No, My Revenge

“You hear that sound, Prince? My dragon is mere minutes away from crashing in and killing all of you. If you leave me now, maybe, just maybe you and your silly friends can get out alive.”

“Minutes, you say? King Allendar, that is just enough time for me to kill you.”

With his rapier, Prince Dawndren flicked the narrow, gold, jewel-encrusted crown off of King Allendar’s head, crown clattering, gems rolled across the castle’s stone floor. A small cut on the king’s brow started to bleed. The king brought his arm to the wound, allowing the blood to soak into his scarlet robe’s sleeve.

Dawndren lunged into a stab, but King Allendar blocked the thrust with his golden scepter.

“Keep the crown. The throne and scepter are mine, foolish prince.”

“You don’t deserve the kingdom. It’s mine by blood-right. You only deserve my blade.”

Allendar lowered the scepter and walked towards the main exit. He paused and looked at Dawndren. “I’m going to get on my dragon, fly around for a bit, kill you and everyone you love, and I’m going to rule this kingdom just as before. I tried to warn you.”

Prince Dawndren used his left hand to yank the scepter by its smooth, globed iridescent tip. He threw the scepter across the room and pointed his blade at the king.

Allendar raised his hands in surrender. “Let’s not be hasty. I—”

“Silence. This is my moment of vengeance!”

Prince Dawndren held the sword over his head and swung to cut down his foe, but—clang! A larger, black blade from his periphery intercepted the blow before it could touch the king.

Dawndren looked at this new person and gasped. “What are you doing here, Maldar? I told you to get the prisoners and get out.”

Dawndren’s squire and long time travel companion said, “I did all that, Prince. But I needed to be here with you, so I could have my vengeance.” He turned to Allendar and lifted his blade. “King Allendar, you killed my little brothers and fed my parents to that dragon. Now it is your turn to die.”

“No,” Dawndren screamed. “This is my moment for revenge, not yours. I’m going to cut him down, and then we’ll escape the dragon, just like we planned.”

“Just like you planned, not me!”

Allendar dove to the floor as an arrow whisked between both Dawndren and Maldar. They turned to the window, where another man stood.

Prince Dawndren said, “Sir Kalbrech, how noble of you to join us. You can put your bow down. I’m going to execute the king, and then we’ll escape.”

“No, Prince! I need to kill him! He cut off my wife’s limbs and dropped her into the moat for the gators. After that, he used to carry her dismembered hand and stroke it so, just to taunt me and the other captured members of the guard loyal to your father, the true king.”

“This revenge is for all of us, Sir Kalbrech. My father the king was killed and his throne was taken. I was banished, and it took me ten years to get to this moment. Executing the king is my right.” He turned to King Allendar. “On your feet!”

The king had started to crawl away, but he quickly stood and resumed the surrender position, now with three men pointing weapons at him. As they stood there, tension hanging between them all, a women ran into the room, her hands grasping her gown and keeping it from dragging.

“Princess Emiaza, what are you doing here?” asked the squire Maldar.

“Emiaza?” Dawndren asked, dropping his sword. “My sister? Is that you?” He ran up and embraced her in a hug. Her hair was frizzed and unkempt, and she carried an odor. She embraced him too, but something was in her hand. “It’s been so long, sister. Were you in the dungeon?”

“Indeed. For nine years. Maldar freed me and told me to leave, but I needed to find King Allendar to have my revenge.”

Dawndren scooped his sword off the ground and said, “I was just about to execute him. I’ve been waiting ten years for this moment, and I’m happy to share it with you all.”

Emiaza said, “But I brought this broken prison bar to stab him with. You don’t know what I went through after your exile. As far as I’m concerned, you had it easy, brother. He taunted me and the other maidens. He abused us, and treated is like slaves. I’ve forgotten what the sky looks like, but I refuse to look until I get to end his life.”

As she finished speaking, another woman stomped into the room. This woman was older, and dressed in an elegant, purple dress, her makeup covering most of her wrinkles making her eyes and lips appear much younger than the rest of her.

“What’s the meaning of this?” the woman asked. “Aren’t you all supposed to be escaping? It’s chaos out there, and the dragon is coming.”

“Mother?”

“Oh, my dear Dawndren, is that you?” She kissed his forehead and hugged her long lost son. “I’m glad you’re back, but why aren’t you all escaping? Until we can deal with the dragon, the kingdom isn’t taken back yet.”

Sir Kalbrech spoke. “We could ask you the same thing, Queen. Were you taking the King into custody, or have you been on his side the whole time?”

She laughed. “On his side? Heavens, no!” She pulled out an elegant, ivory-handled knife. “I was going to kill him. Now that the rebellion’s happening and all the guards are occupied, I finally have a free moment to get away with it.”

Dawndren’s eyes gaped at her weapon, but he tried collecting himself. “Mother, I’m about to execute the king. It’s revenge for all of us. Then we can escape.”

“No, no, no, son. It’s my day for revenge, not yours.”

“But he killed Dad and exiled me. I’ve been preparing for this moment for a decade.”

“But you weren’t here, dear. You had it easy.”

Princess Emiaza cried, “That’s what I said. It’s my time for revenge, not yours!”

The queen said, “No. Revenge belongs to me more than anyone else here. I had to live with the brute after he killed my husband. I had to pretend to love him as I watched him kill, banish, torture, and abuse everyone I cared about. I had to marry him, I had to sleep with him every night…and the things he did to my poor puppies. The man is a monster, and to keep my life I had to live a lie, pretending to tolerate the intolerable. Every waking day has been a nightmare for me, but every night, my dreams of revenge have been the only things keeping me sane enough to wake up the next day and not jump out of my tower bedroom’s window.”

Sir Kalbrech said, “Queen, I’m sure you saw the monster holding my dead wife’s hand. You can agree that I deserve to execute him, right?”

“No, I’m gonna kill him!” yelled Squire Maldar.

The princess screamed, “I was in prison! You don’t know what it’s like to be me!”

“Revenge is mine,” yelled the queen.

Soon, all were screaming in a cacophony of protest. King Allendar tried sneaking towards the door, but they all yelled, “Stop!”—their weapons trained on him.

He stepped back towards them, and walked to the far end of the room, beside the throne near the open window Sir Kalbrech had climbed through. “I’ll just wait and sit.”

“Do not sit on the throne, pig,” Prince Dawndren said.

The king sat on the window sill, away from the throne. On the other side of the throne was a larger window, with a stained glass depiction of a happy kingdom ruled by Prince Dawndren’s Great-Grandfather. Allendar stared at that stained glass window in silence as the others’ argument continued.

After talking in circles for awhile, Prince Dawndren yelled, “Quiet! We’re getting nowhere. This is not how I pictured this moment. We have him. Let’s just kill him. We can all have a slice or stab. Mutilate him until there’s nothing left. We all want the same thing, right?”

“Well yes,” Sir Kalbrech said, “but I always wanted to do the deed myself, you know.”

“I know,” Dawndren said. “It’s true for all of us. That man’s taken so much from us…he took our dreams of singular vengeance away too, by hurting us all so deeply. But ultimately we just need to get it over with. What do you all say? We each stab, all at once?”

“On one condition,” the queen said. “I get first stab.”

“No!” yelled Squire Maldar. “You’ll just kill him before I get any action. What’s the point, then?”

“All at the same time,” yelled Dawndren. “At the count of three.”

“I want to count,” Princess Emiaza said. “You’re just gonna attack on two.”

Sir Kalbrech said, “I’ll shoot my arrow before any of you can stab before the count.”

King Allendar said, “Do you want me to count?”

Emiaza said, “You don’t get to talk,” her eyes drilling the king.

“Three,” he said, smirking.

Emiaza lunged forward, but the squire grabbed her by the waist, stopping her attack. “All at once, right?” Maldar said.

“Don’t touch me! He deserves what I have for him. The king is mocking us.”

“Two,” Allendar said.

“Ready your weapons,” Dawndren said. “On my mark, not a count.”

“My weapon’s been ready,” Sir Kalbrech said. “This is taking too long.”

“I’m going whether you’re all ready or not,” the queen yelled. “I deserve this moment!”

“We all deserve this,” Dawndren said. “On my mark!”

King Allendar said, “One.”

The giant stained glass window on the opposite side of the throne shattered. Allendar ducked, anticipating Kalbrech’s arrow. They all stared dumbfounded at the glass shards fell, revealing Allendar’s dragon, wings flapping, large, impenetrable scaled body hovering over them all.

Only a second later, the dragon exhaled, showering them all in fire and its saliva accelerant. All of them but King Allendar.

King Allendar stood to his feet, found his broken crown, placed it on his head, and also took hold of his scepter. The dragon landed in front of the broken windows, her feet crunching the stained glass shards of the kingdom’s former legacy, her eyes surveying her charred handiwork.

“Good girl,” the king said, briefly petting its scales.

And King Allendar sat on the throne, just as he had that morning.