Chapter VI

Red…Despair…Danger.

The fire in the center was roaring higher and higher, louder and louder as each heartbeat passed; just to prove that he was mighty and full of knowledge as some thought, but for some others the thought wasn’t important. For those who knew, it was there just to represent heat and to hold the center, not to be bold. For Boldness comes out of perfection, but not every bold is perfect so the other perfect chooses not to be bold.

The fixed eyes were still there, frozen as the eyes of some shattered statues fixed on the sky or some old, ragged doll placed in front of a shattered mirror as if all eternity was waiting for them to be there.

The king kept on sitting and not looking away. He was both a friend and an enemy to all around him since the attacks were only with gaze and the atmosphere called him to eat like others sitting there. Soon he felt the same irritation again, slowly squeezing his heart and telling him that he didn’t belong here, not to these people, not this food or the drink; for he had felt the same atmosphere before over and over. This time he couldn’t clarify where or when this irritation had taken over him before, he wasn’t sure if it was a companion or a foe.

“The young king has built many houses, protected us with all might when a threat was there, gave us many a fortune to live, believe and hope. But he has fallen now. No castle, no crown nor a sword. It is time for you to rule. All the knowledgeable ones.”

Said the same hooded man, this time not with a low toned voice but in a high shout for all present to hear.

The people present around the table were debating something in an unknown language like that of animals but melodious and violent. They were making gestures as if to show how to kill the king, how to tear him apart and to feed on his corpse. They were getting more and more excited while the king was calm and was sitting and looking, just looking.

All the hoods were soon dropped down and everyone present fixed their gazes on the king. Two round, gigantic eyes covering all the upper part of each face gazing at him. Dark and without depth as if hell itself had risen to meet the king. All had long braided hair tangled with a white ribbon twisted round their right arms to the wrist. On their left hand some other thing was twisted. Something braided like their hairs but looking like the roots of some old tree. They hissed and made noises. The king was uncertain why the situation had ended up like this or why he was even sitting here. Looking at his left, he didn’t see the hooded man there.

The fire was still blazing. Red, hellish red.