Rejected And Forsaken
Chapter 36

Narrator

Meanwhile down in the dungeon, David was left alone with Carol’s father, the vampire king. While the king contemplated on whether he really should talk to David, the last words his daughter left him with replayed in his mind.

“Daddy. I love you so much. But…. David is my future. And if you speak with him, I’m sure that you will realise that he really is innocent. And if he suffers any more of those beatings, I promise you daddy, you will not see me again.”

He could see how hurt and broken she looked. Her face which was usually lively and joyful, was flushed and red with fury and the pain she felt from what had happened. She had tried her best to hold back her tears and sobs, which she had failed to hide from her father.

“S…sire….” his thoughts were disturbed by the stuttering guards who were trembling in fear. King Richard’s eyes zeroed at their apprehensive faces. Suddenly remembering that they had tortured David with out his consent which resulted in his only child feel the pain, his narrowed his eyes at them.

“Why?” the king’s question only made them gulp down in fear. Unable to make eye contact with their ruler, they kept their eyes glued to the dusty floor of the dungeon. Their motionless bodies only infuriated the great king. Realising that they were not going to say anything soon, king Richard suddenly slapped the leader among them.

Shocked by the sudden slap, the leader locked at the seething leader with wide eyes.

“Your majesty!” he gasped.

“I think I asked you a question Barnard.” King Richard’s voice was solemn, which only made the three guards feel worse than they already were feeling.

“Did you torture him?” he questioned once again. King Richard’s patience was running thin. Their hesitation and inability to answer his questions could only mean that they indeed did torture him. Besides, he knew his daughter will not lie to him. If she was saying that she felt the beatings, it could only mean that David was truly her beloved and he really was tortured without the king’s orders.

King Richard studied their faces one by one. All of them showed the same signs on their faces. Regret. Fear. Guilt. Hesitation. And all of those pointed at one direction.

“Who gave you the authority to torture the prisoners just because you wanted to? Or is there someone who you take orders from other than me?” his voice gradually increased in volume.

“ANSWER ME!” king Richard’s voice echoed along the unclean corridors of the dungeons as he screamed at the three guards who were panicking already. Startled by his outburst, they looked at his face, only for their fear to maximize. The green eyes of the king now had red slits in them. The nerves on the sclera of his eyes were bulging out. His eyes were wide while he clenched his jaws together. The stiff shoulders and clenched fists only showed how agitated he was.

He was on the verge of loosing control.

“Sir…sire.” Finally, after replaceing his voice Barnard was able to speak. “W..we are sorry. Our emotions got the better of us and ……. sire. Please forgive us.” Barnard spoke in a soft voice. He knew he had messed everything up. He knew he was wrong to act on impulse. He should have just locked the gate and left. Barnard realised that he had to bed for forgiveness. He dropped on to his knees, and brought his hands together. His eyes were downcast as he begged in front of his leader.

“Sire. Please. Forgive us. We were wrong. And sire, we may have done a grave mistake but we will never take orders from someone other than you. I have sworn loyalty to the throne and have stayed that way my whole life sire. My loyalty has not changed. And will never change.” Barnard begged at the king’s feet. His colleagues quickly followed his example and kneeled down in front of their king.

Meanwhile, the king’s anger started to dissolve after seeing their submission. However he was still unhappy that Carol had to go through that pain.

“Do you realise that you have beaten up your future queen’s beloved?” he questioned. David was a little surprised to hear him say that but he kept silent and watched the events that were unfolding in front of him.

“Do you realise that you most probably tortured your future king?” his question made the guards gasp in amazement and look at the young lad who they thought was just a normal wolf.

“I….I….we…. We didn’t realise…..” Barnard stuttered.

“Shut up!” The king ordered. He knew he too had a part in it. Who would have thought that he would order to jail his daughter’s beloved.

“For now, I remove all three of you from your current posts. I demote you from the chief guard of the prisons. All three of you are to be demoted to start as private knights.” King Richard stated to their dismay.

“Oscar!” He called out. Soon, the well built guard who stayed on duty at the gates came running towards them.

“Your highness.” He bowed in respect as soon as he reached them.

“They are demoted from their current positions to private knights. Show them their way out.” The king commanded

“Yes. Your majesty.” Oscar bowed once again and hurried to carry out the king’s stern order. Barnard and his colleagues followed Oscar without any complaints. It was disheartening for them but they did believe that they were at fault.

When they walked outside, king Richard and David were left alone. David waited for him to say something. He didn’t want to sound disrespectful. He hoped that the king would try to understand his situation. Like Finn had said, he needed the vampire king’s help. But the king just held on to the bars of the dungeon and stayed in his position for a long time. His eyes were closed. Forehead rested on the jail bars and eyebrows wrinkled, as if he was in a deep thought.

David knew this was not a good time for him to start a conversation. So he just leaned against the wall and sighed, hoping that it would relieve him of some of the exhaustion he felt. Although the place was as filthy as it could be, David couldn’t care less, as he rested his head against the unclean wall. He was too tired. No, more than just tired. Exhausted from the need for love. After the death of his father and grandparents, no one loved him. He didn’t have a family. And that is what he craved for. Love and family. All what he wanted was to be loved but someone. And when he met that one person who was willing to love him unconditionally, there were numerous obstacles in front of them, preventing them from being together.

“You know David, her mother, my beloved always wanted Carol to be happy. She wished for her to replace her beloved and settle down once she meets him. Even on her death bed, that was all what she talked about.” King Richard spoke with his eyes still closed and head resting on the bars of the gate. David snapped his head in the king’s direction.

“How I wish she was still here. She most probably would have stopped me from making this stupid mistake of putting you behind these bars.” He chuckled to himself and straightened up looking straight in to David’s blue eyes.

“After her death, I’ve made a vow to myself, never to let Carol feel the absence of her mother. I suppose I’ve failed that today.” He shrugged. “ But what I can I do? I was super protective of her. She was the only living memory of my beloved. She was half of her and of half of me. And I wanted to keep her safe from every possible danger. Specially after that seer saw that vision on her birthday.” He explained.

David listened carefully to the king’s little speech. He too wanted to know what the seer saw.

“He told me that Carol would be taken away by a great power. And nothing in the world could stop it. I was scared. I freaked out that day.” He admitted. “I wanted to protect her from any danger and this guy was telling me that something was going to take her away from me. How could I digest that?” he questioned and wiped his face while letting out a deep sigh.

“But David. You have some explaining to do as well. Why did you steal our precious opal?” His question only confused David.

“What opal?” he asked. He knew something was stolen. But he had no idea what an opal was.

“Now don’t tell me you don’t know. The opal is stolen and it the most heavily guarded thing in my kingdom. No one can have access to it accept every few. The only possible ways that anyone could have put their hands on it was that either one of my people deceived us or they used black magic.” He continued his explanation. “It is gone and we know the wolves had taken it.”