King Andreas IV POV’s

“…The Royal court”

I always found the proceedings of the noble
Court quite boring. I only attend because I have to but to be honest, I was
kind of looking forward to this one .

The thrones in the royal court looked
exactly like the one in the throne room, it even had the same interior design was
the throne room  except it was much
smaller and had no round table to hold the other Lords of Valencia.

 I
sat down on the new throne and looked down at the commoner from across the room
as I should.

“Did you know that the last time a royal
court was called to order, my father sat on this throne” I said trying to hold
back a chuckle.

“Actually, I did my King” he replied

“Well, aren’t you quite learned, Even some
of our scribes don’t know about the royal Court. Won’t you tell me under which
Lord’s supervision were you taught?” I asked 

“Why don’t we leave that business aside, my
king”.

It would be shame to kill such a
promising young common folk, especially when he's starting to get on my good
side

Just then a man dressed in a red hood that
dropped to his feet covered his eyes walked in through the side door with a
crystal ball in his hands. It was Jafar, the royal family’s truth seeker. The
Royal Court consists of the royal family and at least one truth-seeker, A sage
who specializes in clarity of the mind so no lies, no tricks, no illusions.

Unlike the noble Court where the truth is
whatever the nobles with the help of the unwise accused come up with, the truth
in the royal Court with the help of the truth-seeker is the truth and judgment  passed by any of the royal family members
present is final

The truth seeker walked across the royal
Court and stood by my side, he swerved his hands over the crystal ball while
mouthing something probably a lie detection spell. He stopped the
incantation and nodded at me.

“The proceedings of the royal Court will
now begin, Accused is your name truly Alaric?” I said

“Yes, my King”

The mist in Jafar’s crystal ball turned
blue. Blue was the truth, Red was a lie.

“Are the charges against you, True or False?”
I asked

“Unfortunately there are true, my King”

The mist remained Blue.

“Are you aware that you are currently in
the royal Court, standing trial for Treason!!” I yelled “not some petty theft!”

“I am quite aware of the charges my king”.
Blue.

“Do you realize that under Valencian law, your
crime is punishable by death by hanging”, “Were you aware that?”

“Yes, my king I was fully aware of the
consequences of my action”. Blue.

He was still calm and collected, like he
had a plan and I couldn’t quite shake the feeling that I was falling right into
it.

“The way I see it, you have two options, one
we take this as the actions of a commoner who didn’t know any better” I began
trying to create an escape route for him “and the punishment could be a few
lashes or…”

“Death by hanging?” he asked rhetorically

I rose my hand to show the halt position
effectively stopping Vladimir’s blade from making a swift cut through Alaric’s
neck. To be honest, I didn’t even see him unsheathe his blade, I just acted on
instinct. I've lost one too many company who made jest of me in Vladimir
presence

“How dare you speak to his majesty in such
manner, people have lost their heads for less” said Vladimir you see what
I'm talking about perhaps bringing him here wasn't a good idea.

“Leave it be General Verez” I said before
turning back to Alaric who still looked like he was in control of everything.
“He’s right you know and with the way the proceedings are going, saving your
neck just now might have been a waste”

“My apologies my king, please forgive my
behaviour” he spoke with increasing confidence.

“Why did you turn down Lord Caspian’s
offer? He’s was the best on the table, any other commoner would have taken it
but you didn’t, why?”

“Lord Caspian scheme was all too easy to
see through”, “he meant to make me work under him because I possess some level
of education, that’s why he attacked Lord Talon and Lady Moorde is not?”

He was right, that was where the delegation
would have ended if Lord Caspian had retained control of the court like that,
this commoner had the insight to understand what Lord Caspian was planning, a
feat usually reserved for individuals with incredible intellect like a noble or
a royal like myself.

I found myself being more intrigued by the
commoner.

“You still haven’t answered my question,
he’s was the best offer, why did you refuse?”

“I don’t particularly plan on serving
anyone”, “anyone other my King of course” he said with a smile.

“Really?”, “And how exactly do you plan on
serving your king, Alaric?”

“By being under the direct service of the
king himself, of course”

“That’s a nice proposition, having the fool
who cried king work as my wine bearer, I like this idea” I admitted quite
excitedly.

“I too like that idea, but may I humbly
request for a position that could properly utilize my skill set, my King”

“And that would be what?”

“What about the position of royal advisor?”