“I’m going to be honest. I was told to ask you to convince Mallefard to give up his stake to the throne.” A middle-aged gentleman makes his seat by me at a bar while raising his index finger at the bartender. “Grandy, by the way.” He offers me a handshake.

I look sourly at his palm. “No.” I look away and take a drink. “And I’m saying this already drunk, so don’t waste your time trying to get me wasted.”

“Great, we can talk about something else then.” Grandy brings a glass of bourbon up to his lips. “Don’t know why they’re still trying with you.”

There were a lot of negative feelings floating around when it was discovered that the true heir to the throne was the son of a commoner right after the previous king had died. A lot of people, including the former heir, protested violently, the violence being both figurative and literal, resulting in the situation we were in right now.

“Don’t talk to me.”

“I don’t care about Mallefard, in fact I won’t mention him again. I’m just curious about a couple things. You see, there’s practically nobody living in the first district that wasn’t already born rich. That is, until recently when Mallefard showed up, causing a lot of arguments. But there hasn’t been very much discussion about you, the friend Mallefard insisted come with him, who came from identical circumstances.” Grandy rests his face on top of his hand, looking at me. “What was it like, living in the fourth district before being named a noble?” He asks.

…

“Well, I used to not hate everyone I talked to.” I say begrudgingly to Grandy’s slight chuckle. “I was also a lot hungrier, smellier, and colder when the weather got bad. But every day I was glad at least I wasn’t born in the fifth district.”

“So what did you think of all the people living in the center of the city? Did you dislike them, were you neutral on them, perhaps you admired them?”

“Heh, admire them?” I snort. ”Of course we hated them. Everyone hated them, we hated people from the third district, the fourth district. We even hated people in the fifth district sheerly because they reminded us we were only a single step above them. That’s just the natural result of dividing people into different categories. Something is going to happen one day, there’s too much hate floating around.”

“Yea sure. I understand your sentiments.”

“Do you though? I don’t know shit about you, but I bet you’ve never seen a hard day in your life.” I’m going way too far. I shouldn’t be making enemies.

“Sure. That’s very likely compared to you.”

“Fuck you man, trying to mediate things. You think you’re too good to argue with me huh?” I turn and take a swig of my glass. Damn it, might as well if there’s no going back.

”I’d argue that you had too much to drink.” Grandy swipes the drink from my hands.

“Ah.” I reach forward and fall face first onto the desk trying to grab it back.

“Oi, bartender, are there no drink limit rules here? How many drinks have you gotten him already?” Grandy lifts me out of the chair.

“Uh, I’m not too sure. He was just sitting there quietly not showing any signs of intoxication, so I let him be.”

“So what about it? Do you hate that this lowly pig is intruding on your land?” I slur my words at him, as he supports me from toppling over.

“Everything happens for a reason.” We slowly walk towards the entrance of the bar.

“Damn, why does everyone say that.” I murmur.

”What? That everything happens—

—For a reason.” I whisper before looking down at Yesenia, who was lying down next to me, trying to fall asleep as the wheels of the cart gently vibrate up and down passing over tiny rocks on the road.

I look down at the floor. It was Mallefard’s motto at this point. ‘Everything happens for a reason.’ I’ve heard it repeated so many times in response to so many situations that I’ve adopted the motif as well. I got drunk and scathingly told off a political enemy? Everything happens for a reason. “You will find that these things take some time, but the meaning eventually reveals itself.” Mallefard told me back then instead of being mad at me, and you know what? Grandy ended up being a very strong ally after our first meeting.

“Mmmm…” Yesenia mumbles uncomfortably as she forces herself to squeeze her eyes shut. Clearly the cart was giving her some troubles, but she quietly suffered through it. My wife and daughter were on a side coach close to this one, as only I was allowed to stay on the main coach with Yesenia despite my protests, as I was the only one ‘trusted’ enough with the princess despite the three of us having spent the past 2 months together. I wished I could stay in the cart with my family, but then Yesenia would be stuck alone for two days without anyone to interact with, resulting in this arrangement.

Outside the gentle pitter patter of rainfall slowly begins picking up in momentum. I glance between the cart door and Yesenia, before slowly reaching out towards the cart handle, slowly pushing down with a gentle click.

“Please… At least until I fall asleep.” I look back to find her holding onto my shirt with her tiny hands. “It’s… too dark.”

I look at her surprised. Oh, I forgot a lot of kids are scared of the dark. It wasn’t that the cart was too bumpy to sleep in.

Thinking about it, is Oribu also similarly scared of the dark? Is that why she insists on letting the candle-light burn out instead of blowing it shut?

I mean… I used to be scared of the dark too, they say once a child gets over their fear of the dark they’re no longer considered a child and begin their journey to adulthood, but they’re still years away from that.

”Alright. I’ll stay with you.”

“Ok…”

…

She lays back down while I sit next to her. The sounds of the rain only intensify as it becomes a wall of sound, violently vibrating the air.

I look out the window, to the sky as a flash of lightning comes down.

…

…

BWONG! The thunder crashes through the coach, delivering a violent rumble through the wood and metal.

Yesenia shivers in fear. “Sorry, I shouldn't be scared of these things. My brother tells me that all the time, but it is so hard for me.”

I look outside to the raging storm.

“To be honest, I’m a bit frightened as well.” I tell her. Seriously, what is that hellscape outside? Are the horses going to be okay? Normally any traveler would stop to sleep and find shelter in these conditions, but these horses specifically were bred to go on for dozens of hours without resting, alongside restless coachman keeping awake for the same amount of time to navigate them. As long as the drivers and horses had a couple days of rest between every journey this system was orthodox for situations where it was called for. “But I’m not going to let it get in the way of my sleep. You know without enough sleep you’re too tired to play, you can’t work, you can’t learn. It’s like aaa…n itchy mosquito bite. If you pick at the bump, it only gets itchier and bigger, but if you ignore it, the feeling goes away and it heals in no time.” Does that analogy even make sense? I tilt my head.

“So you’re telling me to ignore it, because it’ll be worse to be scared about it and lose sleep.” She asks.

“Yep, that’s exactly right!” I smile at her.

A giant flash of light suddenly illuminates the inside of the cart, allowing us to briefly see each other’s faces.

”Uh oh.” Yesenia covers her ears before a massive wave of sound shakes the ground like an earthquake, sending shivers up my spine.

A horse whinnies in distress on the outside, jolting the cart a tiny bit before calming down.

I suddenly hear giggles shortly afterwards however. “Go away, storm! We’re trying to get some sleep here!” Yesenia gets up and shakes her fist at the rain outside with a playful grin on her face. I watch in disbelief at her sudden change in deposition.

This six year old might be comforting me soon.

I gently stroke her hair. “I’m going to check in on Oribu. She’s probably scared out of her mind right now. Are you going to be fine all alone?”

“Mmh! You don’t need to worry about me anymore! I’m going to sleep!” Yesenia throws the blanket over her entire body, burying herself from head to toe, giving me a cute thumbs up from beneath the sheets.

“Atta girl.” I open the door to the coach, almost immediately getting drenched from head to toe after I hop outside. I lower my head and squeeze my eyes shut as water drips into them.

I squint upwards, blinking rapidly, rubbing my eyes a couple times as I try to get my bearings in the dark and rainy night.

I rub them again.

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

And again.

And again.

Where is—

—Mallefard!?” I stare wide-eyed at the man who busted into the laundry room as I was folding clothes.

“What?” I ask.

“WHERE IS YOUR FRIEND!” The man grabs my shirt and shakes me roughly.

“I… I don’t know, why?” I say with a shaky voice. Who is this person? He looks like a noble, why is he in a servants area?

“Oh, I can’t with these simpletons!” He haphazardly pushes me away, throwing his hands up and stomping out the door.

“Huh?” I look down at the clothes in my arms, before dropping them to run out the door.

“Ow!” I open the door with a bang, straight into Garci’s nose as she was running across the hall. She was a fellow castle servant that Mallefard and I’ve been friends with for a very long time as well.

“Ah! Are you alright, Garci!? I’m so sorry!” I quickly lean down next to her as she covers her mouth and nose in pain.

“I’m fine, don’t sweat it, more importantly have you seen Mallefard?” She says as she cups her bloody nose.

“What’s going on with him?” I look down at the state of the courtyard. “The whole castle is buzzing. Also are you sure you’re okay?” The ground gets stained with droplets of blood.

“Any other day or hour, I’d be more upset, but right now we need to get to Mallefard before the others, help me search.” Garci smears the blood off her face, leaving dark red marks across her cheek as she begins hurriedly jogging.

“Wait! Tell me what’s happening!”

She looks back. “King Twain just died, his final words were that Prince Taesen was not the true heir, just the product of a fling he had with an unnamed prostitute decades ago, literally minutes before he passed.” Garci explains.

“Huh? We all know how much Twain despises his son, couldn’t he be lying? It makes no sense.”

“I don’t have time to get into specifics. Just know that it’s been deduced that Mallefard is likely the true heir, and the old Queen corroborated the story when we asked.”

“I mean, they both hate their son, I still find it hard to—“

“Crux! I can’t do this with you right now! Everyone is trying to find Mallefard! There are people who are going to tell him to stand down, there are people who think he’s going to be an easy puppet, there are people who are even trying to kill him on sight for God’s sake, we need to be the first there as his friends! Then you can figure things out!”

”But…” I couldn’t accept the news subconsciously. Mallefard was the king? My best friend is a king? There had to be some sort of mistake. Him. The ruler of millions of people.

“Crux!” Garci grabs my arms and shakes them.

“I… Okay, I have an idea where he might be.” I break out of my trance. ”Follow me.” I grab Garci’s hand to her surprise and the two of us run out of the servant’s quarters and out of the castle. We run out into the streets of the first district, rich women and men in gaudy clothing all over paying us no attention as we run past them.

“Where are we going!”

“A restaurant! It’s his part-time job other than being a castle servant!” I shout, still holding onto her hand. “We’ll find him there maybe hopefully!”

A couple minutes later, the two of us burst into a restaurant in the second district.

“Please wait to be seated—“

“Yea, yea.” Garci shoves past the attendant, my following close behind.

“Mallard!” Garci shouts across the room using her nickname. “Are you there?!”

Mallefard turns around in his uniform perplexed. He was carrying around four plates of food.

”Garci? Crux? What are you two doing here? Garci why is your face all bloody? Oh, apologies for the interruption.” Mallefard hurriedly sets down the plates at one of the dining tables.

”You have to come with us now. There’s something really really important we have to tell you.” I speed walk up to him.

“But—“

“Hey! Don’t pilfer our waiter! We still haven’t gotten anything yet!” An angry man shouts from another table.

“Yea! The hell are you two thinking?! You need to get out. Right. Now.” The attendant comes back with a vengeance, getting right up in our faces as he demands us to leave.

”Can it wait ten minutes? I still have a bunch of orders I need to get through; I’ll try to rush through it.” Mallefard looks at us with an uncertain gaze.

“Oh this is ridiculous.” Garci sighs exasperatedly before looking at me mouthing, Right now?! She makes sure to accent the message with an exaggerated gesture.

I nod and open my mouth. “Well… There are a lot of people searching for you right now, because… You are… Going to be the next king.”

…

Mallefard blinks rapidly. “What?”

The restaurant door bursts open once more, inviting total chaos into the restaurant as a flood of nobles wreaks havok clamoring for Mallefard. “Oh no! Were we followed?!” Garci rears back at the sight.

“There he is!” A voice points to the three of us standing out like sore thumbs.

“Run! Get in the kitchen!” Mallefard yells at the two of us while lightly pushing us forward.

The three of us stagger away as a horde of people yell at us indistinctly, molding together into a mass of noise.

We tear through into the kitchen where Mallefard turns back and slams the door closed, quickly locking it shut.

”Mallefard? What are you doing? What’s going on out there?” The chef walks up to us flustered.

”Uh…” Mallefard turns to us while people begin pounding on the door.

“Honestly I want to know the same thing. Why the hell is he of all people the next king?” I turn to Garci.

Garci glances at the door, which was still being brutalized by the people outside. She gulps. “Okay, so I don’t know the whole story, but apparently you were switched at birth with Prince Taesen deliberately by King Twain. You know the king and Queen Tuvia… Their marriage wasn’t the greatest right? It was an open secret that the king slept around a lot, there’s a lot of secret children? Tuvia found out later, but let things go until...”

Garci scratches her head. “Ack, you know their stuff is complicated, anyways Tuvia said you were their child so you’re the next king.”

Mallefard sits down on the kitchen counter with a pensive expression. “I… Have some orders I need to take out.”

“But—”

“Later, we’ll talk about it when dinner is finished. Chef, are the orders at table seven ready?”

“It’s uh… Oh!” The head chef runs to a smoking pan in the back of the kitchen and quickly douses it with a bottle of wine.

“Oi! What are you louts standing around for! Your king told you to get back to work!” The head chef yells at all the people standing around in the kitchen as they roll back into action.

“How can you just act like nothing happened?” I say incredulously at the sight.

“I… Feel like I’d be a bad king if I just left before I finished my job you know? The king is supposed to serve the people right? And the people are expecting to be served some good food.” Mallefard shrugs before he unlocks the door.

He forces himself through before anyone has the chance to come into the kitchen.

“Hey it’s him!”

”Mallefard! Are you alright?! Do you know who you—?!”

“King Mallefard! My name is Manson, I am a part of the—!“

“Give him some space! Can’t you see he’s—!”

“Stand down! A born commoner has no right to—!”

“Okay! Okay! Either sit down and order or wait outside! I don’t got the time to deal with this.” Mallefard immediately makes his voice heard over everyone elses as he shoves his way out.

“Let’s help.” The two of us run through the door to help clear the way for Mallefard.

I brace in front of Mallefard and hold my arms and elbows out, trying to keep people from getting too close. “Get the hell away from him!” Garci growls at the plethora of nobles clamoring for his attention.

”Do any of you have any shame!?” Mallefard suddenly enhances his voice with Anku instantly commanding the attention of everyone there. “I don’t care who you are, and I know who all of you are; I can say that all of you disturbing the restaurant are completely insignificant to me compared to the guests patiently waiting for their meals. I will make enemies tonight if that’s what you wish, I don’t mind. I’m the next king after all.” Mallefard sneers. “Those who wish to disrespect me. Continue your charade, otherwise leave. Now.”

He’s taking this a lot more smoothly than I thought he would.

The room quickly thins out with people grumbling but complying with his orders. On the other hand, Mallefard continued to bring out orders with a friendly smile, a stark contrast to his demeanor a couple minutes ago.

“Uh… Should we be going too? Or…” I self-consciously look around as Mallefard continues on with his business.

“No, no, you’re my friends, you can stay. Unless you have some work you need to finish back at the castle.” He says casually as he walks by.

“Oh, Uh…” Somehow, this isn’t going as I’m expecting it to go.

A couple of the nobles stay off to the side, diametrically in defiance. “I will not accept you.” One of them says to Mallefard in passing.

Mallefard stops, glancing at the group. He holds his tongue for a couple seconds before dropping a simple. “Why?”

“I don’t care if you’re the rightful heir by blood. I can’t get behind someone who doesn’t know the first thing about how to run this country. This is what Prince Taesen has been preparing for his entire life, you are impossibly ill-prepared.” One of the women says.

Mallefard closes his eyes before stating flatly. “Queen Tuvia told me three years ago. If you’re worried about lack of experience or knowledge. I’ve been studying and observing intently. It’ll be to my advantage that I was raised as a commoner, as I understand many of the problems most people in the city face.”

Wh— “—at?!” Garci exclaims. “Why didn’t you ever tell us?”

“I… Wanted to keep things normal for a bit.” Mallefard looks down, setting down his plates. “I’m assuming Twain passed away today?” He asks us.

”About an hour ago.” Garci affirms.

“I see…” Mallefard looks off to the side. “Are you mad at me?” He asks to my surprise.

”No no, I’m just… confused.”

“I’m sorry then.” Mallefard sits down. “It’s just… When I first heard it I didn’t know what to do. I was perfectly happy and then my life completely changed. Twain and Queen Tuvia were planning on announcing it back then, but… I don’t know how else to say it. I was afraid of you two just… Disappearing from my life.”

“You never needed to worry about that.” I glance around.

The nobles were looking around uncomfortably as the conversation took a very personal direction. Most of the dining room was also exchanging uncomfortable looks.

Bah, who cares if some people are uneasy.

I lean in close. “What’s that thing you always tell me?”

“Everything happens for a reason.”

“So why are you having doubts about this? You’re about to be crowned king and you’re still worried about your friends. You’ve always taken things in stride no matter how ridiculous or unfair things can be. You’ve always looked forward without any doubts, and now you’re telling me that we’re the reason you’ve been holding back. It makes me mad at myself.”

“But…”

“Don’t worry! We like you, so don’t be so insecure. No matter what happens. No matter who you become. We will continue to be friends. After all,

Everything happens for a reason.”

…

The side coach was toppled over to the side, the wooden frame cracked with the wheels broken in half. A single horse with its legs trapped underneath the wreckage writhed around desperately, whinnying in fear. The rest of the harnesses were empty, the rest of the horses having run away into the night.

I close my eyes and open them again. I bring my trembling fingers up to my face and dig my nails into my cheeks until it bleeds, checking if I still have sensation left.

I’ve never felt so cold.

A slew of bodies littered the ground, blood free flowing through the mud. Some of them were guards, some of them were strangers I didn’t recognize. A fight had broken out at the wagon behind us, hidden by the pounding rain.

I kneel down and lift the motionless hand on the ground, bringing her hand up to my forehead. On her other hand, her fingers were still wrapped around a blood soaked sword, half sunk into the soppy mud, protecting Oribu to their last moments.

The rain assaults my back, climbing further and further in intensity as the world turns black.