《Tales of Giants and Men》


 Chapter 1: The Boy, The Prince

    My fingers wondered restlessly until they found my ring on the left hand. I often stopped to look at it. It was a way to remember what it meant.


    The snow outside was proof of the cold, but the sun was starting to rise earlier. The winter was coming to an end.


    I lacked the will to go, to continue and do what needed to be done. It was beyond my power to quit. I looked at the mirror one last time to fix my posture and took a deep breath.


    "Are you ready?"


    I wasn''t ready, but I think he knew that. There was a short moment of silence before I answered.


    "I need to be"


    After my words, I felt his hands touch my shoulders from behind and I turned around. The marks of his age were easier to see while he was smiling to me.


    "Very good"


    He started to walk to the door as I looked at the portrait on the wall. My face couldn''t show how conflicted I was. The idea of staying there on that comfortable armchair near the chimney seemed more tempting every second.


    Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.I had lost the whole night looking at the object hung on my wall just across the room.


    Bertrand looked at me as I just stood there.


    "What is it?"


    "There is something that must be done before I go"


    He did not understand clearly, but nodded and got out of the room, acknowledging my words. It took a lot of me to give the firt step. I walked, stepping on the red carpet, and silently raised the portrait.


    The fear of uncertainty made me look once again at the image of the man I was supposed to be. It was a way of showing myself that there was still time to put it back. I took a deep breath once again.


    It barely fit when I throwed it on the fire of the chimney.


    That act gave me a bitter freedom.


    It was time to rebuild everything.

 Chapter 2: The Boy, The King

    There was sweat all over my body and my breathing was erratic. A few guards had barged into my room. Nothing was said. They simply grabbed and carried me away. I looked at the window in my room as we got out. There were lights in shades of red and orange and a few shouts, but it was a moment far too brief for me to notice more details.


    We walked with haste through the castle until we got to the library. I couldn''t have possibly know why the libreary, but some soldiers started to look around the shelfs near the walls. They stopped at one to my left.


    "It is that one. Start pushing"


    After he gave the orders, he kneeled near to me and grabbed my shoulders to look into my eyes.


    "You need to follow them, they will take you to safety. There is nothing to worry about, my Prince"


    I saw the shelf move as the guards were pushing to reveal an empry space that stretched to the unknown. A man took a torch and entered and I followed with other two soldiers.


    ...


    I took the past out of my mind to focus on what was happening.


    Passing throught the hallways of rugged stones, stepping on the red carpet to reach the main hall, I saw the servants of the house lined up. They were waiting for me. I took every step trying to show the confidence I didn''t have. When I was halfway to the door, they kneeled and two guards openned the door for me. I saw the front yard of the castle and a crowd of faces I had never seen. I was nervous, but did everything as I was instructed.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    All sounds were halted by my presence. I smiled to them and walked, giving a few greetings to the aristocracy in front of eveyone else.


    When I got near him, the man dressed in ceremonial white clothing gave me a nod. He gestured for the men behind him and they quickly gave him a golden crown.


    The man held the crown and looked at me. I kneeled in front of him, turning my back to the crowd, and he started to say things in a language unknown to most. It was the official language of the church and it couldn''t make less sense to me.


    He slowly put the crown over my head, but the ceremony wasn''t over.


    The priest took transparent bottle of water and slowly poured it on my head and crown. He started to say the blessings to the new king.


    I stood up and turned to the crowd. They were all silent and looking at me. The aristocracy, or the members of that social class that came, stepped closer to me and kneeled in respect, acknowledging me as the new king. I saw Bertrand kneel with difficulty, but he looked very happy.


    "King Lennard Calailan Bragans! With the power of the holy spirit and the father of all, the rule of the new king is now declared!"


    The member of aristocracy stopped kneeling and the crowd didn''t know what to do. Most of them had never seen a coronation in their lives.


    The paid musicians and artist started their shows to cheer the crowd and some men entered, carrying barrels of wine and beer for the people. And it worked. People started to celebrate the start of a new rule. It was one of the biggest festivities I had ever experienced.


    The coronation was a success.


    I was the new king.

 Chapter 3: The republic

    ---POV of Allester Garibal--


    His gruff voice and white hair told enough about his age. His horse stopped in front of everyone else to show his wrinkles and unshaved beard. He looked at me a smiled wearily. I knew he was going to say something that was going to change the life of the men present.


    "Gentlemen! Today is a nice day! We fight no more for the corrupt kings to give us what is ours!"


    Fight no longer? What about the ones who died before? It was obvious how conflicted every men of the army was. But there was no time to question him as he continued to speak.


    "No! We fight for our freedom! We fight for our wives! We fight for our sons!"


    I saw the faces of the men near me brighten as we finally understood that we would continue to fight. It was his way to tell us we were on the right side. We were not fighting for no reason. We had the motive. We had strength.


    "Now this land will be no longer a part of the empire! It is a republic! A republic we are building with the effort and blood of our men! A place for our families to live. A land for us!"


    There were some laughter and soon after I was cheering with every one else.


    ...


    All of that seemed like some distant past.


    I was behind a wall, or what used to be a wall, holding my musket with both hands with my trusted friend just beside me. The shootings could have made me deaf.. and they did. I lost my ability to hear with the right ear. We heard some shoutings, but it was impossible to discern the words that were said.


    Something fell on the floor and bounced making the sound of metal. I didn''t see it clearly, but my dear friend looked at me in disppair.


    He jumped over me.


    "Granade!"


    I felt the force pushing. I felt like I was a doll. My body was thrown like it didn''t weight anything. I hit my head on the floor and started to hear a strange and piercing treble sound. My eyes couldn''t see clearly. The world was blurry.


    I turned my body to the other side. There was little pain, but I was confused and didn''t understand what happened.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    My arms fell to the ground, losing their strength. I tried to make sense of what was going on, but closed my eyes to feel nothing more.


    ...


    Too much pain. I grunted and pressed my hands over my head. There was something.


    My head was bandaged. Ibreathed slowly and felt the bandage before looking at my hands.


    "Shit!"


    There were two fingers missing from my left hand.


    My heart started racing and I tried to get up, but felt imense pain. My chest was bandaged too. I held it with my hands, trying to make the pain less unbearable. I could finally see what was around me. The room.. no.. the tent was dark. It was completely closed and I could see the entrance.


    I tried to get up once again, but failed. It wasn''t becouse of the pain. There was something else. It just felt normal, it was like it was there all the time, but it wasn''t. My leg. I was missing my leg.


    My eyes widened and I stopped. I didn''t think of anything, I just stopped. I looked at it and continued to stare, becouse I didn''t know what to think.


    The sounds I made called the attention of a man. He entered throught the entrance of the tent, letting some light enter with him. I looked at him and his white clothing and openned my mouth to say the words that showed how I felt.


    "What.. What have you done to me!?"


    "What have I done to you? I saved your life, young man"


    "Lies! look at me! Look at how I am!"


    "Well. Your state is quite good for someone who was so close to a granade. I can''t say the same to your friend"


    His words hit me. The old man with light brown beard and nearly no hair was right. The bouncing sound was a granade. He protected me.


    "What.. what happened to him?"


    The idea started to sink into my heart even before the man spoke.


    "Hopefully in the realm of the fortunate"


    I remember the first time I met him. We had enlisted ourselves to be volunteers in the army. He allways had better humor and could deal with things easier than me. Partnership was common in the army. If one of the two was to die, the other would go talk to the family of the deceased and give them something to represent his braveness at war.


    And he is dead now.


    The old man looked at me. He saw the expression of a lost man that lost his leg, his fingers.. his only friend.


    "Don''t worry. We all know about the loss of the ones we care about. He died in an honorable way"


    His attempt to console me was a complete failure.


    "What do you know about!? You know nothing! You couldn''t possibly understand!"


    "...I am a doctor, young man. You don''t know how many like you I saw dying.. including my son. So don''t say I can''t understand, becouse I do."


    I was going through too much pain to feel guilty and I think he also understood that. He felt my pain and knew what I was going through. I don''t know if that''s a good thing, but It made me less unhappy at that moment.


    "My name is Miguel. I am the doctor in charge of this camp. I will leave you, now. You are free to get out, but I would recommend you to stay here a while. If you feel anything, call me"


    He said the formal instructions and headed out of the tent to leave me to my depression.

 Chapter 4: The council of war

    My fingers were moving restlessly as I saw the table stretch to the man on my opposite side. He looked at me with a seriousness I was not used to.


    "He is late. Let''s start without him"


    "I think we should wait"


    "We waited enough,boy. There is no time for that"


    I nodded and made a gesture, showing him to continue.


    "The interval proposed to the war with the south is coming to and end"


    My frown was expected. The civil war was getting longer and longer. It started in the reign of father and was one of the reasons he had to abdicate and leave the nation on the hads of the regents until I growed up.


    "And what do you want to do?"


    "Order Admiral Regan to go south and block the Parnasia River"


    "But he is needed to deal with the revolt in the north.."


    "The north is poor and divided, the south is the real problem. You may have heard that they declared that the lands were now a republic"


    I was conflicted. Blocking the river on the south would divide the south into two regions, making it easier to attack them, but the navy was decisive on the north. I raised my hand, covering my mouth and chin to think.


    "I urge you to make a decision soon"


    He saw that I didn''t know what to do. I looked at him, my mouth half open, but I didn''t say anything. I took a deep breath and put my arms over the table.


    "..What other options do we have?"


    "You could decide to focus our force on the north to quickly deal with it, but I don''t recommend that. The south is more powerfull and harder to deal with"If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Things were geetting more complicated every second and I wasn''t prepared to deal with that situation. I openned my mouth to say something. I was going to send the Navy to the south, but stopped. My hands moved as if a decision was made, but stopped halfway through it.


    "So? What is your decision?"


    I just wanted someone to make that decision for me. I was getting nervous and trying to think about the best option.


    "He is your king. Let him think"


    We looked to the door, still being openned, and saw Bertrand. I was happy to see him, but tried not to show it. I probably failed. I thought that he was what I was asking for, someone to make the decision for me. I recovered my posture in a second and stared at him as he sat in a chair.


    "We have, according to the deal we made, twenty days of peace in the south. The ships would take about a month to reach there from the north and there is still the time for your orders to arrive. The army in the south is made with foot soldiers and cavalry that would take about two months to reach the north."


    "That''s too much time.."


    "Indeed"


    The more I knew, the more I understood that I shouldn''t be the one making that decision.


    "What about the rest of the kingdom?"


    "We could deploy forces from Amanz and Saun Lis, but we need time for them to prepare and reach there"


    "How much time?"


    "Hard to say... Maybe one or two weeks to prepare and a week to reach the frontines in the north"


    "The tell them to send their forces there"


    "It would leave the states unprotected and that wouldn''t be wise"


    The general that was sitting on my opposite side said the words that made me frown and make an expression of deep concern.


    "Tell them to send a third of their forces then"


    He nodded to me, acknoledging that we were getting to a way to end the revolt.


    "They will help, but won''t be enough"


    I cursed in my mind as I coudn''t get rid of the problems. I felt the pressure to make a decision and looked at Bertrand. He just closed his eyes and stayed in silence. It was his way of saying that there was no right choice.


    "I will order half of the forces that stand on the capital to head north"


    "What!?"


    I seemed like madness to leave you capital unprotected with the enemy so close in the south.


    "I won''t allow that, my king"


    "You don''t have to. Don''t let the knews scape. I don''t want anyone to know the capital will be weakened. Send a letter to the south asking to prolong the time of peace. That''s an order"


    The orders I gave took more of me than they should, but that''s what needed to be done. I was gambling with my country and head.