James Courtwells couldn’t sit still. He was nervous and it was starting to show. Today he turned seventeen. Today he would make his pledge to King London and Queen Emily. Most importantly, he would make his pledge to all of his people.
James was not excited that he was now seventeen. As a matter of fact, he hated the idea of his year of claiming to begin, for that meant that he would be seeing his mother. His face twisted in hate at the thought of actually seeing her. His mother was a Storyteller, and James felt she had traded him for the life of a Storyteller.
Storytellers normally lived the highest privileged life among the wealthiest of the people. Some of them even had the chance of meeting the royal family. Queen Emily, however, was overprotective of her children and her younger brother Robert. She was known to have killed a man who was related to a Storyteller, simply because he had looked at her youngest daughter.
The reason that a Storyteller was permitted to meet the royal family was that it was their duty to record and share the history of the world. The royal family had been in power since the Decade of Death.
The life of a Storyteller could be dangerous because some people wanted them dead. A Storyteller’s life ended as soon as their mark appeared. The mark of a Storyteller wasn’t like any other mark, it was a pen with beautiful cursive gilt lettering over it. It simply read STORYTELLER. James should have been relieved that his grandmother had hidden his mother’s mark with permanent make-up. If she had not, then James would never have been born.
James took a deep breath as he stepped out onto the stage towards the crowd. He bowed to King London Pséma and Queen Emily Maya. He began to speak his oath.
“I, James Courtwells, from Unit 477, take this oath like my father and my father’s father before him. I pledge to you my king…” James turned as he spoke and stared death in the eyes of the king as he calmly spoke the next words. “That I shall always honor you for ending the Decade of Death. As I do the same for you, Queen Emily.” James knew that altering the words was wrong, that he could be shot within seconds if he said the wrong words, but as James stared at the queen he realized that for almost fifty years people have been telling her the same damn thing. It was time to change that. James stepped forward as he knelt on the floor. “Queen Emily, for years you have been given the same old pledge from every man before me. They have told you, ‘Thank you,’ for something in which you take such pride and love. Instead of repeating the words that have been uttered for years, I tell you today, on my knees, that I, for the first time since the start of the society’s units, say that you, my Queen, are brave, kind, gentle and understanding of limits that no man, simple or noble, is capable of comprehending.” He stopped for a moment before continuing, “My queen, I thank you for being brave when no one else was, and for giving the world something to believe in. I thank you for the life I am soon to lead. I pledge to be as kind and as brave as you and to love my family as you have. I give you the pledge of my life.”
James stared down at the ground, taking in a big gulp of air slowly. He feared that if he moved he would be killed. James swore that he was on the ground for nearly a minute when he heard the clapping and felt the hand on his shoulder. James looked up, instantly in fear that it may be the king or even the queen. But it was not. James’ heart nearly stopped. It was Princess Asha.
She smiled kindly and curtseyed to James. “James Courtwells, as you know, I am now of age for courtship. Or at least I will be within the next hour. Would you please give me the honor of becoming your wife through your year of claiming, and for as long as I live?”
James looked at Princess Asha with shock.” I…” James knew that a woman could present herself to him as a possible wife, but a princess, let alone Princess Asha, the princess the people loved and treasured?
“James Courtwells!” The king’s thunderous voice boomed. “My youngest daughter has just presented herself to you. You DARE to just sit and stare at her?” he said angrily slamming his fist on his throne.
James looked at Asha with a soft smile, “It would be an honor to love, treasure, protect and share a life with you Princess Asha.” He spoke clearly and respectfully to Princess Asha, and she smiled with a glimmer as she offered her hand to James. James took it as he smiled and leaned forward with the intention of kissing Asha’s hand.
BOOM!
Onto the stage stumbled James’ mother. She looked scary and demented and was wearing a red dress. She screamed “Liars, liars! You have lied to us and killed millions of innocent people because they did not have a mark acceptable to the king. You slaughtered children that had not carried the mark of the Society!” James’ mother rushed towards the front of the stage grabbing hold of Princess Asha. Pulling her toward the edge of the stage.
James stood up quickly and rushed toward them both, grabbing hold of Princess Asha’s arm. James looked furiously at his mother. To be honest he was. He had always hated her, and if it was at all possible, he now hated her even more. He wanted to hurt her for what she had done to him. Now here she was after many years of absence. James knew that she had undoubtedly planned to interrupt his oath from the start. “Mother,” James growled out. “You will leave now!” James ordered as he pulled out an army knife and flipped it open.
As soon as he was certain his mother would not relent, James acted. He was almost as quick as an assassin with his swift movements, not allowing harm to the princess in any way. He thrust the blade of the knife into his mother’s side.
James glared at his mother who howled in pain. James felt like he should tell his mother something that would remind her she was still his mother. “Mother,” James said, this time with much agony. “For the past eight years I have lived with a man who seemed to only wish me dead. Where were you, Mother, when he beat me with a pipe? Where were you, Mother, when I was in the Medic Unit for four months? Where were you when the man I used to,” James stuttered out. He shook as if he would shake himself to pieces. “Where were you, Mother, when the man I used to call father almost beat me to death with a steel chair? Where were you, Mother, when I needed you the most?” James shouted with such anger and pain, “You left and replaced me with a new son and a privileged new life! I suffered without you! I needed you and you weren’t there! Now here you are, Mother, FINALLY, after eight years of suffering in pain that you left me with. You are talking like you are some kind of lunatic, which is a crazy thought considering that you are one of the smartest people out of all the Units. Yet here we stand and you are talking as if you were deranged, in front of thousands of people!” he shouted.
“You are also threatening to toss a royal off the stage, who just so happens to be the girl who has presented herself to me,” he added
“Little Jamie, please, you have to understand that you are the only one in the world that can stop them. You have the mark of the Hero. You have ever since you were born. You know the truth in your heart. The only reason why the princess presented herself to you is that they want to control you like everyone else. Think about it, my little knight. You know this in your heart my son. Please, you must believe me.” James’ mother said to him in a soft and loving tone.
“Silence, Mother! Surely you have gone mad!” he said, and in seconds James’ mother yanked the knife from her son’s grip, and then she held the knife up to Princess Asha’s throat.
“She dies. Today!” James’s mother yelled.
“No!” yelled James as he lunged for his mother. They both started wrestling for the knife.
Asha screamed, “WATCH OUT JAMES!” It was too late, James and his mother fell off the edge of the stage, both of them landing with a loud thud. Princess Asha rushed to the edge fearing the worst.
Then quickly down the stairs of the stage and towards James’ side. “James? James?” She asked, obviously frightened. “James, can you hear me? Are you hurt?” Asha asks once more.
James grabbed Asha’s hand which made her tense up at first, but she then relaxed. “My arm,” James manages to mumble out. “I think it is broken.”
Sometime later, a knock on James’ bedroom door startled him from his thoughts of all that had happened that day. “Who is it?” James asks annoyed. “It’s me,” a female voice answered.
“Well, It’s Me, I do not wish for the company now,” James snarled out.
The woman didn’t go away. She opened the door instead. “I thought I told you I didn’t want company,” James practically yells before the door is open all the way.
In the doorway stood Asha with her left arm holding a basket and the other on her waist. She glared at James.
“What do you want Asha? My mother is dead!” James cried out.
Asha looked at James with sympathy. “I know, James, but it was the only way. Please understand that she agreed to die for our cause.”
“Cause? What is the cause?” James shouted.
Asha slowly shook her head at him as she shut the door behind her and sat down on James’ bed. “Is your arm okay?” Asha asks as she points to James’ broken arm.
“You changed the subject!” James shouted. “WHAT CAUSE DID MY MOTHER DIE FOR?”
Asha shook her head. “You really need to stop yelling at me. Here I have brought you something to eat.” Asha set a sandwich down by James’ non-broken arm. “She was right about you. You are the Hero. I am Princess Asha, the beloved youngest daughter of King London and Queen Emily. My mark is of the Peacemaker, Warrior, and Lover. You, James Courtwells, carry the mark of the Hero. The Hero of Humanity. You must learn what every claiming mark is, what it can do, and learn to control them. With the help of the Rebellion Army and myself, we can restore the Society’s true history and principles,” she said.
“Rebellion?” James asked. “What the hell is the rebellion about? Everything is perfect. Besides I know everything about the Society’s history,” he said proudly.
Asha laughed without humor. “No, you don’t James. The world was not always about Society and claiming marks. Everyone was a blank, without marks. No one was killed because they were different. Your mother promised my mother that she would no longer have to sit by father’s side, that she would be free from the monster’s touch.” Asha smiled as she said with such pride, “The Society, my love, it is broken. It is not the way it was meant to be. However, we my love, are the downfall of my father’s perfect Society. Welcome to the Rebellion, my dear Hero.”