Symphony of the Universe: A Melody of Knights VI
This story is meant to take place before the events which
occur in the comic series Symphony of the Universe.
Have you ever heard the phrase "the straw that broke the camels back?"
Ever heard the phrase "this is the last straw?"
Of course you have. The second phrase is a reference to the first of course, but if you've never thought about that before it is a bit of a revelation.
So a camel, being a pack animal can hold an awful lot.
Camels can carry about 990 pounds of water in their stomachs, which is how they survive so well in the desert. They can comfortably carry about 330 pounds which is roughly the equivalent weight of two grown men on their backs. A strong camel is capable of carrying about the same weight on it's back (990 pounds again) as is in their stomachs. Most people don't so overburden camels however, especially in modern times when we have minivans and suburban vehicles to fill to the brim.
So what does all of this going on about camels have to do with the Knight brothers and their tale? I'll get to that, I promise you.
It's easy to picture a camel, sweating, overburdened, tongue hanging out one side, slave to some fat obnoxious sultan who loads him up with bobbles and trinkets and treasures. Imagine the expensive carpets and tapestries all rolled up, the fancy pottery, the imported incense, the brass oil lamps. A great towering mountain of excess all piled on.
Then imagine that one little straw breaking free of a pile of hay, fluttering through the air, landing on the very tippy top of the enormous burden and the massive chaos that creates.
Picture the terrible snapping and cracking sound of that mighty spine breaking. The beast of burden collapsing under all the weight. Oil lamps clanking as they fall then rolling about in random directions, carpets coming unraveled as they roll off the beast, tapestries being smeared with spilled oil, pottery shattering into a thousand thousand pieces when it hits the ground.
I like to imagine that the camel squishes the cruel sultan in it's collapse. Serves the sultan right for being mean to animals. But in my imagination the Sultan pops back to life like a cartoon character and both the sultan and camel are alright in the end.
Which takes us back to Edwyn Knight, who is about to have a similar moment. The final straw.
It was suppertime in the Knight's home. Edward and Father sat at the table eating roasted chicken. Edwyn was seated by the door, reading. He had one of Edmund's old books which was large enough to cover up his face, and it did. Edwyn kept the book up like some sort of makeshift shield to avoid any eye contact with Father.
Edward threw one of his scraps at Edwyn, much as someone might a dog which was begging. Edwyn inched away a bit and kept the book up over his face. Edward threw a second scrap off the table. The second tossed wasn't aimed to land near Edwyn, it was thrown directly at him. That bit of chicken hit the back of the book with a loud TWAP.
Edwyn had enough. He jumped to his feet, tossed the book to the floor and within seconds he had knocked over Edward's chair and Edward found himself staring up at the ceiling. Not for long though. Edwyn flipped the chair backwards and slammed it downward, pinning Edward by a most delicate area. Edward's neck.
Father jumped to his feet also, but his attempt to intervene was thwarted by Edwyn. More specifically, by the kitchen table, which Edwyn upturned upon him. Roasted chicken slid to the floor and kept sliding along until it smacked into the wall. Edwyn pressed one foot down on the chair that held Edward down. With his other foot, he first balance on the wall for a moment. Edward struggled ineffectively.
Now that the table was out of the way, Edwyn could reach the chair his father was sitting in. So Edwyn balanced himself now on the chair that pinned his brother and kicked his father's chair. That chair smacked into Father and smacked into him hard. It made an impressive cracking sound as wood splintered. Father stumbled backwards. Edward's face was changing colors. Edwyn jumped off the chair and then lifted the chair up, ready to use it as a makeshift weapon. Edward was too busy coughing for air to rise up and attack.
Father had one of his floggers, a multitassled rubber thing. He snapped it at Edwyn to attempt to threaten him but Edwyn caught the flogger in the legs of the chair and quickly yanked downward. Father was still holding the flogger and as such he was pulled down by the momentum. Edwyn broke the chair over his father's back. The wood splintered like a thousand straws.
Edward stumbled to his feet.
"Honor your Father and mother as the Lord your God commanded you..." Edward coughed in a mangled tone. "that your days may be long in the land which the Lord your God is giving you."
Edwyn continued to strike his father. The chair leg now broken off was a perfectly effective blunt instrument, and Edwyn saw his father's back turn red and bloody. Edwyn could imagine now how his father might have felt while hovering over him, endless lashes painting pictures of horror. But Edwyn was not his father. He did not feel as his father did.
Edwyn has expected vengance would feel warm, indulgent, satifying. Instead Edwyn felt a sense of horrible nasuea wash over him. Father's shaking hands reached up and covered the back of his skull. Father was afraid that Edwyn would bash his skull in. Edwyn considered it, now would be the time to do it, while Edward begged God and damned his brother.
Edwyn kicked his father to make him roll out of the way. He glared at both of them with a hot and angry gaze. He saw his cowering father and shaken first born son.
Edwyn walked away from both of them. He held tightly on the chair leg until he was a good fifty paces from their home.
It was the next day that a letter arrived from Edmund and the University. Edwyn never received the letter. He never went home again.