Chapter 52 - Well Done!

As King Maximilian entered the village gates, all those who were assembled knelt down before him. Every mouth went silent, and every head bowed down to the ground. It wasn’t as though the joy of the occasion disappeared. Rather, the joy was engulfed by the awe of finally being reunited with the one that all of them served. The silence represented a different kind of joy--the joy that goes beyond human expression, the joy that can only be expressed by fear and reverence.

Maximilian smiled as he walked through the silent crowd. First, he walked over to Samek. Grasping him by the shoulder, Maximilian said, “Well done, Samek.”

Without looking up, Samek shook his head. “It’s...it’s not true, O King,” he replied. “When the air became filled with those ghastly, soulless creatures...I was filled with fear. I could do nothing. I was good for nothing. I wanted to just give up, O King. If Andres hadn’t acted, I think I would have been slain right there. I...I can’t believe how quickly I was ready to surrender.”

Maximilian stooped down and gently tilted up Samek’s chin, so that they could look in one another’s eyes. “Samek, don’t be discouraged. Four years ago, I gave you an impossible task. That task was to occupy a village and be prepared to one day hold off an entire army. You fulfilled your task, Samek, and for that I am very grateful. Oh yes, you may have failed for a moment. But I remember your years of faithfulness, Samek. Those years far outweigh a few seconds of stumbling. Thank you, Samek.”

Samek sniffed slightly and appeared to choke up a bit as he replied, “You’re welcome, my lord the king. It was the least I could do for the one who put so much trust in me.”

The king then walked over to Gregorex. He stooped down next to Gregorex and put his arm around the man. “Well done, Gregorex,” he declared.

Gregorex, like Samek before him, couldn’t look up. He simply shook his head and mumbled, “No sir, I didn’t do all that well. You see, O King, my heart...well, it’s been full of anger. The whole time I was in Dor-ko’s prison, I really didn’t think much about you at all. I just wanted to get out and get revenge on Philip. He betrayed me and everyone I care about, O King. And I wanted nothing more than to pay him back. When I saw him lying on the ground back there...I swear that if his mother hadn’t been there, I would have killed him. And the whole time we rode back, my heart was still filled with hatred. So I’m not worth much of anything, O King.”

The king squeezed Gregorex firmly for a moment, then patted him on the back. “I understand your struggle, Gregorex,” he said. “I know what it feels like to be betrayed. But even as you struggled within your heart, you still remained faithful to me. You may have followed me imperfectly, but you did indeed follow me, and I am thankful for that. You are a wrestler, Gregorex--you struggle and you never let go. And even though you may have wanted to kill Philip, you didn’t give in to your emotions, even for a minute. That took a lot of courage and strength, Gregorex. The battles within are far more difficult than the battles without. You have fought the battle within, and today you have won.”

Gregorex then walked over to Philip, whose body was prostrate before the king. Maximilian knelt down next to him and placed his hand on his shoulder. “As for you, Philip,” the king declared, “you have done well also, though not as well as the others. For when you were about to be cast into the pit, you resisted. Something within you decided that it would be better to serve me than to serve the forces of darkness. It took all the courage you had to resist your captors. And Philip, I’ve honored that courage by giving you a second chance. Don’t waste it.”

The king didn’t wait for a reply, but turned instead toward Annala. He walked over to her and gently put his hand on her shoulder. “Oh Annala, I am so proud of you,” the king said. “Well done.”

At those words, Annala sprung up and threw her arms around the king. She held him as tightly as she could before breaking out in sobs and tears. In a few moments the words came spilling out. “O King, it’s not true!” she cried out. “I...I spent four years in that horrible prison. And by the end of it, I was sure you were never coming back. I’d given up, O King. I took pride in being your most loyal subject in the prison, but in the end I doubted you. I doubted you just as much as that wretched Slumbutter himself. I gave up on you, on my father, and even on Gregorex. I’d given up all hope, O King. Yet you came anyway. I...I am not worthy of any kind of reward, my lord.”

As Annala wept on his shoulder, the king just held her and remained silent. As her crying died down, Maximilian softly said, “Annala, don’t despair. Yes, you doubted for a moment. But that doesn’t undo your years of faithfulness. And I will never forget your kindness to my son, when he was cast into the dungeon. You cared for him and told him what he needed to know to escape. That was very brave of you, Annala. If you had been discovered, your life would have been in jeopardy.. But even in the midst of your dark hour of doubt, you didn’t waver in your service. Thank you for looking out for my son, and for never truly giving up.”

Annala looked into the king’s eyes and said, “It is I who should thank you, O King. For you didn’t forget us. We didn’t deserve your attention, yet you came back for us.”

The king smiled as Annala spoke. “I didn’t just come to set you free,” he said. “There is something even greater in store for you and for another young man here!” But without explaining himself, he turned from Annala and walked over to Andres.

As the king approached, Andres, unlike the others, rose to his feet. He ran to his father and embraced him. The king gave his youngest son a firm embrace as he said, “Well done, my son.”

Andres put his head down and replied, “Dad, I really didn’t do anything much. All I did was lead the charge. The white knights--they did all the rest. I probably didn’t fight for more than five minutes. And to be honest, I didn’t even feel like fighting at all. If you hadn’t said anything to me, I probably would have just stayed inside the village and watched.”

Maximilian smiled at his son and replied, “Andres, you’ve discovered something. The key to being a leader isn’t being the greatest or the strongest or the most popular or the most powerful. The key to being a leader and a prince is simply to take the next step. I didn’t tell you to go out there and win the battle. I just asked you to face the enemy and prepare to fight. And that is exactly what you did. You will be a good prince for this land, Andres, because you don’t seek greatness. You simply seek to obey.”

Andres said nothing. The approval of his father meant everything to the 14-year-old boy, but he couldn’t express it in words. So he just listened quietly to the words that he’d remember for the rest of his life.

The king then walked over to Cable. He patted him on the shoulder and said, “Stand up, my son. For you have done well this day.”

Cable obediently came to his feet and hugged his father. He then replied, “I haven’t actually done very well at all, Dad. You see, when it came time to play the trumpet, I...I preferred to just hide and do nothing. I didn’t want to play it at all. I never wanted to look into the mound ever again. i just wanted to run. And to be honest, I almost did.”

“Oh Cable, my son,” replied the king. “It’s true that you had a moment of doubt. But you have the heart of a lion inside of you--a heart that would never let you run. You stuck with the task that was laid before you, and in the end you fulfilled your calling. You completed your mission. You did all that I asked.”

Cable pondered these words a moment, then replied, “But Dad, all I did was play a trumpet. I didn’t lead an army into battle like Andres did.”

Maximilian gently grasped Cable’s face in his hands. Looking him in the eyes, Maximilian said, “Son, I have a question for you. Do you wish to be great in this kingdom? Or do you merely wish for people to think that you are great?”

Cable looked down and replied, “I’m not sure, Dad. I’m not sure what you mean.”

“I mean this, son,” replied Maximilian. “Both you and Andres were called to great tasks this day. Andres was called to a task that everyone could see, while you were called to a task that almost no one could see. But each task was important. I am just as proud of you as I am of Andres. And if you wish to be great, you must continue to be faithful, whether in public or in obscurity.”

Cable nodded and replied, “Thanks, Dad.” And he hugged his father once again. There was nothing quite as encouraging to young Cable as a hug from his father.

Then the king walked over to Remma. The girl still lay fast asleep on the ground. The king picked her up gently in his arms and carried her over to a spot near the village wall, where a young girl remained bowed down before the king. The king stroked his daughter’s hair and said to her, “Remmaline, are you awake?”

Remmaline soon opened her eyes and saw her father. Smiling, she said, “Yes, Daddy.” She didn’t even seem to be surprised to be in her father’s arms. It was like she expected every day to wake up in his embrace.

“Do you know this girl?” the king asked Remmaline as he gestured toward the girl that was kneeling on the ground.

“Kaelanna!” Remmaline gasped. She sprung out of the king’s arms and quickly gave her friend a big hug. But as she did so, she noticed something very different about her. She noticed that her hair, which had been very long, was now very short. “What happened to your hair?” Remmaline gasped.

Kaelanna looked at her friend and replied, “Remma, when I heard that you left the village in the middle of the night to help find Cable, well...well, I thought to myself that you must be the bravest girl I’d ever known. And I thought that I wanted to be just like you. And I didn’t know exactly how to do that, so the first thing I did was to cut my hair so that I would at least look like you. How do you like it?”

Remmaline smiled. “Oh Kaelanna, your the best!” she declared. “These next few months will be so much fun. We can watch our hair grow back together!”

At those words, Kaelanna’s smile faded a bit. “But Remma,” she said, “your father has returned. You’ll go back to your castle, and I shall stay out here in the country.”

Remma turned to her father with a questioning look in her eyes. A smile once again passed across his face as he declared, “Oh, I’ve already taken care of that. For Kaelanna shall come back with us! Her father was such a faithful servant in the dark dungeon of Dor-ko that he shall come and serve us in our home now! And as for Kaelanna’s mother, my servant Ronaldus is setting her free even now.”

The king then turned to the crowd and said, “Now please, everyone, come to your feet! We have a great birthday to celebrate!” And everyone rose and looked to the village gate, to see what he could possibly mean.