186 Rules and Morals (1/2)
Dressed in a shiny green silk robe, the orator stood on top of the stage. He tilted his head a little to the left and bent his back a bit to the right. He positioned his two hands as if he was cradling a newborn. Palms open and angled eyebrows, he let the first words flow.
”Good People of Bivon! Oh what a great day we have. The sun is shining like the glistening hope inside our hearts. Once that hope was dimmed, now it rises again like a full moon after its absence. I am here because just this morning I had a realization and I want to share it to you! I realized that Princess Emily is a gift from God. I saw her lead the the first wave of assault to rescue us. She was fearless because she cares!”
The orator paused to let the audience make their nods of agreement. Sure enough, they did. Several hundred paused from their work just to listen to him.
”Because of her attack, many of the hostages died!” Said a man in the back. The fellow wore a smug face and had his arms crossed.
The orator cursed the man silently. People like this fool were making his job more difficult. The orator shifted to the right, carefully muffling the sound of coins inside the pockets of his robe.
”A sad tale friend. Such a sad tale. But Princess Emily was forced by the evil knight Balian to attack. Her heart is bleeding because of the deaths”
”Oi! Bleeding heart? The only bleeding part of her is her arse! She is a Castonian pet. You people should ignore this old fool. He was paid by the Princess to fill your heads with propaganda”
The orator smiled. Deep inside he was burning with anger. He looked towards the hooded men in the corner and gave a single nod.
”She is a wench” Continued the fool ”I tell you, she is selling our nation to the Castonians. She is...”
The hooded men cupped the fool's wide mouth and dragged him away. They were silent, fast and the commotion they caused was minimal. The orator gulped after seeing the skills of the hooded men. The Princess sure has some scary people employed.
Some of the audience looked behind but the orator quickly grabbed their attention.
”Princess Emily is an angel! She saved us. She saved this city. Oh what a great day. How lucky we are to be her subjects. Of only King Brice is the same but King Brice fled the city and left us. It was a shameful act for a monarch to leave his citizens behind!”
The audience looked at each other. They looked convinced. The orator pushed his advantage.
”I hope that one day Princess Emily would take the crown for herself. She is the Queen that we need. She, Grand Master Henry and the Castonians are our saviors!”
**********
Henry scrubbed the back of his steed. The horse neighed lowly, satisfied with Henry's care.
As a Prefect, maintaining horses is not his responsibility. Even a normal knight doesn't have to groom his own steed. There were stable boys employed to do the deed.
But Grand Master Nelson taught him that the best knights are those that have a connection with their mounts. The horse and the rider needed to be of one mind. So Henry would often spend time with his horse to make this connection.
”Grand Master” Stan said from behind him. The low voice was unmistakable.
”The Grand Master cannot hear you Centurion Stan” Henry dipped the brush in the bucket of water. Fleas, horse hair and other stinks clouded the liquid ”He's dead. We are yet to elect a new Grand Master”
”Our brothers and I consider you as the Grand Master”
Henry continued brushing the back of his horse. ”You shouldn't. It is sacrilege. I am a Prefect. I need to be hailed as a Master first. After that I need to have the majority of the votes. And after that a ceremony is required to formally announce my position. Now you are telling me that I could skip these three steps and just leap to the highest position of the Order of Knights?”
”Rules change Grand Master”
”Not in the Omniscient's eyes”
”I hope you change your mind Grand Master. We need you”
”You need repentance for your sin. I am not and I will not become the Grand Master. Let's not breathe further life into this topic Centurion Stan. Why are you here?”
”Marquis Erik wants to see you”
Henry put the brush down. He patted the back of his horse as a farewell.