The King's Stock

"This is on you, King Albador." said Lineron. "All of it. You lied to us. We
broke our backs to increase our yield because you said they were coming.
You took all we had and told us it was being kept safe. But you lied.
What else could we have done?"

"The king stood silently for some time, appearing to consider
Lineron's words. Still silent, he slid a leather glove over his left
hand and removed a cast iron rod from the hot coals. He pressed the red
hot tip of it against Lineron's neck, scalding him. Lineron cried out
and struggled against the chains which bound him. "What else could we
have DONE?" Albador mocked in a high pitched voice. He pressed the rod
against Lineron's bare shoulder. "There's a thing called loyalty to the
kingdom. Whatever my wishes, the people are to bow to them. You should
have done as you were told. I have no desire nor responsibility to
explain anything to you."

Lineron writhed in anger. "We were STARVING. You took everything from
us and traded it away while you and your guards had full stomachs and
drank the finest ale. You said that if we didn't do as told then we were
soon to be at war, and that we would need to save our resources if we
were to avoid it. You made us work longer days and took more from us,
leaving us without enough to feed our families. If we had obeyed you, we
would be dead!"

Albador smirked. "You say that like it's a bad thing. You know, the
way I see it, the wealth of a kingdom can only be judged by the wealth
of its king. What else matters more than the welfare of the king? And
besides, your fat wife lost weight. That's a good thing as well isn't
it?"

Lineron though of his wife, Rene. Rene had not been fat, although she
had in fact lost weight in her attempt to save enough food for the
children. Without enough food and with all the extra work, she had
collapsed, along with many others.. That was what pushed Lineron over
the edge. He had seen how well the royals were doing. He knew there was
plenty of food in the castle, so he had gathered up a small army of
villagers. In the darkest hours of the night, they crept through the
castle courtyard and slit the throats of the drunken guards as they
slept at their posts. They made their way to the food storage, but they
found that the king had traded most of it for gold and gems. While in
the storage room, they were caught off guard and the king's men brought
them to the dungeon.

King Albador walked around to the other villagers. He was non-chalant
as he swung his sword to hack off their heads one by one as they begged
for mercy. "Do you see where rebellion gets you, dear Lineron? Here's
the thing, I don't need to give a worthless peasant like you any reason
for my actions. In fact, you don't need to give me a reason for yours
either, although I believe I understand." Albador pointed at the nearest
guard. "You, bring me his family. I want him to watch me cut off their
heads right in front of---"

Albador was interrupted by a very loud crash against the wooden door.
And again. A battering ram from the castle's own stock. Albador's eyes
widened with rage...or was it fear... "Guards! Stand ready." The guards
in the room placed themselves near the door on either side as Albador
stepped behind a column in the rear corner to conceal himself.

The door smashed open and a large stream of peasants poured in. Many
were struck down, but all of them slashed at the guards with everything
from hammers to pitchforks and swords with a maniacal ferocity. The
battle soon took place over a slippery pile of bodies. As the last guard
was struck down, dying groans and cries filled the air from those who
were incapacitated but not yet finished.

King Albador remained in the darkness, hoping he would not be
discovered. One man in the room knew of his hiding. When the villagers
released Lineron from his chains, his veins bulged and his fists
clenched. His eyes locked on Albador. It seemed as though each intense
second caused Albador to shrink as Lineron grew in size. "Wait, you
don't understand!" the king said, but Albador approached and struck him
down with a sword he had borrowed from a villager. The king tried to
raise his own sword, but Lineron's rage was too powerful and his muscles
had worked the fields for too many years. Lineron struck him again and
again.

Afterwards, the gold and gems were used to buy food and other much
needed resources. It was too late for Lineron's wife, but a new and
better kingdom was formed, at least for a while.

Several months later, a giant came along and introduced himself as
Nettle, the giant king. He made his demands of a certain amount of gold
and gems which he had agreed to accept in place of destroying the
village. Of course, Lineron's village no longer had them. While the
villagers were enamored by Nettle, they did not notice as the other
giants surrounded them with their equally giant hounds. When Nettle
heard that they could not, or as he thought, would not, make the
payment, he yelled and the other giants and themselves with their hounds
tore the villagers apart, limb by limb. The swords of the strongest men
merely scraped their skin. After the carnage, the giants took what they
wanted and continued on to the other kingdoms which they visited once
every hundred years before returning to their home among the mountains.