Will of a Prince

When Rose and Arthur walked through the gates of the kingdom once more to return, they noticed that Jacob was waiting for them. As much as Arthur wanted to yell at him for leaving him with the princess, he was secretly very grateful it happened. However, he was still curious why he decided to remain inside the walls of the kingdom when this was his first taste of freedom in very long time.

"Hey, Jacob. What gives? Why didn’t you go with us."

Jacob refused to meet his friend’s gaze.

"I just didn’t want to leave here. That’s all."

He could tell Jacob was hiding something, but he was so happy being by the princess that he didn’t prod about it right away. Rose quickly shook the both of them.

"Well, I’m happy you two are glad to see each other again, but we really have to get you back before my dad finds out!"

Arthur’s heart dropped. He was so caught up having a good time with the princess that he forgot he had a jail sentence to serve. The three of them started running back towards the palace in a hurry. Rose led the way and made sure there were no guard who stopped them.

"Right this way! Hurry!"

Aruther and Jacob opened to the door to the dungeon. When they did, they were greeted by a man sitting in a wooden chair, seemingly waiting for them to return. It was the king himself. He held a strong gaze at the boys who entered the room. He saw his daughter hiding behind Arthur with a guilty expression. He let out a low sigh.

"Why did you let these boys out of their cell’s, Rose?"

Rose started blushing and twirling her hair.

"Well... they had just been in here so long. I felt bad keeping them stuck here. They deserved a short respite!"

The king rubbed his forehead.

"Why can’t you be more like your younger brother. Just follow the rules the first time when I ask you. How many more times do we need to go through this?"

Rose was still waiting behind Arthur.

"This boy is my age, and he’s not an evil person! He’s probably the only good friend I’ve ever had!"

"What about all the nice girls who live in the palace?"

"They are only nice to you. Behind your back, they are super mean to me! Arthur hardly knew me and he’s always been nice to me!"

"Please leave these two and return to your quarters, Rose.

Rose crossed her arms and slowly walked away. The king rose from his chair, looming over the two boys who were left in the room.

"Now, we are going to do this the hard way, or the super hard way. Which would you too prefer?" 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

Jacob kept the kings gaze, refusing to move a muscle.

"It was my idea for all of us to leave. I was the one who convinced your daughter to let us go."

The king smiled.

"You’re a good liar. If that was true, why would you return here?"

Jacob thought to himself for a moment before answering.

"Because I didn’t want to get Arthur in trouble."

"You didn’t want to harm the boy, hm? Is he your sibling?"

"He might as well be."

"So, are you also willing to take the punishment for such a defiant act then?"

"I am."

Arthur jumped in between them.

"What?! Stop trying to take punishments for me! I’m old enough to take my own! I’m not a little kid!"

The king smiled darkly.

"I think the boy is right. How about you both be punished together, in good fashion."

Suddenly, the ground started rumbling and small steel chains shackled them both to the floor of the dungeon, bringing them to their knees.

"Stay here while I go get a special... tool, per se."

Arthur started shaking a bit out of fear, but Jacob remained firm, looking ahead of him with a determined tone.

"Arthur."

"Yeah?"

"I need to tell you something important."

"Sure, what is it?"

"My last name. My last name is Katra. My parents are from another kingdom, far from here. I left them when I was young because of the way they treated me, and I found myself here. However, on the way here, I ran into quite a bit of trouble."

A small pause followed his last statement before he continued on.

"I think you deserve to know why I didn’t go outside."

"Why didn’t you go outside?"

Jacob started shaking slightly.

"There are monsters outside."

Arthur paled a little bit.

"What? What do you mean monsters? Like from fairytales?"

"Well... yes, and no."

"I don’t think I understand."

"You’re about to."

Arthur continued looking at him peculiarly. Suddenly, the king returned with a long metal whip. The end of it had thin tassels while its body seemed flexible, but sturdy. He did a few test snaps in the air. Each crack echoed off the walls of the enclosed dungeon.

"Now then. Who would like to go first?"

Jacob responded almost immediately.

"Me first. Please."

The king started laughing.

"I knew you’d say that."

He threw the whip down with all his might, striking Arthur in the back with a deafening ring. It felt like hot lava had been thrown on to his shoulders when the whip connected. It took all the air out of his lungs, even though he wanted to scream.

"Hey, wait! Why didn’t you hurt me first?! What the hell are you doing?!"

More cracks of the whip landed on Arthur, causing him to yelp.

"Oh? I wasn’t aware that you were the king now. Please forgive me."

Ten more whips later and Arthur was laid face-first on the ground, bleeding everywhere. Despite his body desperately telling him to stay down, he still lifted his chest and faced forward to make sure his friend was still okay. Jacob looked at his with small tears in his eyes.

"This is all my fault. I’m sorry Arthur."

Just then, Jacob looked at the king with a menacing glare.

"You’re going to regret not choosing me first. You just signed your death warrant, you fool."

The king was completely stunned hearing these words. He had no idea how to respond to such rude and preposterous remarks from this nobody.

"My my, you have quite a tongue on you, boy. Should I rip it out before I start? And are you sure you’re in a position to be making such ridiculous threats to me?"

"Just go ahead and start whipping me to find out."

The king hesitated for a moment and wound up his whip, preparing to strike.

"I must thank you. I’m going to enjoy this a lot more now."

The king let the whip ring across Jacob’s entire back, completely tearing his clothes to shreds from the force.

"What is... AHH! AHHHHHH! WHAT THE HELL-"

The king started vomiting blood on the ground and scratching at his eyes. He was writhing on the ground in pain, screaming at the top of his lungs. Jacob tried to see what the king was looking at, but there was nothing except the mark he left on Jacob’s back. A multitude of guards came in the room hearing the commotion. They saw the state of the king and immediately tried helping him up.

"NO!! NOOO!!!! DON’T TOUCH ME!!"

He started panting while staring at the ground, refusing to look over at the back of the one he just whipped. The guards all looked at each other confused. The king walked over to Jacob and yanked his head back using his hair.

"Where... where did you get such an insidious mark on your back? What the hell are you?"

Arthur listened to them trying to understand what the king was talking about. There was no mark on Jacob’s back he could see. What was the king talking about?

Jacob looked at the king with a small smile on his face.

"You think you’re so tough in this world, don’t you? All cooped up here behind these walls. How long do you think that peace will last, hm? Because out there, far beyond those meadows of flowers and blue rivers, that is where the real monsters live. You and I are nothing compared to them."

A small rumble shook the castle.

"Oh, I forgot to mention. Walls don’t matter to beings like them."

The king looked at Jacob in distraught.

"You two are coming with me to the throne room. NOW!!"

The king was practically dragging Arthur and Jacob up the stairs into the palace. Once he reached the throne room, he threw them both on the ground and shackled them with more chains that seemingly spawned out of thin air.

He unsheathed a golden sword that was on his hip and pointed it at Jacob.

"You... you are far too dangerous to be kept alive."

He slowly pointed the sword at Arthur.

"Are you hiding one of those things too?!"

Arthur started stumbling over his words, still confused on what was happening. Tears started rolling down his cheeks in desperation.

"W-what? I... I don’t know what you mean. What mark are you talking about? There’s nothing on his back, sir. I don’t know what’s going. I just want to go back to our cages already."

"Don’t you dare lie to me. Strip the rest of your shirt and roll up your pants this instant."

Arthur obliged. It took him an extra-long time because of the chains covering him. The king almost seemed afraid to look for the mark, but determined he was safe.

"You lucked out. But your friend here is a danger to this whole kingdom. I can’t allow him to live any longer."

The king raised his golden blade, getting ready to strike down on Arthur’s friend. Just as he was ready to cut off Jacob’s head, Rose entered the throne room, pleading with her father.

"Dad! Don’t do it! He’s Arthur and I’s friend! Please!"

The king hesitated hearing his daughter’s voice.

"Listen to your daughter, King. That man belongs with us."

A creepy whisper echoed in the king’s ear behind him. When he turned around to see who the voice belonged to, a large group of cloaked men wearing masks resembling the mark started slowly walking forward towards them.