by Brent Reilly
CHAPTER 21
Billy infiltrated at night and waited in the bushes until morning for his targets to begin their routine. He listened to his great-grandmother and great-uncle argue over money while he looked for guards.
He did not expect to like them, but was still surprised by just how much their abrasive personalities disgusted him. Genghis may not mind killing millions, but even enemies regarded him as a brave, charismatic visionary -- not arrogant pigs like these two. Whatever his faults, Genghis Khan inspired intense loyalty among those who knew him best. Whereas Billy couldn't decide which relative he disliked more.
"Grandma," he said as he extended his blades twenty meters away. They both turned to receive steel in their bellies. "My mother, Lady Elizabeth and my father, Baron von Richthofen, send their regards."
John thrashed about in tears, but strangely did not draw a wand. Queen Margaret coughed up blood.
Hey, I got a lung, Billy noted.
"Your men ambushed my father in the street. The best man I have ever known, cut down in his prime."
"It was him," the queen insisted, pointing at her son, as if this would save her.
"Yet you obviously did not stop him."
"It took them long enough," John sneered. "The idiots missed him last month in Budapest by just an hour."
Billy seethed. "Thank you for making me feel better."
"Oh, your turn will come soon, boy. Aidian is now twice as powerful as when your mother surprised him."
"You mean when a girl humiliated your son in front of his warriors? You messed with the wrong boy. I’m gonna exterminate your family," he said, projecting flame to roast them like pigs.
Their screams brought guards, so Billy flew away, easily out-racing his pursuers.
He landed in Windsor Castle by the Thames River so suddenly that he scared the hell out of the guards when he flashed his mega-flames. But, instead of drawing wands, they stood at attention, and Billy thanked his foresight in stealing the suit of a commander.
"Who’s in charge here?" Billy demanded while trying to deepen his voice.
One soldier smacked another, who ran into the castle and came back out with a smug prig. John must have put him in charge, but left Richard’s men here, Billy realized.
"Take me to Prince Richard," the boy barked.
"And who the hell are you?" the prig demanded.
Billy used his wand to throw him higher into the air than anyone watching could possibly believe. Instead of drawing wand to fly, the fool bounced against the ground like a dead cat.
“I assumed he was a quad,” Billy explained in the stunned silence. Well, it didn’t look like anyone missed him. "Queen Margaret and Prince John are dead. Prince Richard is king. Long live the king!” Surprising Billy, the news electrified the men, who cheered enthusiastically. “Take me to him, then assemble for his inspection," he ordered the guy who smacked the soldier who got the prig.
Soldiers poured out, scared silly. They looked desperate to please rather than eager to attack. Billy, used to powerful quads, could not see a threat among them, so he followed the guard to the dungeon. When they finally reached his grandfather, Billy ordered the soldier out.
The prince looked tired and hungry in his cell, but not scared. He got off his thin cot and put his hands on his hips.
"So today's the day? John swore he’d do this himself. Is my brother too busy pulling strings?"
Billy didn't know what the hell he was talking about. "Where’s George?"
Richard blinked. "My brother or his son?"
"A son? He's not gay?"
"The son, no. My brother is, definitely. But, apparently, not permanently."
"Where is he?"
Which confused Richard. "In France, you idiot! Now stop making me wait!"
Billy usually saw things so clearly. "Oh, right," he said, blasting the lock since he forgot to ask for the keys. The door rocketed back and almost smashed into Richard, who at least had the wits to jump back.
"You're not here to kill me?" Richard asked, hope infecting his voice.
"No, grandpa. I'm here to make you king. Sorry I waited so long. I’ve been busy destroying Mongol armadas.”
Richard was not sure how seriously to take the boy. "Who are you?"
"Oh, sorry," Billy answered, taking off his helmet.
The prince stared at him. "I'm gonna need more than that. You got a name?"
"I've a few of them. You can’t tell anyone, but in China I was the Boy Wonder, sometimes I was the Baron, but your daughter Elizabeth named me Billy."
"You're alive!" Richard yelled and embraced the boy in a great hug. "Someone at the bank said your father hired ten thousand Americans to depose the queen, so John sent a special unit after him. I was so sorry to hear about what happened to your mother.”
"My father is dead, too. John's men ambushed him in the street."
Richard pulled back to look at him. "Those bastards."
Billy hit his forehead with his palm. “So that’s why they killed him! But my father never intended to use the Americans in England. He was sending them to the Pyrenees.”
That really confused Richard. “How could your father send American marathoners anywhere?”
“Mom never told you? Dad was the Baron.”
Grandpa still didn’t get it. “The baron of what?”
“The baron who sacked half of Mongolia. The baron who repeatedly defeated Genghis Khan in battle. The baron who took a million tons of wealth from the Mongol Empire. The baron who saved France. The baron that everyone in the world is talking about.”
The new king needed to sit down. “Oh, that baron. And I worried Liz was marrying down. Wait! My idiot brother murdered the Baron? I’ll kill the imbecile!”
"I already killed Queen Margaret and Prince John. Mother wanted me to make you king because you didn’t have the balls to kill your own mother. Now I'm going to Edinburgh to slay John’s family."
"That bitch is finally dead?" Richard said of his own mother. "But his family will kill you!”
Billy showed him the layers of scars on his arms while igniting his forty meter wingspan. “I’ve killed a million Mongols. I think I can handle Aidian. Oh, mama asked me to give your grandfather’s wands back to you, with her thanks. She was also sorry for the suffering her actions caused you. She killed a few thousand enemies in battle, so they’re finally decent now.”
Richard held up the wands that he gave his daughter for her eighteenth birthday. It seemed so long ago. “It is I who am sorry for the suffering that I caused her.”
“Oh, she was pretty happy. Mom recorded a message for you.” Billy played it, then played it again because grandpa couldn’t possibly see it through all those tears.
“She was born to rule England.”
“She didn’t want to rule England. Instead, Mama wanted you to rule England. And grandpa,” Billy said with a menacing tone that contrasted sharply with his baby face, “as king, I expect you to make my mother proud.”
Richard looked slack-jawed at the twelve year old. He could not believe what his eyes plainly told him: the boy meant it.
“Can the Baron really flame his boot wands?” the king asked.
To answer, Billy popped in the air and blew fire from all four wands. Richard clutched his heart and Billy wondered if he killed his closest relative.
“I’ve seen all your videos!”
Billy laughed. “Not all of them. I have a longer version of the time I smashed the Khan’s groin.” That made grandpa sad. “Now what’s wrong?”
The big guy held out Elizabeth’s sticks. “Genghis Khan himself gave this set to his grandson, my grandfather, when he first torched a wand at age six. Like you, he could use boot wands to blast, which was a death sentence if Genghis found out. Queen Maude married him because she desperately needed quad descendents, and grandpa was more powerful than any Englishman then alive. He married the queen for protectio
n, in case Genghis ever heard rumors of his ability.
“He was three-quarters Romanian nobility and not even the queen knew he was the Khan’s grandson. I loved the guy -- they say I look just like him -- but I didn’t believe him until he blew fire from all four wands. He only showed me to explain what happened to my brother.”
Richard sighed. “I’m not the oldest. My brother Henry also had your ability, but not your discretion. He encouraged the rumors until one of his many Irish lovers recorded him showing off. She sold it for a fortune and Henry soon died in a mysterious accident. This not only made mother hate the Irish, but scared her into making me breed as much as possible. Grandfather drank himself to death, hating his grandfather with his dying breath. And passing that hatred down to me.”
“So that’s why you gave mom these wands!”
“It seemed fitting. Are you really gonna make me king?”
“If you don’t piss yourself when I present you to the troops in the courtyard. They took the news of your kingship like gold. Can you walk?”
Grandpa tested his grandfather’s sticks. “Get me out of here and I can fly.”
In the courtyard, the men seemed more concerned about staying in formation than in preventing Richard's escape. Billy sent a loud blast into the sky to announce the king’s presence. Terrified, they sprung to attention and Richard had never felt more flattered.
"Queen Margaret and Prince John are dead. Richard is your new king. Kneel and swear your oath of allegiance to him."
Richard’s men did so eagerly.
"Send help when you can," Billy told his grandfather, flying off before waiting for an answer.