Reborn From the Cosmos

Miniarc-Villains-28

Miniarc-Villains-28

Samuel didn’t expect the people of Quest to trust him. That was why his growing legend was so surprising. He also couldn’t find fault with them for disdaining the Hall, as it was natural for those without to hate those that had.

However, calling him the enemy was excessive. The man’s whole demeanor felt exaggerated. The more Samuel watched him, the less his darting eyes came off as panic, seeming more like a gesture meant to catch as many eyes as possible, to draw them into his performance.

“Why can’t you people see the obvious?” the performer shouted again, raising his voice to ensure the whole growing crowd could hear him. “The crown doesn’t care about you. Not even these soldiers care. Where were they when your friends and family were being slaughtered? Are they here to protect you now? Or are they covering their own asses, like always?”

“Oi, shut up, you heel!” an older man in the crowd shouted. “That prince has done more to help us than you so quit complaining.”

“Oh, really? What exactly did the Spinach Prince do? Huh? I know! Not a damn thing!” The man glared at Samuel, as if he was the one making a scene. “An elf grew all that food. One of the elves that destroyed the city. That did that!” He waved a hand at the bodies.

“You’re eating food grown by bloodstained hands. Food meant to pacify you, like meat thrown at mutts. You don’t even realize you’re being groomed, do you? First, they break you. Then they save you. You’re thinking that they’re not all that bad, aren’t you? That some of them are good, trustworthy. It’s all a trick. They feed you a little hope, and make you work for them. Then, when you’ve shed blood, sweat and tears clearing your broken homes, they’ll finish taking the city. They’ll leave you with nothing.”

Samuel couldn’t help it. He laughed. He knew he shouldn’t, the atmosphere was too charged for humor, but he couldn’t help it. The man was simply too much with his peacocking and accusations.

“You think good people losing everything is funny?”

“No. I think you’re funny. Who are you to claim to know everything about everyone? To see secrets that no one else can see?”

“I’m not special. I just choose to open my eyes.”

“Then perhaps you can open your ears. Listen, as I explain why you’re so hopelessly wrong, it’s too sad to even pity. This is no trick. No one is plotting against you for one very simple reason. You’re not worth it.”

“What did you—"

“I said you’re worthless!” Samuel shouted over the man. “You’re nothing. Those poor bastards?” The prince jabbed a finger in the direction of the dead bodies. “They don’t mean anything, not to the monsters that can break a city and save it with the same ease. You know what real power is. You’ve seen it. Those people don’t need to trick you. I’d bet every crown in the royal treasury that they haven’t given any of you a second thought.”

“If they don’t care, then why—"

“Because they don’t care,” Samuel hissed, annoyance creeping into his voice. “People that strong, people that can do what they can do, you mean nothing to them. A city means nothing to them. A prince means nothing to them. Tell me, oh wise sage that sees the hidden truths of the world. What is all your complaining doing?”

The man scoffed. “At least I know who I am. I have pride.”

“Is your pride going to feed these people? You!” Samuel pointed to a man in the crowd, who jumped under the attention. “Can you eat this idiot’s pride?”

“Ah…no, your lordship. I mean, highness.”

“How about you?” Samuel asked another man.

“Wouldn’t if I could. Probably catch the stupid from that one.”

“Fuck you, old man!” the peacock shouted.

“Now you’re insulting the people you’re trying to save?” the prince scolded. “What good is that so-called pride of yours? What can it do for you? You insult these people for accepting charity? Why shouldn’t they? Pride can’t feed them or their children. Pride isn’t going to bury the dead and rebuild their homes. Pride isn’t going to keep them warm at night. If charity makes their lives easier, who cares where it comes from?

“They don’t have to like me, the elves, or the saints. I don’t care if the crown is cursed by the families of Quest for the next seven generations. But what I can’t forgive is a useless loudmouth making a hard job even harder. Now, I’m done talking to you and I’m taking the choice out of your hands. Get out of our work site. I don’t care where you go or what you do as long as you’re out of the way.”

“What? You can’t do that!”

“Can’t? Are you forgetting who you’re talking to?”

With timing a theatre director would applaud, three soldiers stepped out of the crowd.

“They will escort you. Begone.”

The man looked around him once more before clicking his tongue. He marched toward the prince and Ewan smoothly stepped between them, his tense body no less intimidating despite his lack of armor.

“We’re not going to take this forever,” the man growled, showing a respectable spine or a scornful sense of self-preservation. “You have them cowed now but one day, the people of Quest are going to wake up and see you for what you really are. We’re going to take back our city, for real. There will be a reckoning—"

“Why are you still here?” The prince gestured and two soldiers appeared at the man’s sides. Each one grabbed him under the shoulder and lifted him off his feet, carrying him away. He continued to shout despite his circumstances, legs kicking ineffectually. “Mark my words, Dog Prince! Quest belongs to the people! Down with the Hall! Down with the crown! Down with the Tome!”

“What are you all doing?” Samuel asked the crowd, who seemed spellbound by the man’s ravings. “My men and I return to the camp at sunset. If you have any intention of joining us, I suggest we stop wasting daylight.”

“…you all heard ‘im,” an older man shouted, shouldering his shovel. “Are you just going to stand around like that other idiot or are you going to earn your dinner?” He didn’t wait for an answer before stomping off, muttering something too low for Samuel to make out. Like fish following the current of a river, the rest of the refugees followed, returning to their duties.

Samuel also returned to the wagons, the men there stepping aside respectfully so he could take his former place. “Ewan,” he said softly while unfolding a dirty blanket.

“Your highness?”

“That man.”

“He is being detained.”

“As expected of a royal knight.” It was plain as day that the man making a scene wasn’t simply discontent. Someone with such strong feelings wouldn’t involve themselves with the restoration efforts…unless they had an agenda. Only one group had an agenda against the camp, though he was a little surprised they’d be so obvious.

“Interrogate him yourselves before turning him over to the Hall. These rebels are breeding dissent against the royal family.” He could turn a blind eye against them if they reserved their hate for the Tome clan, but he couldn’t leave actual traitors free to conspire against his father. More importantly, there was no way the royal knights could. If so, it was better that he support them and be kept in the know, rather than force the soldiers to act behind his back.

“It will be done. We will know everything about these rebels before morning.”