When Anger Comes Knocking

TW: murder

A row of royal guards stood between the large mass of people and the castle.

'Back down!' Chief Guard Horatio screamed from the top of his lungs, 'One more step, and we will consider you enemy of the kingdom, and will therefore kill you.'

The crowd he was speaking to had men, women, children and elderly, all who looked at each other after such a statement. Their will wavered until a deep male voice emerged from the crowd.

'If the king doesn't stop stealing our food, we'll die anyway.'

'Yeah!' Said someone, 'That's right!' Said someone else.

The male voice spoke once more, 'While King Duncan feasts on the crops we farmed, our children get skinnier every day.' The whole crowd of about 200 people formed a circle around the man, who held a young boy in his right hand. 'Haven't we all suffered enough? It's time to take back what's ours, we cannot let such a careless king ruin what my family has been working on for generations. Especially when he's never stepped in town.'

More cheers from the crowd fired him up.

'The weak should stay behind, what we're about to do won't be easy. Some of us will die in the process, but, isn't it worth the fight if our children will finally have something to eat? The biggest and strongest men should lead the way...'

Because swords or shields were only in possession of the royal army, the townsmen held farm tools, like forks, rakes and hoes. In a matter of seconds, a line of about 20 men stood in front of the guards. They stood tall and menacing with rugged faces and bodies hardened by years of hard labour. 

A drop of sweat fell off the side of Chief Guard Horatio's face. 'Guards, shields up! Spears!' The infantry moved into a defensive formation with 7 foot long spears keeping a distance between them and the angry farmers.

'As I said... One more move and we will be forced to kill you. Go back home.'

The following silence was unnerving for everyone present.

From a window in one of the castle's towers, a young boy with a crown on his head watched. Someone said, 'There he is!'

Walter felt the anger boil up in him and in the midst of the noise of people cursing out the king, he had an idea...

'Listen everyone, I have a solution. Gather round...'

Horatio stared through the cracks between shields at the townspeople nodding and whispering. Suddenly, they just walked away without turning back.

Perplexed, the knights waited for Horatio to lose formation. He waited until the mob was way far to do so.

Three days later, the angry mob returned, this time without kids, women or old people. In fact only the strongest men in the village showed up. From the top of the castle, the guards noticed the men were running and dragging some wooden machine with them. A closer look revealed a catapult. 

Chief Guard Horatio got the archers ready to shoot and the strongest knight in the realm to defend the entrance. He stood in front of all of them, waiting to see what they had come up with to try and pass. 

'Such a threat to the king's safety won't go unpunished. I'll make sure to reduce your weekly rations.'

Walter stood among the farmers, near the catapult, and tapped the shoulders of two of the largest ones. They promptly picked him up and dropped him on the spoon shaped end of the catapult. The archers who saw that laughed thinking the man was crazy.

It was clear, they had rehearsed this procedure plenty of times, because they didn't think twice about handing Walter a shovel and pushing the catapult a little further. Some men picked up Olly, the heaviest man in town. Although he ate little to no food, he never lost weight - it was said, he was cursed.

It took about 6 men to pick him up. They dropped him all together on the other end of the catapult. That propelled him in mid-air. Of course, it wasn't enough to send him flying to the castle, but it was enough to get him on top of the royal guards. Walter sprinted on top of their heads, a rush of adrenaline fuelled him.

King Duncan watched this mad man run across the moat's bridge and reach the castle's walls. The young ruler looked away when his eyes met with Walter's who was now climbing the rocky walls of the castle, a short shovel with his mouth.

Meanwhile, the farmers had pulled out weapons and attacked the knights when distracted. Walter was climbing with speed, bringing with him the anger of the entire kingdom. Duncan took few steps away from the window when he saw a hand reach inside and pull Walter up.

'Knights! Knights!' His eyes bulged as he ran, maybe for the first time in his life.

'Ah!' Walter said after hitting the king's leg with a shovel. Duncan fell with a scream, the crown on his head rolled away and stopped when it hit a group of incoming knights.

'Stop there, or I'll kill him!'

'Do as he says! Do as he says!' Duncan sounded like a crying dog. 'Please, please, do not kill me.'

The sharp shovel pressing on his neck made it hard to speak and breath. King Duncan tried to hold the shovel still, but his skeletal arms weren't strong enough. 

'You think killing him is going to solve your problems?' Chief Guard Horatio stood in front of the knights. He told them to stand back. 

'It's going to end the famine.'

'Maybe... But it's going to start a massacre. People would die anyway.'

'No, that's not...' Walter loosened his grip a little. Cheers from his friends outside reminded him of why he had come. 'I will kill him and get back all our food.'

'Then what? You and the men out there will be executed in front of your own women and children. Then another king will come in power and do to your children what Duncan did to you.'

Walter looked at the king and then back at Horatio. 

'What's your name?'

'Walter.'

'Walter, that's how things have been for centuries. People revolt, things change for a while, then a new king comes into power, people revolt... it goes on and on. I'm sure the king, is now aware of the severity of your situation...'

'Y-yes I am.' Coughed Duncan.

'... And will take measures to increase rations for your own family. Of course, you understand, we can't increase rations for everyone in the kingdom... It's impractical. But we guarantee, your kids will grow fat and healthy. It's going to be a little secret between you and us.'

Walter's will wavered.

'Look, if you let the king go, we will increase everyone's rations for a month, so they're not suspicious of you. Then we'll decrease everyone rations but yours. No one gets hurt or killed. It's a fair deal, isn't it?'

Walter nodded. 'It is...' He stared into king Duncan's eyes and lifted the shovel, right before dipping it back down, deeper this time, cutting the King's windpipe open. Duncan's eyes went red as blood gushed out of his neck. He pressed it with his hands uselessly. Walter rose up and jumped out of the window onto the fighting crowd, landing on an armoured knight, which broke his legs.

'It's done, let's go!'

Olly picked Walter up, like a child, and followed the other men as they ran away from the castle.

THE KING IS DEAD!!!

The scream reached the archers at the top which sent a rain of arrows on top of the farmers. Some fell to their deaths at the spot. 

Olly's back was riddled with arrows, but they felt like mosquito bites to him.

Only then did Walter wonder if Horatio was right... 

"...that's how things have been for centuries. People revolt, things change for a while, then a new king comes into power, people revolt..."

 (I know and understand that this story is not historically accurate but I don't care...)