King Rory Short Story

Outside the kingdom, Bard cultivates his crops. He works tirelessly to push the trench plow through the dirt until it becomes stuck. He digs the plow out with a shovel from the shed. He discovers a sword in the way. At first, he does not know what to do with the sword. He showed it to his wife and she told him she did not want weapons in her home. She advised him to bring the sword to the king, he would know what to do with it.

On his way to the castle, Bard drops the sword and it scratches the paved road. It opens a portal on the ground, but the portal quickly closes before Bard could enter it. He continues his route to the king’s castle and once he reaches his destination, he stumbles into a guard at the door.

“What is thy business at King Rory’s castle?” the guard asks.

“I am hither with a gift for the king,” Bard replies as he kneels to show the sword in all of its glory.

“Thou may enter, but be quick. The king is most busy!” the guard shouts as he pulls open the doors.

Bard rushes inside and waits in line for his turn to talk to the king.

Night falls and Bard finally reaches the front of the line.

“Quickly, loyal subject, what have you?” the king asks.

“I have a magical sword, for thee.” He hands the king the sword by the handle.

“Sir Lear, dispose of this sword. Toss it in the treasure room.”

“Yes, my lord.”

In a full suit of armor, Sir Lear waddles to the treasure room. He opens the door and throws the sword inside. It lands on a pile of gold.

The next day, another knight enters the treasure room and drops the sword on the floor to make room for more gold. The blade of the sword scratches the floor slightly and a small portal forms. The knight leaves and overnight the portal slowly expands. It sucks in all the treasures of the room. The portal closes before morning.

The next morning, Sir Lear empties his bag of chalices into the treasure room, but when he opens his eyes, he finds a finds almost bare room. The only things in the room were the chalices and the sword.

The king walks down the hall and to the throne room. He spots the door open to the treasure room and peaks through it to find Sir Lear.

Sir Lear smashes and cracks the concrete floor with his armored hands in anger.

“Sir Lear, where is the treasure, the gold, the chalices, the diamonds?!”

“They are gone, my lord.” He stands up and places his hands behind his back in sorrow.

“What doth thou mean gone? Where did it all go?”

“I know not, my lord. I entered the treasure room to dispose of these chalices and upon opening my eyes, I only found this sword and the chalices on the floor.”

“Allow me bid again, where’s the treasure, Sir Lear? Didst thou steal it?”

“Not me, my lord. I found it this way.”

King Rory picks up the sword and points it toward Sir Lear. “Thou art wrong, I shall stabbeth thee for what you’ve done!”

“Thou don’t hast to try this. It wasn’t me and I can prove it.”

“Ay, right. Thou have betrayed me. Thou were mine knight that I trusted with mine life and now I will take yours!” King Rory stabs Sir Lear in the chest with the magical sword. Sir Lear’s blood drips onto the floor.

Anger quickly turns to guilt as he loosens his grip on the sword and it falls to the floor. “This is thy fault.” He throws the sword at the wall and the blade rips open a portal to the past.

He walks up to the portal in awe and peaks through it. He sees the sword being forged by a blacksmith a thousand years ago. He picks up the sword from his time and cannot decide if he should stay in the present and continue to be distraught about his dead loyal knight or go to the past. If he jumps through the portal, he can stop the sword from ever being created or destroy it.

If he destroys the sword, none of the deadly events will ever happen. But if he stays in the present, the sword may wreak havoc on his kingdom. He could not leave his kingdom, but he had to destroy the sword.

He jumped through the portal and snatched the sword once the blacksmith was finished with it. He snapped the blade in half on his knee and the swords and their magic disappeared.

Another portal opened and he returned home. His kingdom was gone, there was no castle, no subjects, no throne, and no treasure room. He was confused. Where had his legacy gone? He thought it could have been the sword, a butterfly effect. But he wasn’t sure. He walked toward the sunset to find another kingdom, in which he could either rule or become a subject.