The Coward King

The war room was in a state of total panic, disunity and overall chaos with insults and opinions being thrown around every second, the tension within the room was at its peak and factions had already begun forming everyone seemed to have already formed a resolution that only their opinion would be in the benefit of the kingdom and people going against this were nothing short of traitors. The council that originally consisted of twelve men of unparalleled status in the kingdom now just saw five they had been engaged in this session for over an hour now but no unanimous decision had been achieved yet. The limited-time available was not helping the situation in any way, the forces of the enemy Kingdom had already captured two major cities within the empire and were almost at the gates of the capital. The kingdom had been able to protect itself from the curse of war for over a decade until recently, primarily due to the previous King's victory over their southern neighbors. He had then gone out of his way to achieving peace be it through diplomatic or underhanded tactics, this had earned him quite the prestige and overwhelming popularity with his constituents, but as it is in the case of anyone holding significant power there existed a fair share of discontent individuals primarily amongst the army and the nobility who had over the years been trying to portray war as the most beneficial solution to all of the Kingdoms woes.

The King well protected by his popularity and influence over the remaining classes had been able to keep the popularity of these notions in check, although his methods of achieving this were far from noble the panic and fear had kept any form of rebellion at bay. Although it seemed as if his goals had been realized the King spent the rest of his life looking for and sprouting out defectors and this constant sense of paranoia and stubbornness had left him in a state where he had never been able to enjoy the peace he had fought so hard for, he had sternly held faith in the ideology that the life of a King is supposed to be as such, one of constant vigilance and unrest. The King had passed away two years ago under suspicious circumstances finally proving that sometimes no amount of cautiousness and executions can prevent the scheming and thirst for power that is always prevalent in royal courts.

When the prince, now the new King had come into power there was a sense of relief and subsequent wickedness floating around the court, for the new King was young, inexperienced and a perfect example of the word 'coward', he wasn't an idiot far from it, he could see the greedy eyes of his ministers and acquaintances turn towards him as soon as his fathers' body was cold.

His father who as established was a careful man taught him well, too well for the old king didn't realize that although the prince inherited his wits and sense of morality, he was not as lucky in the case of obtaining the same bravado and cunning attitude that had allowed him to stay ahead of his enemies. In trying to teach the prince the disgusting and devious politics of the court the king had only managed to scare the boy to such a degree that his timid and minion like attitude was known by everyone within the kingdom, "And now with the weakling on the throne, all that's left to achieve my goal is to grow closer and manipulate him," this was the statement that the new king thought was in the minds of all within the court at the time of his coronation. In the next two years, he had done nothing to diminish that sentiment but had instead changed it from a common opinion to an ironclad fact, to the numerous who asked him for something he would deny very few and even these handful of people he would go out of his way to please through any means necessary. The king had seen the toll constant paranoia and ambition had taken on his father which in the end had done him no good anyway, he believed that ambition and takin any form of differing action from that of the majority would only send him to his grave sooner. Therefore he sternly maintained the opinion that as long as he provided what was asked of him and kept the majority of the court happy they would see no benefit in disposing of him. This state of constant pandering and inaction had led to the desire to go to war to grow within the court. Those that had previously been kept shut under the pressure of the old King had now begun making their voices heard to anyone willing to listen.

There had always been a state of constant disunity amongst those who wanted to go to war and those who didn't but the recent reports of an attack on a village near the border based on flimsy evidence seemed to have been the perfect ammunition for this militarist faction who turned it into an issue of national security. Knowing that the king would approve of their plans if he was alone without any outer force of influence, they got hold of a perfect opportunity and tried to convince the King to support their cause stating that their military unparalleled might and genius would surely achieve them victory, they also said that this was the perfect opportunity for the king to show his strength and make a name for himself amongst his allies and enemies alike, the king was reluctant, he had seen his father fight these warmongering maniacs throughout his life, for a second it almost seemed to him as though he would for once actually be able to enforce his own opinion however the trance soon faded and he was reminded of the collective strength and influence that the members of the faction held, he quickly reverted back to his original state of accommodation and ignorance and thus reluctantly approved of their demand. He knew that he did not agree with the idea of going to an unnecessary war and that he might regret it in the future but he desperately kept himself from thinking too much about the matter, ignorance had always kept him safe he thought and so pushed out the entire ordeal from his mind. With this approval in hand, they rushed their plan forward sending military forces to the southern Kingdoms border.

This flawed plan was never going to work and even though the people cheered at the prospect of the spoils of war those behind the scenes knew that the kingdom was near its end.

As it turned out a large number of the members of the faction were traitors belonging to the enemy who had purposefully entered the faction and led the empire to war. On the second day of battle, the forces of the empire were flanked and thoroughly obliterated. Within hours of this, the remaining members of the faction responsible for war abdicated their positions and ran away to seek refuge elsewhere. The King upon hearing the news of the lost had promptly locked himself within his room, for the entire day he sat at his desk staring blankly at a royal decree, at first his mind seemed unoccupied, almost blank he tried to force himself to think of something....anything but nothing except for the whiteness of the decree seemed to catch his attention. An almost insurmountable amount of time later he finally managed to regain the ability of thought, but the very first one froze him stiff, "I killed them........and for nothing," this feeling of self-contempt was new to him, he had always considered himself to be a practical man just like a king is supposed to be but war was new to him and he felt as though the guilt building up inside him would soon consume his mind completely. Regaining composure, he continued his train of thought, "No," he had nd not killed those men, it had been their choice, they had marched into war with visions of grandeur and fame, it was the army, the nobles and the people who had advocated for the war, to begin with!. He had merely signed a piece of paper, an action that had drastically increased his popularity amongst the greedy population, the lot of them had pushed his hand, he had just done what he always did by satisfying the majority, it wasn't his fault! This feeling of self-validation was followed by another thought, one that he had repressed for ages, "if only....", if only he was not a coward he could have prevented such a stupid action to take place, was what he thought but he couldn't finish the sentence.

An entire month had passed since the primary army had been defeated, this convoluted state of affairs brings us back to the current chaos in the war room, as the arguments continued to be thrown around, "This is utterly ridiculous, we have no other option but to evacuate the city and seek refuge with our allies to the east," said one minister," and risk being slaughtered by the barbarians plaguing the roads, we would never make it alive?", said another, "if we can recruit enough men from the population we will have an army in our hands." "The civilian forces will be of no use most of them despise the nobility and the crown at this point and that coward of a King has locked himself up for the month....we have no need to die for a city that wants our heads on a pike," argued a third minister. This argument seemed to have no end in sight, then suddenly there was the sound of footsteps approaching the room an instant later the door swung open and a servant walked in the room, he announced that he had a message from the king.

The ministers taken aback by this gesture started reading the message, what they astounded them to their core, "To the remaining of my most trusted councilmen, it is common knowledge by now that the days of our once glorious empire are now over, within two months the capital will fall, any resistance would be futile against the enemy's superior numbers. The only way to minimize the loss of life and to protect the future of our citizens I have had to take some drastic actions, for the p[ast month I have been in negotiations with the enemy king and the only option acceptable to both sides that would prevent any more unnecessary casualties is to surrender the kingdom, the enemy king and I have entered into an agreement that has been with the church as the guarantor and we have agreed that if the capital is peacefully surrendered all current citizens will be protected. The enemy king has o reason to break this agreement as it would only turn the populations of both kingdoms and church against him, furthermore, he has agreed to allow the empire to rule autonomously under their flag. The war has been costly for them as well and a swift conclusion is in everyone's best interest. Of course, this means that I will not be required for the future of the kingdom anymore, as per the agreement I have already departed for the enemy capital and thus this is my final farewell to you, I regret my cowardice these past years but i do not regret the actions I have currently taken and i pray that my successor will not make similar mistakes. .", the ministers were speechless, the entire public was when the news reached their ears, "The king saved the lives of thousands," was the sentiment that could be heard throughout the capital however not everyone agreed with this statement and many loathed him for handing over the empire to the enemy, but those closest to the king knew that this form of dissent would have not disheartened him for the majority was satisfied.