A Peasant's Revenge, Part I
The story begins when I was a young man,
personal chirurgeon for Prince Malistare,
when the Kingdom of Blenum faced rebellion
in the west, among the peasants out there.
The king sent an army, led by his first-born,
I was sent to see to the Prince’s health,
Malistare sought to earn glory and praise,
the men sought to pillage towns and gain wealth.
Though often cruel, Malistare was no fool,
he let the generals hunt foes through the peaks,
the prince found villages he said ’gave aid,’
then he would unleash his destructive streak
Amidst slain bodies of whole families,
by women enslaved outside burning homes,
he’d say,”Don’t worry about the innocent,
after death the Gods will claim their own!”
In one such town that raised milk cows and sheep,
he slashed a stout, peasant man ’cross the neck,
then rode off without even noticing,
looking for more blood amidst hovels wrecked.
He did not see a young woman appear,
a young beauty who was maybe nineteen,
he did not see he kneel down by the corpse,
did not dead her great grief as she keened.
I saw it all in passing as I rode,
it stood out amongst the gore and the grit,
but I had seen such misery before,
can’t say that I really thought much of it.
The rebellion ended not long after,
all the capital cheered the Malistare’s name,
they never saw the slaughter and dying,
just told false tales that built the prince's fame.
It was two years after this ‘great’ return
that old King Holbrun took fever and died,
and Malistare was then raised to the throne,
word of his crowning soon went far and wide.
Now Blenum, like most kingdoms in his land,
treats marriage as a quite serious thing.
Nobles marry those that will bring them gain,
more diplomacy than act of loving.
Malistare took a queen with an old name,
on whom it was hoped he’d father an heir,
and kept a half-dozen fine mistresses
who would service his every whim and care.
Always on the lookout for another
who could satisfy his great appetites,
it was an open secret he whelped bastards,
but could not put a child in his wife.
One day a woman came to the palace,
begging for a job at the back door,
she had no skills but the king liked her look,
and took her in as his newest of whores.
I saw her just once, as they went upstairs,
she looked familiar, but I paid no heed,
the king was quite fond of one-night affairs,
and none dared bother him sating his needs...
CONCLUDES IN PART II.
|