Tale of the week

The fifth tale:The King and the demon.

In the third age of the hundred year rule of King Ogdazh, the demon of Azgar appeared and layed waste to many of the villages in the Kingdom, hundreds died and suffered. The demon spared none that he came across and his delight in the carnage was expressed by the gruesome scenes left in his wake.
The people, desperate, begged that the King should save them. But the King did not. Villagers came to pound on the gates and doors of the castle, but still the King would not act. For seven days and nights, the demon cruelly ravaged the lands as the villagers ran and hid for their lives.
On the eighth morning, when the demon came to the largest of the villages in the Kingdom, he found that the people had rallied together in great number to fight, having abandoned all hope that their King would save them. As this beast of a creature approached, the villagers came out and surrounded it. Unmoved by the spectacle, the demon continued to approach laughing most darkly. The villagers trembled, but held their ground and as it seemed the demon would leap forward to attack, the King suddenly appeared before it. The demon, showing no sign of surprise, cast its vicious gaze upon the King The King countered with a frightful stare and their eyes locked. The villagers, amazed and baffled by the King’s sudden appearance, could only watch in anticipation. As time crawled on and with no sign of either yielding any ground, the villagers grew restless and the crowd rumbled. Soon the tension grew too great and the villagers could wait no longer. The King, sensing this, made his move. Walking intently towards the demon, he held out his arms, and he and the demon shared an embrace, like two old friends finding each other after many years. Once the embrace finished, the demon vanished.
The crowd of villagers instantly fell silent and for what seemed a long time, just sood there in great confusion. Suddenly, one among them spoke in anger at the scene, then another, and another, all screaming that the King was in league with the demon and had sent it to destroy them. The mob's anger grew hot and the air smelled of violence, they-the villagers- began to descend upon the King. The King turned to his people and raised his fist letting out a mighty war cry, his voice booming like the cries of a thousand warriors. As the sound of the cry reached the villagers, it carried deep within each of them quelling their rage and leaving them still, proud and strong.
The King lowered his hand and said. "Now you fend for yourselves, recognize that which the demon has left you and be thankful, for when the day comes when the King is no longer, the people of Altai shall know how to stand and fight.”