The man in the iron mask: Part Two

By Christiane Märker

Philippe opened his eyes and looked around himself wondering where he was. His surroundings looked strange to him and he didn't know exactly where he was. He gazed upstairs at the canopy of his bed and then he remembered. Since the day before yesterday he was the king of france . His twin Louis had been replaced by him and lived in prison now. Philippe rubbed his eyes and sat up in his bed. What would the day bring? He knew that there were many things to do. The french people had suffered under Louis' control and there were some reforms necessary. Yesterday Philippe was not able to work on it because they had to bury D'Artagnan. When he thought of this Philippe moaned sadly. Then he left his bed and went to the door. When he opened it he saw a group of servants who came to meet him. The oldest servant looked shocked and said: "Mon Dieu! His majesty has already woked up. There you see it! We came to late to the wake-up-ceremony. Shame on us!" Philippe looked surprised at the servant. "Which wake-up-ceremony?", he asked. "Well, that ceremony on which your majesty make a great point of." Philippe laughed. "Since today I don't make a point of it any more. A king can get up like any other normal man. An army of servants isn't necessary for it. So this laughable ceremony is abolished now." Philippe clapped with his hand on the shoulder of the surprising looking servant and then he went to the bathroom. He couldn't wait to prove the hope that his three friends had put on him.

At the same time Louis was in a much less good tuning or better to say he was totally down. He sat with bowed head and hanging shoulders on the hard bed in his prison cell. He hadn't slept very much and well. First because he had never slept on a hard bed like that before and second because he was all mixed up. He just couldn't understand what had happened. Only two days before he had been the king of france and now he sat lonely and forlorn in this poor prison cell. When he thought of this Louis became extremly angry, sad and desperate. He clenched his fists and braced his lower jaw muscular system. His whole body was thrown into convulsions and he began to shake because of his agitation. And then he started to scream loudly so that everyone in the whole prison could hear it. Louis became totally crazy now. He bewl and raged und kicked everything that came in his way. He was desperate. Finally he had no power anymore and so he threw himself on his bed and started to cry. He was sure that there was no other person in the world at this moment who suffered more than him. Finally he heard the voice of a keeper outside. "What's wrong with you?", the keeper asked. Louis jumped up and ran towards the door. "Trader!", he just screamed, "Trader! You're all traders!" Then Louis heard how the keeper said to another person: "The poor guy. Now he has already become crazy." Then he heard how the keeper and the other person went away. "I'm not crazy!", Louis screamed, "I..." Louis stopped screaming. It made no sense. Nobody would believe that he was the real king and nobody would help him. When he discovered this Louis felt that he would like to kill himself but he also knew that he hadn't the courage to do it and so he threw himself again on his bed and continued crying. But after a while he suddenly stopped crying. Why should he lie here and feel sorry for himself. If he couldn't get help from anyone he just had to help himself. Louis sat up. His descision was clear. He would run away with the help of a craft and then he would take revenge and get back what was his property. These traders should see that he wasn't helpless. They should feel his rage and he would show no mercy. Louis snarled.

After he had washed himself and had taken breakfeast Philippe went to his study with his three friends. When they arrived Porthos put a big pile of paper on the desk. "What's that?", Philippe asked and Porthos answered: "Bills for partys and wars." Philippe gazed confused on the big pile of paper. "These are all bills?", he asked disconcerted. He took a look on several bills and saw that they were very high. "Yes", said Athos, "Louis had totally exploited his people." Philippe took a copy-book which lied on the desk, too and took a look in it. There was written down which taxes the people had to pay. Philippe turned and looked at his friends then he said: "These taxes are much to high. So listen. First I will stopped our wars with other countries and then I will reduce the taxes and on the other hand the aristocrats and the clergy have to pay taxes now, too. Anyway, in the future we will only celebrate parties if there's a real good reason for it." The musketeers looked deeply stirred at Philippe and then Porthos said: "You know what, your majesty? We're proud of you." Philippe grined and scratched embarrassed his head. "Well", he answered, "I just do what I can do. But one great party we'll celebrate now. A party for all my people. Everyone is invited and of course we will pay it by our own money. We're going to celebrate a new beginning." "Great idea!", Porthos answered. The others looked at him and smirked.