Austin’s Reign

Austin was forty four when he took over the throne. A guy you do not want to make angry. Even though he appeared tall and handsome, you would not praise him for his beauty. A stern man, who is always holding a whip looking for an opportunity to use it, is not the man you want to be on the king’s chair.

Austin was the only member of the family whose anger horrified everyone; everyone except Abraham. When Austin used to lose his temper, one could feel some strange kind of smoke in the room. What really provoked him was bold people challenging his’ decisions.

Austin had changed all the governors and had replaced them with others. All the brothers were still in power but the corruption was about increase further, because Austin had appointed some criminals in higher positions, who were his close friends.

During the first week of his reign one day, he was in the meeting room and a newspaper editor was seated right in front of him. Austin was reading the news that was printed a day before. The editor talked to him, “Well, I’m really glad you allowed me to meet you personally.

I wasn’t expecting that you would come.”

Austin’s eyes were frozen towards the newspaper and he replied,

“You are a good writer.

The headlines are very catchy.”

“Thank you very much,

King Austin!”

“Tell me something, have you written all of this yourself?”

“This one particularly, yes…”

Austin’s eyes moved and he stared at the editor with an intense look.

“I wanted to meet you because I wanted to write about your future plans for the state.”

Austin kept the newspaper aside and asked him again,

“You wrote this entire newspaper on your own?”

“Yes, with my own typewriter.”

“And you wrote this line, can the new king face the serious ongoing economic challenges?”

“Yes, but that was just to make it interesting but it can

be changed.”

Austin stood up. The editor got really terrified and he said,

“I’m sorry, I can change it if you don’t like it.”

Austin looked at the large drum at the corner of the room that was leaving a lot of smoke. Austin grabbed the editor’s collar and dragged him towards the drum.

The editor cried,

“No sir please, I’m extremely sorry. The water is really hot.”

“Wash your face with it.”

Austin pushed him inside the drum, to such an extent that he was inside the liquid potion from head till his shoulders.

The poor editor screamed in pain. It was acid.

Austin rubbed his hands against each other and then exclaimed,

“No one can question my method, no one!”

************

Several weeks later, one day, there were two kids, both of them were under six years of age, and they both were playing in the middle of the road. Two gangsters, who were in their expensive car had to stop the car because of the two kids playing in the middle of the road.

They both stepped outside and one of them was angry enough to physically assault the kids. Silver pushed the younger kid causing him to fall backwards. The alarmed mother, who saw everything from some distance, came running towards them. She had come to rescue them, but she pushed Silver as he was about to assault the other

kid as well.

Silver asked his partner to bring something from inside the car. As the partner left to do as he instructed, he politely said to the woman,

“Lady, your kids need to be careful, that’s all.”

“You were about to hit these kids?”

“I’m sorry, if I did that.”

The general public had however gathered. Silver’s partner brought some metallic rod and handed it over from behind. While Silver was holding it behind, he presented kindness in his face. As the woman was about to say something, Silver with all his strength hit her on her face. The woman felt backwards and her face was all bleeding.

Some women screamed who had witnessed the entire scene. The gangsters went back and sat inside their car. Some civilians rushed towards the woman and touched her bleeding face. One of them who happened to be a doctor touched her neck to check the pulse; after he analysed it properly, he stated,

“She is dead.”

The other civilians got so upset and they looked at her kids.

The criminals had left but there were plenty of people who had witnessed the crime and were willing to testify in court.

************

The entire case was taken to court and King Austin himself was meant to act as the judge. The entire news had spread like a fire in the island, which was why it was given quite some importance.

The court was at some distance from the castle. On the day of trial, when the case was presented before him he asked the witnesses to testify.

There were not few but twelve witnesses who revealed the entire truth. It was also proved through the forensic examination of the dead body that Silver had actually committed the first attempt murder.

I was there inside the court and I could see in Austin’s face that the truth was clear as crystal. He knew that Silver was guilty. But Silver was his friend, and they used to spend every weekend together.

Austin looked at the two kids who were the current victims of the crime. But regardless of all, he declared,

“I’m sorry but the evidences are not enough. The court finds Silver not guilty and they must be released.”

There was an expected noise of people chattering but Austin was a dominant person who could talk louder than anyone, so he simply adjourned the case asking the soldiers to vacant the court room.

I was more than heartbroken when I saw this, which was why I walked towards him and said to him in his ears,

“At least arrange a foster family for the two kids.”

“Those who are crying for them will do it. It is not the issue of the state.”

I looked at him with bitter resentment but it did not matter to him.

That evening, Frederick, Abraham and I were seated at the garden of the castle and there was a silence of grief between us. Frederick began the conversation,

“I have got to say that what happened today was

simply unjust.”

“I still think we could have done something,” I replied. “Or we can further do something.”

“Like what?”

“Providing a foster home for the kids and here inside the castle.”

“Providing a home for the kids is not enough,” Abraham added. “The criminals are flying free in the state. This will encourage more crimes.”

“You are right,” I spoke.

“I have no option but to wait until I become the king. Or we can convince Austin to gain a little moral conscience.”

“That’s not likely to happen.”

“Why not?” Frederick asked me.

“If you can then you can try.

I know him since childhood.”

“I know him since childhood too. I am closer to him than anyone else is.”

“Stop it Frederick,” Abraham instructed him, “we are on a task here.”

“I know that, but Uncle Landon is disrespecting Austin here.”

“Disrespecting?” I asked.

“Stop Fred,” Abraham spoke. “We are trying to resolve a matter here.”

“What is wrong with you two?” Frederick asked angrily.

Frederick stood up losing his temper and said,

“I don’t want to be a part of this….”

He left them walking away angrily.

“He is a person with short temperament,” Abraham commented. “I know.”

“He doesn’t have so much of a brain.”

We had a conversation on the current position of the state, and made some plans.

************

Several Months Later

There were several people inside the public library of the state. These were mostly adults and young adults.

They were students and they were there for studying.

Inside the library’s circuit room, somebody left the cut wires open. Some current was visible but there was no one around.

I was at some distance and I was all alone. I was seeing that people were staring somewhere. I followed their eyes. I saw black smoke at some distance. I stood up getting vigilante and wondered,

Oh, my God! Someplace is at fire. I however found a horse rider at a little distance and asked him,

“Excuse me, can you take me there? There is fire,

people need help.”

“Okay, sure.”

Several minutes later, as I reached there, I saw that the public library was completely on fire. I got really terrified seeing the place had completely burnt down.

I was also surprised to see that there were no teams of fire extinguishers. The common public was doing whatever they could to clear the fire. Apart from this, there were no ambulances. People were also taking the injured ones on their self-made stretchers.

Oh my Lord! I uttered. Where the hell are government’s officers?

I was really terrified seeing how people were so injured and very few people were taking the responsibility.

I then saw a masked man holding three young adults in his both arms. He was rescuing all risking his life. His own left bicep was also bleeding.

I went close to him and asked,

“Thank you, son. You are a true and selfless hero.”

He then kept the three people on stretchers nearby. He came back to me and showed me his face.

He was none other than Abraham.

“Wow,” I uttered. “I’m not surprised though.”

“More than fifty are injured. Let’s rescue the remaining people,” he said to me.

“Sure.”

I then asked him,

“What about others? Where are Austin’s men?”

“He knows, but he is not doing anything.”

We got distracted as we heard the ceiling of the library fall down. Abraham immediately rushed inside the library to save the people.

************

Two Months Later

This case of library was finally being heard in the court.

I was inside the court room, and so were the family members of the victims.

The prosecutor began his speech in the court,

“The incident that took place two months back was solely because of irresponsibility of library’s staff. The electricians were working on some wire, the electricians were asked to leave and they left without even covering the wires. The wire was sparing current and it eventually created fire. The wood caught fire and the entire building caught it eventually. More than 100 people have become a victim of this…”

“…Alright alright,” Austin interrupted getting fed up,

“just get to the point. Present the evidences before me.”

“Sure, Your Honour. We have around twelve witnesses who can testify…”

“The court shall not accept testimony of any witness.

I need evidences.”

Everyone was quite shocked. The prosecutor continued,

“Alright, then I’ll show you the report of the findings that were tested in the laboratory.”

The prosecutor handed over the file of four pages to Judge Austin. Austin read it with least amount of concentration.

After just one minute he spoke,

“These evidences are not enough.”

People started yelling in the court.

Austin dismissed the case and released all the responsible members of the library without charging anything.

************

I was so angry with Austin and so unsatisfied with his government system that I left the castle and purchased a house of my own. This was only increasing my resentment towards him, so one day I finally went back to the castle to give him a piece of my mind.

As I reached the spot where king’s chair was placed, I saw Austin hitting two men with a huge whip. The two men who were bleeding all over were lying on the ground and were begging for mercy.

I rushed towards him and stood right in front of the old men.

“Get out of my way,” Austin misbehaved with me.

“Who the hell do you think you are? Who gives you the right to treat humans as animals?”

“I am the King of Prestige Land. This land is called Prestige Land because it is a land of prestige, the king’s prestige.”

“You are the king of Prestige Land sure, but you are not the king of prestige.”

“He was a little shaken as he heard this.

He knew it was true.

“Just remember that,” I said this and then I left.

He dropped the whip. The two injured men escaped.

to be continued...