Week 10 Story: Reign of Terror

We last left off with a new Queen in power, Jezzabelle. Kat and the King have been banished, and darkness has swept over the kingdom. Though the king gave up his throne without any hesitation, you don’t really think he would go down with out a fight?

As Jezzabelle watched the king and Kat walk into the forest, hand in hand, her heart grew cold. For years she had watched the king adore his daughter, but she never intended her plan to fail. If she wasn’t going to be able to get her happy ending, no one else could either. Jezzabelle’s eyes had flames of revenge burning in them while she yelled: “GUARD.”

Immediately the door flew open and a guard responded: “Jezzabelle, how can we be of service?”

With a slight smirk Jezzabelle said, “Please, call me Queen Jezz. And as your queen, I demand you to find the king and bring him to me. The king has abandoned his bride and also his kingdom, and for that he must be punished. As for the princess, Kat, bring me her heart. Those two must suffer for all they have done.”

The guard was taken back by the queen’s demands. He did not want to cause any harm to the king or princess, but he also did not want to go against orders. The guard took a deep breath and said “As you wish your majesty.” As the door closed, Queen Jezz let out an evil laugh. Little did the queen know the guard would actually run away to warn the king and princess of her evil plan.

Within a few days of Queen Jezz’s reign the kingdom was already miserable. Since the king could not find it in his heart to love Jezz, she demanded the kingdom to love her instead. Villagers were required to have paintings of the queen placed on their mantle, and At 3:00 every single day, it was mandatory to attend the queen’s parade. Villagers would line the streets and would scream and chant when the queen went by in her carriage. Those who failed to meet these requirements were banished into the forest forever.

Though the villagers were forced to praise their queen, they did not love her. They missed the king and princess and the way things used to be. There were no required paintings or parades, or an evil queen. Instead, there were festivals and parties thrown by the king to celebrate his kingdom. Queen Jezz thrived off of an intimidating leadership style, while the king thrived off of an encouraging one. They had to get their King back. The guard knew where they were hiding, and told the villagers he could get a message to them.


Deep into the woods, before the break of dawn, the villagers called for a secret meeting. When the word had spread that there was a resistance forming to dethrone queen Jezz, the whole kingdom showed up. Voices rose from the crown. “QUEEN JEZZ HAS TO GO”. “DOWN WITH QUEEN JEZZ”. The crowd began to chant and yell. A rustle was made in the bushes nearby, and the crowd grew silent.


From the bushes arose two figures who walked towards the crowd. The villagers began to panic as they were unable to identify the dark shadows moving toward them. Before anyone was too freaked out someone from the crowd yelled: “IT’S THE KING”. The crowd grew with excitement.


Standing before the crowd were the King and Princess Kat. The king began to address his people:
“It is with a heavy heart that I stand before you today. I am so sorry for leaving you in the hands of that evil queen. Do note that not a moment has gone by without me thinking of how I can come back and rule as your King once again. You are a strong people. You are the resistance. Together we can fight Jezzabelle and take back our kingdom. Who’s with me?”


The crowd went wild. It was from there on that the king began to disclose his plan to dethrone the queen. He commanded the villagers to silently go back into the kingdom and gather their weapons, and then return safely. At the break of dawn they would attack the kingdom, and take back the kingdom.

Back in the castle the queen noticed a strange stillness in the air. She sat on the balcony watching the sunrise, when she noticed movement from across the way. There she saw the king charging the castle with his people. She began to panic.

“GUARDS. GUARDS.” She repeated over and over again. Yet, every command went unanswered. Her army had abandoned her. Her people had abandoned her. There was no one on her side, but her. As the king got closer and closer to the castle, Jezzabelle became more and more afraid. Unable to fight back, she fled into the forest.

The King stormed into the castle and was shocked by it’s emptiness. He expected Jezzabelle to put up a real fight. Then he looked back and realized the entire castle’s army was fighting along side him.

A guard stepped forward with the king’s crown. “I believe this belongs to you.” The king reached forward and grabbed the crown. He lifted up his hands, but instead of placing the crown on his head, he placed it on Kat’s.

The crowd began to chant “ALL HAIL QUEEN KAT!”

And the Kingdom that was far, far away lived happily, ever after.

The End.

Image: Kingdom Overtaken By Darkness

Author's Note:
So It’s been a while since I’ve written a story and a lot of that is because I’ve been waiting for the right story to end my Cinderella series on. The Mahabharata had a lot of great stories, but it was hard for me to find one that seemed fitting for my theme. When reading the Jatakas this week I found the perfect one to wrap up the series. The story of the Ox Who Won The Forfeit is about an ox and his owner. The owner goes into town and bets a forfeit of a thousand pieces if his Ox cannot pull 100 wagons. The men take the owner up for that bet, but the Ox doesn’t pull the one hundred wagons. The owner pays the thousand pieces, and on the way home asks the Ox why he didn’t pull the hundred wagons when he usually pours more at home. The Ox went on to explain that the way the owner was yelling at him was mean and not something he was used to so he didn’t pull the wagons. The owner apologized and asked the Ox if he would be willing to retry the wagons, and the Ox said yes. So the two went back to the men and bet a forfeit of two thousand pieces. The men agreed to the bet and waited to see the Ox pull 100 wagons. The owner encouraged the Ox this time, and the Ox did indeed pull the wagons winning his owner two thousand pieces.

I thought it would be cool to base a story on the theme that encouraging leadership has better outcomes than intimidating leadership. I had queen jezz take on the intimidating leadership role because I’ve made her character have a strong desire to be loved and accepted by people. The desire is so strong that she tries to force her kingdom to love her. The king on the other hand, has the encouraging leadership that the kingdom would prefer. I added the battle at the end to give the king his rightful place at the throne, which he then gives off to Kat because thats how the story was supposed to end before the evil stepmother came in!