"Long live the King!" By Ben Goode 2017 (c)

The horned beast was very known within the kingdom of Haledon.

It was said he was one of the last of the legendary Titan's.

He lived deep in the forest, and it was said he kept vast ancient treasures.

Over the years the kingdom had sent out many knights in hope of dispatching the beast and retrieving the treasure for the greedy King.

But nobody ever returned.

And so years passed and the horned beast was mostly forgotten.

But the King remained greedy and often sent out mercenaries to collect very unfair taxes from the surrounding villagers.

One of the villagers, a man called Raven rose up over time and created a resistance group, which had become quite strong in numbers.

He and his fellows fought off the mercenaries bravely many times.

But the King never relented in his attacks on the villagers.

He seemed to know he was wearing them down.

And one day the King changed his tactics and sent out a group of merciless assassins, who concentrated on killing all the women and children in the village.

Raven and his men fought back bravely, and as best they could.

To try and save their wives and children, but they had been horribly outnumbered.

And most of the resistance were slain or captured.

Raven and a handful of his men fled into the forest. And set up a camp in overnight to try and regroup.

He grieved for the loss of his wife and children, but he tried to be as brave as he could for his men.

The following morning he woke and his men were mostly silent from the shock of the previous night.

All the same, they prepared breakfast for themselves, cooking what little food they had.

Raven noticed an old building nearby, and he decided to go over to explore it with one of his men.

As the men approached, a massive creature rose out from the ground and towered over them.

The creature spoke with a thundering voice, momentarily startling the men.

"I supposed you have come to kill me as others have tried." The horned beast laughed.

"That King has never been brave enough to face me himself. Now here you are.

And you don't even have armour as the others did. Never mind you shall die all the same!" The beast growled.

"Wait I didn't come here to kill anyone!" Raven cried out "I fled my village last night with my men.

The King slew all the women and children.

I have no alliance with that pig!" Raven explained, "We came here because we had nowhere else to go." 

"Please let us stay. We can't offer much. But perhaps you would eat and drink with us on this morning of sorrow?" Raven asked the beast.

"Very well, I shall. Thankyou. Nobody has ever offered me anything," The beast smiled.

Raven asked his fellow to retrieve some soup for the beast, and he did.

The beast took it, and consumed it hungrily. And asked for more.

Raven happily provided it again and again, until all the soup was all gone. And his men never questioned him at all, at any time.

"Thankyou. You have given me everything you had, and your men were loyal even though they were hungry themselves." 

"That says a lot about you. Being as humble and honest as you are. I will now give you, and your men something. Behold!"

The beast motioned one of his taloned hands, and a great door opened in the building to reveal a vast treasure.

Raven and his men didn't seem impressed, nor did they rush to the treasure in greed.

"All we wanted is gone great one. These treasures are of little use. You don't have to pay us for kindness great one" 

"All we want is a place to stay," Raven said humbly.

"Very well. You may stay. I am impressed you want so little. You may sleep here overnight again, but then you must go back to your village." The beast said as it disappeared into the ground. The great doors of the building closed to hide the treasure again.

The next morning Raven and his men got up early and made their journey back to the village. But it was no longer burning, and there were no dead bodies anywhere.

Instead, all of the men, women and children were alive and well! And they rushed to the overwhelmed Raven and his confused men, who greeted them with joy.

Ravens wife smiled at him as he faced her. He was silent and still shocked at seeing his wife alive again. And she couldn't wait to tell him the news.

"The King is dead my love. He and his dread army were slaughtered last night. And apparently, you are the only heir to the throne. Long live King Raven!"

She laughed joyfully.