Long Live The King (Peaky Blinders)

The sadness of the honory medal

(Tommy's P.O.V.)
Nicholas was drunkenly hanging on mine and Arthur's shoulders, as we took him home. "He owns this? Its as big a palace!" John asked shocked as he looked up at the building upon our arrival. "Its fit for a fucking king" Arthur breathed impressed. Both John and Arthur had not yet seen Nicky's home, while I have seen it a few times before. And thus knew where to go. But all three of us had yet to see the inside. Never the less, we all had the same reaction once we saw the house for the first time. After all it was build out of the beige sandstone and it stood proud and mighty in the neighbourhood. Putting all the other posh houses that surrounded it completely to shame with its stature. It was a house that we Shelby's could only dream of having. It was so huge that I imagined that our entire home including the bettingshop on Watery Lane could just be a single room in Nick's enormous house. "Can we marvel at the building another time, LT is not the lighest man in the world when he is out cold" I remarked, trying to get John to open the front door. John nodded and made his way up the stairs to open the darkgreen wooden double doors. But before he could even reach for the golden painted doorknob, the door swung open revealing a male member of house staff. He looked at my brother with a displeasing look before telling him off in an even more posh voice than Nick has. Although Nick sounded more gentleman like, this man sounded snobby. He looked down at John like he was the common scum. "We do not give to charity in this household" the man said and lifted his chin up. That's rubbish, I thought to myself. Nicholas is one of the most generous people that one can find. Often giving money to the homeless veterans or the small children on the streets. Paying for everyones drinks. Hell, Nicky even got builders out to fix Charlie's yard when it needed repairing, because he didn't have enough money to pay for any repairs. Never once did he bat an eye because of it. LT Nicholas certainly is the type of person who wants to see others thrive, rather than himself. And thus he always refused when we or anyone else for that matter, wanted to repay our debt to him. Beside me Arthur got offended by the man "charity! We don't want your charity!". So he stepped into the butlers view, pulling both me and Nicholas with him. Immediatly the butlers eyes went wide when he spotted the severly drunken homeowner. "What have you three done to the Prince of Wa- of this house?!" He yelled cutting Arthur off while angrily stepping down the steps. I raised a slight eyebrow after hearing him change his words ever so quickly, but I had no idea what the man actually wanted to say. "Prince of this house" John mocked the butler with the same exact posh voice. The butler ignored my brother and continued to make his way to us. Before halting and then cuppig Nicky's face to examine him. The butler looked up at us with a glare "what did you lot do to him to get him so drunk?!". "Us?!"" Arthur asked loudly in disbelief. I stopped my brother before he could actually harm the man. "We found Nicky like this and we-" before I could even finish the butler cutt me off "Nicky?". I looked at Arthur not understanding why the butler looked so confused after hearing the nickname we often use for Nicholas. He scoffed in annoyence "you should not adress his Ro- him as Nicky". There, he corrected himself again. "They... can.. call me.... whatever they.. want" Nicholas drunkly said to the butler. He may off have slurred his words out but they still held power and authority. He wasn't as far gone as I thought he would be. "Yes, Sir. My apologies, Sir" the butler said and bowed his head to Nicholas. Arthur immediatly got a smugg look on his face immediatly after Nicholas had reminded the butler about his place. "Now, if you please, Sir, would come inside before you catch a cold," the butler continued and tried guiding Nicky inside. "I survived a war.. I can survive a.. cold, Gregory" Nick murmered back intoxicated. Me and my brothers stood outside while the butler began to close the door. I felt slightly offended not being offered to go inside due to it being very late and it also starting to rain. But then suddenly heard the butler sigh a "yes, Sir" before opening the door back open completely, "Master Nicholas is inviting you three to stay the night if you would like". Neither of us brother refused Nicholas invitation and stepped inside. The warmth immediatly hit my face. We continued to walk further inside to what I imagined was the livingroom. Considering Nick was layed out across a fancy sofa. "Make yourselves at home, lads" he said waving his hand. After putting a glass of water down. With no further hesitation John went ahead to lay, like Nicholas, flat out on his couches. And John opened a bottle of expensive whiskey. Much to the butlers dismay. "Leave them be, Gregory" Nick told him and motioned for him to get out of the room. Meanwhile I looked around his house, absolutely fascinated with the paintings that hung on the walls. Beautifull painted stallions, gorgeous landscapes. But one painting caught my eye, it was one of Nicholas. He stood proudly in his military uniform. His chest was decorated with all kinds of medals and tassels. I could tell that he fought in many battles and got many honory medals for it. No suprise really, after all, he was one of the few soldiers who fought and survived all the way from the beginning of the war to the end of it. Nicholas was also a person who was importaint for the victory of ww1, that's what you could tell as soon as you saw all the medals. It was also a known fact amongst his troops that he worked closely with the royal house. But how he got such a high position at the age of 24 was a mystery to everyone around him. Below the painting was his military service cap placed on a cabinet. Nick had attached all his medals on it. "I knew you won medals, LT, but not that you got so many" I said gesturing to his cap. He looked at me with an emotion I could not really detect. It might be because he is still drunk or because of something else. "Its just chest candy" he said standing up to walk over to where I was standing "nothing more than bragging rights to show you survived". He stopped and picked up the hat before pointing to some medals. "Battle of some, July 1st 1916, almost 2 thousand men killed. Battle of Scimiter Hill, August 21st 1915, almost 1.5 thousand men killed. Italian front 744 thousand men killed" he told me. Then turned to face me "around 880 thousand british lives where lost in that war. I'd much rather have those men back home where they should be than some stupid fucking medals" he snarled and tossed the cap back on the cabinet. Making the medals clink against one another. "Useless fucking war" he mumbled and walked back to the sofa. I could tell that the war hit an even more personal string than it did for me or my brothers. We fought for our country and King, while it seemed that Nick fought for the people and wanted to make sure that the war finished as soon as possible.

Published: 20th of September 2023