The Agony of a King

Joshua was tired facing a long and difficult war, and although he had known how to win, he had barely rested since. I knew that peace would not last and as a king Auriano had learned that there would never be an end to war, another war and another war ... wars, wars and more wars, just a long and endless war that never seemed to have an end.

They spent their entire reign defending their homeland and their unshakable faith, against hordes and more hordes of barbarians coming from the North Sea. They had arrived in fleets of ships about a century ago, attacking and destroying all fortresses and coastal villages throughout Auriana, erecting fortresses and citadels in their ruins, their attacks and massacres became increasingly bold and bloody, every year that passed more and more blood of his people was spilled on the soil of his beloved homeland.

When Joshua was still just a child, the Danish invaders had established fortresses across Auriana territory, capturing Southern Argon to the Port City of Dracarys, the two economic points and also the most important points in all Auriana. Danish power spread long after that, and so quickly and bloodily, in just five years, only Theliwyth remained standing, the last free kingdom of all Auriana and the last sovereign in all Auriana, the kingdom of Joshua.

At the time Joshua was not a king, nor did he want to be king or had any desire to acquire the crown, but in a very short time he would be crowned king when the Nordics wasted no time and attacked Theliwyth. At that time, the king of Joshua and his older brother managed - even for a brief moment - to repel the invaders. However, after that, only defeats and more defeats happened, and when the king met death shortly after his army was sent to Reading, the crown fell from the kiss in the arms of Joshua, his only and destined heir. And so it was that, on his seventeenth birthday, Joshua became Auriana's only remaining Anglo-Saxon king - and most likely his last.

Only for a brief period of time did Joshua consider the crown's resignation, and for good reason; Nordics were notorious for their brutality and lack of mercy in their attacks. Other Aurian kings, who did not flee or refused to cooperate, were tortured to death and nailed to wooden crosses while they were slowly roasted, when their walls inevitably collapsed. The Danish king at the head of the invading force, an ungodly brute named Guthrum, will advance further into the heart of Joshua's beloved Theliwyth, looting every citadel and village he has encountered. Joshua's army was forced to retreat further east of Somerset, where the isolation of its pale tide swamps gave him time to regroup along with his few surviving men. Summoning men from neighboring counties, he ordered them to build a fortress in which they could meet and plan their counterattacks. Tired of running and hiding, Joshua finally started to fight the enemy head on.

He defeated the Norse in the battle of Ethandun, taking them to their fortress and setting up siege until they forced the barbarians to cooperate due to lack of provisions. It was a decisive victory, but the Nordics were still many and were too spread out to be definitively expelled from their beloved Auriana. Tired of bloody battles and men killed in numbers greater than he could count or didn't even want to know their numbers anymore, Joshua offered the armistice to his hated enemy arch, Guthrum Hardrock: if the Norse agreed to drop their weapons, they would be granted lands in the east. The Aurian territory they already occupied would be formally recognized as Danelaw, a kingdom in which Guthrum and his people could - and so it was hoped it would be for a long time - to live in peace.

And so the Somerset Treaty was established. And so the kingdom of Theliwyth was saved.

Throughout his reign, Joshua's subjects, grateful to have spared them the horrors of the Nordic occupation, began to call him Joshua the Great. It was a title that he did not particularly like, as he did not see greatness within himself. He had studied the life and military campaigns of another "Great", Bullying III - Macedonian king who had been driven by a firm conviction of his greatness, so deeply ingrained that he believed he was destined to conquer the whole world. And so it was; at the age of Joshua, Bullying had defeated the vast Persian army, at the time considered invincible before the world with an army of millions of warriors and beasts, and will advance to reign in one of the greatest empires the world has ever seen, ruling the entire Baltazar Peninsula , from the Jonice Sea to the Himalayas and the New World Trinidad Islands. Joshua, far from it, could barely keep his little kingdom stable.

Bullying III also earned fame for never losing a single battle in his life, while Joshua had lost too many. He wouldn't miss another one, he told himself.

In the years following the Danish agreement, Joshua refused to be more complacent. He went to London, a city plundered and ruined during the Nordic invasions and resurrected it, strengthening it against future attacks. Joshua's royal palace in Wythchester was similarly fortified, as were the villages and fortresses across Theliwyth, until every man and woman within the borders of his kingdom could be assured that the horrors of years past would never most would visit them again in their lives.

Everyone except Joshua. Theliwyth was as safe as he could guarantee, and yet he did not sleep easily. Every scout messenger brought new accounts of Danish naval activity, recent rumors of an upcoming invasion. And Guthrum, long ill, according to rumors, was now on the verge of death, in his last breaths.

Although the Danish king was a barbarian, Joshua began to respect him - and, most importantly, to trust him. In the years since the armistice, Guthrum will always stick to the peace-keeping agreement. But it was known that many men of war were simply ambitious and undaunted, mainly among the Nordics of Danelaw, their generals hoped to seize power after Guthrum's death. Men who would not respect the treaty that their predecessor had honored. And the only thing Joshua feared more than a Danish invasion by the sea was a Danish uprising from the Aurian borders themselves.

And there he was, from his throne at Wythchester, as restless as ever. It will send a message to its military commanders across the kingdom to maintain increased and close vigilance, especially those bordering other lands beyond its domain. In the end, it would take days for the message to travel to Danelaw; for all Joshua knew, Guthrum Hardrock might already be dead. Even now, while waiting on his throne, the Danish forces could be gathering under the command of a new king and preparing for a crushing attack. But he had done everything he could. Now all that was left was to wait and worry about the possible war that was going to happen one way or another very soon.

"Your-Your Majesty?"

Joshua looked at the page before him; he was so distracted that he had not heard the boy approach his position.

"I hope it's not bad news. Tell me everything you know."

"The archbishop requests your presence in the courtyard as soon as possible," said the page. "Say there is something that Your Majesty needs to see urgently."

Joshua grunted. Dexter, the archbishop of Greenland, was the last man he wanted to see that day, or any other day, or in his entire life.

Although Joshua appreciated the Christian faith, he did not appreciate the man who was the leader of his Church in the same way. The archbishop had been inherited along with the rest of Joshua's kingdom, and there was something about the man that has been disturbed since the beginning of his reign. If Joshua's reign had been one of peace, he probably would have provided for a replacement for the prelate, but he had been too busy at war with the Norse to engage in battle with the Church. However, in the past few months, he had bitterly regretted not having made that decision before, but never with the intensity of that moment. What Dexter had to show him would certainly bitter his appetite and send him to bed with terrible nightmares again. As if sleeping was no longer difficult in those days.

Joshua shook his head at the page, and reluctantly said in a weak, regretful voice; "Tell him that I'll be there soon."

The page bowed and then hurriedly left. Joshua sat still for a long time before walking to the patio. Whatever new horror Dexter had in store for him, he was in no hurry to see him.

***

Five months earlier, Dexter was looking for Joshua with fervent, almost sickening excitement. During the reconstruction of London, a commoner worker happened to discover a chest with ancient Latin parchments buried. The worker took them to the parish priest, who, so perplexed by what he saw in them, hurriedly left for Greenland that day. Dexter also recognized the scrolls as something remarkable and fascinating the moment he saw the scrolls. They were old, so old that the Latin text they contained, a previous arcane form of the language, was almost incomprehensible even by priests who had the highest level of knowledge. But what they were able to translate froze Dexter's already cold blood and excited him so much that he could barely keep his hands from shaking. The scrolls spoke of powers even older than themselves. Of enchantments and rituals that could alter the shape of the flesh, create new life from the old. The power to transform any man who dominated him into a god.

It took months for Dexter and his more experienced scholars to decipher the text of all nine scrolls. When his work was finally finished, Dexter took him to Wythchester and presented it to Your Majesty as a way to finally secure the longed-for peace for all Aurian kingdoms - to annihilate the Danish threat once and for all, to eliminate the infidels coming across the sea once and for all. When Joshua heard the archbishop's promise that he could do all that without spilling a single drop of blood from his countrymen, he was intrigued and fell into temptation; and when he learned how Dexter intended to do it, he did not know whether it was a reason to be terrified or simply to think that the man was simply crazy.

It took a demonstration by Dexter to prove to his king that his mental faculties had not abandoned him.

Dexter ordered one of his healers to bring a pig that had previously been separated from the castle's creations. Joshua and everyone at court that day had fun, at first, seeing the tied pig dragging the unfortunate curator by the belt while sniffing the stone floor. 'Was it some kind of mockery?' At best, Joshua thought, 'Dexter might be ashamed of himself in front of the entire royal court and high-ranking officers.' Which would give Joshua the perfect excuse to quietly remove the man from his position as leader in Greenland and exchange him for someone less dull and more reliable. 'The poor man had obviously worked hard all his life. It was time for Dexter to retire. '

The curate threw a half-eaten apple on while the animal devoured the fruit in a few moments. Few noticed the look of pale dread on the young priest's face when he withdrew; all eyes were on the pig, an ordinary animal running free through the highest hall.

While the pig chewed greedily, Dexter warned the royal guards to stay close and ready, then threw his arms back in a flourish. The courtiers exchanged embarrassed looks; some of them chuckled. 'It is enough to finish him off,' thought Joshua from his throne. 'The most important priest of all Auriana, waving his arms like a jester, performing a conjuring trick.'

And then Dexter started the spell. The giggles stopped, as well as the amused looks. All eyes were fixed on Dexter as he babbled ancient words deciphered in the depths of Greenland.

'The language was familiar, but still strange. What is it, some kind of Latin or archaic hezirhion? 'Joshua asked himself. There was only one certainty: as Dexter continued the spell, his voice slowly rising, a chill came over the room. Although no one understood Dexter's words, every man and woman somehow knew that there was something wrong with them. As if they came from a place other than human domain. Several of those who attended felt a strong urge to leave the hall and vomit, and yet their feet did not take them away. They were rooted, paralyzed, unable to turn their faces.

The pig, which was happily devouring another apple, suddenly released it. The mouth opened wide. The head brushed and spun in a circular motion strange and impossible for those who had a column, as if tortured by a hellish sound that only he could hear. He let out the most horrible, high-pitched squeak and fell on his side, standing still.

For a moment, the room was filled with a dark and frightening silence, everyone present speechless in front of the bizarrely morbid sample. Apparently, Dexter had killed the animal without getting his hands on it. Only with the power of the strange and unbearable words that escaped your mouth.

That led Joshua to break the terrible silence.

"Dexter, I demand to know what that means ..." Joshua did not continue his question because something - more like a cry of agony - had interrupted his words.

"Hiccckkkk… .. !!!" The pig screamed louder than before, interrupting Joshua's words. Then the body shuddered and came to life writhing and on the floor with a series of violent spasms

'Postmortem reflexes?' Joshua looked from the tortured animal to Dexter and saw the wide, terrible smile spread across the archbishop's face. As if he was delighted to anticipate and that he would come next.

Something erupted from the pig's belly, and blood splattered on the floor. Several onlookers screamed, terrified, and those who were closest will drift away, disgusted, when another excrescence sprouted from the pig's body, then another, each glowing with dark, viscous blood as it unfolded and took on some form. Bone appendages with joints, resembling stems, resembling the limbs of some monstrous insect, slid and slid across the smooth stone floor like the legs of a newborn calf trying to rise.

And then the thing - it could no longer be called a pig or some God-made creature - stood up on its six legs, newly formed tentacles, each with thick, prickly hairs. The creature's jaw hung wide, revealing a mouthful of sharp, pointed fangs. The royal guards drew their weapons, and Joshua watched with dismal fascination as the creature advanced. The eyes were wild and bloodshot, searching the room. The creature looked half-blind and seized by an angry and hateful fever.

The beast lifted its head, opened its huge mouth and howled - a frightening sound that defied nature and sent chills through everyone present. The young, immature guard who was closest to the beast moved to strike it with his sword. Before Dexter could alert him, the guard's blade descended on one of the beast's arachnid legs, releasing a stream of black blood that covered his tunic. When the beast screamed, the guard tried to release the blade to deliver another blow, but it was trapped in the bone and cartilage of the monster's leg. Wounded and enraged, the swine turned and plucked the sword from the guard's hand. Before he could walk away, the beast moved forward and wrapped the two front legs around the man's waist like tweezers.

While the young man struggled in despair, his colleagues came to his aid, trying to free him from the creature's clutches, and still others beat him with swords. The screams of the beast and the prison guard were mixed in an infernal and unbearable cacophony. Then the creature's claws narrowed further, and the young guard vomited blood when his body was split in two. The beast got rid of the man's lifeless halves, trying to defend himself from the other guards, who were lashing and striking furiously. But it was too late: the creature had several serious injuries and was bleeding very quickly. Weakened and dying, she finally fell, panting, blood bubbling in her throat. The captain of the guard approached, his sword high, and with all his strength he lowered the blade, knocking off the monster's head. For a few moments, the thing still moved, its chest rising and falling, its arachnid legs twitching in reflex. And finally stopped moving, on the floor finally dead

With his face spattered with the beast's horribly smelling blood, the captain of the guard looked with fury at Dexter.

Joshua came down from the throne and crossed the room towards the priest, who had not stopped smiling throughout the bloody episode, and was still smiling with a frightening and hideous smile on his face.

"Didn't you like the demonstration, sir?" Asked the archbishop with a frightening smile on his face.

"I didn't like it? Just what do you think you're doing ??", hissed the king with clenched teeth and fists.

Dexter's smile got even wider and much more frightening than his previous smile. "The Danes will like it even less, I suppose your excellence."