Groomed Prince Becomes a King

A lump developed in his throat as he tried to speak, no one had ever talked to the sovereign Prince of Murtar like that. "I offer you your life and the life of the army you have gathered to oppose the King with. Pledge your allegiance to the royal family of Murtar and no blood need spill."

Her eyes burned with fire as she quicky stood up and looked down at him, "We have nothing more to discuss! I will never pledge my allegiance to tyrants, I would never pledge my allegiance to someone as unworthy as you!"

Anger flashed through his entire body as he rose in a flash and grabbed her arm, "You will bow before.." Her hand raised and landed across his cheek. She started down the slope, he refrained from chasing after her, he knew her fate.

She made it down the stone back to the cavern first. What she found sparked amazing anger. The Prince had lied. Her commoners army sat in chains while the Imperial Army ruled supreme. She thought to hide back up the stone but had already been spotted. She had no weapon or armor. Two soldiers chased her up the stone, she smashed a rock over the soldier and took his sword, she drove the sword through the stomach of the other soldier. The Warrior Prince had made his way back down the stone and stood behind her. She turned at the sound of him withdrawing a blade.

"Did you think that the Imperial Army would refrain from engaging while you were gone? Without leadership, your commoners army is just a group of untrained, undernourished servants, they surrendered before death. The question is if you will do the same." He spoke in the tone of a great warrior, outsmarting his prey.

"I will never surrender to the likes of you!" She roared back at him.

The Prince coolly and devilishly filled her in on the fate of her followers, "Your entire army will be killed, we know your identity now, your family will be killed, anyone who has so much as seen you will be executed, your name spoken in scorn throughout all the world, surrender now and this can be avoided."

Her face softened into apprehension and fear for the first time, "I will surrender, you have won, I cannot deny it. Let these people live. They only want freedom from oppression."

The Prince ordered the Imperial Army to write down the identity of every member of the commoners army, they did as the future King of Murtar said, he personally shackled and escorted the Warrior Princess off the mountain. He had opportunity after opportunity to kill her but did not. He travelled back to the capital of Murtar in a royal chariot with the leader of the resistance. They made it back to the castle. He lead her through the long corridors of splendor and beamed with pride at this great catch.

They walked together through the long corridors of the castle, past the expensive pelts and paintings of long ago. Finally the Prince found what he was looking for. He walked through a wide door with the Warrior Princess into a large room where a bunch of important looking advisors sat. Prince Dominick pushed the Warrior Princess into the room and spoke suddenly, cutting the silence "Here is the hope of Lower Murtar. The Warrior Princess in the flesh. I have captured her as an enemy of the empire. I can think of no better fate than to have the High Council themselves teach this girl the greatest propaganda of Murtar. Lower Murtar will be ruled of their own will once their beloved Warrior Princess explains it to them in the right terms."

At these words the Warrior Princess kicked back against the Prince, catching him off-guard, and pulling away from him, "I won't betray my own people like you will! This regime is the greatest evil in the desert and I will have no part of it! I am not property to used for one purpose or another." She stared into the eyes of the unforgiving Prince.

The High Council hurriedly slipped out of the room. Their remarks toward the Prince were unkind. He resisted his most instinctual urge to destroy them and looked back at the Warrior Princess. "Alright Princess, then until you learn the importance of devotion to the throne, you will be my personal servant. And I must tell you they don't have a very good track record. Most meet with unfortunate ends before their second day on the job." His devilish grin crept across the previously serious face.

He trotted the Warrior Princess out of the room and came upon a small group of servant girls. Prince Dominick stared down on them angrily. The girls spread apart nervously at the Prince's glance. "Make her look worthy of royal servant duty." He growled at the scared group of servant girls.

Now apart from the Warrior Princess, he made his way to his father's chambers. Unannounced. He walked through the threshold marking the chambers of the King of Murtar. The Prince's father sat leisurely in the most comfortable chair in all of Murtar. "Father, I have stopped the Warrior Princess's attack on this very capital. I won battle after battle against her army. When the people of the north, and the east, and the south, and the west, came to ambush us, I fought them off, they surrendered and I let them live. The people recognize me as King of Murtar, the Imperial Army recognizes me as King of Murtar, that chair is mine. This chamber is mine." The King stood, paused and looked at his son, "...Your word is the word of Murtar." He slowly walked past his son and left the chamber that used to belong to him. The former King looked up at the spoils of the castle that had belonged to him and faintly smiled. Murtar would have a King.

King Dominick sat down in the most comfortable chair Murtar had to offer. If the weight of the greatest kingdom on all the planet was on his shoulders, it didn't show. He smiled at his place, head ruler of all the eye could see, and soon of the entire world. Not long afterwards the servant girls passed through the threshold into the King's Chambers with the Warrior Princess. King Dominick looked his new addition up and down. The servant girls had cleaned her up and fit her in an unassuming servant's gown.

"Come here Princess" The new King smiled. The Warrior Princess gingerly stepped towards the King.

"What do you need?..... Your Highness.." She spit out the last word.

"So I see you've learned how to address a King of my stature." The battle was won in his mind.

"A... A King of your stature? You've had the ill-gotten crown of Murtar for less than a day and you deem yourself a King of some stature?!" She didn't back down from his words.

The disrespect cut through the King's head. Anger flooded his body and caution drained itself. King Dominick grabbed the Warrior Princess and threw her to the ground, shouting "I am the King of the desert, of you, of any family you've ever had, every day a commoner in Murtar lives is another day they owe their lives to ME!"

She tried to push her way up from the ground, "You're no King!!! You're not even the King your father was! Murtar will be free one day because you'll get yourself killed someday!"

He roughly ground her body into the floor of the King's Chambers, his face red with an unstoppable anger, "I will be the greatest King this world has EVER seen. I am the full-blooded King of Murtar. I'm not just a King, not just a man, I AM A GOD!"

"You're not even a MAN. You're an ANGRY LITTLE CHILD!" At these words, the King began reigning blows down upon her. She responded with the like and they traded shots. The Warrior Princess managed to dislodge herself from under him and move to safer territory off the floor. The new King chased after her and threw her body into the wall of the Royal King's Chambers. She continued to attack his face. Although he was the stronger specimen, the Warrior Princess was more experienced and would not give way completely to blind rage. They seemed nearly evenly matched against each other, beating their bodies into walls and statues.

It wasn't until some time later that they finally finished their joint assault. The badly bloodied Warrior Princess touched the washcloth to her swollen face and then brought it to the King. He sat bloody atop the King's throne. He mumbled as she wiped away at the very cuts she had inflicted on his face, beginning her duties as a royal servant to the King of Murtar.

She was the first to break the silence, "The only reason I haven't broken free of this castle or tried to rip it down brick by brick is that there's no alternative for me. You've beaten my army. There is no one left strong enough to fight. My only hope now is to convince you to ease the affliction you've cast over Murtar."

He glared up at the uneasy Warrior Princess. "I've squashed the resistance. Any afflicted Murtarian can hope for better luck in the desert or die by the sword of Murtar. That is all there is to be said. If these people are not grateful for what I've given then, may they burn." He spoke coldly of his own people.

The Warrior Princess let the silence sink in as she thought of the right words, "My family lived on the outskirts of Lower Murtar. Though we saw no public system nor protection, your father still taxed us down to our very dinner table. My father was a decent man, a farmer, his worst fear was that his family would starve. Your father's unrelenting taxation led my father to steal for his family, a task he abhorred." The Warrior Princess held the washcloth to the King's face as he half-heartedly listened to her story.

"He turned into a different man. He pushed my mother out, he pushed us away. One night he'd toss the room apart in a rage and the next he'd weep in the corner, afraid he'd lost his family. It was wrong, it was indecent to steal, but he did it because it was the only decent thing he could do for his family. Your father dispatched a piece of the Imperial Army into Lower Murtar, to stop the excessive looting and collect their blood taxes. My father was one of the unlucky many caught stealing. They gave him no dignity and no mercy, they broke into our house and hung him by the neck in our kitchen. That was the day I knew this tyrannical empire could not stand. Not while I was alive." She hushed.

The King of Murtar pushed up from the Warrior Princess. It felt to the Warrior Princess that he might not have anything to say but the King had a story too, "I wasn't always the successor to the throne of Murtar." He motioned to the King's throne.

"When I was a boy, I had my own affliction. I could not walk. The royal doctors couldn't explain the effect. A handler would have to carry me from place to place. My father was ashamed of me. His advisors told him I couldn't be seen in public. My problem was weakness to Murtar. The High Council and the section governors fought over what structure or man might take over the jewel of all the desert. They argued bitterly amongst themselves. Who would tax who, who would kill who. Who would truly rule? As each section of Murtar would favor a different King, the blood of millions would have been spilled for their power. The power that was MINE! Eventually their squabbles would lay waste to Murtar, it would be overrun by savages and our history would bury itself forever in the desert. The King may be evil. But it is a necessary evil." He scowled at the Warrior Princess.

She took another moment, "Are you any more than a savage with a royal name and a castle?" She spoke back to the new King.

He turned away from her and walked towards the glorious window overlooking his kingdom. The Warrior Princess changed the subject "So you couldn't walk but not a week ago you gave my army a run through the mountains, what happened?"

"The indomitable will of a future King is not to be count out." He spoke from a far away place, watching nightfall overtake his proud new kingdom. The anger within him seemed soothed for the night.

"If a decent man lies within your tortured soul, he should know he'll be safer where the sunlight can reach him." The Warrior Princess walked out of the King's Chambers to tend the moving of his riches to his new chambers.

The next morning King Dominick had a meeting with the High Council to discuss his public crowning. The Warrior Princess followed him to the east wing of the mounsterous castle. The King was clothed in fine West Murtarian gold silk and the royal crown smelted from pure Murtarian gold by his father's father. They stepped into a royally marked room where the King's High Council sat expectantly. The King sat at the head chair with no sign of respect towards the Council. The Warrior Princess sat on a stool by the King.

"Lets make this quick. I have a breakfast to attend."

Fernun, the Chief High Council delegate began "As you know..... King Dominick, Your Highness, the crowning ceremony will take place tomorrow in the capital park. Attendence will be in the thousands." The King looked around the room aimlessly, obvious disrespect to the High Council. "Your father, the great King Daris, was the last in a long line of sovereign Kings. Now that his title has passed to his son, Murtar can finally free itself of the dark ages. The days of Kings are long over, people want government.They know that your appointed governors are nothing more than lackeys. The High Council believes that governors for each province should be elected by the people. They will be handpicked by a body such as the High Council and elected by the..."

The King abrupty stood and looked down on Fernun, the Chief High Council delegate. He unleashed his hellish words on Fernun and the entire council "You want MORE power! You want to usurp the King! This is blasphemy. This council is nothing more than a TRAITOROUS resistance!!! My father may have respected the High Council but I have not one use for it!"

Fernun, taken aback would not stand for attacks on the High Council, "The High Council is an advisory on the King, we are nearly as old as the institution itself!"

The two men, King Dominick and Chief High Council delegate stood eye to eye before the King spoke, "I AM THE KING! I will dismantle the High Council and then I will dismantle you! This system of governing has no place in my empire! You should beg for mercy before your King if you have any hope of living!" He roared.

"The King means that he is crown King of Murtar. Through the line of succession, he has all rights to his kingdom and he sorely resents your reservations against his rule." The Warrior Princess split the two men.

"The King is a powerful enemy to make. I believe our majesty has a strong respect and a great hope to work with the High Council who served his father so valiantly." She tried to please both sides and end the fight that could rip Murtar apart.

The Warrior Princess tugged at the King's arm and lead him out of the High Council's quarters. King Dominick was still red with anger, "What was that?!" He spat at her.

"That... was diplomacy, Your Highness." The Warrior Princess smiled her first smile in front of the new King. She lead him to a large auditorium hidden within the east wing of the castle. "I found this place last night. Have you been here before?" She asked.

The King looked around the room, dismissing the great arena, "No, I don't think so. Why is the King of Murtar's presence required here?"

"I'll be right back and you'll find out." She flashed her hand at him and ran out the door to the enormous auditorium, previously undiscovered. She returned with two peculiar looking swords. They were long and thin, dull blades by any sense of the word.

"And what would this be, Princess?" His patience waning.

"This is to help you burn off some frustration." She tossed him one of the dull blades. "Stand and fight me."

The King's devilish grin awoke and he stood before the Warrior Princess, blade in hand. He quickly hurled himself towards the Warrior Princess, only to feel her blade press him back again. He tried again but couldn't penetrate her defenses. She smiled at the King before engaging him with her dull-bladed sword. They went back and forth, the sparking sound of metal against metal filling their eardrums and taking over their reality. Before long they were huffing and puffing. The Warrior Princess had practice with a sword but the new King was a fast learner. Finally the King pulled back his blade. She withdrew hers from the makeshift arena as well, the sword laying dormant at her side.

"And before a few days ago I'd never even picked up a blade." The King spoke full of pride in his sword-fighting ability.

"It shows." The Warrior Princess chuckled, her face still stinging from their brawl the night before.

"Don't tell me I drew my blade on you and fought a girl for no other reason than to make you smile Princess. For it is sorrowful enough that I ever let a woman speak for me in front of the High Council, even if their fate is death."

The Warrior Princess spoke very deliberately, "I may be a woman, but I'm as strong as any man, and just as handy with a sword. Why should the swell of my hips disqualify me from a seat of importance in the oh so high court of King Dominick?" Her face overcome with a soft smile, for in the duel of honest sentiment, she had won.

It took but a few moments to come up with a satisfactory answer, "You're an anomaly. That makes you all the more valuable."

The Warrior Princess frowned in response. "Maybe valuable isn't the right word.." He continued, "It makes you all the more special." He spoke like they were his first words.

The King's pained face returned to his devilish grin as he looked down at the dull blade, "I can still kill you." He uttered in triumph.

The Warrior Princess tentatively stepped closer to the imposing figure, by blood the most powerful man in the world. She got to within inches of him, her eyes searching his for something other than the black coal that fueled his fire of rage. "You can't kill me." Moving closer, "I am your only chance for a suitable Queen." Her lips almost touching his, "I'm the only one who's intensity begins to match yours. The only one who can do this to you..."

The King was snapped out of his trance by the blunt end of a dull blade against his vital organs. "You lose." She whispered.

The day's events went through his head as the King lay in his royal bed that night. He had finally achieved his absolute power over the most powerful kingdom in the world. He was the King of Murtar, the King of the desert, the King of Kings! But he couldn't deny that something about this Warrior Princess intrigued him. Even a man who would kill without a moment's thought was still human. His feelings were warming for the woman who once lead an army against him. The new King had trouble sleeping that night. Could he be anxious for his crowning ceremony tomorrow?

Morning finally came. The graceful light of the sun filtered through the King's window and into his eyes. His eyes fluttered open and he sat upright. Today is the day. Everyone in Murtar will know me as their King. I am their hope, their love, their hope for salvation lies in my hands, he thought so highly of his new position. And it was a grand position indeed. A King of Murtar was a King of the desert, and a King of the desert ruled supremely.

He summoned the Warrior Princess, his royal servant. He stood proud and tall, looking for an outfit that could do the new King of Murtar justice. She padded across the lion fur rug into the King's Chambers. "Are you ready for today, Your Highness?"

King Dominick turned, "Do I look like I'm ready!?" He pointed to his half-clothed body. "I am the King of Murtar. I am the sand and the sky of the desert, not one garment in this castle is worthy of me!" He spoke impatiently.

"What of that silly gold armor you wore at our first meeting. Surely pure gold from the finest blacksmiths is worthy of even you, your majesty." She wondered outloud.

"Ahhh yes..." The King smiled, "It should also serve to intimidate the High Council." He chuckled.