Chapter 12

Deep in the palace, the guards were changing up their stations as it was the time in the night to rotate. From the palace gates to the king's bedroom and all the way down to the prison, guards were stationed to prepare and protect from any threats.

Somewhere in the darkness of the prison were the bodies of villagers and outsiders who were placed there to be burned as the king did not believe they deserved to be buried. These were people who had died before they could be imprisoned or died while being imprisoned.

They were lowlives who deserved nothing but to be tortured in the afterlife for the misfortune they caused when they were alive. These people ruined the peace the king believed he created and for that, they should be punished by fire.

Outside of the room of bodies, two guards now stood with the swords as the previous two rotated to another station. Taking a whiff of the scent of the decaying bodies the guards couldn't help but cover their noses. This was one of the worst stations to be positioned at because of the stench coming from the bodies. Unfortunately, they had to stay here for the next five hours.

"Why don't they just burn the bodies as soon as they get them? Waiting just fills up the palace with this smell," one commented, stepping forward to get away from the smell. The more he breathed, the worse the scent got. Why was this even a job? Who would break into the palace just to get a corpse? "I can't wait till it's time for us to switch again. I hate this place."

"It's less work to burn them in groups plus, it's not like the king has to inhale this. His room is far away from here. The privilege of being a king," the other responded before covering his nose again.

This was what they had to endure but life could be worse than this. They only needed to be here five hours a week anyway. He believed this was better than going out in wars and dying. Nothing has ever happened to the palace in years. It was better to be a mere palace guard. The scent of the corpses was a small downside he could get over.

"If it were to reach his room he would throw a fit." He remembered the countless times the king got angry when things he did not want to hear, see or smell reached his way. There was a time he almost punished a cook for giving him food with a foul smell even though the cook explained it was food from another kingdom and that was how it was meant to be served. "I'll protect the king with my life but he'll kill us in a heartbeat for something he doesn't like."

"I would throw a fit if I were in his position. If only I could live that life of luxury too. Have you seen the woman who recently visited his room? If I could just have one of those women as a treat this station wouldn't bother me." The guard closed his eyes and smiled imagining himself in the position of the king. "Shouldn't he treat us a bit more with women considering what we go through to protect the kingdom?"

He wasn't a looker nor had enough money for women to pay attention to him. He spent what little he had on women who offered their services at night.

"What protection have you done my good friend Gerald? You mostly just stand around and eat in your free time," Richard chuckled at his friend's delusional thoughts. The man could barely save a dog let alone a person. The only thing the king should do was kick out this waste of a guard. "Keep spending your money on whores you idiot. No one would go out of there to give you a woman."

"You don't know everything I've done. I've risked my life to protect people."

"Sure," Richard commented sarcastically. He'll allow Gerald to continue to make up stories. The same made-up stories he fed to women who continue to ignore him. "You don't even put up a good fight against the youngsters who just started to train. Protect people my ass."

"Fuck you. Not like you've done anything either. Plus you ruined my good thoughts about the king's women," Gerald said, going back to think about the women he saw enter the king's room when he was stationed there.

"Keep on dreaming fool," Richard said then yawned. Luckily this would be his last station for the night, unlike Gerald.

"Help," he heard the faint sound of someone speaking. Richard immediately started to look around to see if there was anyone else around them. Was he imagining things or was he hearing the other guards who were close by?

"Did you hear something just now Gerald?" He asked wanting to confirm whether or not he heard someone.

"Nothing but the sound of your voice interrupting my dreams." Richard doubted his skills and now he was trying to scare him. Next time, he'll ask to be stationed with someone else.

Maybe he was hearing things. Surely, he was sleep-deprived. Richard stood back in position to look around for anyone passing by while Gerald remained with his eyes closed.

Not far behind them in the room where there were dead bodies faint cracking noises of bones could be faintly heard. One body, in particular, started to twitch as cracking noises came from it. As time passed more faint cracks could be heard. The pinky finger on the body which was broken made a cracking noise as the finger came back into place.

The guards had mistreated the body and caused many of the bones in the body to break but they were now fixing themself. One final cracking noise could be heard before complete silence. If the guards were much closer, they would've heard the sounds but they were too far away from the bodies.

Slowly the eyes of the corpse opened to show pitch-black eyes. The person took a deep breath as they had been given life once again. Their body frantically tried to cling to the air to breathe again as they had none in their body from before when they were dead.