Oath of Consolation

Glad you could join us for the next promising episode of Elliot’s Adventures. If you’re new here, you can catch up by returning to the beginning, and reading really fast…

Trapped between the Knights of Service and Madam Duggla’s furry honker friends, the few remaining Marauders came to a quick and sticky end.

King Arnie surveyed the battlefield. How could so brief a skirmish cost so much?

Dozens of brave Knights lay crumpled and lifeless. The King’s Lieutenant called the surviving warriors to fall in, and they stood before King Arnie, triumphant but subdued.

“We who stand to witness this moment,” the King called over the gathering, “first thank our friends who fought so ferociously on our behalf!” Only Duggla the Crone came forward.

“They’re gone, oh great one,” she informed him with glee. “I sent them home.”

King Arnie leveled a probing stare at her, determined to deal with her thinly veiled lower case disrespect at a more appropriate time. He turned to his Knights.

His voice cracking, King Arnie the Former spoke the traditional Oath of Consolation heard now for the first time since Marauders attacked the Kingdom of Bog when he was a young Knight.

Today we lost many good Knights. We will honor them for the sacrifice they made to keep our Kingdom free and safe, by caring for the families they left behind and by renewing our pledge to serve as Knights, protecting and supporting the Kingdom and all its people.

We will mourn our lost brothers and sisters even as we rejoice in our own survival. We will rebuild, repair, and enhance whatever our enemies have tried to take from us.

We will meet aggression with force, but we will meet overtures of peace with compassion and love. We will respect our neighbors’ boundaries and help them in their times of need.

We will remember and honor the promises we make here today until the end of the Kingdom of Bog.

The King’s Lieutenant led the Knight’s response, “So swear we all!”

The air echoed with the Knights’ replies, “So swear we all!”

They began the heavy work of grief by clearing the field of their departed friends.

As he passed from Knight to Knight, sharing his memories and kind words for each of the fallen, King Arnie thought also of his young friends, Elliot and Cassandra, grateful he had sent them away to find a safer place.

~~~

Leaping and hopping in a mad dash to leave the Marauders far behind and deliver a warning to the King, Barry suddenly remembered that the Knights had been headed to the Kingdom of Fen to ask for their help.

What should I do? he puzzled. If I go ta Fen, da enemy will take everyone by surprise. If I go directly ta da King, no one will come ta help us.

The Marauders were catching up.

A dash of orange flashed past his head and shot up toward the trees.

Dat’s it — I need a messenger of my own. “Wait!” Barry yelled after the buzzing splotch. “Wait! I need ta talk ta youse!”

His only hope kept moving. Barry sprang after it.

To be continued…

Previously, on Elliot’s Adventures ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Next time . . .