One the second day, the water ran out. Robert led them down to a stream, and they refilled their satchels there.
Robert decided it would be best to follow the river for a while, and they walked alongside it.
The river was shallow but noisy, as it rushed and cascaded over the rocks. John asked if there were any other streams or rivers in the forest. Robert told them that there were much bigger rivers inside the forest. Some of the rivers were as wide as lakes.
They walked for the rest of the day, and slept by the river.
Then, on the third day, Robert told them about the Bear King.
Robert didn’t know quite how to begin when talking about the Bear King, so he started out philosophically. “In this forest, there are many good creatures, but there are also many bad creatures. If you want to survive in this forest, you can’t be picky about your friends. Occasionally, you may have to be friends with creatures who do horrible things. My father understood that. That’s why my father was able to travel so far into this forest and stay alive.” Robert took a breath before continuing. “The Bear King is a terrible tyrant. He is ruthless and brutal to all those who live within his kingdom. And he is constantly making trouble for all the territories next to his kingdom. But my father won his respect years ago. And as the son of Midor, the Bear King also considers me his friend. The Bear King’s friendship has protected me all these years, and helped to keep me alive. So when I am in his kingdom, I bow down and submit to him. Even though I know he is a tyrant.”
“What makes him so bad?” asked Grace.
“I suppose you know that long ago the animals used to eat one another?” asked Robert. “That once the wolf ate the deer, and the fox ate the rabbit?”
“We learned that at school,” said John. “If anything our teachers told us can be trusted.”
“It was true,” said Robert. “Once, long ago, before the age of man, this is how the animals lived. But when man introduced civilization, the animals moved into the cities with the men. In order to work with each other, the animals had to learn not to eat each other. It was discovered that the meat eaters could survive on certain kinds of plants.”
“Yes, that is what our teachers said,” John replied.
“But, the meat eaters have never lost their sharp teeth and their claws. Deep in the forest, away from civilization, some of them have reverted to their old ways.”
“You mean some of the animals eat each other?” Grace asked in disbelief. “Can they find no other food?”
“The forest has every kind of food. But the Bear King prefers to strike fear into his enemies. He has an army of bears, wolves, foxes, hawks, and other meat eaters. They have tyrannized this forest for years. They insist that all other animals obey them. And any animal who speaks out against them, gets eaten.”
Henry unsheathed his sword and twirled it through the air. “A tyrant like that deserves to be slain,” he said.
“In this forest, it does no good to think too much on the way things deserve to be,” said Robert. “There is the way things are. That is what we must concern ourselves with. The Bear King is a giant. He stands 10 feet tall, with huge claws, and strong jaws. No one has ever challenged him to combat and lived. And that’s assuming you could even get near him. His army of wolves and bears would tear you apart the moment you took out your sword.”
“Then why did he like your father?” asked John..
“The important thing about a tyrant is that he has to be contained,” said Robert. “If the Bear King only terrorizes those who choose to live within his territory, then the other creatures of the forest can deal with him. After all, there are no walls or fences here within the forest. Any animal that dislikes his reign can just leave the territory. The problems come when the Bear King and his army try to look for food outside their territory. Then there is trouble. But my father was very good at stopping this. Whenever there was trouble between the Bear King and another group inside the forest, my father always managed to negotiate a peace. He was very good at getting the Bear King whatever he needed so that the Bear King would stay inside his territory. For years there was fighting between the Bear King and the Elves. Hundreds died on both sides. But my father finally negotiated a peace between them. The Bear King agreed to stay in his territory, and the Elves agreed to share their food and wine. In time, the Bear King began to trust my father to always negotiate in his favor. And the other creatures of the forest began to trust my father to always keep the Bear King in his territory.”
“Whose side was your father on?” asked Henry, with a bit of an edge in his voice.
“My father was on everyone’s side. He made sure that the Bear King always got what he wanted, but he made sure that everyone else always got what they wanted as well. A skilled negotiator can make everyone win.”
“And leave the murderer still on his throne?” asked Henry.
“It was not within my father’s power to defeat the Bear King. The only thing that could be hoped for was to contain him. Thanks to the treaties my father worked out, the Bear King was contained in his own territory. And the Bear King was happy about it. The forest had peace once more.”
Henry was still fuming, but John gave Robert a sympathetic look. “I understand,” said John. “Your father did what he needed to do. But still, the Bear King sounds like just the sort of fellow we’d like to avoid if at all possible. Why are you bringing us into his territory?”
“Look here,” said Robert. He picked up a stick, and drew on the ground. He made a small dot. “This is us here.” Then, directly above the dot, Robert drew a large circle. “This is the Bear King’s territory. We could go around it, but it would take us weeks to hike all the way around it. King Richard’s soldiers would surely catch us. It’s much quicker to go straight through. That, plus, I am a friend of the Bear King. He will remember my father, and grant me safe passage. King Richard’s soldiers will be killed if they try to follow us into the Bear King’s kingdom. It’s the safest possible thing we could do.”
“And what’s on the other side of the Bear King’s kingdom?” asked John.
“Directly outside of the Bear King’s territory, there is much forest where no one is ruler. But then we will get to the Elvish Kingdom. And then after the Elves, the land of the fairies. And then after the land of the fairies…” Robert shrugged. “I don’t really know.”
“Did your father not travel that far?” asked Grace.
“My father travelled that far, and much much further. But I was not with him then. And he told me so many stories I have difficulty remembering which lands were which.”
“King Richard’s soldiers will never find us that deep,” Grace said. “He could send what armies he wishes, and still not find us.”
“Forget about King Richard and his soldiers,” said John. “We’re going to discover things no one back in Mora has even heard of. We’ll write books of our travels, and be remembered through history.”
The group started walking again. They were still following the river. It was about midday now, and the sun was sparkling through the trees. The clear river water sparkled in the sunlight. They could see straight down to the bottom of the river, and they could see a lot of the fish swimming. John asked if the fish had their own kingdoms too. Robert replied that the fish didn’t have one big king, but there were various local chiefs at different bends in the river.
Occasionally some of the fish would even pop their heads out of the water, and greet Robert as “the son of Midor”. Robert impressed the others by knowing all the fish by name, and greeting them back.
They slept that night under the stars, next to the river. They all took Robert’s advice, and were careful to only use dead wood for the fire, and not to harm any of the trees.
**************************************
Two days later, Robert led them into the Bear King’s territory.
“I know you are all Princes and Princesses in the Kingdom of Mora,” Robert said. “But here, the Bear King is in command. You must treat him as a king. Do not talk to him unless he addresses you first. Let me do all the talking otherwise. I will negotiate safe passage for us.”
There were no walls or markers indicating where the Bear King’s territory began. But Robert was familiar with all the trees in the forest, and he knew when they had passed into the Bear King’s territory.
Less than 10 minutes after Robert told them they were in the Bear King’s territory, the alarms began to sound. It started with one of the birds, who saw them from the trees, and began to hoot. Then the chirping was replaced with barking and howling, and soon they were surrounded by growling wolves.
Henry pulled out his sword, and Grace got her bow and arrow ready to shoot. But Robert quickly put out his hand to stop them.
Robert addressed the wolves by name. “Jarus, Lotus, Grato, greetings. You look well. It has been many months.”
The sound of Robert’s calm voice had an immediate effect on the wolves. They stopped their hostile growling, and the leader nodded his head respectfully. “Apologies son of Midor. We saw the strange humans, and did not realize you were among them. Why have you brought these others into our territory?”
“These are the princes and princess of the human kingdom of Mora. They are fleeing from their enemies. I have come to ask the Bear King for safe passage.”
“You know the Bear King will not refuse you anything,” said the wolf. “Follow us and we will bring you to him.”
A couple of the wolves ran on ahead, and the rest stayed as an escort to the humans as they walked through the forest. Robert talked with all of them, and exchanged news and information and gossip. Because Henry, Grace and John didn’t know any of the creatures they were gossiping about, the conversation made no sense to them. But it seemed very interesting to Robert.
They walked up a hill. The hill was covered with trees and green bushes just like the rest of the forest, but at the top there was a big clump of leafy trees whose branches obscured the view. Robert explained that this was the throne room of the Bear King. He knelt down on his knees while the wolves announced their arrival.
The leafy branches were then brushed aside by a large black bear, and Robert stood up and motioned for the others to come forward.
John pointed to the black bear “Is that the--?”
“That is only the attendant,” Robert said. “The King is over there.”
The Bear King was huge. A large brown grizzly bear, he was standing to his feet as the visitors arrived. He was easily 10 feet tall.
“Greetings Son of Midor,” he said in a booming voice.
Robert immediately fell to a kneeling position again. “My king,” he said.
Robert quickly motioned for the others to kneel as well. John and Grace did so, although they slowly got down on their knees, and did not fall to the ground like Robert had done.
Henry stayed standing. The wolves began growling.
“Who is this that refuses to kneel before me in my own throne room?” the Bear King’s voice boomed out.
“I am a prince of Mora, and the rightful king of all the lands inside Mora,” Henry said. “And I will never kneel before tyrants.”
Robert was so shocked at this that he didn’t know what to do. He froze, unable to say anything. He had known that Henry was proud and stubborn, but he had never expected this level of self-immolation. He also had assumed Henry’s silence meant that Henry had agreed to follow his instructions. Robert had not yet learned that Henry seldom agreed to follow anyone’s instructions.
While Robert stayed frozen, it was Grace who spoke up. “Henry you can’t do this,” she said angrily. “The rest of us never agreed to a fight. We’re not ready. It’s unfair for you to just decide.”
“I have to do what’s right,” Henry said. “I am a Prince of Mora.”
Henry had his sword drawn out.
Grace stood up and faced her brother. “It’s not fair Henry. You should have discussed this with the rest of us. We weren’t ready.”
Henry winced a bit as he felt the truth of Grace’s words. It had been unfair of him to decide on confrontation without having consulted the rest of them first. But Henry was reluctant to admit he had been wrong. He started talking again “A Prince must always--”
The Bear King moved so fast that none of the humans even saw him coming. With a swipe of his huge paw, he sent Henry flying through the air.
As soon as Henry was hit, Grace’s nimble hands moved quickly. She was able to reach into her quiver, and fit an arrow to her bow all before the Bear King could turn around. But before she had a chance to draw the bow back, the Bear King’s paw swung backwards and knocked her bow out of the ground. John ran forward to help, but the Bear King also knocked him aside without even seeming to notice him.
Henry, meanwhile, hit the ground hard, and tumbled over along the forest floor before finally coming to a stop against one of the trees. He had lost his grip on his sword, which had gone tumbling in the other direction. While Henry was still dazed from the tumble, before he could even sit up, the Bear King was on top of him. His paws pinned Henry to the ground. He opened his huge mouth and roared in Henry’s face. Then, he opened his jaws even wider, as if he were going to swallow Henry’s whole head. His teeth covered Henry’s face, and he would only have to close his jaws to crush Henry’s head.
And then, the Bear King gently withdrew his mouth from Henry’s face, and removed his paw from Henry’s chest. “You have learned, Prince of Mora,” said the Bear King softly, “that all will kneel before me. Because you would not willingly bend your knee, I forcibly subdued you. But you kneeled nonetheless. Go and leave my kingdom. For the rest of your life, remember that I had you in my jaws, and I chose not to crush you. You live only because I allowed it.”
All this time, Robert had stayed frozen kneeling on the ground. But the Bear King now turned to face him. “Son of Midor,” the Bear King roared, “Know that it is only because of the respect I have for your father that I do not tear these three to pieces. And know that because of the respect I have for you and your father, I would have granted safe passage to those who are travelling with you. If they had but shown me my proper respect, my soldiers would have safeguarded them as they passed through my kingdom, and my army would have fallen upon their enemies. For my wolves have told me that you say you are fleeing from enemies and that you sought my protection. You, son of Midor, are always welcome in my kingdom when you travel alone. But as long as you escort these three, I forbid you to pass through.”
Robert stood up slowly. He had gone white during the confrontation between Henry and the Bear King, but now that the moment was over, the color was gradually returning to his face. “I understand,” he said.
The Bear King pointed to one of his wolves. “Jarus,” he said, “take them out the way they came. They must exit my kingdom by the very path they came into it, for I do not permit them to gain even a foot of distance travelled through my dominions.” Jarus nodded in obedience. The Bear King added, “because of the son of Midor, we will not harm these humans. But neither will we protect them. If you encounter the army of Mora in our forest looking for these humans, you must not aid the humans in fighting them. The humans have chosen to make their way without my protection.” The Bear King turned back to Robert, and added, “This is but fair, son of Midor.”
The humans were permitted to retrieve their weapons. Henry picked up his sword from the spot where he had dropped it without saying a word. Grace picked up the bow and arrow that the Bear King had knocked out of her hand. And then they walked back, escorted by the wolves.
Henry walked with his head held down, talking to no one. He was trying to process what had happened to him, and trying to decide what he should have done. By his own code, he hated to retreat from an enemy. He had always thought it must be more honorable to fight until the death. But the Bear King had already defeated him, and the Bear King had chosen to leave him alive. So to start fighting again now, after having been defeated, would be even more dishonorable, he thought.
Henry had never been in this position before. He had never imagined himself in this position before. In his previous life, as a prince in the Palace of Mora, he had never had to deal with defeat. In all his games at the Palace, he had always been the winner. In all his fantasies about battle and combat, he had also always been the winner. He had no idea what to say or how to act. So he walked in silence.
Robert also walked with shame. He was embarrassed that he had frozen up in the middle of the crisis. He particularly reproached himself for having frozen up while Grace had been in danger. The past two days, as they had been walking, Robert had been thinking to himself non-stop about all the dangers of the forest, and he had begun fantasizing about how he would save Grace from all of them, and earn her gratitude as her protector. And then, when the moment came, he had stayed frozen on the ground, and done nothing to help her.
The wolves, who were on friendly terms with Robert, were slightly embarrassed about having been turned into Robert’s guards. Jarus, the leader of the wolf pack, tried to alleviate the awkwardness by attempting to start a conversation about news from the neighboring lands. Robert tried to keep up his end of the conversation, just for the sake of politeness, but it was obvious his mind was elsewhere. And so the conversation died away, and the group walked in silence.
After about 20 minutes, however, a couple of the wolves began looking up in the trees, and growling.
“What is it?” asked Henry.
“Those birds,” said Robert. “They’re not from this part of the forest.”
“Intruders,” growled Jarus. “They’re not part of our kingdom.”
“King Richard’s scouts,” said Grace.
The birds were high up in the tree branches. They knew they were safely out of the reach of man and wolf alike, and so they peered down without any fear, studying the procession carefully.
“Alert the Bear King that the army is coming,” said Jarus to one of his wolves. The wolf ran off.
The birds took one last look at the humans, and then flew off slowly.
“How far behind do you think the army is?” asked Jarus.
“The scouts wouldn’t be more than a few hours ahead of the army, at most,” Robert answered.
“Those birds must be so confused to see us heading right towards their army, instead of going in the opposite direction,” said Grace. “No wonder they stared at us for so long.”
The wolves looked embarrassed again. “We are sorry, son of Midor, to have to bring you right into the teeth of your enemies. Let us get you to the border as soon as possible, so that you can start your journey around our kingdom before the army gets here.”
The wolves and Robert began to run. Henry, Grace and John did their best to keep up.
At last, they came to the edge of the Bear King’s kingdom. There was no wall, nor any kind of sign, to mark the end of the territory. But Robert and the wolves both knew exactly where the boundary was. Then, the wolves said good-bye, and left.
The four humans stood awkwardly for a moment. No one wanted to speak first.
At last, Grace broke the silence. “Robert, we’re so sorry,” she blurted out. “I know we ruined everything.”
Henry chose his words more carefully. He was still convinced that he had done the right thing by attempting to stand up to a tyrant, and so he didn’t want to apologize for it directly. “I admit,” he said slowly, “that I would not be alive right now if it wasn’t for your influence. And I will endeavor to follow your instructions in the future.”
Robert did not know what to say. He knew he should have been angry at Henry. He had everything planned out perfectly, and Henry had ruined it. But at the moment, he was still so ashamed of himself for freezing up that he didn’t have any emotions leftover to be angry. So he simply said, “King Richard’s army is approaching us directly. We are not permitted to go through the Bear King’s kingdom, so we must go around it. We should move quickly.”
They began to walk. “How big is the Bear King’s Kingdom?” asked John.
“It will take us 4 days to walk around it,” said Robert. “We must go North for one day before we can go West again.”
“That’s not good,” said Grace. “King Richard’s army is pursuing us from the East.”
“Couldn’t we sneak back into the Bear King’s kingdom,” John said. “There’s no one guarding it, and it’s a big forest.”
“There’s no one guarding it from the outside,” said Robert. “But every animal that lives inside of it is a potential informer. Every squirrel, every bird, every bee, every fly. The Bear King would be informed we were in his kingdom within minutes.”
The four of them jogged through the woods as quickly as they could. But there was a constant feeling that something big was coming.
First, they began to notice more and more birds flying back and forth. And Robert murmured that these birds were not from this part of the forest.
Then, there was more and more rustling of the leaves. Henry, Grace and John could see nothing. But Robert’s eyes were skilled at spotting animals hiding in the foliage, and he could see they were being tracked by a pack of silent wolves. And unlike the wolves from the Bear King’s kingdom, these were wolves that he did not recognize.
The wolves never attacked them, but they were always close by. Robert knew that their job was only to track them, and make sure they didn’t get away, while the rest of the army caught up. But how far behind was the rest of the army?
Robert had never been trapped in this forest. But he was beginning to get nervous now. The army was coming from the East. They were forbidden to go West. And he wasn’t sure they could get North quickly enough before the Army came. Ordinarily Robert would try to disappear into the thickets or the thorn bushes, where only the animals and the forest rangers could find their way. But there were no thickets now. There were plenty of trees, but at this part of the forest, they weren’t thick enough to disappear into.
He started running faster. He was used to running long distances in these forests. His feet knew how to find their way on the uneven ground of the forest floor. But the other three were having difficulty keeping up. Robert could hear the wolves keeping pace with him. It was no use trying to outrun the wolves. But maybe they could outrun the human army that followed.
The wolves started howling as they ran. They weren’t even trying to keep hidden anymore. They were calling to the army to let them know where they were. And then, off in the distance, Robert could hear the running of hundreds of human feet. Things were desperate enough now that Robert might have considered crossing the line, and taking his chances back in the Bear King’s Kingdom. But the wolves were flanking them now on that side. By the time they fought their way past the wolves, the army would be on them.
Robert stopped running, and turned around abruptly to face the others. “If they catch you, how long do you have before they kill you?” he asked.
They didn’t understand what he was talking about. “What?” John asked.
“The army. Will they kill you immediately, or will they try to take you back alive?”
“King Richard would never allow us back in the city alive,” said John. “If the people could see us, they might take pity on us. He’d make sure we were killed in the forest where no one could see us.”
Grace quickly cut John off. “Maybe. But these soldiers wouldn’t dare kill royalty by themselves. They’d take us back to General Graten first. Maybe even back to the provincial governor.”
“They’ll never get the chance to take us alive,” Henry declared, drawing his sword.
Robert couldn’t believe this was happening again, “My prince!” he yelled. The panic was showing in Robert’s voice--the words came out in a shrill voice that he had not intended. “Surely there is no shame in surrendering when we are but four against a whole army.”
“If I have to die, I will die fighting,” Henry said.
“There’s a chance we can get out of this,” Robert said. “Don’t fight back. Let them take us prisoner. Trust me.”
Henry kept holding his sword. “Henry you promised,” Grace said. “You said you would follow Robert’s instructions.”
Henry reluctantly put his sword back in its sheath.
Robert bent down to the ground, and spoke at the fallen leaves. The others noticed there was a small inch worm on the ground that Robert was talking to. “Get Fulvio. Tell him the son of Midor is in trouble. Tell him this is an opportunity for him to repay the debt he owes my father.”
The wolves emerged from the foliage now and made no attempt at hiding themselves. The human soldiers were also fast approaching.
As Grace had predicted, the soldiers didn’t dare to hurt them. In fact, they treated Henry, Grace and John with respect. “Your highnesses, thank goodness we found you,” said one of the soldiers. “We’ve been so worried that something might happen to you in these woods.”
“You really should be more careful,” said another one. “Don’t you know these woods are dangerous? We've been rushing to find you in time before something bad happened.”
“Your highness, let me take your sword for you,” said another soldier, who gently removed the sword from Henry’s belt. “It’s very heavy, and a prince should never have to carry his own weapons.”
“My princess, let me take your bow for you,” said another soldier, taking the bow out of Grace’s hand, while another soldier removed the quiver of arrows from her soldier. Both Henry and Grace looked at Robert, and when he nodded to them, they did not protest.
“Please, come with us, your highnesses. We will take you back to safety.” The words were spoken kindly, and accompanied by a slight bow and hands outstretched in invitation. But it was notable that while all these kind words were being spoken, the soldiers had also completely surrounded the princes and princess.
The princes and princess were led away gently by the hands. Robert, however, was not royalty, and the soldiers felt no need to treat him like such. He was roughly grabbed and pushed in the same direction as the others.
As Robert was being and pushed roughly through the forest, a curious bumble bee buzzed over to see what was happening. “Fulvio. Get Fulvio,” Robert muttered softly. And the bee flew away.
No comments:
Post a Comment