Tale of the Week 299: The Emperor and the Child - Winner's Circle

**Alwyn** · December 19, 2021, 02:07 AM

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The Emperor and the Child

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Congratulations to ggggtotalwarrior on winning Tale of the Week 299! All the entries had a strong impact; the winning story of a child of a conquered tribe shows how memories of subjugation can endure and how one person's actions can change the course of history.

If you missed the storyboard you can cread ggggtotalwarrior's winning entry below:

TotW 299: The Emperor and the Child - WINNING SUBMISSION Twenty years it had been since the conquest of his tribe, the day Arik had been adopted by his enemy. Unlike the others, the southerners had taken pity on him, practically a babe crying over the corpses of his mother and father.

Every night Arik would again be visited by the memory of that day. He remembered how the massive man adorned in shining gold leapt from his pale steed and offered his hand in friendship, all while his soldiers continued the slaughter. A circle of men just as imposing and adorned in bright purple cloaks flanked Arik as the man approached. He stood supreme above them all. The Emperor.

From that day forward, the Emperor had taken in Arik as one of his own, a savage boy from the north being fostered in the ways of civilized man. He had been given a good life, the tools to read and write, training in the ways of war from his tutors, foods and wines from all across the Shattered Sea and it’s city-states that the Empire had achieved hegemony over.

Yet, the palace was not his home; Arik never truly felt like a southerner. From the first day he had set foot within its walls he heard the whispers of even the palace’s servants; which slowly gave way to insults as he began to understand the airy, descriptive language that so differed from the one he had heard all of his life. He was seen by many as less than the bastards prior emperors had allowed to live within the palace, while others only used him as evidence their plans for further conquests could civilize the barbarians.

The Emperor himself had never uttered interest in such plans in Arik’s presence. Over the recent years that tall, shining figure covered in the tools of war had given way to a more kindly figure. His salted brown stubble had become a flowing white beard while his muscular frame had shrunken considerably into a hunched, gaunt shape. Despite the circumstances of how they met, he had always been good to Arik, his adopted son.

Yet for all the Emperor’s generosity and for all the gifts he been given over the years, the screams of the women that day in Vesterfield still filled Arik’s skull every moment he still drew breath. The man who had styled himself a father had only been so after killing Arik’s true father. The Emperor, like his sons and heirs before him, deserved to die an unnatural death.

Like every night of the past year, Arik poisoned the Emperor’s chalice with the vials he had first stolen so long ago. He knew there were those who would suspect him when the old man finally died, but he cared little for how his story would end. That man, once so strong and a harbinger of destruction, for all his efforts to absolve himself, would leave a new legacy as the man whose death dismantled an Empire.

Thank you to all who submitted an entry or voted in the poll on behalf of all the WS Staff. This competition would be nothing without everyone who gets a Tale penned, and the quality of submissions was as excellent as ever.

TotW 299: Submission thread | Voting thread

Our current TotW competition is TotW 300: Sparta!
All the details about entering the 300th Tale of the Week competition, including the keywords and rules, can be found by clicking on the link.