It Started with Slime - Chapter 90, Trapped

Aarav liked to think that he managed the whole transition with a great deal of dignity and earned the respect of all people around him, like a monarch humouring his subjects and being carried aloft on the shoulders of titans. The reality left much to be desired...

“Hey! Hey! Where are we going? Where are you taking me! I have a right to know! I know my rights! Hey, put me down, damn it!” Aarav was trying to look everywhere at once, then realised what he was doing in his flustered state and reformed the other two eyes. With the extra perception the yelling redoubled. “Hey! Are you guys ignoring me!?” Upon reflection he realised that none of these people were surprised in the least. Obviously someone had been blabbing about a certain talking monster...someone royal in all probability.

As he settled...a little, couldn’t let these couriers get too complacent. Aarav noticed the surroundings. In coming in last night he had seen precious little of the interior of the palace. Indeed, apart from the kitchen and then the servants’ quarters only the Alchemical Lab had been exposed to his viewing pleasure. It hadn’t been anything to write home about.

What he was passing through now was like light to that darkness. The opulence and grandeur that he was met with felt truly worthy of a monarchy. The vast halls and display of wealth was expected and yet breathtaking. Painstaking detail had been put into all of the various displays and wherever he passed close enough to a wall to see there were even more details to see, every inticacy had more within it to see until his vision blurred and he felt dizzy from the multitude minute details. When viewed form a far it was still grand and in a more subtle way, allowing one to enjoy the whole instead of the pasterful craftsmanship. There were carvings, murals and mosaics and paints everywhere. Walls, ceilings and even the floor were covered until it looked like the inside of Sistine Chapel in its extravagance.

For a few moments as they came out of the Achemical lab and as he had entered his second round of cursing he was rendered speechless. It was too much to take in all at once. He heard a sigh from his left, it was a distinctly masculine sound and he smiled slightly. It was nice to know that even in the worst of times he could elicit a reaction. Satisfied with the outcome of his undignified outburst he was happy to setlle on his haunches and panic about what was to come.

The hallways were lined with colourful windows with stained glass images and wall hung tapestries, describing various negotiations or battles or landscapes. Some of them seemed to rustle with unseen breezes and others shone or sparkled with metallic light.

The walk that they were taking him seemed to last forever, he had enough time to panic, yell some more, panic again and then think about what type of things he would learn here if he wasn’t killed and then panic one final time before they arrived at a set of double doors. The doors were so large that there was no way they would ever be able to open unless it was with magic or they were perfectly balanced.

The surface of the doors was a masterpiece in and of itself. A huge tree with the trunk split perfectly in two by the seam between the doors. The foliage at the top covered the whole top half with the uppermost leaf tips touching the arched edge. The door was a golden colour whether bronze or gold or brass it was hard to tell, maybe none of those, because of the way that the rising sun hit the doors through the glass windows on either side. The trunk a deeper version of burnished gold almost orange and the leaves glowed like emeralds in the light. Aarav could swear that he saw them wave in an unseen breeze shedding their benign influence over the court. The staggering contrast of leaves, trunk and door really brought the colour to life. The Slime just couldn’t stop staring at the image infront of him.

But alas, the time was too short, before he had begun to satisfy his unerring need to examine the door they were through and into another chamber larger than the first. This one was decked in the same gold and green theme but with the patterns and pedestals all providing focus to pull the eyes directly to the throne in it centre. And then once ones eyes had arrived at that point, the man sitting regally held it.

He truly was a ruler, perhaps it was the rulers and leader that he had seen in the old world and somehow they seemed inadequate in the role compared to this man. Here sat a true monarch, one that seemed to have the throne mould to him rather than the other way around. The role fit him incredibly well and Aarav found himself thinking if this man had the King Class, something similar to provide the regal bearing or was it au nautrale? Aarav couldn’t figure it out, it seemed to intrinsically a part of him that it was hard to tell where the man began and the regality ended.

It was a moment before Aarav recalled himself and confirmed what he had thought all along. It did not matter; the Kingwas very clearly, the King. The bearers approached the dais and set the box containing Aarav down. The only people in the room were the King, to Aarav’s surprise the Queen to his right and an elderly man that seemed about three steps from collapsing straight into his ready dug grave. The man looked ready to use it.

The juxtaposition was alarming, where the King appeared in the prime of his life this decrepid man was on his last legs, sallow skin with more folds than smooth bits and jowls jostling for the front like a moshpit at a One Direction concert. Sad they broke up…focus Aarav!He just barely managed to stand as the King did on their approach and his back was bent so severly that he was nearly doubled over. In contrast the King’s back was straight and unyielding. Where the King demanded attention and obedience by the force of his will, this unassuming man radiated a quiet wisdom, a shy intellect that could not be overlooked. And the most striking difference of all, the old could be called diminutive in the best of company; against the King...the ruler was atleast eight feet tall! He cut an imposing figure even without the build but with it...it defied words.

Aarav was half tempted to tell the man to sit down before his limbs fell off from age. The old man needs to bundle up, a stiff breeze like what is outside might just grind him to dust and blow him away. Then the walking sack of skin spoke.

“Welcome, young traveller. You have come far…have you not?” Two things immediately went thought Aarav’s mind. First, because it happened as soon as he spoke, this guy sounds exactly like it expected him to, dusty old and his voice box is about to turn to dust before me. He was easily the oldest looking person Aarav had even seen. Ever. Second was when the sentence finished and Aarav’s brain went into full blown panic mode. AAAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!! He knows…how could he possibly know that I came from…no, stop it. He could mean that you came all the way from the forest..right? What if he knows though. I can’t go closer, he will discover me…Aarav started scrambing to get away while trying not to look in full blown panic mode.  Hard to pull off but something in Aarav felt that he was almost made for this. His movements did not go unnoticed but all three just overlooked them and smiled down at the struggling Slime. “Young master, if you wouldn’t mind, we would like to begin.”

Just like a slave about to be taken to market Aarav redoubled his efforts to leave. The dusty old man just smiled at him, a soft look on his otherwise droopy face. “Of course, your emenance! What do you require of your loyal vassal?” Whew, looks like he might not know, he would have said immediately if he did…right? Might as well ham it up a bit and see what bites. The kindly man smilled a little wider, and I thought I was ugly…his gelatinous body vibrated a little. Well, he had personality at least! That will get his far.

“You are in the presences of King Borowyn, vanquisher of the Mad King and Queen Isabella his…wife!” The brief pause did not go unnoticed, the Queen had cut him off with a sharp look. The old man had clearly planned to let slip something else in there other than the simple relationship status. Something was going on with the woman by the King’s side and he would find out what it was if it killed him!

In all likelihood, considering who he was dealing with he probably would, better make sure I write my will with such low life expectancy.