//------------------------------//
// 54 - It's Treason, Then 
// Story: Age of Kings 
// by A bag of plums 
//------------------------------//

Moon Tide tapped her foot on the dark, straw strewn floor of the dungeons. She had not been here in a long time, and to her enhanced senses, the smell was most offensive. A rat scuttled along the edge of the cell and squeezed out through the bars. No such luck for her, unfortunately.

Two guards stood at the entrance to the dungeons. They looked rather bored. The other prisoners, on the other hand, were anything but. 

There was a bearded man in rags in the cell on her right who Moon Tide remembered to be some kind of freedom fighter from Docklin, who had tried to kill a travelling caravan from Canterlot. He was muttering to himself with his back to her. In a further cell was a witch. Moon Tide remember her arrest as well, as she had given the paralysis poison to the knight who had taken her down. There were also a couple of cells with the druids and their mercenaries in them, awaiting trial for trying to overthrow Canterlot.

Moon Tide sighed and sat down on the straw mattress that dominated a corner of her cell. She did not expect to be here for very long, only for a day or two at most. Still, the dungeons smelled. Not just from the dirt and muck from the prisoners, but also from all the negative feeling associated with this place. This was no place for a civilized person to stay for very long.

Close to dawn, the queen had gotten the guards to haul her to this cell she was now in, using the king’s name as the authority to send her here. The story that they were to use was that the king was upset that she would tell such “lies” about Morn being his son, and so in his kingly rage, he placed her here, never to see the light again.

The queen had made sure she got the best possible cell, but even so, these were places even a peasant wouldn’t want to spend his days.

It was dreadfully boring in here. She didn’t have her usual table of alchemy to even mix ingredients for the fun of it. Actually, there wasn’t anything for her to do at all. 

“Bored, bored, bored...” Moon Tide mumbled. While she knew it was all part of the plan, she wished she had something to do, like play dice with herself or something. Queen Sunlight and the muses would be doing their part up above, getting Sir Morn to just the right degree of angry. Everything else, however, would be up to him. 

The guards were talking, and Moon Tide cocked her head to hear better.

“Listen, Boots,” a tall guard with pale blue skin was saying to his partner. “I’m a king’s man through and through, but what do you say about these rumors that the Knight of the Round Table, Sir Morn Dread, is actually the king’s son?”

Boots looked at the first guard and sighed. “I dunno, Slate. But he must be right furious if he’s throwing his own sister down here. I mean, she’s the most helpful mage in the kingdom! A right regular healer, she is. Throwing her down here is going to hurt people in the long run.”

“King reckons she’s harmful to his image,” Slate said.

Boots gasped. “Harmful? Moon Tide’s the exact opposite of harmful. Why, she helped me with my sore throat last month, you know, when I was up for being bell-man?”

“Dunno, Boots. But the king says take her down here, so down here we takes her.”

“Throwing her down here… It must be a lie that the king hopes to put out. But why would she do it? Now of all times, when the king is being pressured.”

“But like you said, Moon Tide will not tell no lies. She’s a helper person.”

Both of them looked towards her, then turned back to face the entrance and talk amongst themselves. Moon Tide didn’t bother to listen in on the rest, but as she sat there wondering what time it was, she began to hear a shuffle of greaves trodding down the steps, followed by a very familiar smell. One of love that she knew all too well.

“Out of the way, I must see my mother!” Morn’s voice came before the knight himself appeared beyond the cell’s bars. “Mother! How do you fare?”

Moon Tide smirked in the shadows and away from her son before turning to him and scuttling to the bars, putting on her distressed face. “Oh, Morn, tis dreadful in here. The king, my own brother, he has thrown me in here for telling you the truth. I do not like it in here at all.”

“I thought the queen said she would keep you from being put in the dungeons!” Morn exclaimed. “Hold on, I will get you out!” The knight grabbed the bars with his gauntleted hands and pulled. While at first there was no effect, after a few seconds, the hinges on the door began to creak and groan.

“S-Sir knight, you are not to do that!” Boots ran forward, his spear pointed between the ceiling and Morn, unsure about pointing it directly at the knight.

“Morn, please, do not make this worse.” Moon Tide reached a hand out and placed it over his armored fingers. “It would only anger the king more if I escape the dungeons.”

“I cannot let you sit in the dungeons for this false accusation!” Morn smashed a fist against the cell doors, putting a dent in it and shaking dust from the ceiling.

The two guards stood behind him, looking at each other, still unsure of what to do.

“Well, she’s not sitting, she’s standing,” A lazy drawl came from the dungeon entrance. Aria Blaze walked down the final few steps and crossed her arms, watching the whole scene. “We’ve been to see the king, but he isn’t changing his mind. Even the queen cannot make him rethink things.”

“Rest assured, mother, I will get you out. I promise you that.” Morn reached in and put an arm around his mother. “I will not let any harm come to you.”

“I know, Morn.” Moon Tide closed her eyes and smiled. “I love you, son. I know you will do what it takes to free me.”

“You know, the king wants to put you down here too,” Aria said to Morn, while taking a honey nut treat from her pouch and nibbling on it. “Just thought you should know that.”

Fire seemed to burn in Morn’s eyes, his pupils narrowing. “Mother, I shall go talk to the king. This madness must end here. I will not sit by and let him throw me in the dungeon as well, at least not before I get you out. And I will get you out, mother.”

Moon Tide accepted one more hug from her son before he stomped off, barging past the two guards again, while Aria stood by the side, a small smile on the corner of her mouth.

“He seems to be agitated,” the siren whispered to Moon Tide, taking out another nut. “Do you think it worked?”

“I think so. Now all that’s needed is a little bit of magical input. Get upstairs, Aria, and make sure the king is in a fighting mood.”



“Move! I must speak to the king!” Sir Morn Dread pushed the guard aside and then thrust open the large doors leading to the throne room.

The large slam immediately drew the king and queen’s attention, along with the six guards in the room.

“Sir Morn Dread, I have not summoned you.” King Dawn Saber tapped a finger on Excalibur’s pommel. “I take it you wish to join my liar of a sister in the dungeons?”

Beside the throne, the three muses closed their eyes and began to sing, the amulets around their necks glittering. It was a soft song, but it had a haunting melody that seemed to seep into one’s bones. The king seemed to sense this too, as his brow furrowed and his stood up with a frown on his face.

“It is you who should be in the dungeons!” Sir Morn spat. “You are a coward and a liar yourself! Now release my mother from the dungeons or else!”

The queen, who had been standing by her throne next to the muses, took a surreptitious step away. 

“Bloody…” Dawn Saber drew Excalibur from its sheath. “I am your king! I am ruler of Canterlot. You are but a knight under me. A knight, who now will now lose his title should he dare continue his aggravation against me. You do not talk to your king this way.”

“You are my father.” Morn balled his fists. “A father is supposed to love his son. You have done nothing of the sort. I thought you as a fair and just king until you showed me your true colors. And you would even throw your own sister in the dungeons? What else would you do to keep your power? You used to burn like a bright bonfire for all to follow, but now you are but a smoldering bundle of sticks!”

Unseen by Sir Morn or Dawn Saber, a faint smile crept onto Queen Sunlight’s face, just before she raised both hands to cover her mouth, as if in shock. 

“As king, I will not have to listen to your ridiculous reasoning. Guards, escort the man to the dungeons.”

“This is no way you should treat your family!” Morn yelled as the six guards approached him, their spears raised. “Have you no love for us?”

“You have dared to assume that I have slept with my own sister and conceived a child with her! Even now, I would not want to consider you my nephew. You have dishonored Canterlot and you should be in the dungeons for eternity.”

“I trust my mother, because I love her. Which is not what I can say about my father.” Morn felt a burning sensation radiate inside him, now beginning to cloud his vision with red. The king would only care about himself and his image instead of his own family. A man like that was not fit to rule Canterlot. “You should no longer be king! How can you rule justly if you cannot even accept your own son?”

“To the dungeons with him!” Dawn Saber flicked a hand forward. “I will not hear anymore of what he has to say!”

The guards approached Morn, but he was having no more of this. A wicked king should not be leader of his land.

“No longer will I stay idle.” Morn drew Clarent from his scabbard and slashed in an arc, cutting three of the guards’ spearheads off. “You will protect this betrayer of a man?”

With a straight kick, he launched another guard across the room, his armor scratching against the stone floor, creating sparks, before he slid to a stop against the wall.

Turning his sword to its side, he whacked aside the rest of the guards as they came at him, trying to subdue him. None of them were a match for a Knight of the Round Table.

“Guards! Guards!” Dawn Saber yelled, trying to call for more reinforcements from outside the throne room.

“No more help shall come to you, your majesty.” Morn ran as he gathered his strength in his legs and with a powerful kick, he launched himself into the air, towards King Dawn Saber, who had Excalibur pointed out at him.

And that was when a blast of light shot out from the king’s sword, streaking right for him. The knight lifted Clarent to guard against the ranged attack, but it easily tore right through his blade, shattering it in an instant.

Curling his body, Morn was able to narrowly avoid the beam, which seared off part of his chest and right arm armor, but as Clarent shattered, pieces of it blasted across the room, three shards lancing across his face. Morn’s vision was gone in that instant, his eyes slashed out by the shards, and unable to see, he fell and rolled on the floor, stopping beside the king’s platform. Pain coursed through his face, making him unable to concentrate on his surroundings.

“My love…” he heard Dawn Saber croak. “Th-the guards… you must… call them...”

He was likely drained after firing that bolt of lightning from his sword. Morn could also hear the thunder of boots behind him, likely the reinforcements Dawn Saber had called for earlier.

“K-Kill this… traitor…” Morn heard the order given.

But Sunlight Radiance said nothing. In fact, it was eerily quiet, for the muses had stopped singing.

Morn breathed in, taking in the scent of everything in the room. He could feel the king’s anger towards him like the day before, the smell putting that hot taste in his mouth again, but there was something else coming from the queen, who he could place beside the king. She smelt almost… intrigued.

And then he picked up the smell of the guards around him. There were two, likely the ones who stood by the doors when he barged in. They smelt of confusion, but at the same time, Morn could smell that they would not defy the king.

And then almost like he could see with his nose, he felt one of the spears coming towards him and he rolled away, slashing what remained of Clarent upwards, feeling his broken blade cleave through the spear’s wooden shaft.

And then he spun around, punching at the knee of the second guard, earning his yell of pain, and as he fell forward, Morn planted his fist under his jaw, followed by two to the first guard’s chest, his fists putting dents in the man’s armor.

With a deafening bellow, Morn raised his broken blade above his head and charged at where Dawn Saber was. In his mind’s eye, the king was already back on his feet and taking aim with Excalibur once more. Morn knew he could not afford to be struck with the sword’s attack again.
 
Morn blinked away some drops of blood from his vision. Then in that split second, he realized that somehow, his eyes were working again. His vision was blurry and unfocused, but he could still see well enough to make out the sight of a bolt of golden energy flashing toward him. In that moment, Morn made a decision. He took up one of the guards’ helmets and threw it at the oncoming blast of golden light. The king’s attack struck the helmet and seared it into ash, but it only consumed it, and did not travel any further. It seems he was too weak to fire off another high-powered shot.

Morn arrived before the weakened king, knocking Excalibur from his grasp with a smack, before hauling him up by the armor straps. “This is the king I serve? I will no longer serve you. Canterlot deserves better. You are but a selfish man, sitting on your throne of lies, fooling everyone of us into thinking you are a benevolent king. No longer does your concealment work against me.”

“S-Sun… light… my love… help me…” he turned to the queen and coughed.

With a growl, Morn threw him back against the throne, knocking it over, the king’s crown spinning into the corner. The knight felt a prickle in his gums as he approached the king, his vision now almost fully returned to normal. Something emerged from them, pushing past his other teeth as he lifted Dawn Saber again, looking into his weak eyes with contempt.

“Look at you now...” Morn sneered at him. “You care about your image, do you not? Do you care about it more than your life?”

“What… do you want…? You want… me to acknowledge… you?”

Morn threw him back against the toppled throne. “I have always wanted to know my father, to have him be proud of me like my mother is. Someone to inspire and me like she does. That is what I wanted of you, my king. All I wanted was you to recognize me as your son. But no, that was what I wanted. I no longer wish for that anymore. Now all I want… Is to see you burn. I will lead Canterlot better than you ever could. I will bring order to your fallen kingdom. Tis because of you that we are in the state we are now. Tis time for a change, your majesty. I want you to beg. Beg for your life. Which is more important, king? Your reputation or your life?”

The queen had moved to the side to join the muses, but they didn’t do anything to try and interfere.

Morn walked over and picked up Excalibur, immediately sensing something within it.

Power.

Just holding on to it made Morn feel like he could accomplish anything if he set his mind to it. Energy coursed through the weapon, almost like it was actually a living thing. And a weak man like Dawn Saber was the keeper of such power? Morn laughed. He didn’t deserve it, just like he didn’t deserve his kingdom. Now he, Sir Morn, he deserved it. He could be king. He would be king. Dawn Saber was responsible for all this. It was because of him that there was so much discord, so much… chaos. Morn knew he could be the one to bring order out of this. He would bring order to the world. Never again would a father disown his son like this if he were in charge.

As Morn was staring into the golden blade of the king’s sword, there came a thundering sound as all the Knights of the Round Table burst into the room, weapons drawn, including his beloved Lady Emerald Edge. Each of them had disbelief scrawled all over their faces. Behind them followed a troop of guards and other knights, all here to heed the call of their king.

“Sir Morn, what are you doing?” Sir Trotivere lifted the visor of his helmet. “What have you done to his majesty?”

Morn, with some effort, tore his eyes from the golden sword in his hands and returned his attention to the king.

“Morn, no. You cannot do this.” Emerald ran a few steps forward, stopping as Morn flipped back to face her. “Please, this is no way to do this.”

“You know what this man has done to me, my lady. Do you know what he has done to my mother? He does not care for anything but himself. He deserves to be shown his place. And I will be the one to do it!” 

Morn flourished Excalibur and aimed it at the fallen king.

“No!” Sir Ganeighn shouted as he attempted to rush the throne. There was an immense blast of blinding light and a powerful shockwave that knocked over furniture and people alike.