28.12.22

Sydon and the Henleys

 The king has fallen, a great battle lost to those who were jealous of the power that the sire held, it was dark times not one of the many people were happy with what had happened while they were surely at the mercy of it all, the war was ferocious guns on all sides some fighting for the King to prevent the fall of  their rein while others fought for money as the visionary they thought was working for a better world fed them nothing but bile filled lies, between those who were good and those who are vengeful and greedy the only to survive would be that of the greedy, to their own demise towards a world they were led to believe would be better but in fact the opposite would be true.


The two sides were ultimately right in both of their actions but only one side had the hind sight of what the future could hold, the king and queen were both good and noble they wanted prosperity for their kingdom and the lands that made up their world, it was a different world today, today you would see a dystopia of ash and ruin. All former grandeur dismantled, left to rust, and ruin, the joys that the people once had privilege to gone and forgotten. Museum artifacts of what was now stood as the last monuments to a world of joy turned to pain and hardship.  However, to what caused this is widely known but the people of this nation had no say of how to find peace, the perpetrators of this were vicious and venomous. The last of the royal line from the sire was still alive but hidden from the world in a way that no one but the royals themselves could know. The vicious ruler Casein was such a tyrant, consumed by greed, wealth and anything that could be obtained in only the way a ruler would wish, ultimate control.  


A simple carriage driver would pull his pouch of coins from his pocket to count what was left from the crumbs of his work, he would find one coin and a handful of buttons, that is what it had come to, the people would pay each other in buttons because having any coins would make on wealthy but fear of losing their own money would mean at all costs they would avoid paying for anything with it, often bartering for clothing, lying, stealing from one another the whole time Casein would collect any coins he would know about, if in the right mood would allow his servants, more like slaves to keep a penny or two for themselves giving them incentive to get more, often taking from the poor, gullible and naive of the kingdom. A poor beggar woman would sit on the street in tears her belly so empty that she was nothing more than a skeleton of which most would ignore since their own pain would be just as great, the people were not strong enough to fight for what they really believed was right, fair or how they wished they had never in their wildest memories given into Casein, for he never cared if they were to starve or beg or peal for relief, Casein care for one thing, more, to own everything, to not share and to not think. The only relief was the daily show, the gallows, each day the wardens would patrol the streets for just one more person, that poor beggar woman, they took her like they had taken her family, lifting from under the arms, forcing her to walk to her own demise, there was nothing she could do even if she had a last hope to do it, too weak, too hungry, in some ways she would pray for the release of torment that was her life, no family for they had gone before her.


Long ago, she was a fit woman with family, friends, she used to run the local bakery, happy, joyful with all that she could do, she did it well, this was while the King and his rule was still in power, the only irk that the people would have is that they wanted progress where progress wasn't much more then entertainment needs, the world used to be good, healthy, people were strong and needed not more then there was to give, it was a happy nation with all the prosperity that one could want or imagine possible, the woman herself was respected and loved in the deepest sense of the meaning of being loves, there were no tears to be shed for having not but water. If only the people had realized that their perils were materialistic, as for now, they were of need. Not superficial need, but actual lustre for need of the simplest of things such as shelter, food, water, clean garments. Of course one would be forgiven to think that this was brought on by their own doing, but could you in clear conscience let one starve to the point that a person could not walk for their muscles were that under nourished that the simple act of standing up would be impossible.


The King and Queen were a long lived dynasty of people, they were wealthy but not greedy, their family released thousands of years before the conflict that to have a healthy nation they needed to share their own wealth, the people knew their monarchs to the greatest extent that could be known, until the last living Sire on the throne of the kingdom separated himself and his family, his father had tried to tell the King the importance of keeping well known and liked, but to this it was ignored, the King believed himself better than his father, more intelligent, more righteous but also with greater naivety then his father, alienating his people to some degree, the monarch was not that of being in the right place at the right time, it was one of which the people themselves chose their leaders, alas through the passage of time this was lost the King arrogant but pleasant, the Queen softer but supportive of her husband ultimately lead to their own destruction and the destruction of their world. Not like they would have actively been greedy but by casting their people aside like a second race of beings creating a great amount of respect in some but animosity among the others, this is how Casein seceded in winning control of the people. Casein had always been bitter of the Royals much like his family had been, with eyes only for wealth and power, but did pay attention to how the monarch had gained power to begin with, the shear act of mimicry of the Kings father would be enough to win the favour of the people.


This is how it all began, the jester became the new power, and the old destroyed all but the two sons of the King, though it widely believed that they had perished with their mother and father, for how could two babies survive the serge on the palace. Taken they were to the archway, the gateway between the two worlds by their mother’s cousin, the people had no idea and nor would Casein ever discover this cover up, the only safety left to the royals and their succession of their family would have the children taken before the great fight that would finish the king and his wife. To young were the boys to even speak, while the two boys themselves were the reason for the battle Casein pushed the public to revolt before the next generation could take power over their world, it was a rush, their aunt and uncle in great fear under cover of disguise took the boys to the archway in the dead of night the day before the battle would begin.


The other side of the archway would be a wooden land they knew not more then it a way to get away from their own world, many would travel the archway to escape prison, the death punishment or to find those who had already went through. Up a short path beyond the archway from the wood was a small town named Little Cannock.


The towns folk of little Cannock were simple if humble people, just an ordinary little Welsh town stepped in history, tradition, legends of dragons and more to the point could play rugby and sing like they were the only two worthwhile things to be going on with. Always walking a little to close to the clearing by the edge of the trees, they all had decided in the small town of little Cannock not to go into the nearby woods, because strange things would often happen inside, this had gone on for centuries, to the point that the folklore and myth had built up enough that should anyone venture into the woods, no one was ever sure if anyone had ever came back.

Kids would often dare each other to go into the woods as some sort of challenge to see if the rumors were true or not, but the reality is. That they were, about twice every decade someone would vanish, whether young or old, often dog walkers who had decided that the woods were an ideal place to take their canine companions for a nice long scenic walk. Most of them new to the area or had dubbed the rumors as nothing more than superstitious none sense, much like the witch hunts any centuries before, which by a matter of fact no one then had dis proven then either, just the matter that events themselves had ceased to occur.

Mrs Henley was a kind and thoughtful woman in contrast to her aggressive argumentative husband David, it was a wonder how the two had ended up married, most of the locals and neighbours simply assumed that they counter balanced each other and she might have been the only one who saw his softer side, which by all accounts from herself and the children all four seemed to greatly agree, bar when Mrs Henley was out of sight and earshot when Mr Henley was left alone with the twins and the other two children Richard and Julia took great pride in watching their father torment the twins, out of spite or jealousy one really couldn't be entirely sure.

The day was sparse where the weather was a crisp dry heat, one of those mornings that you wake up and wonder if it's midday, the triples were working early on the walking man rig a giant walking iron puppet that is designed to harvest the fields one of thousands in the nation on of Sydon.

It was a cold start with a bit of a frost on this winter Thursday morning. The mother was booking a table at the local restaurant just the day before going to the cinema. Talking on the phone to all her friends including her mother, finding out that one of the grandchildren of one of the friends is pregnant for the first time.

The Henleys and the twins.

As evolution and folklore would have it ever perfect and ever-changing time is a fragmented change generation by generation, only pausing in time by time to end one line whereas to allow another to continue. Three girls playing on the farm nearby the woods at the edge of the town playing with sticks like swords, unlike other little girls these three didn't have a love for pink or dolls or cleaning, they loved to be muddy little squirts playing with frogs, pretending to be pirates also often enjoying being capped in mud while knee deep in grime, if one were to only watch from a distance you would be forgiven for thinking that they were boys, but not in this world of Sydon. Where one woods ends another opens up, a passage between two realms and this is where our story begins.

The towns folk of little Cannock were simple if humble people, just an ordinary little Welsh town stepped in history, tradition, legends of dragons and more to the point could play rugby and sing like they were the only two worthwhile things to be going on with. Always walking a little to close to the clearing by the edge of the trees, they all had decided in the small town of little Cannock not to go into the nearby woods, because strange things would often happen inside, this had gone on for centuries, to the point that the folklore and myth had built up enough that should anyone venture into the woods, no one was ever sure if anyone had ever came back.

Kids would often dare each other to go into the woods as some sort of challenge to see if the rumours were true or not, but the reality is. That they were, about twice every decade someone would vanish, whether young or old, often dog walkers who had decided that the woods were an ideal place to take their canine companions for a nice long scenic walk. Most of them new to the area or had dubbed the rumours as nothing more than superstitious none sense, much like the witch hunts any centuries before, which by a matter of fact no one then had disproven then either, just the matter that events themselves had ceased to occur.

It was a grey miserable day when the twins had woken up Thomas was always an early riser, with his fine blond hair and tainted green aqua eyes it was often assumed that he was a nice angelic sort of child, though much to the contrary which his sister Elizabeth had known all to well. Both of the children had been adopted and this was well known to the both of them as their foster mother and father would take great care to highlight how different the two blond children were in contrast to their own dark haired children, how proper their own blood must be in contradiction to the two "stray cats" that they had found on their doorstep many years before as Mr Henley would delight in retailing to his own two children when Mrs Harriet Henley was out of ear shot and couldn't reprimand him for lack of tact over the fact that the children they had taken in couldn't help that they were left.

Mrs Henley was a kind and thoughtful woman in contrast to her aggressive argumentative husband David, it was a wonder how the two had ended up married, most of the locals and neighbours simply assumed that they counter balanced each other and she might have been the only one who saw his softer side, which by all accounts from herself and the children all four seemed to greatly agree, bar when Mrs Henley was out of sight and earshot when Mr Henley was left alone with the twins and the other two children Richard and Julia took great pride in watching their father torment the twins, out of spite or jealousy one really couldn't be entirely sure.

The day was sparse where the weather was a crisp dry heat, one of those mornings that you wake up and wonder if it's midday, the triples were working early on the walking man rig a giant walking iron puppet that is designed to harvest the fields one of thousands in the nation on of Sydon.


It was a cold start with a bit of a frost on this winter Thursday morning. The mother was booking a table at the local restaurant just the day before going to the cinema. Talking on the phone to all her friends including her mother, finding out that one of the grandchildren of one of the friends is pregnant for the first time.

Matilda can’t have been more than 19 years old when she found out that she was expecting the new-born.

 Enjoy....

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