Chapter 21 Leading
Chapter 21 Leading
Hayden wakes up in the middle of the night next to Alice. He puts his pants on and just walks out of the room. No shirt, no boots, just pants. He walks to the Mead barrels and begins to fill his cup when he hears "Glad you are not drinking wine?" Hayden turns around and watches as a vision of Frederick fades away. Hayden puts the cup down and walks outside. He sits down and watches the stars. Hayden sits there for a while when Malcolm walks up: you freeze if you stay out here too long. Hayden closes his eyes: that doesn't sound that bad. Malcolm is taken back by this: What's on your mind that you think death is okay? Hayden still kept his eyes closed " How do you know that you did the right thing? How do you know what you did will do good?" Malcolm thinks for a bit " you don't. One choice can cause the lives of hundreds of people but maybe that was the right choice. You have to decide for yourself whether it was right or wrong. Was it the right choice?" Hayden opening is eyes"No"
Hayden wakes back up in his bed. Alice was holding him. Hayden gets out of bed and walks to the basement. Hayden walks around looking at each wall studying the stories they tell. Once he looks at the wall with the men opening the door." I need the other two weapons." Alice walks down"The people from the nearby clans are here." Hayden looks back"Okay i'll be right up"
Hayden waits sometime then walks up. When he enters the throne room he sits down on the throne " welcome. Please have a seat" The three leaders sit down. One of the leaders says " why do you summon us? I have important things i need to do" Hayden takes a sip of his mead " winter is coming and i wish to make a pack or merging that is up to you" one of the leader stood up " i have no interest in any of that" Hayden picks his cup up" your free to leave"
The other two stayed but one had a question "You said a pack or merging. What do you mean by this" Hayden stands up " if you wish to merge, you will join my kingdom. You will become a noble and your people will live in my town. A pack means we mix our supplies, giving us a better chance to survive the winter." one of the men stood up and walked over to Hayden. Please give me time to think about this." The other man stands up " yes i also wish to have time to think about this" Hayden smiles " this is a hard decision, please take your time" the men leave and Hayden sits down in his Throne.
Alice joins Hayden in the throne room " are you okay? You seem different." Hayden looks at her " I just need time. My head is spinning from Wallace. Then i watched a friend die trying to save me, now i have to play king. It's just a lot in such a short time. All I need is time" Alice puts her hand on Hayden's shoulders "you need to relax. Time and relaxation helps with stress." Hayden slams his head on his table " Relaxation sounds nice right now."
Alice starts to rub Hayden back " All you need to do is calm down and just take a day off." Hayden stands up and grabs a cup and drinks it." I'm going to bed" Hayden walks to his bed and just falls in it as Wallace's voice echos "This is all on your hands Hayden" Then a body falls next to Hayden and starts to hold him. Hayden tries to say" I don't feel like having se" But Alice cuts him off "That's fine just relax. Feel safe in my arms." Hayden closed his eyes and moved closer"thank you" Hayden fell asleep and Alice didn't move that whole time.
Hayden wakes up to his sword calling him. Hayden grabs his sword and walks into the throne room. He finds one of his guards "I'm going to send you on an important mission. Take 10 men and Go out into the world and find a bow and a spear that are just like this sword. It should have the same color leather and look like the same metal. Once you find them, bring them back to me, okay? Take 10 horses and 10 men and a bag of gold and bring me those weapons. Can you do that?" The guard slaps the arm of the guard next to him" yeah we can do that sir" Hayden looks relieved " Thank you. I will pay you heavily for this" Hayden starts to walk back and Alice shows up" is everything okay?" Hayden just grabs her hand"yep, i'll tell you later. But for now we go back to bed" Alice starts smiling " does my cuddles help you that much?" Hayden's face turns red but he says nothing.
Hayden lays down in Alice's lap as she plays with his hair.
(3 weeks later)
Hayden is sitting in the throne room when the two leaders return. Hayden stands up" you have returned what do i owe the pleasure" One of the men spoke" Your castles might is impressive and we have seen the many farms and homes your building. Your expanding skill is impressive and we believe it would help the quality of life of our people if we join you." Hayden smiles "that's amazing news. Please do you need help bringing your stuff over? I have some men i can spare" One of the leader say" no we have things packed and ready to enter at your command" Hayden walk to the men" well let's welcome your people"
Hayden and the two men walk to the front of the castle where 600 warriors stood and 800 regular people stood. "Those of you who are farmers, please step to the right. Those of you who are builders please stay still. Those of you who are anything else please step to the left."
Out of the 800 townspeople 400 were farmers. 300 were builders and 100 were others.
Hayden said " those who are farmers will be set up in a farm. We are still making farms so you may have to wait a bit. Those who are builders will start building a 4th wall and houses. Those will be your houses so build with care. As for others we have jobs for you so please form a line telling us your job and we will have you set up in a home and a place to work before the day is done. Everyone else must set up a tent into we can fit you in"
The townspeople were set up into jobs and homes. They had arrow makers and blacksmiths, miners and graver diggers, teachers and librarians. The farmer and the builders were a different story. The blue sharks and Knights as well as the new 600 warriors helped build the farms and the builders made their wall and homes. It took a whole 2 months but everyone was settled.
The sun rises on a brand new day and Hayden wakes up and Walks to his throne room to see a group of people. He sits on his throne and starts eating breakfast when a woman walks up" Dear King Hayden. I have been made useless. I was a teacher, teaching kids about history and making them exercise. Why others show them how to use a sword or how to build or how to farm. But now kids run around doing nothing." Hayden was confused" what is your point?" the lady pleads " we need schools and libraries to help kids become something" Hayden stops eating " your right we need to teach these kids skills as well as teach history. Men order some builders to build a school and a library" the men walk off and the lady looks happy "You are making the right choice my lord" the woman walks of and a group of guys walk up " My lord the men are tired of sleeping in group homes and want a place to call their own. May we start building more homes?" Hayden starts to think for a second. He looks at his guards " I'll make you a deal. We can't expand anymore in front because the farms block us but behind we can expand. But my Army still stays in tents. If you build a wall next to my longhouse and make an army barracks then you may build your homes past the army barracks" The men look at each other and agree " how many builders may we have?" Hayden pulls up a book and reads it "We have 1123 builders. 200 of them will start making the school and library and I have 500 on standby so you may have 423 builders." The men like satisfied with that answer " you will have your barracks"
Hayden tries to eat his breakfast again but Malcolm walks up "Hayden people asked me to help them pray but there are too many. I can not be in 100 different places at once. But 100 people could be with me at once if I had a church." Hayden drops his fork and Knife " I dislike the idea of religion so why would i build a church?" Malcolm smiles " Religion may not give you hope but it does give other hope. Don't make your people have no hope because of your feelings. A true King wants his people to be happy and hopeful not Sad and afraid" Hayden looked disappointed and grabbed his book" you may have 100 builders. Build the church how you see fit." Malcolm almost runs off " Thank you. I promise you won't regret this"
Hayden tried to eat again but his food was cold.
"God damn it"