Popcorn Land (5)
Diplomats and Hotheads Clash at the Narrow
A/N: This is the first major chapter/end of the introduction. Enjoy!
Previously:
‘The Narrow’ - by me, Jacob Cannon, in photoshop
Kai
“Sun’s setting, Leader Kai.”
“Right. Thank you, Marv. I’ll be out in a moment.”
Kai took several deep breaths and held his chest tight. He closed his eyes and whispered,
“You got this. You got this. You can do this. You got this.”
He put on a strange, creepy smile that he always had on when he felt powerful and stepped out of the administration office. In the main school hallway, a thirty kids ranging from twelve to eighteen awaited him in a semi-circle. Behind them, Leaders Horn and Fang awkwardly stood.
“I know I’ve asked a lot of you. And you’ve delivered each time. Today, we meet with a delegation from Oenus. We will declare our independence once more, and perhaps open trade lanes. I know many of you have been quite hungry as of late. I want to fix this. I have and always will want Popcorn Land and all who live here to thrive.”
“What do we have to trade?” One of the kids asked. The boy next to her gave her a small shove and a death stare.
“I’m glad you asked. I’ve had the Thinkers working on this one for a while. Horn, would you please..?”
Horn sighed and pulled a key out of his pocket. He opened a classroom and pulled out an older man, maybe early fifties, tied up and gagged, bruised and bloody. He squirmed on the floor as the semi-circle turned into two lines on either side of the old man.
“This is Rustan Cassaway. He came to visit during family day back when there was still… Back before our rule. Rustan will garner us a proper ransom. He oversaw three beet farms, twenty-nine cows and the country’s largest well. He’s good with numbers. They’ll want him back.”
There was light chattering amongst the crowd, but Kai quickly pulled the attention back.
“Great. Let’s get going, then. The crossbows are already in position. If everything goes right, no blood will be drawn today.”
Horn picked up Rustan and threw him over his broad shoulder. The old man was struggling to shout with the towel tied around his mouth and head. They walked out in a clump, leaders in the middle, and began the short trek to the Narrow.
The group of six representatives from Oenus were already there, waiting at the arranged spot. It felt like thousands of the night sky’s stars were watching this meeting.
“Greetings. I am Sir Wiley. We’ve come to represent the interests of our country, as requested in your… note.”
Kai tried to hide his bewilderment. He noticed among the half-dozen men, one far younger than the others. This man stood right behind Sir Matthis, who was gritting his teeth and turning redder as the conversation continued. The young man could have been mistaken for a citizen of Popcorn Land if Kai didn’t know better.
“I am Kai. One of the Leaders Three. Thank you for meeting us here today. We offer you a gift as a sign of our gratitude. Horn stepped out from the group and placed Rusten Casaway on the ground, untying him and removing his muzzle.
“My daughters, where are my daughters!?” His voice was raspy and desperate. The group of knights from Oenus were shocked beyond belief.
“Rusten…” Wiley said. He helped the broken man up and another knight held his weight.
“Since when do you keep prisoners?” Sir Leo Matthis uttered in his sharp, gruff voice.
“We, uh well—” Kai found himself caught off guard once again. “There’s been a regime change. We’re trying to do better.”
“This is better?” Matthis started walking up toward the cocky kid, causing two Popcorn land guards to step up.
“Enough.” Sir Wiley commanded to no avail. Matthis stopped moving but he didn’t stop speaking.
“You murder parents in front of their kids. You start shooting at messengers. At doctors, scribes… We built this place. We built you.”
“You did, Matthis, or your wife? And your kids are doing just fine without you. We all are. I hear Sadie’s even getting married soon. ”
Leo would have jumped forward and ripped the kid’s eyes out if Sir Wiley and two of his men hadn’t used everything in their physical power to hold the man back.
“Enough!” Wiley looked into the angry father’s eyes and begged. Matthis took a deep breath and calmed himself. “Thank you for your gift. We appreciate that his head and body are still in one piece. What is it exactly that you want from us at this time?”
“It’s a request, really.” Kai turned his attention toward young Donn who had been doing everything he could to fade into the background. “We ask to host you for a night. Or two, if you wish. We want to show you everything we built. Everything we could accomplish if we work together. As allies.”
“You want to hold us prisoner?” Matthis said, a bit more calmly.
“Not all of you, and no. You.” He pointed to Donn. “And he’d be our honored guest. We swear to you, no harm will come to him. For now, that is our only request.”
Wiley looked around at everyone and sighed. Donn looked utterly disgusted until he caught Sir Matthis’ eye contact. He put down his head.
“I, uh… Yeah. I’ll stay the night. But I’m keeping my weapons.”
“You won’t regret it.”
“He better return in one piece, not a single hair harmed on his body, do you understand?” Matthis looked down at the nineteen year old piece of shit he had to deal with.
“Of course. Well, that’s everything on our agenda.” Kai and the folks of Popcorn Land prepared to leave.
“Hold your horses.” Sir Wiley croaked. “Lady Feirwell has a message for you.”
Kai let the wind flow over them all as the old knight relayed the message.
“We accept your terms on the condition that within the next five days, you return the youngest of your kids to their families. The ones under fourteen.”
“We don’t trade kids.” Fang defiantly jumped in. “We’d never condemn them back to your torturous hands.”
“Because your hands are so clean.” Matthis replied. Fang sneered at him and he sneered back.
“Twelve.” Kai’s voice once again caught their attention. The veins in Leo’s forehead looked ready to bust.
“Twelve?” Sir Wiley asked. It seemed he wasn’t sure if he was more afraid of the Popcorn Land army or Matthis, but he held his ground nonetheless.
“Kids under the age of twelve. We’ll return thirty of our youngest children. Anything more than that would be obscene.”
“I wasn’t finished.” Sir Wiley, surprisingly, sounded quite confident as he recited the rest of the message. “Within five days, you WILL return all the children fourteen and under. Or Lady Feirwell will have the River Folk come through here and do it themselves. She’s already paid them. And we take prisoners. We want you to live with what you’ve done. That is the final and only offer. Good night.”
The five knights and a crippled Rusten walked back down the windy switchback to get to their horses. All the kids began to panic, even the older ones. Kai was ready to panic. It was Fang who calmed them down.
“The River Folk? Are you kidding me? We are Popcorn Land. We have the Narrow. We have the numbers. We have five days to unite and train. We hold our ground here, they’ll have no choice but to heed our commands.”
“Right.” Kai responded, still breathing heavily. “Fang is… Fang is right.” He stumbled around a bit and looked like he was going to pass out. Horn held him up. “I’m good, I’m good. Is that… Is that Marv?"
Everyone’s attention turned to a group of Kai’s soldiers dragging three tied up kids on a tarp.
“Found these ones trying to escape during curfew.”
Kai couldn’t believe his eyes. Writhing and screaming just like Rusten long ago, were Kellen Matthis, Ro Cassaway and Spider-Daniel. Kai felt a surge of energy rush through him and his smile returned.
“Well now this. This is… Marv, go tell the Thinkers that there’s something new to think about.”
“What is it, Leader Kai?”
“This, Marv.” He pointed to their new prisoners. “Fuck’s sake. Tell them about this.”