Kingdom of Aigu

A brief story I've written

A ray of golden sun poked through Rovert’s bedroom window making contact with his sealed eyelids. He put his hands up to his eyes to block the beam. When this was unsuccessful, he rolled to his side and outstretched his feet. He leaped out of bed in a swift motion because his feet pushed into what felt like a body. On the end of his dirty mattress laid a motionless, short and ugly looking monster. Rovert grabbed the blade from his belt and silently approached the sleeping monster. A breeze blew through the room and the monster’s thick orange hair flapped like bird wings. Out of nowhere the hair leaped off of the monster’s head onto the mattress! The bird like hair was an actual bird! Rovert was stunned for mere seconds, but he was soon back to focusing on the monster. Quickly, the short green arms swept over the surface of its bald head. The monster shot up facing Rovert, who was still gripping the knife, and shrieked a loud high pitched “EEEEEK”. Rovert stumbled back when the monster caught him off guard. The orange bird flew with lightning speed around the room. “I wish not to hurt you young man!!!”
Rovert approached the monster with the knife lowered to his hip. “Who are y-”, Rovert thought for a second, “What even ARE you?”
“Young man, I am a goblin of the forest, again, I wish not to hurt you!”
The door to Rovert's room burst open and a slightly younger boy stumbled in. Rovert dropped his knife and put his hands on his temples, “Noved, do you know what's going on?”
Noved, the boy, looked around at the bird who has increased speed, then to the goblin who was mumbling to himself, then to Rovert, “All I know is I wanna keep it”. Noved reached his arm out the goblin and the goblin comes closer. Upon a closer look, there were crumbs littered across the goblins lips.
Rovert burst across the room to the goblin and grabbed it. “What did you eat of ours?”. He peered around his room, looking at every detail. “YOU THIEF! Why did you break into our home and eat our food! You owe us the hard earned money we used to buy this!”
“Whoa brother, you need to CHILL!” exclaimed Noved, “Maybe we should just let him explain himself over some breakfast at the diner”. Noved looked over at Robert and winked.
“Oh yes yes yes yes yesss! I shall treat you to breakfast with the only money I have!” Said the goblin with a bright smile on his face. The orange beard came in for a landing on the Goblin’s head. “First let me introduce myself and my friend, this is my pet bird, err, I'm her pet goblin. She raised me from when she found me in the forest, abandoned by my parents. She fed me and brought me water, and lots of other things that my parents couldn't do. Anyway, her name is Helena. And my name is Elyk.”
Noved yawned and said, “Yadda Yadda yadda, let's get breakfast.”
Rovert slid his blade under the mattress and said “Yea good idea”
Elyk lead the whole group with an enlightened skip. Helena was sat on his shoulder observing everything. They approached the diner on a gravel path. Noved yanked on the door handle. When it didn't open he yanked on it harder. “Try the other way.” Rovert sighed
“I can read” as Noved pointed pointed to a Pull sign to the right of the door. Helena flew backwards on the trail and picked up a paper in her beak. She glided back and landed right onto Rovert's head and dropped the paper in his hands.

ATTENTION PEOPLE AIGU

The great King Nalon has an important announcement to make today.

Meet at the city square at approximately high noon.


“This can't be good news” sighed Rovert
Elyk started skipping towards the tree line, “Since the diner is closed, let's go to my home!”
Noved chased after him “Awh sweet! Must be pretty sick if you can afford a pet!”
The group followed Elyk as he skipped and jumped the path to his home. Or the place he called home. Rovert and Noved live alone together in a small, dusty shack with two mattresses and a fence. Elyk lived in a 2 foot hole in the ground. “Welcome to my humble home” said Elyk with a proud smile on his face.
“This place is crap. Do you really live here?” Noved said while pointing to all the pollution.
Without any thought Elyk leaped upwards into a tree, “I call this place home for its beautiful view, you should climb up here and see it!”
Noved jogged towards the tree and started to climb. At the top he called down to Rovert, “Oh my gosh…” he grasped the tree with one arm and pointed towards the horizon with the other, “It’s… It’s unbelievable”
Rovert looked up at the sun, determining the time. “It's 11:20, we should get going to the city square.”
Elyk leaped down from the top of the tree, then helped Noved climb down. “I wonder what King has to say, he's never done anything like this”
“Let's just hope it's nothing bad” Rovert said. And Elyk lead the group, skipping towards the city hall.
King Nalon stood tall and proud on a podium over an ocean of people. The noon sun shone upon the great crown, making it sparkle like an icicle. The city square was packed tight with poor people from tribes and farms on the outskirts of the kingdom. In the balconies of buildings were the rich and royalty. An army of one hundred or so stood behind King Nalon and double that speckled the crowd. The King cleared his throat, preparing to speak, with a deep cough that seemed to shake buildings. The crowd hushed, “Citizens of Aigu! Today I shall make an important instruction to everyone here that shall change the future of our kingdom immensely for the better!”. The crowd murmured, and a few guards unsheathed their swords. Rovert, Elyk, Noved, and Helena were nearest to the exit, just in case something bad were to occur. The king began to speak once again, “I shall make this short and clear so there is no confusion-”, he paused and nodded ever so slightly towards the general, “I order the death of anyone who is too poor to pay their taxes on time, if at all.”
Chaos broke out at the end of these words. The soldiers swung their swords upon the necks of the poor. Rovert lead the group through towards the exit, but only to be blocked by a very large man with a heavy beard and a boy with glasses. A guard grabbed the man as he was screaming something like “Harry you must run!”. As the guard began beating the large man mercilessly, Rovert and the rest snuck past and out the exit. One guard was waiting outside for them. He was small and weak, the sword shaking in his hand. Rovert calmly spoke as he slowly approached the guard, “Listen, you can let us pass. We don't want any trouble”. When the guard raised his sword above his helmet, Rovert swiftly threw one punch directly into the guard's nose and he collapsed like a rag doll.
“Whoa!” Noved said in amazement, “You need to teach me how to do that!”
“There's time for that later, we must get back to Elyk’s home before they come looking for our people.” Rovert turned and began to jog into the forest. “Let's go”
After arriving to Elyk's spot in the forest, the group built proper shelter for everyone. Nightfall had arrived and they slept beneath an old tarp they found in the woods. Noved began to toss and turn, annoying Rovert. He nudged Noved awake, “Tell me what you're dreaming of, Mom used to wake you up and do this and it always helped.”
“There was a car... and a tree. They were... fighting!” He croaked in a tired voice before dozing off again. He didn't kick for the rest of the night.
Rovert awoke covered with dew. The tarp wasn't over him anymore. He turned his head left to see Noved rolled up in every inch of it. He stood up and saw Elyk perched on the top of his tree like a bird. “How's the air up there?”
“I would bring some down to you, but you see--” he was cut off by the sound of Helena squawking and screeching.
“What is it?” Noved said leaping up
Elyk paused and listened intently to the seemingly random squawks “Helena says the evils are on their way.” Elyk said calmly
The ground shook. Something was visible in the distance. An enormous human head was poking above the treetops. The majestic pines were being ripped from the ground mercilessly. A 300 foot giant was hunting everyone who made it out. And Rovert was in their path.
The giant stopped and pointed, knocking over more trees like toothpicks. “Retep see little people!” His voice blew more trees over and shook the ground.
“WHATDOWEDO!!!” Said Noved, running in circles frantically.
Rovert grabbed his blade he always carries with him “We cannot run, he has too large of strides”
“Sadly… He is right” said Elyk, “We must fight or die”
The ground shook harder as the giant neared.
Noved stopped running “How do we even beat such a beast?”
Elyk started walking towards his home in the ground. “I have something I've been saving for a long time. He reached down deep into the hole and pulled out an odd looking ball. “If you press this button, it will be set to explode in 2 minutes exactly”
“How do we even get near?” Noved asked
“We don't” Rovert said. Rovert and Elyk looked at each other, knowing what had to happen. “One of us has to get it near--” He chocked a little on his words, “I'll do it”
“No! Please don't!!!” Cried Noved as he grabbed Rovert by is shoulder
“I must.” He grabbed the explosive and began walking towards the giant, who was closer than ever. He turned around and spoke, “I just want you to know, I love y--”
In a confusing swoop of orange, Helena grabbed the explosive from Rovert's and and flew towards the giant. Elyk's eyes watered as he realized what was going on.
She flew around the giant, Retep, as it swatted slowly, and dumbly with no purpose, at the seemingly nothing orange spec. She soon disappeared into his ear with the explosive. After a few moments they knew she wasn't getting back out.

The explosion was so powerful it disintegrated every bit of Retep’s head, along with Helena. The massive body of the giant collapsed few feet away from Elyk, who was on his knees crying. After the dust settled and the leaves fell it was clear that the body lay motionless. “She will not have died in vain, we are killing the King”.
And they set out for the head of King Nalon.
***
That day they made it into the capital of Aigu, camping on the outskirts, with a clear view of the castle. They camped for four straight days, observing everyone who passed through the gates. They carefully crafted a foolproof plan that ended with the head of King Nalon in the hands of Rovert. First they would take out the four guards at the entrance of the furthest moat back. It had the least amount of bystanders that will alert the King. Next they must capture the goblin who eats and sleeps alongside the King. Townsfolk say his name is Etat, and he looks almost identical to Elyk. They'd take his clothes and dress Elyk, then Elyk would slip a sleeping powder in King Nalon’s goblet. Then, finally, Elyk would carry the king out in a carriage and Rovert would slay Nalon in front of all the guards. And it'd be over.
At midnight the plan took place. Rovert and Noved took out two guards each, without a noise. They spotted Etat on some steps near a large statue. Noved put a black bag over his head and carried him into the trees. After tying him up on a tree they prepared to gag him. “Are you attempting to kill the King?” Etat asked
“What is it to you.” Elyk responded as he stepped into view
“You can't do it without me… Brother”
Elyk stepped backwards. “I am not your brother. I am poor, you are not”
“My mother… Our mother left you in the woods, as she had little money to save us both. Then she married another rich goblin. When she came back for you, you were gone.” Elyk fell back on his butt and began to cry. “Elyk, I am on your side, and I love you”.
Rovert released Etat from the tree and unbound his feet. Etat sauntered toward Elyk in the dark. He got up close and made an awkward movement while he reached in to hug him. All of a sudden Elyk's cry of sadness evolved to a sheik of pure pain. Etat put his lips close to his ears, still hugging him. “I'm sorry.”
Noved and Rovert rushed over in no time to find a knife buried handle hilt deep into Elyk's side, and his eyes rolled up in the back of his head. Rovert threw a heavy punch landing upon Etat’s nose. He was knocked out cold, but Rovert didn't stop. He released all of his anger and sadness through his fist. The memory of his mother's distinct sweet smell, gone. The time his father left for a better life. The clandestine meetings in the woods with Elyk. He punched and punched until more than his nose was broken. This newfound hate for the rich cultivated a deep pit in his body, slowly filling with revenge. Noved pushed him off of the goblin as his face wasn't recognizable anymore. “It's just you and me now.”
“We have to finish our journey” Rovert said, tears streaming down his face, “For Elyk”
Noved reached down and gently shut the resting forest goblins eyes. “For Elyk”

They walked in through the back door of the castle. The guards inside were asleep and they slid sneakily past right into the sleeping quarters of the King. They grabbed him out of the bed and lifted him up and threw him out of the glass window. He landed with a thud on the ground. They raced back through the halls of the castle to the King's side. Rovert drew his sword and lined it straight along with the Kings nose. “Any last words?”
He turned and spit up some blood, “You got my good robe all muddy”
Rovert quickly put the blade in and out of Nalon's skull. The shiny crown fell from his head into the dirt and got covered in muck. The Jewels were no longer shining bright in the sun. The gold no longer shimmered in the hot rays. As the crown sunk deeper and deeper in the mud, the feeling of liberation became brighter, and broader.

Author's Note

Notice the symbolism of the crown