, “Excuse my intrusion your majesty, an envoy has been sent from the Europhian capital of Adamantium”. “Yes, I was expecting such an occasion for some time now”. The King pulled a lever, resulting in the circular platform to complete a 180° turn. He was visibly war-hardened and of little health, as it appeared he took interest in imprinting scars on his face, his clothing was noticeably lavish, a velvet overcoat with thick wool seams and jewellery of the finest craftsmanship and precious stones. The Sulfurin King’s voice was deep and cultivated an unsettled flutter of butterflies in Gabranth's stomach, which would soon mutate into a swarm of wretched wasps to insert venoms of fear and anguish from within, but he continued cautiously. “The Europhian Tribunal has sent me in the hope of finding an agreed solution to the issue of your navy’s pirating of our merchant ships”. “It’s my assumption you’d like us to cease our acts of piracy, but you see, the people of Sulfuris are tired of living in the shadow of the great people of your land. This extravagant city that my forefathers overtook so many years ago has become inadequate in satisfying my peoples’ materialistic needs. It was the peoples’ general consensus to commit piracy against other nations, and are willing to fight in a war which could potentially harvest for themselves the treasures that your merchant ships carry in excess to all of your cities, through your ultimate extermination, in which case will leave me irrefutably as the most influential ruler in all of Aequinoctium. I have no intention to waste time and harming my conscience negotiating with petty diplomats”. With that, the King nodded to the guards, and there was a collective resounding groan from behind Gabranth. He turned to see the cause of the moaning and his legs nearly gave way at what he’d seen. His escorts had been stabbed in the back by the Sulfurin guards, resentment welled up from within him, two guards went to grab a hold of him. He unsheathed his sword and swung it in their direction, slicing them both in two and the King warned Gabranth, “Resistance, Tribune, is futile, I always get what I want”. One of the guards pulled out a small crossbow and shot Gabranth with an anaesthetic dart. Finally his legs gave way and he fell forward. Staggering a few more steps, he dropped to the floor unconscious. The remainding guards dragged him out of the throne room and down the staircase.
Europhia was disgraced by his disappearance and proceeded with a course of war against Sulfuris; Gabranth was never to be found by the Europhians, again.

Jaidyn Tyler Weight - 2014