The Ghost of a Prince

Chapter 1

The village was wary of foreigners. The visitors coming far and in between made it hard for anyone to get used to them. Even if the number of them had augmented recently, -and Emrys knew, it was because of him-, they were still received with wariness. This cautiousness did not fade away until they had either left or made their intentions clear. More often than not, they did the former.

These ones, however, had approached them with a bright red banner with a golden dragon in it. Mrs. O'Connor had picked up Emrys in her arms the moment it was clear the banners where coming to their town and took him to her home. He couldn't quite understand why she was doing it; or why she shut the otherwise open windows before leaving.

Not even the woman's insistence to stay inside was enough to stop the four-year-old boy from opening the window enough to see the group. Most of them were dressed in metal from head to toe, and stood still. The only exception was one at the head who approached Mr. Murphy, who seemed to be the only one who was not rushing to stay out of their way until they were gone.

The one at the front was smiling as he looked around, standing tall, his hair shinning under the sun. He seemed to be around the same age as Mrs. O'Connor and was staring down at Mr. Murphy, despite the fact that he was older.

They exchanged a few words that the boy was unable to hear. Emrys furrowed his eyebrows. A knight stepped ahead and began to talk in between the tall man and Mr. Murphy, whose eyebrows fell deeper with each word exchanged. The man's face was twisting the same way Mr. O'Connor's had when he found out someone had broken into his house.

"Do not lie to me," the tall man shouted, and Mr. Murphy took a shaky step back. "I've heard the rumors, and I know how this works, they are not baseless, there must be some true to them, now, tell me, where is this healer from whose powers I've heard all the way to Camelot."

Mr. Murphy hesitated, "I told you, sir, there must be a misunderstanding..."

"Sir?" the tall man spat through gritted teeth, "I told you I was Uther Pendragon, I am the king of Camelot and you will address me as it is proper."

"I apologize, Your Majesty," Mr. Murphy quickly corrected, averting Uther's gaze, "but as I already told you..."

Uther nodded at the man wearing metal by his side and Emrys watched as he withdrew his sword and proceeded to hit Mr. Murphy with it.

Emrys put his hands on his mouth when the man tumbled backwards, and Mrs. O'Connor rushed to him. She was then swiftly pulled by the arm and forced to let go of her father, whose body hit the floor.

"Is this woman the healer?" His voice rose loud and made Emrys tremble even if it was for just a second. The boy closed the window, and his heart beat fast. Tears dwelled in his eyes and he cleaned the as fast as his hands could

The boy walked to the door. He stood behind it and heard as the king went on again to say how much he despised lies.

"I'm not going anywhere until I get what I want, and to prove you how true I am to my word, a person will die each passing hour, I'll start with that old man, and then that woman."

Emrys cleaned his teary eyes the best he could and opened the door slow, mustering as much courage he could fit. Being brave was a good thing. Mrs. O'Connor stared at him out of the corner of her eye, trying to tell him to go back inside with glances so the king wouldn't turn his attention to him. Emrys continued in his steps. He couldn't allow the people in there to die. They were all kind and Emrys knew that if they died, he wouldn't be able to bring them back. The one thing he could not do.