“We will squash the rebellion. Dissent will not be tolerated.” The king repeated this several times, sweeping the floor of the room with the trim of his cape as he paced back and forth. A hog of a man, he had done nothing but put on weight since his own rebellion had put him on the throne, leaving the kingdom in a constant state of revolution. He had cast down the Church, the Council, and even the Knights Errant, until the peasantry had trusted only him. And now they clamored at his gate, disappointment having turned into wrath.
“Why are they so angry?” the king asked his vizier. “I’ve cut everyone’s taxes.”
To which his vizier responded, “The nobles used their swollen wealth to buy up much of the farmland.”
“Who could make them safer?” the king bloviated. “I’ve closed the walls to the kingdom.”
“True. But now the wandering workers are trapped outside and unable to help with the harvest.”
“I’ve kept out all the foreign goods.”
“Which include metal to forge plowshares.”
“So what’s the problem?”
“Now the people starve.”
The king gestured to his banquet table, abundant with meats, vegetables, grains, and fruits. “But how can they be starving if there’s all this food?”
See the author’s published work here.
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