“Ha, and Ha again! You make me laugh,” said the king to the man, before having him dragged out and put to death. They brought in another, who bowed down before his wife’s father.
“Sire, if it means anything to you, and if you stand by your daughters, and by love, and God’s arm, you will spare me. Spare me for the sake of love.”
“Oh, and what is this love? Was it the same love that let you steal to the house of my enemies in neighboring lands, and promise with your tongue what your wits could not deliver? What is this love that would see me removed from the throne, even killed?”
“No. It was not your death we sought. And we returned. We came back to you because we realized that you are blood and our bond is strong. We came back for love of all we have here.”
“Yes, yes, and even if you could, you would still leave my daughter-your wife-fatherless if I were to let but one eye droop and stagger. Love you say? Love of vile lucre no doubt.”
“No. We erred, lost our wisdom, but returned.”
“Indeed, and now that you are back in my bosom, you will suckle on the tit of my wrath. Go now, face your demons, traitor,” said the king.
“So you would make both daughters widows?”
“Look at my face. See these hands? I would place both hands around the necks of my offspring and slay them where they sleep if they but blink at the righteousness of my authority, and the purity of this land.”
“And that is fatherly love? Have you no compassion?”
“This is my compassion, future ghost. I rule over peoples in the south who call the sun Master. I rule over people to the north who call the moon Savior. And I rule over people here in the center, who call me Father. But a few years back I was in the North Vale, where me and my archers burned a village to the ground: every man, woman, and child. And before that, we pushed through the southern marshes, hunting down that evil man Sali, who would turn those under his teachings against me. We hunted him down like a dog, and killed him and his entire clan, placing their young on sticks to dance under the moonlight.”
“So you care not about your people, but rather, about your power,” said the son-in-law.
“But of course, but if I were not so strong and the center of the wheel, the spokes would fly off, the wheel would not roll, and it would be every man against his brother. It would be the sun against the moon against the stars.”
“And is that bad, to let go?”
“It is stupid to let chaos reign. Who am I, a god that I would let chaos reign, and let each man’s freewill lash against his neigbhors? Such is chaos, and the world it would create would have me upon a throne listening to a thousand mournful voices saying, ‘Where is our king that he would not hear us and let evil befall us.’ But the minute you step in, and prevent this or that, you violate someone’s freewill, and freewill cannot be selective, allowing for the will of the good alone. Better to dispense altogether with such considerations.”
“But that is freedom, and why we left to begin with. People deserve as much.”
“Nonsense. Freedom is chaos. I watched what happened to King Titorian in the far north places. It was chaos after his death-birds flying from the cage and turning on each other. That nation across the waters finally came with great noise and much talk and put Tito’s kingdom back together, for the people could not clap two hands together without producing death.”
“Well, father, I of all men meant no harm, and you know my love for my wife and that I have here risked my head for that love. My heart and every emotion beats with love for her. Do you not know what it is to love so deeply and purely?”
“That is for me to know, and you to sleep forever on, dear son. I leave the practice of love to the lovers, and the theory of love to the monks, and when love stands in the face of peace, my own peace, I opt for peace and bid sentimentality goodbye. Now, any last words from that pitched heart of yours?”
“Yes, I have a few final thoughts because…”
“Take him out, and kill him, and mark his grave with a blank stone, and teach my grandchildren to spit atop it, for it is the resting place of a man who would choose chaos over blissful peace,”said the king to one of his loyal men, who did as he was commanded without regard.
