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 Posted: Sat Dec 19, 2009 8:58 pm
When a chain was clamped around his neck Shanya panicked and tried to pull away, but he was only pushed forward. Fear filled his mind and he often lagged behind whoever was holding the chain, which resulted in a harsh pull and thus he had to continue to walk.
The terrible feeling of betrayal was mixed with his fear and tears escaped the blindfold. He didn't know what the stranger wanted, but it obviously wasn't pleasing. Shanya felt tempted to beg to be set free, but he held his tongue lest whatever he said would be used against him. He was even tempted to try to take off the blindfold, but even that may be used against him. He decided then to submit to his fate and hope that it wasn't too severe.
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Posted: Sat Dec 19, 2009 9:05 pm
Reiba sat down on the throne, just as the soldier came in with the helpless boy pulled behind him. His eyes stung with the threatening tears, since he knew he had betrayed the boy, but he forced them back down upon pure will alone. With a careful flick of his wrist, the blindfold came off of the boy's eyes and fell to the floor.
"Shanya Sachi, you are hereby accused of obstruction and destroying the peace of this kingdom. The punishment of this is usually imprisonment for a few weeks, but we have had almost the entire village come in here to complain. Even children. The punishment for such a severe obstruction is death, you understand this, right?" Reiba asked, shifting his position so that he looked almost forced to do this. Which he was, but he wanted to make it apparent to the boy. "However, you have been reprieved from death, and will serve as a slave here in the castle." Reiba added quickly before his advisor could say anything.
"Milord, I'm sure this isn't the brightest thing to do." Kitsuma said sharply.
"Shut up Kitsuma. I know what I'm doing." Reiba muttered, glaring at his advisor with hate-filled eyes. "After all, you made the person who went to retrieve Shanya betray him. You owe that person an apology after this is over." Reiba hissed. Then he turned back toward Shanya. "Do you agree to these terms?"
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Posted: Sat Dec 19, 2009 9:23 pm
As the blinfold was taken off, Shanya found himself in the throne room, where a trial was taking place. It didn't take long for him to find out that he was the defendant, and he trembled. What did he do wrong? He was only a simple beggar that nobody cared about.
Then he heard what he was being accused of. What obstruction and destruction of peace had he caused? He had only sat by the streets and there! He couldn't get a job even if he wanted to anyway, so what had he done wrong? Why would the entire town try so hard to get rid of him by accusing him of extreme obstruction? He could handle a few weaks in prison, at least it would be away from the cold and such, but his accusation could be punishable by death! It wasn't fair! However, he was relieved to know that he didn't have to die, but serving as a slave in the castle would mean that he would have to give up his freedom, which he wanted to keep.
Despite all that he was thinking, Shanya knew he couldn't speak against the king. He fell to his knees, letting tears fall, but he couldn't speak. He wasn't able to answer the king's question. All he could do was stay there. His heart was shattering, for the last thing that belonged to him, freedom, was being taken away from him because of false accusations.
Finally, after regaining his voice, he said, "I... agree to the terms."
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Posted: Sat Dec 19, 2009 10:10 pm
Reiba looked at the soldier, who nodded and dropped the chain. As soon as the soldier had left the throne room, Reiba gave the look to his advisor, who clearly wanted an argument.
"Milord, if I may... It is my duty to make sure that you're giving a fair trial with justice instead of mercy." Kitsuma said slyly. Reiba wouldn't have it, and nodded at another soldier to drag Kitsuma out of the room. Once everyone except for the beggar had left the room, Reiba stood up as if to make his leave. But instead, he walked down to the boy who seemed to be crying.
"Forgive me, for betraying your trust in me." Reiba muttered, getting down on one knee and bowing to the boy. "I didn't want for this trial to take place, but it was the wish of my Council, which I cannot overrule by myself." Reiba muttered quietly. "Does your body still pain you? Those people in the street did get a few good blows, if I do say so myself." He murmured, not daring to look up at the boy who had had hurt so much.
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Posted: Sat Dec 19, 2009 10:42 pm
Shanya didn't even look up at the king. He just kept his eyes on the ground, away from the person who led him here. He wanted so badly to swing the chain at the traitor, but he couldn't. That would be held against him.
"I-I didn't d-d-do anything. I s-swear I didn't," he said shakily, trying to keep himself from breaking down. "Th-there has to be a mistake." Shanya looked up at the king with pleading, tearful eyes. "What have I done wrong? Tell me, please!" His please, he knew, would be left unanswered. The trial was somewhat fixed. No one would care to testify for him, and everyone would testify against him. There was nothing that could be done for him anymore. His life was now useless as it was before.
He couldn't take it anymore. The pressure in his heart exploded like bombs that impacted the rest of him. He broke down in a fit of sobs, slamming a fist against the ground in a slight outrage. A piercing pain ran up his arm and to the rest of his bruised body, but it was nothing compared to the pain in his heart.
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Posted: Sat Dec 19, 2009 10:57 pm
Finally, Reiba looked up to meet the crumbling body of the boy in front of him. Shanya was sobbing, literally murdering his arm in the process of slamming it into the ground. Reiba's hand shot out and grabbed it, raising the boy to his feet as he did so himself.
"I know you did nothing wrong." Reiba muttered finally after watching Shanya sob for a few more minutes. "I've been watching you for some time. I see nothing wrong with your actions. However, the rules of the kingdom clearly states that if the villagers were to complain more than ten times, the person in question is to be reprimanded and punished to the utmost of the law. I'm sorry, I wish I could change the rules." Reiba said quietly.
"However, you will work in the castle, so you will be under my protection and you will work for me. If you want your freedom, which I can only give you so much of, you may have it. I wish I could do more to help." Reiba muttered, setting Shanya back down on the floor and walking back towards the throne. "Maybe... I wasn't fit to be king. Father should have picked my older brother, not me." He whispered more to himself than to Shanya.
"Ever wonder who took you in when you were younger? When your parents died?" Reiba asked, sitting down on the throne as he watched the crumbling boy on the floor before him. "It was my father and I. I begged my father to allow you to stay here, and he agreed. I'm sorry though, that I couldn't keep you here in the castle." Reiba said quietly.
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Posted: Sun Dec 20, 2009 3:08 pm
Shanya's panic increased as the king's hand grabbed his arm and pulled him to a standing position, but he didn't pull away. Nothing was going to change the fact that now he was a slave to the castle because of a crime he didn't know about.
He forced himself to stop crying once the king spoke. So the trial was somewhat fixed? Apparently the king was only forced to give him this sentence, since he just said that Shanya didn't do anything wrong. Then it wasn't either of them's fault that this happened, right? It was all just set up by the Council, which was strange because the Council members were supposed to be just.
As the king let go of Shanya's arm and walked back to his throne and sat on it, the former beggar could tell that the king was guilty about the sentence and he sounded willing to help ease the painful effect this trial had on him, but what more can be done? Sure he can grant protection and freedom, but what if the Council decided against it? What then?
There was a moment of muttering from the king that Shanya couldn't really understand, but after that he spoke more clearly and what he said surprised the former beggar.
"So you and your father were the ones who took me in? But why? I couldn't have been anything special," Shanya said once the king finished speaking. "It's not like I don't appreciate it, I'm really grateful, but you could have chosen any other orphan to take in. So, why did you choose to care for me?"
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Posted: Sun Dec 20, 2009 3:14 pm
Reiba looked down at Shanya for a very long time, not daring to take his eyes off of him for what seemed like an eternity. He didn't speak, nor did he blink, and it had begun to irritate his eyes. Finally, he closed his eyes and leaned back on the throne, looking at the ceiling.
"How many children do you see running the streets now days?" Reiba asked. His eyes were scanning the picture on the ceiling that was also burned onto his back. It had been a punishment, since he had done exactly what his brothers had told him and shot one of the maids with the bow and arrows that his father had given him for his birthday.
"I rarely see any, don't you?" Reiba muttered, answering his own question. "You were an orphan, a child. Any prince, no, any king, righteous or not, wouldn't have let an orphaned child live on the streets to die alone. You were like my little brother for a while, until you turned five. We had to return to you to the streets then, and our court wizard purged your memories of this place. If only you could've stay..." Reiba mused.
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Posted: Sun Dec 20, 2009 4:36 pm
Shanya thought for a moment. It was true, he almost never saw any homeless children in the streets. The ones he did see, however, he never really saw again. It was like they had disappeared out of thin air. If the king had taken him in when he was little, then what about the children that he had seen? Perhaps they were taken in as well? He wasn't exactly sure if this thought was true.
"I guess that explains why I can't remember anything before I was five," Shanya said after the king spoke. "Did I have to return to the streets because I had become a burden here? Or did something else happen?" He was sure he asked too many questions, but he was curious. Well, who wouldn't be if they just found out what had happened in their forgotten past?
It seemed to surprise him that he had lived in the castle at one point. It was almost unbelievable that a simple beggar used to live in such a magnificent place, but now Shanya knew he would be living here again, except he would be a slave instead of a temporary resident. It really bothered him just thinking about it, actually. He didn't mind doing any chores or whatnot, but he was afraid of what he would be facing.
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Posted: Sun Dec 20, 2009 8:57 pm
Reiba looked back down toward Shanya, thinking back to the time when they still had the small child in their care. Reiba had been seven when they had released him back to the streets, and it tore his heart to see such a small child sent back out into the desolate life-style of a beggar.
What had happened that day? It's really unsure, since Reiba chose to forget what had happened as well. Then it came to him, as if a light bulb had gone off in his mind. Aw yes, that was how it had been, wasn't it? His father's counsellor, who was a much more cruel man than Kitsuma, had instructed his father to do so.
"You were ordered out by the council of Elders. It was a lost vote. It was just my father and I against the entire court literally. They thought that we would have to take in every single child alone on the streets. I didn't see the problem with this, but apparently, everybody else thought that it would become a problem. So, you sent back to the streets." Reiba muttered, looking at the door. "Any more questions before we continue?"
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Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 12:44 am
"No, I have no more questions," Shanya replied. "Um... Anyway, what should I be doing today?" He finally stood from his spot on the ground, and his sleeping legs began to sting him a little, but he stayed standing and waiting for the king's instructions. He might as well begin to get used to this life as a slave.
He had remembered this saying that said "It was better to starve free than to be well-fed as a slave." but what if the free person was being treated terribly as much as he was starving? Wouldn't that be an arguement for the saying? But then maybe it was best to be a free person, but how can Shanya get out from being a slave? There might not be a way at all. There may be nothing that could be done about this situation and vice versa.
He sighed in final defeat. If he was going to live the rest of his life as a slave, then he should just deal with it. Looking at the bright side, since he was going to be protected by the king then there may be less chance of being tripped and beaten, and at least he would be living under the same roof as the only person who actually cared about him.
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Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 7:57 pm
Reiba looked sadly down at Shanya. What was he going to tell him? He couldn't simply bend the rules even more than he was bending him, lest they break. He was going to have to come clean with the truth, even though the truth hurt more than any beating either of them had endured throughout their life.
"I am not in charge of you." Reiba murmured. "Raziel, captain of the guard, is however. He is a kind man... from what I have gathered about him, and you will have no problem with him at all." He finished, signaling toward the door. The same guard from before walked in. "This is Raziel. Raziel, this is Shanya. He is under your care now." Reiba sighed, standing up and walking past Shanya and Raziel. "If you need anything, do not hesitate to ask for it." He stated firmly before he left.
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Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 8:51 pm
Shanya watched as the king left, and he was left alone with the captain that he had seen before he put on the blindfold. The atmosphere seemed to tense and there was a long silence. He had never been this uncomfortable in his entire life, but apparently today, due to all the sudden changes, all the discomfort that had added up were now affecting him. It made him wish he had never followed the king to the castle and thus unwittingly get himself arrested.
The king said that the captain, Raziel, was kind, but he also said that it was from what he's heard. That really bothered Shanya, since he couldn't tell for sure if Raziel really is a kind person. He didn't bother to look up at the guard, since he was very uncertain about whether or not he should trust Raziel. He didn't want to end up being betrayed again.
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Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2009 12:07 am
"Come on." Raziel murmured, walking out of the throne room. "You will work in the kitchen, since it isn't very difficult work." He explained, looking back to make sure that Shanya was following. He himself had been a slave when he first came to the castle, since he was convicted of murder. The former king had been gracious and allowed him slavery instead of death, and he could only feel pity for the boy.
Reiba walked along the chambers in utter and complete silence. He wasn't happy with what he had just done. Why? Because he felt like he was betraying his people. But then he remembered something that his father once told him. 'You are only as strong as your weakest link.' Did that mean that their kingdom was as weak as Shanya? If so, then he was actually doing everyone a favor. He was helping to strengthen the weak link.
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Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2009 2:12 pm
Shanya followed the captain toward the kitchen, making sure he followed close behind so he wouldn't get lost. He wanted to ask a question, specifically about who he should watch out for and who he should trust, but he didn't feel like he was in the position to. Sure, the king said it was all right to ask questions, but what if he wasn't around? It may not apply around just anyone.
He began to examine the halls he walked in. Many different slaves walked in the halls, each doing different things. Some of them looked at him with blank stares, and some with disbelief or menace. Immediately, Shanya averted his gaze from the slaves and tried to get their stares out of his head, but to no avail.
His neck began hurting due to the somewhat heavy chain swinging as he walked, but as he held it in his hands to help ease the pressure the weight pressed on him, it only seemed to make things worse as if the closer the chain got to the shackle the higher a magnetic force seemed to pull them. He gently let it fall again and left it swinging around as he walked, but he had to make sure it didn't hit anybody in the meantime.
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