A horrified gasp filled the entire hall as the goblet flew from the king’s hands, landed on the stone with a hard clink.
The entire hall went dead silent. Every musician, every juggler, stopped. Hundreds of men and women all turned and stared.
The king slowly stood, and glowered down at Thor.
“How dare you!” shrieked the King. “You insolent little boy!” he screamed. “I will put you in the stocks for this!”
Thor stood there, horrified, hardly believing what he had just done. He felt the entire world crashing down on him. He just wanted to disappear.
Suddenly, a hound walked over to the puddle of wine now forming on the floor, and lapped it up. Before Thor could respond, before the room could move again, all eyes went to the hound, who started making awful, horrible noises.
A moment later, the hound froze up, and fell on its side, dead. The entire room looked at the dog with a horrified gasp.
“You knew the drink was poison!” yelled a voice.
Thor turned and saw the Prince Gareth, standing there, coming up beside the king, pointing accusingly at Thor.
“How could you have possibly have known it was poisoned? Unless you are the one who did it! Thor tried to poison the king!” Gareth yelled out.
The entire crowd cheered in outrage.
“Take him to the dungeon,” the king commanded.
A moment later, Thor felt guards grabbing him hard from behind, dragging him through the hall. He squirmed, and tried to protest.
“No!” he screamed out. “You don’t understand!”
But no one listened. He was dragged through the crowd, fast and quick, and as he went, he watched them all disappear from him, his whole life disappear from him. They crossed the hall and out a side door, a door slamming shut behind them.
It was quiet here. A moment later, Thor felt himself descending. He was being pulled by several hands down a winding stone staircase. It grew darker and darker, and soon he could hear the cries of prisoners.
An iron cell door opened, and he realized where he was being taken. The dungeon.
He squirmed, trying to protest, to break free.
“You don’t understand!” he yelled.
Thor looked up and saw a guard step forward, a large, crude man with an unshaven face, and yellow teeth.
He scowled down at Thor.
“Oh I understand very well,” came his raspy voice.
He reached back his fist, and the last thing Thor saw was his fist, coming down right for his face.
Then his world was blackness.
