Grays' Matter

The next morning, Ron stayed at home later than he usually did. He decided that he would take William, but first he'd make sure that Elizabeth was taken care of. When they left their house, they noticed a huge gathering of people in the courtyard. Ron found the closest person he knew, Oliver- the kingdom's alchemist. "Oliver, good morrow. What is going on?"
"Ron, my old friend. The people noticed that the Grays have no flag or banner so they are making some," Oliver said with a delightful smile.
"Does Fawkes know about this?" Just as Ron asked, the iron gate swung open and made a loud, crashing noise. Everyone stopped in their tracks and looked up the stairs.
"What is the meaning of this?" Fawkes shouted as he marched down the stairs, nostrils flaring. He looked around, waiting for someone to answer. "Answer me!"
"S-sir, we made banners and flags for the King and his royal army," a seamstress said delicately.
"Did the King ask for this?" Fawkes was now looking around, seeing that the seamstress was unable to give him an answer, "well?"
"Forgive me, sir, but I was the one to coordinate this," Ron interjected. William was stunned, he didn't know why his grandfather would take responsibility for that.
"Ah! My favorite fool," joked Fawkes as he hopped down the first step, looking amused. This was one of the rare times Fawkes had come all the way down the stairs. From there, everyone could see his towering height.
"We reckoned that the King would not want to go unnoticed," Ron said. His reply made William uneasy, so he braced himself.
"Unnoticed. Ha," Fawkes scoffed, "do you really believe the King would act in such a way? Our King does not flaunt."
"He flaunts his crown and the strings that he pulls you with very well," Ron said.
"Grandfather, please," William whispered.
Fawkes snapped, "watch your tongue, peasant!"
"I serve the Grays and I will only give that respect to his Fairness, not his messenger boy with a sword."
"Messenger boy? Hahaha! Ron, you senile old man, you think yourself immune to justice? Fawkes laughed as he turned towards William, "I do hope you are able to care for your
grandmother." In that moment, Fawkes drew his sword from his leather scabbard. There were gasps and a couple of screams as the blade whipped into the air. Fawkes pointed it at Ron, the edge just barely an inch away from his chest. Ron stood in good posture, which was normally bad due to his old age. "If you have any last words, now would be the time to speak," said Fawkes as he stared into Ron's eyes.
Ron stared back coldly and replied, "a puppet deserves no words from a peasant." Fawkes roared as he lifted his blade. He struck down in a blind fury, hitting a hard object that surprised him. When he looked down, William was holding a big rock in front of him and his grandfather. Fawkes pulled back and spit in front of them.
"Brave, brave boy. Had I not considered your old man's fragility in my swing, this blade would have cut the both of you clean," Fawkes put his sword back and addressed the crowd. "There will be no meeting today. Instead, you will all burn these flags and get back to your duties. When you are done with that, you are invited to the courtyard for the beheading of Ron and a grand feast." He turned to William, "young boy, will you be my guest of honor?" William looked down and Fawkes said nothing else. He walked back up the stairs and closed the gate. Ron put his hand on William's shoulder and guided him back to their house.
William looked up at Grays' Castle for what he thought would be the last time. He noticed a window pane high up and what looked like a figure looking out. He stopped for a moment to get a better look, but it vanished. At this point, he knew something was going on in Grays but he didn't know what. Nothing was adding up. William quickly caught up to Ron and they walked home together. Later that night, Ron was preparing to meet his fate. He shaved his face, wore his finest robe, spent most of his time at home next to Elizabeth, and even made their favorite dish to share with her. When it was time to go, Ron walked to the door slowly. William blocked
the door and didn't let him leave.
"If you go out there, he'll think he won. He'll make an example out of you to frighten the others. You must show them that Fawkes is not to be feared."
"William, he will come after us if I don't go."
"Let him. I doubt he truly has an army, and he would never come this far out alone." Ron figured it was useless to try and convince William to let him leave, he was the only father figure William had known. It was bad enough that Elizabeth was nearing death, he couldn't stand to lose anyone else. Ron sat down and the room went silent. A few hours passed and William, who was sitting against the door, heard something. He got up and put his ear close to the door. They sounded like far away screams, but they were getting louder. Ron heard it now too, and both of them looked out the window. They saw a group of about eight people rushing towards their house with bronze weapons and fire.
"The village people? From the outer wall?" William said surprised.
"I told you he'd find a way, he probably riled them up," said Ron as he sat back and waited. The group was now at their front door, banging on it to be let in.
"Give us the old man! Give us Ron!" They chanted. William had enough and picked up Ron's wooden cane. He opened the door and let out a loud, incoherent scream until they shut up. They were now looking at William, confused.
"Leave us alone, my grandfather has done nothing wrong," William pleaded.
"It's not that we want your grandfather dead, lad. We don't want our own kin dead," one of the men sounded pitiful.
Another man shouted, “and we want a decent meal for once!” Some of the men laughed at
this.
A bald headed man that never cracked a smile finally said, “Fawkes threatened our families with a slow death. Says he'll make us watch if we don't bring him Ron before supper.”
"Come on then, take him," William taunted as he took a fighting stance. He held the cane out like a sword or a staff and waved it at the men.
"Alright boy, we don't want to hurt you," one of the men said as he walked over to William. He held his hand out, but William hit it away with the cane. The man was mad now. "You asked for it!" He roared as he attacked William. Two of them launched towards him with swings and jabs, but William was quick. He dodged each swing while striking them with the cane. He effortlessly struck down two of the men, but three others charged at him. William was overwhelmed and one of them got a good hit. William was down, and as they kicked and beat him, he looked over at his grandfather being dragged out of the house by two of the men. He saw another man standing over Elizabeth in her bed with a blade. It was the bald man, who neither smiled nor uttered word as he stabbed her where she lay. William tried to get up and help her but he was knocked unconscious.
He was woken up by a splash of cold water. He felt it seep into his bloody wounds and slightly sting. He was chained up and surrounded by the hundreds of people in the kingdom. A big fire burned in the center, as people threw trash in it to make it grow. Some of the crowd was cheering at the spectacle, but William didn't know what was going on. Just then, somebody pulled his hair back hard, forcing him to look up. He was looking up at none other than Fawkes.
"Are you ready for the show, boy?" Fawkes said with a smile. He let go of William's head and walked in front of him. With the wave of his hand, two large men came in holding Ron. He was bound by the arms and legs. "I bloody hope so because you made us all miss supper!” Fawkes shouted as he turned to the crowd. He encouraged their cheers for some time before calming the people down. He turned to Ron and said, “I simply asked for your respect, and that was too much. I simply asked for your cooperation, and that was too much. I simply ask you to join us for a night of fun and even that was too much!”
"You deserve no respect, Fawkes. Is this fun to you? This is madness. This is not what the Grays intended when they founded this kingdom, when they left from Capital!" Ron shouted as he struggled with his handlers.
"Foolish man," Fawkes ignored, "you should have learned your lesson when you had the chance," Fawkes said as he waved his hand again. The men walked closer to the fire as Ron still struggled. William tried breaking out of his chains, but they were too strong. He was pleading with Fawkes to stop, but Fawkes just kept forcing him to watch. Everything was moving slow for William, as the men threw Ron into the fire. He couldn't believe what was happening. Ron let out agonizing screams as he squirmed, hands and feet still tied together. In the same day, he lost the only two people that cared for him and he could only blame himself. If he had just let his grandfather go when he needed to, he could have avoided his suffering. When Ron's screaming stopped, the crowd started to diminish. The fire was put out, and there lay Ron's crisp corpse.
Tears rushed down William's face as he was still chained. Fawkes was telling the men something but he couldn't hear. The next thing he knew, he was being picked up by the arms and the chains were being picked out. William was limp as the men dragged him away from the scene. William felt exhausted, but he looked up at the castle. This time he knew it wasn't in his head- he actually saw the figure in the window again. He stared at the figure and it looked like it was staring back at him. He wanted to know who this was. "Of course," he thought to himself, "it's the King." William tried fighting the men away, but his arms were sore from the tight chains.
With all of the fury he could muster, he screamed at the King in the window.
"You are not a King!" He raged, "you are a coward! Looking out the window while your dogs ruin your kingdom! You are a disgrace!"
"Stay quiet, child, it'll be easier for you in the long run," one of the hooded men said. William recognized this voice, but he couldn't pin it on anyone. The men took him behind the stairs, where another set of stairs descended into the ground. They dragged him down and threw him in a chamber. "We'll be back in the morning with some bread," the hooded man said as he locked William's cage. They closed the entrance for the dungeon on their way out, but some light still creeped through underneath door. It slightly illuminated the cage next to his, where he saw another person hunched over.