Lest he forget who he was, two torchbearers always ran ahead of King GarGar, shouting, “The King! The King!” This had the added benefit of providing advance warning to courtiers that His Majesty was approaching and to remember to bow or curtsy upon his approach. Queen Pirouette didn’t bother with such niceties. She rather liked surprising people in mid-conversation, or mid-embrace. Because he was hard of hearing, the Cardinal did not realize that he was in the presence of his sovereign until it was too late.
It was just as well. The Cardinal, who thought he was above all authority, be it secular or religious, pointed a bony finger at His Majesty and shouted, “There will be a reckoning!”
Baffled by this outburst from the kingdom’s preeminent prelate, GarGar could only laugh. “What do you mean by that, Your Eminence?”
“The wages of sin are death, my son! Death!”
