Chapter 7 of THE KINGDOM

[nannyn]

 Heyy guys! Whaddup? GUESS WHAT. We're progressing so slowly now, that we've begun TO TRAVEL BACK IN TIME. OMG.
Here's the normal: I can't link pretty, read previous chapters, comment below for motivation, blah blah blah.
Story time!

Chapter 7

-Shree-

 

Shree understood the importance of it, but did his father really have to get this fired up about one ingredient?

“I need it!” Adlington was currently shouting, waving his arms around like a deranged windmill, countless times narrowly missing one dish or another.

He was certainly causing a ruckus, and knew it full and well.

Shree was currently in the corner of the vast kitchen, squeezed in between the pots and skillets, having trouble reading his book. He had read the same passage from the novel that he wasn’t supposed to be reading, fifty chades, for about ten minutes. It was a bit risky, but it wasn’t bad, like most people said it was. It was like every other adult book in the kingdom: a bodice-ripper.

And he couldn’t read it. That was mildly annoying.

“Shree!” His name was screamed from across the kitchen, near the spice racks, where the mass of the commotion was centered. “Shree, come over here! Now, please!”

He rolled his eyes and pushed himself off the pot that he was sitting on, tucking his thick book into his leather bag. Swinging it around to hang it across his body, he did a quick skip into a jog to get himself over to the mass panic that was called the right-side of the kitchen.

“What?” He asked his father, who was the one who called for help.

“Shree. I need you to go out and buy more cinnamon. Quickly, because the feast starts in a few hours at most, and I don’t know how long the meeting will be.” Adlington said quickly, before stopping to give orders to chefs who were patiently waiting for him. Turning back to Shree, Adlington said, “Please, Shree, it would be wonderful if you could do that for me. I know I said you wouldn’t have to help with the preparations this morning, but…”

“Yeah, I know. That was before you figured out you didn’t have any more cinnamon.” Shree finished. “I’ll go and get some for you.”

His father hugged him, the kind that enveloped him and made him smell spices from his father’s clothes.

“Thank you so much, Shree.” Adlington said, kissing his son’s head. “Now, go and get me my spices!”

Shree waved goodbye to all in the kitchen, who all enjoyed his company for either one reason or the other. “Bye, guys!”

As he reached the open double-doors, he passed Sixelona, who was leaning on the doorjamb to the other door. He slowed down when he passed her.

She didn’t look up from scribbling in her book. “I’ll make sure he doesn’t have a mental breakdown while you’re gone.”

Shree nodded. “Thank you.”

She nodded, and said nothing more.

Knowing that it was his time to leave, Shree hurried through the castle and out the front doors, heading down the steps and over the bridge, on his way to the market.

His feet took him to where he had to go without him having to think about it. He had already established himself fully at the market, even at the young age of sixteen.

Which could get a bit annoying at times, since everyone was so reluctant to sell to him. He usually got away with it being less than half than what it was originally.

And so when he got to the spices section of the market, it was like a ghost town. All the stalls had their heavy cloths draped in front of their shop openings, and there wasn’t a person in sight.

He sighed, stopping in the middle of the road. He rooted around in his bag, and produced a small bag of coins. He had more, in fact a large amount, but would ever tell anyone. It was a part of trading to never let the person you were trading with to know exactly how much money you had. And so he held up the small percent of his money on him.

“I have fifty gold coins here, if anyone wants to trade for a bushel of cinnamon, I’ll pay it all.” He called out.

He was met by silence.

He sighed. “I’ll add ten extra gold coins to whatever you’re asking for.”

Nothing.

He rolled his eyes. “I promise I won’t cheat you. I swear by the might of the gods.”

And with that, since that was a very serious swear to make, the stalls exploded with noise. The curtains were thrown back, and shopkeepers stuck their heads and arms out, trying to wave Shree over to them so they could get the gold.

He took his sweet time when he chose, because he knew that he had the power to do so. He finally saw a man in the center that was selling for ten less than everyone else. Going over, he asked, “May I see the cinnamon?”

The man shakily gave him a sample. The man knew how important it was to impress the young man standing in front of him, inspecting the cinnamon stalk with a critical eye.

Shree, happy with the stalk, ordered a bushel of it. The man was happy to comply, and Shree soon had a large basket in front of him, lined with thick, white cloth and filled to the brim with the best of the best cinnamon stalks.

Shree paid the man his well-earned money, and greeted the boy who emerged from the shop to carry the heavy basket back to the castle.

“Careful, now, we don’t want any of those stalks breaking.” Shree said as the boy, who was his age, picked up the basket and began to follow Shree. The boy grunted back a response that was lost in the weave of the basket.

About halfway back to the castle, Shree noticed the boy starting to walk slower, getting worn out from carrying the basket. Immediately he stopped, saying, “Let’s stop here and rest for a bit.”

The boy gratefully put down the basket on the sidewalk and leaned on the railing next to Shree, the basket in between them.

Shree was gazing at the beautiful scene before him. The royal castle was previously surrounded by a moat, but the royal architect BDoubleO redesigned it, so it was more like the castle was on an island in the middle of a lake, in the center of the city. The land was sunken down in the large circle where the castle was, a good five feet lower. The land sloped gracefully into the water on the castle’s end, but was a vertical wall about five feet high on Shree’s end. The castle was connected to the mainland by a single, wide bridge that was pointing perfectly southwards.

Shree loved the vantage point from the railing looking out at the castle, because he could see almost the entire ring of shops and businesses that faced the “Center Ring”, as the citizens of Mindcrack City liked to call it. It was certainly a good point to have a business, since it was probably the busiest part of the city. With stone streets and sidewalks, and hanging ironwork baskets of flowers everywhere, it was also the prettiest and cleanest part. The ultimate example of what the royal city of Mindcrackia should look like.

Shree sighed, content with his life. The boy looked at him, a sidelong glance that Shree noticed immediately. He didn’t say anything, though, and pretended to be lost in the beauty of it all. The boy continued to look at Shree, especially his black felt hat with its bright red feather sticking out. Shree decided to break the silence.

“Isn’t the city beautiful?” Shree asked the boy, smiling blissfully at the view in front of him.

The boy looked out at the castle, the tall structure of granite and glass.

“It is.” He agreed. His face soon after had a smile on it as well.

Shree, happy that he had succeeded in making the boy smile, stepped back from the stone railing, dusting his hands off on his royal servant’s tunic. He bent down and picked up one side of the basket.

“Hey! I’m supposed to be carrying that.” The boy said, going over and ushering away Shree.

“I could help you.” Shree protested.

“Nope, it’s my job.” The boy said, and heaved up the basket again. “Let’s go.”

And so they walked to the bridge and over it to the entrance of the castle. When they got to the entrance, the boy set down the basket. Shree called for another servant to come ant bring it to the kitchens.

Shree turned to the boy. “Is this your first time at the castle?”

The boy nodded. “It is, actually. First time I’ve been this close.”

A servant came and hefted the basket to where Shree told him to go. Shree turned to thank the boy.

“Here’s a tip.” Shree said, giving the boy five gold coins from his not-so-tiny pouch.

The boy’s eyes grew wide. “Five gold coins—I can’t accept this.”

Shree waved his hand away with the coins in it. “Yes you do. You helped me more than you know.”

The boy grinned, putting the coins into his pocket in his shirt. “Thank you.”

Shree held up his hand, holding up two fingers. “Two more things for-and from you. “First, have my hat.”

The boy’s eyes grew wide as Shree took off his hat and gave it to him. “Thank you!”

“Also, I want to know your name.” Shree said.

The boy looked at Shree straight in the eyes. Holding out his hand, he said, “My name is Madcow. Pleased to meet you.”

Shree grasped his hand. “Pleased to meet you, Madcow. My name is Shree.”

They shook.

“I’ll see you later, Madcow!” Shree called, waving to him as he walked back across the bridge.

“Uh, yeah! See you in the market maybe!” Madcow called back, putting on Shree’s hat.

Shree waved until Madcow was lost in the crowd. The he turned around and walked back in the direction of the kitchens. He passed Sixelona, who was sketching in her book, leaning against the wall in one of the many dark alcoves in the hallway. She spoke without looking up.

“His family traveled here for only a few days, Shree. You won’t see him again.”

Shree continued to walk down the hallway. His shoulders were back, his posture tall. He spoke, his voice weary.

“I know.”

Sixelona stayed silent and didn’t look up, but a wet drop appeared on the open page of her book, and stayed there until it was absorbed by the dry parchment.

 

 

 

-BDubs-

 

As Guude announced the beginning of the meeting, BDubs’ hand was beginning to grow numb. It had stopped bleeding, but the hard frost of numbness was slowly crawling up his arm.

He had been running for… he didn’t even know anymore. What he did know was that this man that he just saved did not live anywhere near the center of the city.

The houses he jogged past now were thinly spread, a good fifty feet in between them, sometimes more. BDubs was rather fond of the city, and stayed there for most of his time because of his work and royal duties. So he found himself ogling at the sheer space of the urban life dwindling away to the countryside. It was a pleasant change, but he found himself missing the packed, bustling city life.

Gods, BDubs, you haven’t left for even half a day, and you’re already missing it? He thought to himself.

He thought of the man, on the ground. Cowering.

His arm was filled with ice.

He ran faster.

 

~`~

 

He was following the small trail of blood, and the footprints. Thank the gods the wind died down.

—When it suddenly veered off the dirt road, into a field of wheat. BDubs stopped at it, then stood up on his toes, trying to see where it led. He knew that he had to go into the field. He wouldn’t forgive himself if he gave up now. He stepped into the wheat, thinking about the man. He continued following the trail. It had turned into a different kind of trail now, where he was following the snapped and pushed aside stalks of the wheat.

The field was a sea of gold. The soon-to-be-summer sun blazed down on his back, making him sweat profusely. He had half the mind to take off his outer coat, to cool himself down a bit. He decided against it, though, since he didn’t want to carry it in his hands.

After a few minutes of fighting through the plants and the sun beating down on his back, though, made him change his mind. He stopped to strip off his layers he didn’t need. The product was him standing there in his breeches and his plain white undershirt, which was sticking uncomfortably to his toned body, soaked in his sweat. It was also soaked in blood from the left bicep to sleeve cuff. There was even some on his left side of his trousers.

He looked around for a place to drop his clothes. They were tattered and bloodstained, anyway. He didn’t need them, and he certainly wasn’t going to wear them ever again.

He looked around for a place to put them. As he was in an ocean of wheat, there was obviously no place for him to put them. So, in all of his high-and-mighty glory, he dropped the thing that separated himself from the regular people onto the dusty soil.

He continued onward.

 

~`~

 

The field was big. Definitely bigger than he thought. As he clambered through the dry plants, he had to hike his legs up higher than normal, and sometimes have to fight his way out of a particularly stubborn patch of wheat. He made it, though, using his determination to find the man as fuel for his actions.

When he reached the other side, he came across a dirt path that ran alongside a large wood. He set off once again, taking it a bit slower. He guessed that the man went away from the castle, so he followed that direction.

If his hand had any sense whatsoever left in it previously, it had all gone now. It was like he was lugging a barrelful of water in his hand. It was about as useful, too.

After what seemed like five minutes of walking, he reached a grove that bit out from the wood. Sunlight shone down on a run-down building in the center. Its walls were barren, and there were no windows. The whole right half of the building had collapsed in on itself. The roof had also collapsed, leaving the rafters to look like brittle bones scraping the sky.

He hesitated at the edge of the clearing. For some reason, he felt like it was going out of his place to venture into the bit of forest that never existed. It felt… incorrect. The air was still. Dead. It was a sign from the gods, he knew, but he had to ignore it.

He shook his head at the gods, who he knew were watching. “Don’t mess with me now, not when I have something important to do.” He whispered to them, and stepped into the clearing.

Immediately, a soft breeze rushed through the clearing, rattling the trees’ branches and significantly cooling BDubs down.

“Told you it was the right thing to do.” He whispered again, smiling. The wind picked up for a second, whispering in a reply, then died down to a gentle breeze once again. It was enough for it to be ever-present, but not overpowering.

Show-offs.

The wind picked up a bit, smacking a leaf into BDubs’ face.

“Okay, okay. I’m sorry.” He said, smiling, peeling the leaf off his face.

The wind whistled and died down to a breeze again.

BDubs headed for the ruins of the house in the center, taking care to not step on any debris on the ground. He made it to the wall, and putting a hand on the cool stone, made his way around the building until he reached the caved-in part.

He stepped inside.

 

~`~

 

His hands were cut from climbing over the rubble to access the inside of the building. It was larger on the inside, for sure. The rubble was all pushed to the corners, leaving the dirt floor in the middle to be bare, and much easier to navigate. It all was as interesting as the outside; not very interesting at all.

The interesting thing was the lines that were drawn on the walls.

Arches, towers, buildings, domes, castles.

BDubs walked around, gaping at the talented sketches. They had all the appropriate measurements around them, the right mathematic formulas, and material ideas were listed nearby.

“Gods, are you seeing this? Because if you are, we’ve just stumbled across a genius here.” He whispered.

He heard a noise behind him, a clanking, creaking sort of noise. He whirled around to see a sword pointed at his neck.

“Get away. From. The wall.”



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Previously:
Prompt: http://mindcracklove.dreamwidth.org/261194.html#cutid1
Chapter 1: http://mindcracklove.dreamwidth.org/263430.html#cutid1
Chapter 2: http://mindcracklove.dreamwidth.org/265331.html#cutid1
Chapter 3: http://mindcracklove.dreamwidth.org/268876.html#cutid1
Chapter 4: http://mindcracklove.dreamwidth.org/269844.html#cutid1
Chapter 5: http://mindcracklove.dreamwidth.org/272997.html#cutid1
Chapter 6: http://mindcracklove.dreamwidth.org/275556.html#cutid1