"Stop! Listen up! We have the key and the chest! Stop!!!"

No one listened. They kept pressing forward. Masha didn't seem to hear Jrasta either. Instead, she just kept inciting the people to move on toward the inner doors of the castle. Many in the crowd were carrying clubs or torches or large rocks. Things were about to get serious, but Liam realized they had no way to stop it. Each one looked at one another in fear. Liam wondered if they had done the right thing in getting Masha to gather the people together.

At that moment, something caught the attention of the people. The crowd quieted down and stopped pushing forward. The guards were no longer resisting the crowd; instead, they were standing at attention. Even Masha, hanging on the statue by her right arm, stopped yelling about soup and used her free hand to hold her eyebrows up so she could see better.

Liam looked to his left. Standing on the edge of the balcony was a majestic looking rooster. Jep was balanced on the railing with head held high, and one wing stretched out over the people. Most looked at him in silence, although some could be heard saying, "Jep is about to speak. Listen up, everyone."

Jep then turned to Liam and looked at him with eyes that said, "Go ahead, Liam. They are ready to listen."

Liam looked out over the crowd. He felt a great deal of nervousness as the people looked on, waiting for him to tell them what was happening. He cleared his throat and swallowed hard. His mouth was dry.

"People of Kings-Home, hear me!" He thought that sounded like the right kind of thing to say to the crowd. "I am a traveler from a world called Earth."

At that, people began mumbling among themselves. "Does he live underground? Is he a worm?" Jrasta waved at them and nodded a very confident, "Yes" back to the crowd.

Liam decided not to respond to that line of thought but instead pushed forward with his speech. "I have come here to complete a quest. My quest was to find the key to open the chest which will tell you who your new king is going to be. We have traveled a great distance and fought many creatures. We have..."

With that, a group of people started calling out, "Get to the point, Worm-Boy! We know who you are and what you were supposed to do. If you have the key, tell us and then open the chest!"

Liam realized he was being too formal and too wordy. "Umm... sorry, everyone. I have the key right here." He pulled the chain from around his neck and out from under his shirt. He held it high for all to see. When the crowd saw the key, they cheered and yelled, "Long live Traveler Worm-Boy. At least live long enough to open the chest, then we really don't care what happens to you! Long live Traveler Worm-Boy!"

Liam looked at the crowd with disappointment. He shook his head and stretched out his arm to hand the key to Jrasta.

Jrasta pushed his hand back saying, "No, Liam, this chest is for you to open. You may unlock it and see who the new king will be. Maybe it'll even be you!"

"But I don't want it to be me! I want to go home to be with my family!" Liam said, quite alarmed. He worried that if he was named king, there would be no way home for him.

"Open the chest, and we will see what we find," DOHNK said, putting her hand on his shoulder. "One thing at a time, Liam."

Liam knelt down before the chest. His hands were sweaty, and he worried he'd drop the key, but it slid smoothly into the lock. He turned the key and heard a soft click. The crowd was silent, waiting anxiously for the name of the new king to be read.

Liam lifted the lid and was surprised to see nothing inside, but a simple little piece of paper. He wasn't sure what he had expected but thought there might be something more elaborate. He picked up the note and found it was folded over, the name of the new king apparently written inside.

He thought about how nervous he felt before when trying to speak in front of everyone, but that was nothing compared to how he felt at that point. What was written on the inside of the piece of paper would determine the new king. The new king would set the direction for the country, for good or for ill, for years to come. But worse than all that, the new king could be him! He might never be able to leave Arestana and go home to his family.

His worried thinking was interrupted by a slap. Red ooze dripped down his face. Someone had thrown a rotten tomato at his face and hit him directly in the eye. The guy with the tomatoes was standing down in the crowd. He yelled up, "Get on with it, Worm-Boy! Stop thinking about opening up the note and open up the note! We want to know who our new king is!"

Liam made a mental note to find some reason to arrest that man if his name was on the inside of the piece of paper. If he were made king, Arestana would change some of its habits.

He opened up the note and read the name inside. His mouth dropped open as the implications of the message hit him. With a shaky voice, he read the words on the inside of the note, fearful that the crowd would hear the name and storm the castle out of anger and disappointment. "The new king of Arestana is... Jep the Chicken."

There was silence as everyone took in the information. All eyes turned toward Jep and Jep stared open-beaked at Liam. No one said anything until a lone voice rang out, "Long live King Jep!"

The whole crowd erupted in loud cheers. People jumped up and down and hugged each other. A new era in Arestana was about to begin. An era of Chicken-Rule.

I hope you are enjoying Arestana: The Key Quest. Keep reading to find out what happens next! If you want to get a hold of this entire story, you can pick it up from Amazon, Chapters, Foyles or just about everywhere else!

www.shawnpbrobinson.com/books

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