Chapter 6 - The Race

“Last one to the room is a rotten lizard egg!”

The voice was Cable's, as he barged through the back door of the castle and dashed down the hallway toward his room. Andres, Cable's younger brother, just shook his head. Why does he have to turn everything into a race? he thought to himself.

Andres was tired and was in no mood for a race. Though he was a very rugged 14-year-old boy, he really didn't feel like running another step. After all, he and Cable had just finished about 6 hours of training in fencing. Under the tutelage of Master Slickwidget, Andres and Cable had spent almost all day fencing in every way imaginable. They had fenced with their eyes open, and they had fenced with their eyes blindfolded. They fenced left-handed, they fenced right-handed, and they fenced with both hands on the hilt. They fenced on two feet, on one foot, and on horseback. Master Slickwidget even strung them up by their feet and made them have a fencing match upside-down. Andres was sick of fencing.

And he was sick of Cable. Andres had lost virtually every fencing match that day. Most of the matches were pretty close, and a couple of times Master Slickwidget had called it a draw. But Andres had not been able to claim a single victory. And the match while fencing upside-down had been the last straw. That had been Andres' best showing, as he had knocked Cable's sword out of his hand. But before Andres could strike for the “kill”, the blood rushed to his head and he fainted. His one chance for victory had slipped out of his grasp. His frustration had boiled over after he had regained consciousness and got back on his feet. He had turned to his teacher and asked, “What kind of name is Slickwidget, anyway? Did you just make it up so that you could sound like a real great sword fighter?”

Master Slickwidget had turned to Andres and stared at him for a few moments. Andres had been unnerved by Slickwidget's expression and asked, “Why are you looking at me like that? Do I have an extra head sticking out of my body or something? Or do I have an extra arm? I wish I did, so I could finally win one of these dumb fencing matches!” In reply, Master Slickwidget—with that annoying tone he adopted when he was irritated with the boys—had said, “I shall let your father the king know that you have spoken to me in such a preposterous manner. Now begone!”

No, it had not been a very good day for Andres. And now his 16-year-old brother Cable wanted to make it worse by making him race to his room. Didn't he know when to let up? Hadn't his twenty-eight victories in fencing been enough for today?

Then Andres remembered something. He had stuffed a bag of marbles into his pocket earlier that day, in anticipation of one of these races. Reacting quickly, he shook some marbles into his hand and threw them on the floor in the direction of Cable. Cable almost instantly stepped on one of the marbles, sending him flying into the air. As he landed with a thud, Andres dashed by. He threw the rest of the marbles down for good measure and pressed on toward his room. Behind him, he heard Cable tumble to the floor two or three more times. Andres turned the corner of the hallway and approached his room. Ah, victory would be sweet this time!

Andres grabbed the door-handle and pushed. It didn't budge. The room was locked! Andres pounded on the door and bellowed out, “Why is my bedroom door locked! Who is in there! Who is robbing me of the one time today that I'm actually about to win something?”

A feminine voice on the other side of the doorway replied, “It's me, and I need to get ready for the feast. So stop bothering me! I'll be out soon.”

It was his 12-year-old sister Remmaline. And it was the last voice in the world that he wanted to hear at that particular point in time. Andres could hear footsteps behind him; he knew that Cable was rapidly approaching, having recovered from the assault of the marbles. So Andres banged on the door again and yelled, “Why are you in my room? Get out of there RIGHT NOW!”

Remmaline answered without the slightest hint of urgency. “I'm using your room to get ready for the feast, because your room is bigger than my room, and I need all the room I can get. Besides, my room is neat, and yours is messy. You won't even notice if it gets a little messier while I get ready. So stop bothering me.”

For a moment, Andres wanted nothing more than to choke his sister. Then he caught himself and panicked, because she was right—a great feast was happening tonight! It was their sister Julianna's second birthday today, and their father—King Maximilian—always made a big deal out of birthdays. The whole city was invited to the castle for a feast whenever one of the kids had a birthday. And here was Andres, hot and sweaty and unable to get into his own room to get cleaned up. Andres was not happy. He pounded on the door again and cried out, “How in the world am I supposed to get ready if you're in my room with the door locked?!”

Remmaline calmly replied, “Boys don't need as much time as girls. Mama said so. I'll be out in a minute.”

Andres grimaced. He knew that, for females, the phrase “a minute” didn't really mean much of anything. All it really meant was “not now.” He knew he was doomed. The feast began in less than an hour. Already, people were beginning to arrive and take their seats in the banquet hall. And here he was, locked out of his own room.

A sound startled him, and Andres turned around. Cable was approaching. The tall, lanky brother had a frown on his face; though he spoke no words, his expression clearly cried out, “Revenge!” Andres saw his brother start to reach out, and he saw his brother's right leg start to go in motion. Andres had been through this before; his brother was going to try and trip him. So instinctively he turned around and jumped back.

The next thing Andres heard was a loud thud. When Andres turned around, he grimaced. The good news was, Andres had avoided the trip. The bad news was, Cable had accidentally tripped someone else—Mitch the butler. Mitch was always breaking up their fights. And now he'd gotten into the middle of another one. Andres had been so focused on Cable and on winning the race to the room that he'd not heard the butler approach. Andres closed his eyes and hoped the whole thing would go away. He opened them again and realized that it wouldn't. Once again, Mitch had seen them fight and would no doubt tell their father.

“Kindly give me a hand, Master Cable,” Mitch said with his characteristic lofty-sounding voice. Cable helped Mitch get to his feet. Mitch was a tall, skinny man with a long nose that Andres figured kind of resembled a carrot. He had a long face with a chin that stuck out and a mouth that never, ever smiled.

Cable opened his mouth, and Andres knew he was going to tell Mitch about how everything was really his fault. But before Cable could say a word, Mitch raised his hand and stopped him. “Master Cable and Master Andres, I know that I do not need to remind you that the banquet shall commence in 53 minutes,” Mitch declared. “And I also know that if you fail to repair to the banquet hall at the appropriate time, then I shall be compelled to inform the king of your delinquent behavior.”

“Yes, Mitch,” Cable replied. Upon hearing that, Mitch dusted himself off, adjusted his clothes, and went on his way.

Neither Andres nor Cable particularly cared for Mitch. He had actually been a soldier for Slumbutter, one of the infamous “black knights” that formerly opposed the reign of King Maximilian. But when the king had triumphantly returned four years ago, Mitch had taken advantage of the king's gracious offer of amnesty. He had been one of the 100 black knights to cast his armor into the moat and join the king's people. The King had taken a liking to him and had asked him to be his personal servant. Mitch had agreed, and he'd been in the castle ever since.

Andres had no idea why his father had taken such a liking to Mitch. He was perpetually grumpy. In fact, Andres had never remembered a single time when he'd been nice. Once, when Mitch had been sleeping, Andres had snuck into his room, taken some ink, and drawn a long line across his chest. When he'd woken up, Mitch cried out, “What has been done?”

To which Andres had replied, “Oh Mitch, I'm afraid that while you were sleeping, a surgeon came in and made a cut and removed your personality!”

Mitch hadn't appreciated that particular prank, and he'd informed the king of his son's impudence. Andres could vividly recall the scolding that he'd received as a result, and he spent the next two days chopping and stacking wood. But all in all, Andres figured that it had been worth it.

As Mitch disappeared down the hallway, Cable turned to Andres and whispered, “Is Remma in our room?”

“Yep,” Andres replied. “We're doomed.”

Just then, the boys heard footsteps coming down the hallway from around the corner. They were the distinct, heavy steps of Skittlechip the royal cook. The boys looked at each other and smiled. Their life was about to get a little bit better, at least in the short term.