Chapter 1: Before it was Drained Away—Part 2

Not many years after King Decoltur assumed the throne, his peaceful and hardworking kingdom was attacked by the hordes of a powerful enemy.  The king devoted his every waking hour, as well as most of those he spent sleeping, to ensuring the ultimate safety of his kingdom.  He gathered his knights and rallied his people, and led his armies against their ravenous foe. 

Before the war, the people loved the king, but upon seeing his bravery and courage in his fight to defend the kingdom, they loved him more than ever.  King Decoltur did not hesitate to stand at the front of his army and wade into the middle of the battle, for he could not bear to command his soldiers to do that which he himself would not do.  He saw his people cheer in victory, and he saw them fall around him.  He shouted words of encouragement and hope to them, and he cradled their heads in his hands as they died.  But every soldier—and every citizen—was willing to lay down his life to defend the king and the kingdom, for each knew that the king would do the same for him. 

Queen Florryn continued  to accompany King Decoltur to whatever place he went, riding and camping with the war caravan until the very end of the war.  She cared for the wounded and comforted the disheartened.  Most appreciated of all, she sang to the soldiers at night and raised their spirits. 

Most unnoticed and unrealized by all but one, yet most importantly of all, when the war-wearied king returned each night to his tent to rest, sighing the heavy sigh one only may sigh when he has led men into battle and to their deaths—when the king, upon closing his eyes, saw visions of his men falling by the sword, then did she sing to him.  Each night they together fought a private battle against the nightmares in his head, and were it not for her soothing lullabies, he long before would have shattered and become a broken man. 

King Decoltur's love for his soldiers, and the anguish he felt when they fell, led him to become not only a fearless leader but a brilliant tactician, for he valued the life of each man in his army even above his own.  Where other commanders of armies before him would have been willing to sacrifice their men—their mere conscripts and foot soldiers-—King Decoltur carefully maneuvered his troops to avoid casualty with extraordinary caution. 

This proved to be an advantage in the long run, as his soldiers not only were willing to die for their cause, but came to trust his every command with the power of the hope that they might both live and be victorious.  And, after years of battle, those mere conscripts, rather than dying on the front lines in a tactical exchange of lives, grew into a formidable and well-trained fighting force. 

After a number of years, the enemy was conquered and peace restored to the land.  A monument to the fallen soldiers was erected, and, as time passed, the kingdom began again to prosper, and the scars of the war began to fade from the realm.  So, too, with the remedies of both time and soothing songs of his queen, did the nightmares of King Decoltur begin to fade. 

But even after the war had come an end, and after his kingdom and his mind were mostly healed, the king and the queen still could not bear a child. 

Chapter 1: Before it was Drained Away—Part 1

Once upon a time there was a dreary kingdom ruled by a weary and bitter king.  Now, a kingdom thus ruled isn't a very happy place—in fact, it is rarely a happy place at all.  King Decoltur, however, hadn't always been the cold and saddened man he had come to be. 

At the beginning of his reign and in the prime of his life, the young king might have been numbered among the happiest men alive.  He was kind and just, and with confidence lead the kingdom in prosperity.  He prided himself in the care he took to come to know and understand the individuals over whom he ruled, and his people loved him for it. 

Just as beloved, if not more so, was the beautiful and kindly Queen Florryn.  While her husband's great care for the people stemmed at least partially from a sense of duty, Queen Florryn's welled up from the simple goodness of her heart.  She seemed able to summon forth a love of nearly infinite extent for all those she knew, and even for those she had only heard of but never met.  Besides being graced with so gentle and boundless a sense of compassion, she had great gift in music, and possessed the loveliest of singing voices.  When she sang, she always brought the happiest of smiles to the face of the king and immeasurable joy to his heart. 

King Decoltur loved Queen Florryn, and she him.  A stronger love than theirs has not ever been recorded in all the histories of men, and probably never will be.  Each accompanied the other in most everything, and the twain never spent a night apart.  They intuitively seemed to understand each other, which, though in other cases may have only made such conversation obsolete, made their conversation that much richer.  Each was more than truthful and faithful with the other—they hid nothing, and always sought to improve themselves and their love.  Indeed, each made the other a better person, calling forth all that was good in the other and inspiring it to flourish (though it was generally recognized that the queen greater influenced the king for good that he was could ever so influence her). 

They two would often, after long and tiring days, spend the evening immersed in music.  He would play his violin while she sang the lines of the love poems that one or the other had penned.  Anyone who happened to hear them could not help but smile and have his spirits lifted. 

Yes, they were in love. 

Although it was always understood that the king would sacrifice anything to protect his people and his kingdom, it can only be wondered if he would have chosen his wife over his kingdom, had it ever come to such a choice.