First thing in the morning after waking up, it was the routine for Tegrios to exercise. As usual, with his body guards, Tegrios came to an open field for working out. The field was surrounded by forest from two sides and the fast-flowing River Hebrus ran along the northern edge of the field. Tegrios had his hands over his hip after two or three minutes of drill when an arrow flew from the forest and struck his chest. Holding the arrow with his right hand, the king fell to the ground, facing the sky, while everyone around him looked at each other with horror, not knowing what to do. It was followed by a chaos. In order to apprehend the assassin, a group of soldiers ran in the direction of the forest from where the arrow had been shot. For half an hour they scoured the forest in search of the assassin, but it was of no use. Meanwhile, the king’s hunting entourage arrived at the scene. An atmosphere of shock and grief prevailed when Terres, the general in command of the king’s archers, touched the king’s neck and declared him dead. Terres snatched the arrow out of the king’s chest and began examining it. An engraved name on it attracted his attention. As he read the name, he whispered, “The bloody arrow belongs to Ismarus!”
Everyone around Terres turned to statues. They could not understand why a harmless prince like Ismarus would commit such a crime. Eumoplus could read what was in the hearts of everyone. In order to dispel the thought, he said, “Loss of his throne has driven Ismarus insane. He must be apprehended, dead or alive.”
At a distance the king’s jester wondered, for revenge why Ismarus would use an arrow with his name engraved on it. It just did not make sense to him. Instead of uttering his thoughts, he just slipped away from the crime scene.
The next day, upon returning to the royal palace, Eumoplus proclaimed himself the King of Odrysia. From the balcony of his palace, he pronounced a solemn oath to the subjects that at any cost, he was going to avenge the heinous murder of his predecessor. He further declared a reward of hundred gold drachmas to anyone who would be able to bring to justice the perpetrator of this crime, dead or alive. Only three months after his accession to the throne, everyone was stunned to find the beautiful widow of the neighboring kingdom’s youngest prince, next to Eumoplus. The subjects were told that in order to address the misery of the helpless widow, Eumoplus had bestowed upon her the title of his queen. However, from the subjects of the neighboring kingdom, a different story reached Seuthopolis, the capital of Odrysia. According to them, their young prince’s death was no ordinary death. The venomous snake which killed the prince, was a mere tool of a heinous crime. For without human assistance, it was thought to be almost impossible for the creature to enter the part of the palace where the young prince used to reside. Rumors had it that the wife of the young prince and Eumoplus had an affair, way before the young prince’s death. Everyone suspected, the accession of Eumoplus to the throne of Odrysia had something to do with the sad demise of the young prince of Dacia. They pointed out, as the wife of Orpheus, Eumoplus’ secret lover had no chance to be the queen. These events made the King of Dacia view Eumoplus as a hostile entity.
In the meantime, after the death of the King, the king’s jester never returned to the palace. Days passed by as he kept scouring the forest on horseback, in search of the ousted prince and the queen. At last, one day he found Ismarus hunting in the forest. The King’s jester was very fond of the prince. He was among the many admirers the prince had in the kingdom. Hence, when he first discovered the prince in the forest, it felt like he had the moon in his clasp. Very quickly he dismounted from his horse, and began sobbing while he held the prince in a tight embrace. Ismarus loved the King’s jester, the way he loved his own parents. Another emotional outburst took place when Ismarus accompanied the jester to their cave. Before Calysto, the jester was on his knees, gently kissing her hand, and whispering, “Your highness, before I start, I must apologize to you for being the messenger of a terrible news. All my life I saw you taking your meal from a plate made of gold. My heart breaks down to see you live like this today.”
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Very softly Calysto interrupted the jester, “We are doing just fine. Here we may not have beds made of gold, nonetheless, what we have cannot be purchased even with gold. Hence, your heartache for us is pointless. Now tell us what brings you to our humble abode.”
“Your highness, a great danger awaits you and your son. Few days back, the King was assassinated by an unknown assassin. The name of Ismarus was engraved on the arrow which was used to commit the heinous crime. My intuitions tell me, Eumoplus is behind this. Unfortunately, there’s no way to prove it. I do not understand how Eumoplus came to possess an arrow having the name of the prince engraved on it. It has now been established that Ismarus murdered the King.”
When the jester had stopped, with his head held low, Ismarus muttered, “Actually it’s my fault. I gave him the arrow. The day we were banished, Eumoplus took me behind a tree and asked for a souvenir. I had nothing valuable with me, so he took an arrow from my quiver as souvenir.”
With a startled voice the jester asked, “Why on earth did you do that?”
“I believed him to be my brother.”
For a while, it seemed like time had lost its meaning. At a loss for words, they just stared at each other. They could see the signs of frustration and apprehension in each other’s face. Finally, Calysto broke the stillness as she put the fruits collected by her son in a sack and left the cave to wash them in the nearby stream. When she had returned, she gave the jester a deep red apple and said, “Try the sweetness of this apple, you will never get this taste in the venomus atmosphere of the royal palace.”
Upon having a bite from the apple, the jester resumed what he had been saying, “By this time I presume Eumoplus has already usurped the throne. Now he would try to locate the prince and kill him. It would be wise for you two to flee from this place before Eumoplus’ men reach this spot.”
Subsequently, the jester sat on the large leaves spread out on the floor of the cave, and lent his hand to Calysto who had been busy separating the skin from the flesh of the hunted deer. Ismarus stood with his back resting against the wall of the cave. By then, it was already way past noon. However, due to summer, sunset was still a distant prospect. Ismarus diverted his attnention away from the forest outside. He stared at his mother and the jester, and then said, “I have been thinking of building a log cabin. I collected substantial quantity of woods for the purpose. I have a plan to build the cabin before the arrival of winter.”
With his small knife, as the jester kept separating the skin, he said to Ismarus, “Under the circumstances, staying alive from the clutches of Eumoplus should be your prime objective. If you succeed in doing so, later you will get plenty of opportunities to build your log cabins.”
Calysto had to agree to what the jester said. She said, “I do not know what you are thinking. I think the jester is being very practical. We should listen to his advice and abandon this place as soon as possible.”
“Alright mother, we can set out tomorrow morning. But where can we find a safe refuge?”
The jester put his knife on the floor and said, “Resus, the king of Dacia, is a good man. He’s said to be very kind and just to his subjects. I think we should ask him for shelter.”
Ismarus was quick to respond to what the jester had said. He asked, “And what if he decides to hand us over to Eumoplus?”
“We have to take the risk, because it is going to be very difficult for us to get away from Eumoplus without some sort of imperial patronage. I do believe, if we can convincingly narrate our story, he will refrain from handing us over to the usurper.”
When the jester stopped, Calysto told Ismarus to feed the fire. On either side of the fire, four wooden stakes were impaled in the ground, forming two crosses. Another long stake was placed over the crosses to hold the meat over the fire for smoking the deer. After dinner at night, the residents of the cave farther consulted with their guest. They decided to embark on their journey to the neighboring kingdom, at first light.