I dreamt that I was dining at a table with a king, two princesses, and a queen. The table was set in a camp, close to the King's tent - a gilded, colorful fabric structure, guarded by two majestic soldiers, that moved slightly in the soft breeze. The princesses sat across from one another, the King at the end of the table, and the Queen next to a princess, across from me, since I was sitting next to the other princess. I remember each of the members of the family's clothing consisting of a multitude of shades of velvets, and being amazed at how vivid they were. It was a noble occasion, so the pomp and circumstances were celebrated. We were there with the King's army to receive a "treasure," as it was referred to, from the townspeople.
I had no idea what the treasure was. But some evil ruler had been on his way to kill everyone in the town and take it for himself. The good King I sat at the table with had heard of the drama about to unfold and sent a message to the evil ruler. "I'll get the treasure from the town and bring it to your army, just promise not to kill for it." The evil ruler agreed. Probably because he was betting that I wouldn't be asleep for much longer and wanted me to get to the end of the dream, so he could get his treasure, and by avoiding all the extra time it would take to slaughter thousands of people and the burn their town to ashes, his odds of me getting to the end of the dream after his obtaining the treasure were better.
I could see in my mind the townspeople on the other side of the wall our camp was pitched outside of. They were a "stupid lot," as the King referred to them. The princesses played patty-cake and came up with rhymes about "stupid people doing doopid dings," laughing as they went along. The Queen just sat there and clapped. This royal family was very predictable and average for the period, their behavior obviously influenced by ancient stories turned into one season Netflix productions that I must have binge watched while half asleep.
The townspeople were crowded together at the front gate separating our camp from their little society. They wore loincloths and were very dirty. Communication between them consisted of some hand signals and very few words. I saw one of them pulling a cannon. He yelled to the crowd around him, "let's light it and then we keep the treasure!" All immediately agreed, and without a moment of hesitation the cannon exploded.
We watched the tent blow to smithereens and those two soldiers fly into the sky above us as we sat enjoying our large leg of lamb or turkey or whatever it was that Kings and their families in Medieval times ate. The princesses put their food down and the one I was sitting by said to the other, "Well, I suppose we are going to die now. Let's say our last rites!" Then she held her hands to her sister and they went on to sing last rites to each other patty cake style, making a rhyme of it all as they went. And that's when I woke up.
© 2016 Chris Plante
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