Chapter 4. Twelve Inches in the Grave
Trent and Gorn grab on to the side of the grassland and pull themselves up on the ground. They start walking to the castle. Trent asks Gorn: "Have you been to this castle before?" Gorn shakes his head and replies: "No, not inside." Trent tells him: "Well we must be sure to keep our weapons sheathed. This King is one who is a good man but he is ALWAYS on edge. We'll be careful and have our gold ready." The sun is starting to set, and the breeze is slowly increasing. The castle appears ahead. There is guards standing by the outside of the castle gates. The men walk up to them and the guards say: "State your business! Do not come any closer!" So the men stop and pull out the bad of gold as Trent says: "We've come to give King Cramshaw an offering." The guards look at each other at a glance and walk up to the men. "Your weapons, on the ground, NOW!" The guards demand. So the men put their weapons down and take a few steps back. The guards quickly confiscate the weapons and then open up the gate. They have one guard in front and one in the back as they lead them through the castle. Once they make it downstairs, the guards point to the cell and tell them: "Get in." Trent quickly rejects and says: "I beg your pardon? A CELL? We have an offering and I am Trent, King Norman's son and-" (Trent gets interrupted by the guard holding the cell door) "Ah this doesn't matter to me, your story will wait. The King is in a meeting and he will not be changing his plans to service YOUR needs. You will wait HERE until he comes!" The guard blurts. So the men get inside of the cell, still holding their bag of gold and the guards shut the cell door and walk upstairs. Gorn looks at Trent, as if he was going to say something but never actually does. Trent looks outside of the cell and says quietly: "This is where Marcus belongs. And, dead or alive."
A long wait passed by. Trent is still standing up, leaning against the cell door, while Gorn is sitting on the floor. Gorn decides to start up a conversation to make the time go by faster (in his hopes.) "Hey I wonder if you've heard all of your father's stories!" Trent looks over and replies: "Oh? A challenge?" Gorn laughs and asks: "Did you know about the time he threw the corrupt trade manufacturers in the water?!" Trent smiles and says: "Yeah! It was before my time but yes." Gorn thinks long and hard... he snaps his fingers and says: "Oh okay what about the time your father made a bet with the horse trader that he could shoot arrows better and he made the target with his first shot and the horse trader made the shot in six tries and got really mad?!" Trent thinks for a moment and says: "Wait, was he the one who was stealing the animal skins from people and selling it back to them? Haha then my dad caught him doing it to my mom or something?" Gorn laughs really loud and answers him saying: "Oh my that was some venture! He went to prison for that. It might've been your mother but I'm not entirely sure of that. I know one thing, no other King would have made a gamble or a challenge before locking up a scoundrel like that! Most kings, if not ALL of them, would just order his knights to kill em' or lock them up. Hey what about the time that creepy man with the beard went around town handing out papers asking if they would help him kill the King? Do you know that story?" Trent loses his smile and quickly shouts out: "Huh?! What?! Pray-tell!" So Gorn clears his throat and tells him the story: "So this man was walking around the castle, oh did I mention he had a long beard? Anyway, he was handing out papers saying 'help me kill the King!' and on it, it had his location. How dumb! Stupid! What a fool, and he went around talking about his so called plan so much that one of the guards on patrol eventually heard about it and they immediately told your father! SO! He simply asked for his looks so he would know what he looked like, and luck would have it for him, no one else knew of anyone with a bigger beard so it was easy to spot him! So your father actually took off his armor, and put on a peasant's clothes and headed outside! He walked by the man with the beard and he told him he wanted to help 'kill the King' with him haha! So then he followed him to the spot written on his paper for the plot to be planned out I guess, and luck would have it, it paid off for that crazy blood mashing father of yours... there was ONE OF HIS OWN GUARDS at the meeting! I couldn't believe it when he told me that! So as soon as the bearded man started saying the plan out loud, your father took his disguise off and knocked the man out, and whistled for a horse guard to carry him off to prison. But that's not all! The funniest part happened next! The guard that was there who was to betray your father tried to tell him that he was only there to see who else would show up! Your father said he believed him, then that guard turned around and your father knocked him out too and had him put in prison as well!" Both men laugh hysterically.
Their bones as well as their spirits are getting more and more weak from the hard floor with the cold air. But, at long last, King Cramshaw arrives! The men both stand up and bow to him with the bag being held up in front. The King speaks: "Men! An offering? Offering you say? What's the meaning of this? Oh... wait a minute now, AHA! Trent! 'Tis you traitor! I need not hear one word from these heathens, hang them in the dungeon at once!" The guards open up the door and grab Trent and Gorn putting their hands behind their back! Trent and Gorn yell while slightly jumping in desperation: "Wait! No please help! That isn't true!" And as soon as they start yelling, the King's son comes in and stares at Trent for a few seconds. He calls out to Trent saying: "Trent? King Norman's son? What is the matter of his death sentence father?!" The King looks at his son while waving his index finger in annoyance shouting: "Boy! He has slain his father! Betrayal! Murder! The devil is in this boy! He should be ashamed to have served such a great man and he had to die in vein!" Trent starts to tear up and yells in the King's son's direction: "No! No I would never do that! I was framed by Marcus you have to believe me! My dad was everything to me!" The King's son is drawn to Trent's story when he sees his tears. He looks at the King and says: "Father, he has to be telling the truth. I would never betray you and neither would he betray his father! He brought offerings, we owe him a chance at the very least!" The King grunts an angry sound. He tells his guards: "Let them go... and give me my gold. We will get to the bottom of this... if you are lying to me... I will place your bones on my stairs as my new railing!" Trent and Gorn are holding their arms where they are sore while nodding their heads in agreement. The King leads them inside of one of his libraries. He pulls out some paper and a quill. He writes something, while the whole room is completely silent... The King holds up the paper and breaks the silence saying: "Here is the deal. You see, I've already collected letters from Marcus before, so I will have them here to make sure it is his handwriting! Now, I'm sending him this letter, asking for the truth. I will wait three sun downs and if I don't get a letter back I will destroy you both with my bare hands! And if you lied to me, same thing! You may stay in my captain's quarters. No weapons allowed, good DAY!" And the men are rushed and hurried away from the library.