All the King's Men - Act I: The Proud King

King Balthroy turned his gaze to his ring and knew that his days on the throne were numbered. However his mood was not sorrowful, but fulfilled as looked back upon the TreeMage's words from the day before. He thanked Horizon, the spirit of the sun and daytime sky, as he recalled the prophesy.

“The child your wife shall bear,” (at the time the King had found these words to be quite alarming as he had only found out about his wife's pregnancy days before, and the Mage had walked from the elven wood, which was a half a fortnight to the east) “shall become a great and powerful ruler in his time, expanding your kingdom to more than double its current size, and as a blessing from the Great Spirits themselves he shall bear the mark of one spirit in particular, though the wood has not the foresight to see which.”

The King had been proud to hear those words. He had groomed his firstborn son for kingship and he was sure he would make a good king. But not a great king, for he was not a child of such astounding promise that he was foreseen by the trees of the wood, a destiny of such greatness that it was as deeply rooted as the trees themselves.

However, despite his pride, the King told only his wife and a few of his most trusted servants. His son, the nine year old Prince Barakai, in fact, did not even know. This was for the better. If Barakai had known of the prophesy, the Queen would have likely met with an accident that would have prevented her from carrying the child to term. This is not to say he was an especially mean child, but more than most men jealousy and lust for power coursed through his veins, and when angered he had a mean streak a kingdoms width.

The good King Balthroy was oblivious (or so it seemed) to the faults of his son. This does not mean he thought Barakai was perfect, nor does it mean he loved his two sons equally, for he was already beginning to show favor to the unborn child. Barakai was oblivious to this change in his father's favor. He felt no threat from the coming prince. After all, he was the first son and barring his own death he would be king when his father passed on.

It was in this arrangement of oblivion that the months passed until at last the child was to be born. On the day of it's birth there was celebration through the kingdom of Mi'Xon and the outlying lands of Mirhame. The birth was without complication and the King was overjoyed as he watched the newborn prince draw his first breaths. As he drew these first breaths a glowing mark slightly resembling a half moon became visible on the child's forehead and then as quickly as it came it vanished. The King understood the mark at once, it was the third eye, symbolic of the sacred spirit of the night sky, Kanna. Kanna represented knowledge and wisdom as he watched over all the lands of Tor from his high perch atop the clouds. He was embodied in the moons and many stars.

The King decided that the boy was suited for the name Kanna, for in his eyes his child had his place among all the great spirits as their mortal equal. His face beaming with pride and satisfaction the king called at once all the pages in the castle to his side and sent each of them off with messages calling forth all the men and women of Mi'Xon to a celebration of his new child's birth which was to be held in the kingdom's inner city, Kim'ra, in about a fortnight. He also sent word to the TreeMage, and decided to allow him and a small group of his elven brethren into Kim'ra to observe the ceremony.

It took some time for word to spread throughout Mi'Xon, mainly because of the kingdom's unusual architecture. In the center of Mi'Xon was the castle and around it lay four cities (Kim'ra at the heart, then Jim'ra, Lim'ra, and at the outer edge Tim'ra) arranged like four concentric rings. Each ring-like city was bordered by a large, gated stone wall, and the cities grew larger and more impoverished as one made his way from the center. Invaders couldn't possibly mount a surprise attack on the castle because by the time they made it past the first two walls and gates there would be a massive army waiting at the next. To make matters worse for invaders the four cities were each ruled individually by dukes and lords who had under their charge groups of vassals and knights who governed the individual townships. And this division of power meant that Mi'Xon's individual townships could act independently to defend their own land or band together as the army of a lord or a duke to fight larger threats.

That evening, alone in his throne room, King Balthroy thought of his grandfather's plans for the construction of Mi'Xon, and of the defense strategies that had made the castle town such an indomitable fortress, and had made his father's name the thing of legend.

“But what do I offer the world, what great stories will be told when I am gone?” A tear trickled down the tired old man's cheek. “Perhaps I will be called the bachelor king, who started his dynasty too late in his life. Or perhaps the lazy king, the one who sat on the throne his ancestors made great, doing nothing more than open lines of communication with the wood elves of the east. Or maybe I won't be known as a king at all, just the father of the great and powerful Kanna ...”

The soft hearted King's sobs became so powerful that he did not hear the Queen's gentle footsteps as she entered the room. “I am the b*****d king...” he sobbed, “the worthless king...” And just as the good King was about to bury his face in his robes and cry in solitude his wife's high voice pierced his thoughts.

“Nonsense,” the Queen said assertively, “utter nonsense and I will hear none of it.” The king was embarrassed to be seen in such a state, and surely would have reprimanded the intruder if it had not been his wife. Seeing the love in her eyes he continued to cry, but now he cried only tears of joy.

Barakai, who was peering from the doorway, didn't quite see it that way. “How dare that unworthy child make my father cry so. I vow that b*****d will pay.” But these words, said under his breath, were simply a mask to give reason to the jealousy and hatred he felt for his new born brother. He had already heard word of the prophecy from two lords who were chatting just outside the castle walls. “How dare the cretin challenge my throne.” And Barakai, who was coming to his father to ask if it were so, saw more then just tears in his fathers eyes. He saw love for the child, a sight he had seen but on a few occasions before the news of the child had been delivered many month before. He felt that he had already been replaced in the eyes of his father. It was then in the back of his mind that he decided that the child would be gone.

The time between that day and the day of the festival celebrating Kanna's birth passed without incident. The day of the of the festival found King Balthroy atop the gates between the castle and Kim'ra with the fair Queen Melody standing beside of him holding Kanna tightly in her arms. Barakai stood beside them, though not too closely. He was staring at the ground, attempting to fake boredom and look uninterested. What he really felt was striking fury boiling up from the depth of him, eating away at him insides like acid. It was all he could do to keep it from eroding his facade and revealing his seething hatred to the crowd.

And the crowd before him was very large; it was certainly standing room only in Kim'ra today. Children of all ages and classes played in the grand fountain. Lords and ladies, dukes and duchesses, knights of the highest rank all stood together among the flowers of the magnificent gardens. The cobblestone paths were overflowing with the visitors, and near the front stood the elves, their necks craned to the sky to take in the events above, and in the center of them was the TreeMage. And finally there were the residents of Kim'ra itself, who were spread out among the gardens and rooftops of their houses and a few stood across from the King on the gate between Kim'ra and Jim'ra. And all of the were cheering, or at least murmuring loudly. Whatever they were doing, it was quite a ruckus.

The King cleared his throat, the guttural bass tones of his utterance were soothing and melted the crowd into silent submission. He took Kanna from his mothers arms and held him up against the sky for all to see. The sunlight poured over Kanna's head exposing the glowing third eye. The crowd released a unified gasp.

“This is my son Kanna.” He gently lowered the child from high above his head and cradled him in his left arm. The King held out his right hand so that the crowd could see the ring that shown like a diamond on his aged fingers. “He is worth more to me than all the treasures of my kingdom. Worth more even than this, the Mi'Xon family ring, which as I am sure you all know, has been passed down in my family for endless ages, and as I am also sure you all know, it is this that is symbolic of my power as king.” He paused to allow the meaning to sink into their minds, for he had just implied that he would give up his own kingship for this boy, his most precious son. “And it is this child that you see before you, cradled to my breast, that will no doubt someday wear this ring.”

The implications of these words were too much for Prince Barakai to bear and the rage that enveloped his soul carried him away from his mother and father. Sadly, both the King and Queen were too wrapped up in the festivities to notice their son's disappearance. From deep inside the castle, Barakai heard the celebration rage on for hours upon hours while he cried into his soft pillow, thinking of all his now broken dreams.

The festivities ended without anyone noticing his disappearance.