1 THE BOY WHO SPAT NUTS.

There was once a large village in the middle of an even larger forest. Tall and mighty trees that also served as protection surrounded this village. The oldest of the trees was on Arrod's farm, the one his grandfather had given him as a gift. From Dusk till Dawn, men and women and even children toiled away on Arrod's farm. All the workers were Lower-people and convicted criminals who would later retire to their prison homes at night. They would be paid with foodstuffs at the day's end.

Most of the workers were there against their free will, but it was the way of life in the village. Most of them would rather be anywhere but on Arrod's farm, except for Kofi, who seemed to love being whipped. Arrod loved relaxing on the wide branches of the old tree, watching the Lower-people work. They always found him holding a bag containing his beloved groundnuts, fried to a golden brown and well salted. Sometimes he would spit the nuts on inauspicious laborers who came too close to his tree.

"Work harder, you stupid bastards!" He would shout and spit more nuts at them.

It was because of the Prince's nasty attitude and the lack of enforcers in the immediate vicinity that one laborer found the guts to speak to the prince with a rude tone. The sun was so hot on that fateful day that when Sirius urinated on the floor; it evaporated at once with a sizzle.

That day, Arrod, as usual, squatted atop the old tree, chewing his nuts when the bag of nuts when they had placed on his lap fell. Two male laborers had given weed duty and were busy uprooting the grass at the tree bottom when Arrod's bag of nuts landed; they ignored it and returned to their act of weeding.

"Hey, Cows! Pick that bag and throw it back." Arrod shouted from the top of the tree. One man was big, but not as big as the enforcer. The name Onion had been given to him by friends and associates, for he was an orphan and had the face of an onion. This was the man who spoke to the prince with a rude tone.

"Why don't you come down and state that again, Monkey boy?" Onion said, making the shorter man laugh. They wouldn't have maintained their sense of humor if the enforcers had been present. Arrod's grandfather, the reigning king, had given the boy the enforcers to surround the farmland and make sure that his workers remained working. Enforcers had to be huge and ruthless. The workers called the enforcers bull-men because they looked bovine and carried their whips everywhere, which looked a lot like tails.

"Look at our almighty prince, wallowing away in the shade while we sweat to produce his food." The smaller man said.

"Why can't he climb down from the tree and pick the nuts himself?"

"I do not understand, my good man. Why can't he climb down?" Onion sniggered, drawing out his friend's joke. The prince could only perch in abject silence, seeing both men made a mockery of him.

"Maybe he fears touching sweaty, dirty men like us. Come down little monkey, we promise not to do anything rash."

"He thinks we would beat him up, see his face." Onion said. He walked over to where the bag of nuts had landed and picked it up. Arrod observed in horror as the man took a handful of his precious nuts and threw them into his mouth.

"Enforcers," The boy yelled, having had enough. "Enforcers, your prince is in distress!" He called out.

"You are more of a grand-prince, don't you think? His granddaddy is the king." Onion said to the other fellow, and they both had an additional round of laughter. Two enforcers arrived a minute later, but the men had taken flight, leaving an empty bag on the floor.

"What is the problem, my prince?" One enforcer asked the boy on the tree. Arrod shot the enforcer a murderous stare. The big man had forced him to watch as he devoured the prince's precious nuts.

"What took you so long?" Arrod said, gritting his teeth.

"We were in the shade, over there."

"Thieves!" Arrod said.

"But, we stole nothing. "

"No," Arrod pointed at the empty bag on the floor. "Thieves, two men stole my nuts while I was up in this tree."

"But, how could they have stolen it from up there?" The enforcer pointed at the prince and Arrod wanted to jump and land on the man's stupid head, crushing his brain to a pulp.

"When it fell, they finished the entire bag and ran away. There." Arrod pointed in the direction he had seen them run.

"Get the workers," He continued. "I must inspect every one of them until I find those thieving scoundrels." The enforcers grunted and moved to carry out their prince's instruction.

Soon, and two hundred unsolicited whippings later, the enforcers had assembled the workers on Arrod's farm. They stood in straight lines according to their kind. The men stood on the left. Women were in the middle. And the children, of course, for we shouldn't forget the poor children, stood on the far left. One of the smaller children howled. It was a shrill sound. An enforcer pulled out his whip and hit the little boy until he held his trembling lips shut; catarrh flowed over the boy's hands from his runny nose and he licked it clean. Arrod marched in front of the men first, scanning their filthy faces. Two of the largest enforcers escorted the prince; they flanked him at either side.

"There's one of them." Arrod pointed at Onion. "He's the one who called me a monkey." Gasps escaped from the mouths of the women. The enforcers seized Onion and pulled him away from the line.

Arrod finished inspecting the faces of all the men but couldn't find the other man. He must be here. No worker had ever left Arrod's farm without being spotted by the enforcers.

"Master, you have searched all the men. I only work alone, the rest are innocent." Onion said, and one of the bull-men punched him in the belly.

"Shut up!" Arrod hawked and spat in his face. "I will search the women; do you think you can fool me?" Arrod scanned the females next, stopping short when he detected an anomaly in their ranks.

"There. You in the middle, walk forward." He pointed at the short lady whose hair was a ruffled mess. The woman walked forward and Arrod snatched the wig from her head, revealing the mannish face of the accomplice. Kofi gasped, and an enforcer whipped him. He giggled after the fourth lashing. The enforcers tied up the offending men and off they were to the king's palace in Vothland. Arrod marched behind them, satisfied. At least his grandfather would punish them. No one insulted the prince and got away scot-free.

"Everyone back to work!" The chief enforcer commanded, breaking up the lines of workers and laborers who were observing the arrested men in a state of collective pity.

***

If there was one thing King Timion hated in all his years as king, it was that he hated being interrupted. He had been in an intense debate with the influencers-the Elite members of the kingdom when his personal messenger walked in and announced he had a message for the king.

King Timion listened to the man in silence then excused himself from the meeting. He led the way into the throne room, for the king walked behind no man-and found his grandson standing next to two enforcers and two Lower-people.

"What is so important that you had to interrupt my meeting, Arrod?" King Timion enquired; his demeanor relaxed even though he was boiling on the inside. The king must never let genuine emotions show on his face, only through his actions.

"Grandfather," Arrod whimpered when he saw the king. "These men stole from me and insulted me."

"Is that so? Where did this happen?"

"It happened at the farm, grandfather, not too long ago. My bag of nuts fell, and they ate it. That one even called me a monkey." Arrod pointed at the larger man, Onion. The smaller one who disguised himself as a woman started weeping like one. Arrod watched the man, thinking it ironic that he was being brought to tears by the actions of a person named Onion.

"What is the second rule?" King Timion asked, his tone suggesting he had directed the question at the two Lower-people.

"Anyone who stole from the king shall be killed, Your Majesty." Onion muttered under his breath. Everyone in the kingdom must know and abide by the king's rules.

"I thought so. My grandson, Arrod, is your future king, or is he not?"

"He is, my lord." Onion nodded.

"Take these thieves to the square and execute them," King Timion said to the enforcers. "Make sure the other Lower-people see what happens when they steal from their king."

"Mercy, my lord," The weeping man cried. "I was only an accomplice; I ate none of the prince's nuts." The man fell to his knees and pleaded. King Timion waited until the enforcers had dragged both men out of the throne room, and then he grunted and began to depart.

"Grandfather!" Arrod shouted.

"What is it, Arrod?" King Timion paused, not turning.

"I-I didn't expect you to kill them, they only ate the nuts. I thought you would order the enforcers to whip them."

"Arrod, you are not me and everything had consequences. If the prince says they stole from him, then it happened. From now on, I don't want you bringing Lower-people into the throne room for petty crimes such as stealing, okay?" said King Timion, his gaze softening.

"Yes, grandfather." Arrod nodded, and the king returned to his meeting.

"Welcome back, Your Majesty." General Ariad, the Elite in charge of war, and the enforcers greeted as King Timion returned to his seat at the head of the table.

"Thank you very much, General."

"Do not be upset with me, my lord, but we found a solution to the problem while you were away."

"Uh-huh," The king said, nodding. "May I hear this solution of yours?"

"Certainly," Lady Kiana, the Elite in charge of childbirth, and the cemeteries said. "We shall assassinate him."

King Timion got up from his seat. "What is this? Will the other villages not ask questions when they hear he is dead?"

"We will handle the details ourselves, you just have to give the order. We will make his death look natural." General Ariad said.

"What of the records? "

"We will take care of the records in due time, I have an insider in his palace," Polymus spoke up. He was the Elite in charge of the agents of the crown and the ambassadors.

"I agree with the general," said Kiana. "We can make it look real; no one dare point a finger, not at you."

"But… I gave him my word that we would stay on peaceful terms. He is my cousin, my own family."

Ariad shook his head. "You gave him your word but you can take it back, we await your command. Time is not on our side, we need to act now or risk everything we had planned up to this point."

"Do what you must." King Timion hit his fists on the table and then left the room. When he shut the door, Ariad laughed. "We might need to perform tasks behind his back, he is getting too soft."

"Speak not such blasphemy, Ariad." Nephthulu, the white-haired Elite croaked from his seat. He was Ariad's father and the oldest of the Elite.

"Remember, we serve this family, and not any other way. We serve them until we have fulfilled the prophecy, understood?"

"Understood," Ariad said. Then, he also stormed out of the meeting room, slamming the door shut on his way out.

"That one and his temper," Kiana said, shaking her head.