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- Story Listed as: Fiction For Kids
- Theme: Action & Adventure
- Subject: Adventure
- Published: 06/12/2018
The men who came out of nowhere
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“Knock, Knock, Knock”.
I look in the mirror and see a golden-skinned boy with dark brown hair. I wipe away my tears, make myself look presentable and unlock the door.
“It’s time to go to the king’s funeral,” Sensei says as he stands outside the doorway, “I hope the servants have finished with you”
“Yes sir” I answer. I exit my room and start down the hallway, next to Sensei. I live in the heart of the Indian kingdom, in one of the many turrets of the Indian palace. I live in a quiet and obedient world, where my free time is spent studying and learning. I am a shy and quiet young man and prefer to be alone, but my life is so riddled with popularity and famousness. You must wonder how a quiet boy like me, who despises being the center of attention can be a prince. But oh, it’s true, I am the one and only descendant of the now dead king, my father.
As we round the next corner, just beyond the opening to the great hall, my advisor reminds me,
“Sanjai, before we go in remember what I am about to say here. You must always interact with others, if you do not know what to say simply tear up and walk away. Never forget to walk like you own the place, you are The Prince. At no time express your opinion on your father's death, the media will always be there. "
“Yes, sir”. My dad was murdered by food poisoning I silently think in my head as we enter the hall, I don’t care what the media thinks about that. All around me people bow and welcome, me, the future king. My coronation is set in a few days, but I desperately don’t want this new opportunity, to have people asking me for advice, the responsibility to lead a whole kingdom. I shudder when I think about all that. Even though I’ll have my advisors to assist me, I don’t want to be even more popular, to be the center of attention everywhere. The media will be watching me, waiting for me to make a mistake. I know I'm scared, but I've been preparing for this my whole life. I know the kingdom inside and out, and I know that I’m the most capable person here to become the next king. As the English say I will to simply suck up my fears and continue doing what’s best for my people.
My advisor leads me to the stage where I must read the consoling letter he wrote for me. I nervously walk up the stairs, then stroll to the microphone. I pause, It’s now or never.
I begin reading, “Dear people of the Indian kingdom----”
“Speak up kid!”, a man yells from the audience. I begin again louder this time, but somebody else cuts me off again.
“Stop mumbling!”, I freeze petrified. But then I remember Sensei in the audience, and start again, talking clearer and louder. But by the end of the speech, I’m mumbling, constantly messing up on my words, too scared to think clearly. How can I lead a kingdom if I can’t even read a stupid speech! I’m ushered off the stage by an advisor, then dropped to Sensei. We escape through the backdoors.
“What was that!” he demands.
“I don’t know, I sort of just froze,” I say meekly
“Your father was a great man, don’t ruin his reputation. A king should speak confidently, clearly, loudly and most importantly smartly and if you can’t do those things you are not fit to be king.”
“I’m sorry Sensei, I’ll do better next time”
“Hmph,” he answers. “I will meet you in the coronation chamber later. I’ve got something to help you.” He departs down the left corridor as I go to the right.
I follow the hall until I hear loud talking in one of the rooms on my left. I know I really should be going to practice for the coronation, but when I hear someone say my name through the door, I know I have to stop and listen. I silently check if anyone’s in the hallway, and when I get an all clear, I eagerly put my ear to the door.
"That is quite a plan, Rahul---"
Rahul is one of my instructors, what's he doing in there I think. He should be helping prepare for my coronation.
"We'll sneak up on him at night and murder him, just like his father, no one will ever know."
The man lets out a big guffaw and I suddenly know who's talking, one of my father's most trusted advisors, Mr. Showzaki.
"That little snitch will never know what hit him," the man says "he'll be dead before he can become king."
"We got the king and now we'll get his little wimp of a son too."
I can't believe what I hear, my dad's advisors, my advisors are planning to murder me so that they can get to the throne! I've got to tell someone, anyone what they're planning and fast. They said a would be dead in a few days. I'm panicking, how can I survive against my advisors, the people that have taught me everything I know. Me against them! Calm down, I tell myself. Think of a plan and don't let your feelings get to you. I loudly breathe in and out to calm myself. Too loudly.
"Is somebody there?" I hear Rahul ask through the door. I quickly run down the hall as they open the door and turn left into the coronation hall just in time. That was a close one. I reprimand myself, that can't happen again I think as I breathe deeply from my escape.
"Where have you been!?" the party planner demands,
"We started five minutes ago, we have got to practice your entrance and exit, your letter of acceptance, blah blah, blah blah blah."
I resign myself to this torture and answer "I'm sorry miss, it won't happen again."
"It better not," she says.
"I thought you said he was a prince" A young man roughly my age enters, his eyebrows high with a smirk on his face.
"You are correct Adam, Minshoo that is no way to treat a prince," Sensei says.
"I am sorry Prince and Sensei, forgive me" Minshoo apologizes before she hurries away. I wonder who Sensei brought, but I know nothing he does, or anyone else does can help me become a better public speaker. I was just not born for this.
"Prince Sanjai, this is Count Alexander's son, Adam."
Adam sticks out his hand and surprises me with his smile. I shake it and realize he probably doesn't know I'm an oddball who enjoys being alone more than spending time with others.
"I'm Adam," he says as we shake hands.
"Sanjai," I reply.
"Now Sanjai, Adam is here because he is an exceptional public speaker. He will teach you how to properly say your letter of acceptance and help you with any errors you make. He will be here to give you guidance until you have mastered the art of speaking in front of an audience. I thought it would be easier for you to learn from someone your own age." At this, he smiles kindly.
"Yes sir, I agree. When will we begin Sensei?" I lied about the agreeing part, but at least it might be fun to have Adam around.
"Right away prince. I will leave you two to it." He gets up and walks on a path towards Minshoo across the hall."
"So I guess I'm here to help you," Adam chuckles. "First things first, I saw you read the king's consoling letter. You need to loosen up man." I go red in the face with embarrassment when he mentions the letter. I'm doomed for sure, if he knows how badly I did, he should be angry, a future king who can't even read a letter in front of a crowd out loud! However, he just laughs, Adam is quite confusing. He sees my confused expression and just laughs harder. Eventually, I join in, and we laugh for a few moments marveling at how badly I messed up the speech. He teaches me a few tips and tricks and we practice for a while, pronouncing every last aspect of the speech. I smile and am happy for a while until I realize that I won't live to my coronation, so why should I practice my letter when I won't even be around to say it. I know it's a childish though, but I can't help but think it.
"Is everything alright?" Adam asks as he watches my face drop.
"Yeah" I sigh, "everything's fine."
Adam leads me to a bench in the far corner of the hall. "Seriously Sanjai, what's wrong?" I debate telling him what I heard but in the end, I realize that nothing can get worse than what's happening right now, so why not try.
"It's just that," I pause, am I actually about to tell him? "It's just that I'm not going to live to my coronation day," I confess.
"What!?" he exclaims, "what's going to happen?"
"It's complicated," I answer, "I overheard my fathers and my advisors, I guess they're all mine now, but they were talking about gaining the throne and murdering my father and me to complete their goal. They've already got my father, so now they're after me" I explain sadly.
"Well, we've got to tell somebody!" Adam exclaims
"Who can we tell though anybody could be in on it. I heard some of my dad's most trusted advisors in there."
Adam and I ponder this for a few moments until Adam suddenly exclaims, "I've got it, I've got it! All we've got to do is expose your advisors. It's simple really---"
"Adam shut up!" I frantically whisper.
"Wha---" he says giving me a confused look. I subtly nod my head towards Sensei, now only a few meters away.
"Oh," he mouths. I hope Sensei didn't hear what we were talking about, if he did we're doomed.
"Sanjai try the letter once more. But this time pronounce the words a bit more clearly." Adam says just as Sensei reaches us. I am grateful he improvised before things got awkward. Unfortunately, Sensei doesn't buy the ruse.
You're coming with me," he says as he grabs Adam's shoulder and shoves a small knife to his neck.
He turns to me with a malicious smile on his face, "And if you want your dear friend Adam to survive, you'll join us."
We exit the hall, Adam in front and Sensei to the right of me. I can't believe that Sensei is a traitor. I suspected he was responsible for my father's death, but to have real proof that he would hurt the royal family scares me.
"I knew I would have to kill you eventually Sanjai, but I am grateful I found a way to add Adam to the death list." He turns to Adam and casually puts his arm around him, hiding his knife from view as a servant rushes past us.
"Good day Prince," the servant says as she stops to bow.
"Good day," I answer as I dismiss her.
"Now, as I was saying, Adam, I have hated your father ever since we were children. Alexander was first in our class, I was second. I wanted the job of Sensei, but I knew he would be given that job instead of me. So I drugged him, shot him in a major artery in his leg and escaped unnoticed. The next day I got the job I wanted, and he became a Count in a wheelchair."
As he hears this, Adam's face turns into a shocked expression.
"How dare you do that to my father!" He yells, "I will get my revenge!"
Adam struggles against Sensei, but he holds him firmly. "I hope you do remember I have a knife to your neck" He lets out an evil laugh. I'm really scared now, and I can see from Adam's face that he is too. Sensei is powerful and murderous and will stop at nothing to get what he wants.
We walk down through the hallway of ancient artifacts and an idea begins to form in my head, I am desperate enough to try it. I catch Adam's eyes with my own and signal him to be ready. I drop to the floor and kick Sensei in the back of his balls, hard enough that he drops his knife and losses his grasp on Adam.
"Shit!" yells Sensei.
"Run!" I reply. Adam and I dash down the hall, as Sensei pulls out his gun, running and shooting at us. We zig-zag as bullets land around us. I realize we won't be able to make it to the exit, Sensei is gaining on us and soon enough one of his bullets will hit us.
"I've got a plan!" I yell at Adam, "Follow my lead."
"I hope its a good one, I'm too young to die!"
As soon as Sensei runs out of bullets and stops to reload, I grab a sword and shield from a display on the wall and so does Adam. We charge at Sensei, our shields protecting us from his new round of bullets. Adam slows down from the impact of the bullets, but push through, plunging my sword into Sensei's thigh on impact. He screams a bloodcurdling cry and almost collapses from dizziness.
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