Cursed By The Gods Book 1 and 2

Chapter 57

With a heavy heart Octavius approached the Council Room, he dreaded having to face his court, he knew why they were here, there was no reason they would come this early if it not to talk about the rising concerns in the kingdom. For months he had tried to avoid the conversation members of the court were sure to bring up. The issue had not just started, it did not just start with Amires, it started long before that and not even the war in which he fought in succeeded in quelling it. Reports had risen soon after his coronation of banditry and killings at the edges of the village near the river, reports of razed houses and stolen animals had sprang up and were worsening over the years. While his father was alive, when he still had Emilia to die for, he cared for the welfare of the people enough to sacrifice his first child so they would have peace and so he would be the hero to both the one he loved and people for whom he cared for but now that he had nothing to fight for, now that the one for whom he fought for, the reason he had disregarded his father’s warnings was gone he cared less what happened to the people of Camelorn.

As he approached the dark wood door he was slightly aware of the presence of the soldiers guarding his back, there was a maid coming from the other side carrying a large tray of fruits and cheese, one of the soldiers at the door pushed it open for her as she went through. As he got closer the soldier held the door and he went through with his heart in his throat. The nobles sat around the huge table with their fine tunic draped over their shoulders some ran all the well to their ankles while some stopped below the knees like Lady Amelia’s. At his entrance they all turned towards the door and rose on their feet when they saw him, bowing their heads in respect. It was an outward form of respect but he knew that their thoughts about him wasn’t respectful in anyway, they paid obeisance with their heads and knees but their hearts were hardened towards him and he couldn’t blame them, he was merely a king without dignity, a king who could not keep calamity from befalling his family or even prevent his family from falling apart. The expressions he could see, the ones that weren’t formed on their faces, were hatred and rage directed at a very inactive king. He overlooked all of this and took his seat at the gilded throne on the dais. The nobles waited for him to sit before sitting themselves.

“Your Majesty.”

He raised a hand. He didn’t want to raise his hand, he wanted to stab himself with a knife but he would only be wasting his time since a certain goddess made sure to make him immortal for her own selfishness. He let his hand down and settled it on the curved hand of his seat.

“What is the issue of today?” he asked. He was obliged to ask, it was his duty as king to do so.

The nobles busied themselves with the food set before them first. They pinched from the roast lamb, ladled stew onto their platters, too from the steamed peas and filled their goblets. One would think they hadn’t had anything to eat in weeks. For a while he watched as they ate, filling their platters over and over and even calling for more food until they had their fill. Finally the short, heavy one called Aprolos in charge of the welfare of the people of Camelorn pushed his empty platter aside and faced him.

“Your Majesty, some time ago we brought to your notice the evils that have befallen the people by the river, the fishermen. You may have noticed a reduction in the supply of fish to the royal house, this is because the people are being killed. Just yesterday a fisherman came into my home with his dead wife in his arms. We must do something about this.”

Octavius bit his tongue as the urge to remark that the ‘evils’ befalling the people hadn’t stopped him from squeezing his food down his throat threatened to escape his lips. Before he could even say a word the other members of court were already making comments of their own. They had testimonies of these raids to the villages and attested to the fact that people were indeed being slaughtered in their homes and that houses were razed to the grounds almost on a weekly basis.

“The people are living in fear, Your Majesty,” another court member said.

Octavius took a deep breath a leaned forward on his seat, it was an attempt to look regal when he felt anything but that. “What has been done to assuage the situation?” he asked.

“Not much. I sent some men to investigate the damage some weeks ago and they confirmed that it was really disastrous, some of the fishermen who used to live there have had to pack their families away. These men claim the criminals responsible for these killings seemed to have jumped out of the water at them.”

“Put soldiers on guard there.”

The nobles looked among themselves for a moment, it was Amelia who voiced everyone’s thoughts. “Festus is no longer in charge of the Camelorn army and Angus had gone back on his mad journeys. We have no one to command or train our army, Your Majesty.”

“Then you, Aprolos will be in charge of that. Station men at every corner of those villages and find out what could be the cause of this sudden damage being done to our land!”

The nobles stood at the sound of his raised voice. Octavius rose as well and raised a dismissive hand at them, he didn’t wait for their bows before storming out of the Council Room. There was nothing to talk about again besides the attack on the Camelorn villages so there was no use in his staying in the room any longer. If he did he would be forced to listen to the whines of the so-called nobles, after presenting the issue of the people they would begin to gossip and talk endlessly about low taxes the people paid, they would even suggest raising the taxes under the guise of using the money realized from taxing on the welfare of the soldiers whereas it was for their bellies and fine attires. Maybe Angus was right, maybe Camelorn had to go to war to keep the nobles on their feet.

The nobles did go to do as their king commanded. Aprolos stationed guards on every attacked village, day and night these men stood guard but it didn’t stop the bandits who doubled their efforts and soon news spread of the growing insecurity, people put in extra care to protect themselves but Camelorn was thrown into commotion.