Sir Clumsy Chuck's Fortunate Trip
Charles awkwardly straightened his cravat for the umpteenth time. Of course he’d finally achieve his goal of being the target of a royal feast, making his family proud, and it would happen like THIS!
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Prompt from DailyPrompt.com
Charles awkwardly straightened his cravat for the umpteenth time. Of course he’d finally achieve his goal of being the target of a royal feast, making his family proud, and it would happen like this! Forcing him to sit here feeling an utter fraud. It just wasn’t fair!
Years of struggle and training and striving to rise above his nickname of “Clumsy Chuck”, and then…! The universe had a sick sense of humour, it truly did.
He was glad his companions were also present and being celebrated. Even if he felt bad about them being seated below him. But they’d all admonished him never to admit the truth of the Archlich’s defeat for fear of turning a rousing blow against evil into a depressing joke. So here he was, isolated and being cheered for making a fortunate mistake.
“Such amazing fortitude, overcoming the fiend’s mind control without magic of your own!” The king enthused.
Charles forced a smile. “I, er, think it was because everyone was-”
“Aha, the power of true companions!”
“Er, yes. And, well, any combatant can tell you how much harder it is, handling attacks from multiple directions…”
The king and his nobles nodded sagely. And Charles felt better for having downplayed his ‘incredible virtue’ while (hopefully) still leaving a story which could inspire others.
Imagine how they would react to the truth. “Actually, I didn’t manage to fight the Archlich’s control at all. My body was trying to do exactly what he ordered it to - I just tripped on the carpet and dropped his phylactery down the stairs. Thank goodness they weren’t carpeted, and frightfully steep, or else the vial of foul magics inside the locket might not have been broken by bouncing all the way to the bottom.”
No. No, admitting that the carefully assembled team of three kingdoms’ best warriors had been laid helpless and almost died, winning through pure chance, would cast people into greater fear. And nobody believed that whatever forces of evil had raised the Archlich would accept their defeat. More fights would come. People needed hope.
So Charles smiled and nodded and choked down praise for deeds which never happened, and only demurred in ways which felt appropriately heroic.
Then the Dowager Queen suddenly spoke, her voice a reedy wail. “The hungry mist rises! It rises over the land! I, I see eyes above the swamp, I hear a terrible roar…”
The King squeezed her hand. “Mother, you are safe! We are with you. When do you see this happening?”
“I…” Her lips twitched, spittle bubbling from her ragged breaths, her eyes rolled back to show a mess of blood vessels. She whispered “I see a moon. It turns, it turns… Shrinks. Gone! Grows. Shrinks… gone… grows… shrinks… ah! It stops, it - THE EYES!”
She fell into screams and sobs. Her chief maid wrapped a cape around the poor woman’s shaking shoulders and, with aid of a footman, helped her up and guided her away to rest. Leaving the room heavy and silent.
Charles took a deep breath and pitched his voice, carefully calm and pensive, to every corner. “So. Two months from now, evil will rise in the southeast to terrorise the marshes. And we will be ready for it!”
Thankfully his comrades recognised a cue, and thrust their fists upwards with roars of agreement. This shook the frightened crowd loose and grateful cheers knocked dust from the rafters.
“This time, we will not be taken by surprise!” Charles declared, the rest of the team whooping and stomping their feet in a frenzied war-march. “This time, it is evil which won’t know what hit it! They might think they struck a blow against us, but in truth they only made us stronger!”
“Well said! Bravo!” The king shouted, and Charles smiled and inclined his head, finally at ease, for he’d meant every word.
He would find a way to surpass his false achievements, so next time he sat here, he could do so with pride. They would be victorious against whatever foul adversary had been cooked up this time, and that victory would not be down to luck and ‘Clumsy Chuck’! Or so help him…
Prompt was “Someone's clumsiness, one of their biggest insecurities, causes them to accidentally find themselves in a positive situation.”