The Princess Race

Everything Goes To Shit

    Pic didn't say anything as he walked beside Line, proving that she was really short. Lynx walked at a normal pace and ended up walking beside Pic.

    I didn't really know what to do so I just walked behind the trio. Dexis didn't seem to care about anything at the moment so he walked beside me. As we walked, it was obvious we were already nearing Winter Territory. The air grew cooler and trees began to thin and have powder-like snow dusted on their branches.

    In the distance I saw a cluster of small wooden houses, decorated with glistening snow. I glanced at Dexis to see him staring at it with an embittered look on his face. I wondered why he had such distaste for his own Territory.

    "We've left Matruel." Pic announced as he studied the war plans in his hands.

    Lynx looked at everything around him with pronounced nervousness. He shoved his hands in the pockets of his sweatshirt and continued walking, trying not to draw attention to himself.

    We entered the village way earlier than I had expected.

    The villagers inside were running around and chatting with each other, going about their usual day. But once they noticed the five of us, they stopped and stared. I heard whispers.

    "Is that...?"

    "It's the witch..."

    "Who's with them?"

    "The Princes... and a half-human..."

    We walked on a cobblestone path that cut directly through the middle of the village. I looked to my right and saw a mother and her son standing on the porch of their house. The little boy had to be about six or seven.

    "Mommy, is that the witch that everyone is scared of?" The boy asked as he brushed blond strands of hair out of his eyes.

    "Yes dear, now please get inside..." The mother said as she began shuffling the boy towards their house.

    "She doesn't look so scary." He commented before disappearing inside.

    I turned to look at Dexis. He had one hand in his pocket and the other one relaxed at his side. He studied everything around him with a look of pure distaste. The Winter Prince caught my eye and I quickly looked away, changing my attention to the houses around me. They all looked like they were in good shape, but there was one house that stood out in the cluster. It looked like it hadn't been lived in for several years, there were cobwebs everywhere, chipped light-blue paint, the windows were broken, and the door was missing. As I was turning back to look at the rest of the houses, I noticed Dexis was staring at the run-down house with a look of dejection.

    I decided to try to have a conversation about it. "You seem to have an awfully strange connection to this village." I said in a normal tone. Pic, Lynx, and Line were farther up the path then we were, so there was no way they could hear our conversation.

    The Prince nodded slowly, "I spent most of my life here."

    "You used to live here?"

    "Yes. This place was a lot better-looking than it is now, and the people here were much nicer." He looked downwards at the cobblestone path. "I lived in that run-down house with my parents and my brother. Nobody has lived there since we all moved out."

    I tilted my head, "Shouldn't royalty live in the castle?"

    "My parents never told me we were royalty until I was fifteen." He sighed, "When I was a child, before I was fifteen, my parents neglected me and only payed attention to my brother. I grew up independently, and barely spent any time around my family, they didn't care anyway. I often ventured out to Matruel and pondered why my parents always payed attention to my brother and not me. I thought that I grew up faster than him even though he was older than me, always thought I was more clever than him, yet my parents didn't pay any attention."