“That rattlesnake was dead, My King.” Paco closed his eyes in shame.

Benjamin put his hand on Paco’s back. “Why are you afraid of snakes, then?”

He sighed deeply. “No one knows about this, okay?”

“Okay.”

“When I was a pup, my brother and I lived on a farm several miles from the kingdom. One afternoon we went down to the creek to play in the water. When we jumped in, a large water moccasin swam right for my brother. I froze right there in the water, watching as he tried to swim away. The snake lunged, biting him in the back over and over as he yelled in agony. Then the snake looked at me with its evil eyes. I thought it was going to get me, but it swam off. My brother died right there in the water and I did nothing about it. Once I got to the bank, I just laid there and cried all afternoon.”

Benjamin’s eyes were moist. “I’m sorry, Paco. I’m so sorry.”

“And because of an incident I had in the kingdom years ago . . .” Benjamin looked away, knowing what it was, “. . . I’m made fun of for my fear of snakes.”

“They shouldn’t treat you like that. Do they know about your brother?”

“No, no! I’d never tell them. Especially not after what happened to King Pugsly. They would probably accuse me of making it up.”

“Paco, I never would have thought–”

“That I’m a coward?”

“No! That’s not what I was gonna say. I’ve only known you for a couple of days, but I think of you as, well, a leader. Or better yet, a warrior!” The boy’s face lit up.

“My King, you’re too kind. Yes, I do get respect inside the kingdom, but I know it’s mostly because I’m older than everyone.”

“Hey!” Roscoe shouted in the distance. “Are you guys coming or not? It’s getting pretty boring staring at weeds!”

Benjamin called back, “Be right there!” He looked down at Paco. “I guess we’ll be scared of snakes together. I know revenge isn’t the right thing, but I can’t help thinking about poor Pugsly being killed by those horrible snakes.”

“I know, Sire. It was a nightmare watching my brother. I can only imagine how it was for my king,” Paco said sadly.

“Paco, let’s go kill Farangis and end this.” They exchanged grins and joined the other two.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Roscoe’s Predicament

THE AFTERNOON SUN made its way across the sky. Roscoe and

Clementine felt a little guilty about how they’d laughed at Paco earlier. They didn’t want to come out and say they were sorry, so they acted like nothing had happened.

“That was quite a rush back there, wasn’t it?” Roscoe said awkwardly.