The Tale of Two Kings

By Nandipa Mpofu

My eyes open slowly, but I hear no sound. Why can I no longer hear the screams of a thousand people? What has happened to me? Where is everyone? Why am I here? I start to feel a terrible, severe pain. All I can see are images of dead bodies covered in crimson blood. Suddenly, my eyes become blurry and all I can see is heaps of bodies scattered all over the floor. Why has this happened?

King Charles

King George

Life has changed a lot since King George came into power. The happiness, that once swept the villages, is no longer there. He uses the villagers as slaves. From the moment we wake up, we have to worship him and do everything he says, which we really don’t want to do. Every day on top of a hill, I see the knights training along with King Charles, who is from a neighbouring kingdom. These knights are getting ready to battle King George for our freedom and this is everyone’s last hope. As I stand there, gazing up at the hill, thinking, how can I not help this lovely man, who is fighting for us? Without hesitation, I walk up the hill and ask, “Can I join your cause?”

A few days later, after hours and hours of training with other knights, King Charles approaches proudly. I just knew that this was the moment we had been waiting for. He explains that we are ready to face the tough battle and we will defeat the terrible brutal and wealthy King George.

That night, I could not sleep a wink and all I could think about was the battle and how it was going to work out. The night was long and I don’t think I even slept for an hour. In the morning, I woke up and changed into my armour. I had a choice of two weapons and a shield. I chose a mace as it has a blunt heavy head. The spikes on the mace could penetrate the enemy’s armour. I also chose a sword. A sword can kill people easily and has a blade, which can pierce through people’s skin. The others in our army chose really deadly weapons. As my heart starts to pump really fast, I question, who will win and who will lose?

It was a mild, spring morning and the dew on the grass was starting to disappear, due to the sunlight appearing over the hill. Under my armour, I could feel the sweat slowly rolling down my face. I hold the mace tightly, my hand starts to go numb. I thought to myself, have I made the right decision? As the two armies face each other, nobody spoke. Both King George and King Charles look into each other’s eyes deeply. Our army was on top of the hill, which I think gives us a slight advantage. I knew that in order to get our happy lives again, we had to fight to the death. As we waited, King Charles shouts, “Attack! “From this moment on, I knew everything was going to change.