CHAPTER 5

 

     The voice spoke to him, and it told him he would be King.

     His name was Frygar -- Baronet Frygar -- and he was Baron Grenald's younger brother. He was thirty years old, his brother thirty-eight. He was sole regent and heir to Grenald's power.

     And he was mad.

     So when the voice started speaking to him, when he was alone, in his chambers, or out for a stroll around the Royal City watching the cavalry parade around in armor on their steeds or the infantry roll in the grass and practice swordplay, he spoke back. There was nothing strange about this to him.

     And he did want to be King. Oh yes! King would be even better than Baronet, which was what he was and no fun, even better than Baron, which his brother was, and that seemed like a lot of fun. If he was a King, he could do anything -- even go out of the Royal City. Now, as a Baronet, those damned guards always stopped him at the gate, and the walls were far too high to climb.

     He wanted to see the world outside. He could see part of it from the palace windows, but that only made his curiosity stronger. There is nothing out there for you, his brother told him. Damn him! What did he know? Just because he was oldest, just because he was a Baron…

     And so the voice spoke to him. And he spoke to the voice. The voice made promises. And Frygar waited for them to come true.

...CHAPTER 6...