Tokus Numas by D.W. Rigsby Read Free Book Online Page A

squinted. Petro stood and could see the gears turning in his head, and he was sure to find out soon what Sid was thinking. It was a surprise to Petro when Sid’s scowl was replaced by a radiant smile. “Petro—tonight is your last night,” he said. “I think we should give you a gift, to say thank you for all the chores you did while I was away training, of all the days of washing dishes when one of the servants fell ill, of all the days of labor you gave to our kingdom.” He turned to his two friends. “What do you say? Let’s give him a hand.” Sid clapped his hands together, slow and hard, and he sped it up. The two boys joined in, and then Petro sidestepped just before Sid rushed him, sending his prince over the bench and onto the ground. Sid emerged quickly. Petro was surprised by how he had predicted Sid’s movement before it ever happened, and then he remembered—he had seen it in an instant, when the flash of light came and his head hurt.
    “You’ll pay for that,” Sid said as he came at Petro again. This time he swung wild and nearly caught Petro on the chin. He missed just barely as Petro darted backward. His swing took him off-balance once more, and Sid found himself on the ground, this time in a bed of rocks.
    The two other young royals chuckled.
    Sid’s eyes narrowed. “Grab him,” he said. He took a rock off the ground as he got up.
    Petro summed up the two bigger boys, who were near his size. There wasn’t much for him to do, so he waited for the inevitable. There was a voice inside him now, and it said this would only disappoint King Amerstall.
    “I’m a prince, not your do boy,” Prince Shelk said and stood with his arms crossed. Keal didn’t say a word and grabbed Petro by the arm.
    Sid held the rock in his hand, tossed it up into the air, and caught it. He closed his fingers around the edges, allowing one part to be exposed; then he brought it up and smashed it against Petro’s cheek, and a trickle of blood instantly fell to the ground. “You think you’re better than us, don’t you?”
    Petro winced. He tried to keep focus, but his eyes wanted to shut from the pain that stabbed at them.
    “Tomorrow you’re gone, and no one here will care, especially my father—he’ll be glad to have finally gotten rid of you.” Sid dropped the rock and attempted to spit into Petro’s face. He missed his target, being shorter, and got Petro mostly on his neck.
    Petro wiped the spit off. “You’ve been saying that same thing for years. It’s gone cold. Think of something else to say; that one makes you sound too much like a commoner.”
    Sid stewed. His lips turned inward, and his cheeks drew in, and then he punched Petro in the stomach—an easier target for him at his height.
    Petro groaned but forced himself to straighten back up. He took another gut-wrenching punch from Sid, bent forward, and rolled Keal over, sending him to the ground. He darted through the boys, and off into a sprint he went as fast as he could. Sid was yelling, and he glanced over his shoulders to see that the young royals had stopped following.
    Petro ventured out farther into the garden to a dense area where he would not be disturbed. He squeezed through the bushes and found a bare spot on the ground under the short canopy. The pain in his cheek increased when he touched it. He felt blood, and then he unconsciously ran his finger into the dirt, pulled some of it up, and then brought the dirt to his wound and rubbed it into the cut. He sighed and thought about what Sid had said—that King Amerstall was glad to be rid of him. His shoulders slumped forward, and his head hung low.

The Unified Kingship was created for all the kingdoms of the realm. We hold a great deal of responsibility to the kingdoms of Spearca, and may the Great Eyes forever be used impartially, and never allow one to gain favor over another.
     
    —From Unified Kingship’s Governance Doctrine , by the Unified Kingship
     
    T he Father and his two