Loyal to the Crown: The Maddox and Ashray Story

So, I'm about to die.

I can't breathe, I can't see, *I'm drowning.* My hands are pounding against the water's surface, but it doesn't move. The water is too thick, it's like trying to swim through concrete. I was always told that no one could survive a lake this deep, that it would just keep going down forever. But there's nowhere else to go.

My arms start to burn as the oxygen just... stops reaching my brain. My mind is starting to shut down on me - parts of my memory are disappearing and it's getting harder and harder to make out the world around me. It all started when we left England with the other lords loyal to King Charles II: we were marching into exile, but we didn't know where we were going. It was supposed to be a surprise for us, since we still had hope left in our hearts. The king had been so kind to us! He was our prince; he had never wanted anything bad for his people! He was so young when he took over the crown after Cromwell died, and all he wanted was peace and prosperity ever since he came of age.

But we were betrayed. After a year of traveling across the continent, we crossed back over the channel from France and landed in Dover. But there was no welcoming party, no cheering crowds of townspeople waving flags or flowers at us. No one was waiting for us on the shore in front of the castle gates; no one even bothered to open up their windows and look out at us as we passed by their houses on our way into town and towards St Paul's Cathedral.

It wasn't long before we realized what had happened: King Charles II was dead, poisoned by his own men while we were off fighting for him against Oliver Cromwell's forces in Brussels some years prior - and so help me God if he hadn't deserved what he got, that bastard! We'd left England behind and gone off to fight against something Regicide - when King Charles II rode forth from Scotland and tipped over Cromwell's rule with hardly any bloodshed at all! Not only that: did you know that Cromwell himself had been behind King Charles I's execution? Did you know that Oliver Cromwell was responsible for all those massacres done in the name of religion? Did you know that he had his own son killed because he couldn't bring himself to kill his family? Did you know all those things??

Of course you didn't! None of you knew them because your precious Oliver Cromwell lied to you day after day after day until you finally bought into his twisted vision of a nation ruled by an iron fist! And then did he stop? Did our beloved Lord Protector stop there?! No! He kept going! Did he stop after killing King Charles I? No! He kept going until even King Charles II himself was at risk of being killed!! And now that man is dead too!! In exile!! Hiding out in France like a common criminal!! Without a crown or country!! And no one tried helping him either!! All those lords who swore loyalty to him in London and Dover alike - they're all traitors now too!! Traitors who helped murder their rightful king!! And they've left England behind while they fled abroad!! They're not here anymore because they don't deserve it!! They don't deserve it because they abandoned us here without a king or protector!! They're traitors who sold out their own homeland for a few coins!!"

That's when Ashtray cut in: "You think they really sold out England?!"

"What do you mean?" Maddox replied angrily. "How could they have not sold out their own country?? They've left us without a king!!"

"They did what any good Englishman would do!" Ashtray roared back at him. "They forgot about their personal interests for the sake of their country."

"Bullshit!" Maddox screamed back at him as tears began streaming down his face. "You're saying that because you're stupid!!"