The Icy Prince

Chapter 5: The terrifying news

Father's brows were knitted together the moment he came back home. He trudged down the hallway as he plopped down on his favourite armchair. He pinched the bridge on his nose with his eyes closed and sighed. Mother looked at father worriedly as she asked,"What is it that distresses you so, my dear?"

Father's sullen expression gave a sense of foreboding as he replied,"The king's councils have received a declaration of war from Arin and decided that war was imminent."

All eyes in the room widened as they took in the shocking news. I gulped. Recently, Arindian soldiers have been attacking the villagers living near the border between Arin and Orlinda, lots of lives were lost to the hands of those ruthless soldiers . (A/N Just in case you forgot, Arin was also the land where the bandits who killed Marcus's parents came from) Arin has always eyed after Orlinda for its fertile soil and abundance of natural supplies. Deep in our hearts, we knew that warring with Arin was inevitable. It was just a matter of time before the fragile peace between the two kingdom breaks.

"The king has ordered immediate preparation for the war, boys beyond the age of 15 would be recruited into the troops preparing for war. Father continued. He stared at Cassio as he finished his sentence. I saw Cassio's adam's apple bob as he gulped nervously. I felt an urge to laugh at this amusing scene but the tension in the air was blocking the laughter bubbling in my throat. Father's words rang in my ears as I remembered that Marcus was 17 and would therefore have to be enlisted in the war. It was my turn to gulp now as I realised the extremely high possibility of losing my brother and best friend through war.

"Marcus!" I hollered as Cassio and I sprinted in tandem towards the stables. We were trying to find Marcus to tell him the news of the war and we found him in the stables, grooming a horse.
We were about to reach the stables when we saw him talking to a man.The man was a stranger and was dressed in common village clothes as he continued conversing with Marcus. The clouds parted and the stable was soon bathed in endless streams of sunlight. The sunlight reached the stranger and got reflected back as something glinted in the light. I squinted my eyes to get a closer look before realising it was some sort of brooch. The brooch was a symbol that looked exceptionally familiar but I just can't quite put my finger on it. The symbol had reddish hues and as it bathed in the sunlight it resembled a tiny bud of flames that danced dangerously, ready to burst into a roaring inferno any moment. I racked my brains, thinking hard while squeezing my eyes shut tightly to gather all my memories of a flame-like brooch.

My thought bubble was burst when I felt a slight nudge on my right shoulder

"What do you want?" I asked annoyed, facing Cassio.

"What's stableboy doing?"He asked.

"How would I know?" I grumbled.

An idea popped up in my head at the same time and I grinned.

"Looks like we'll have to do some spying." I intoned while I dragged Cassio behind some bush .

We continued to observe marcus and saw him handing a piece of paper to the man and they were talking in such a hushed voice that made things look surreptitious. After speaking for quite some time, the man left hurriedly as Cassio and I watched. He exited by the estate's backgate which was only known to the household's servants.

"Hey Marcus! Who's that?"Cassio said when he stepped out from the bush.

Marcus gave a startled jump as he stared at Cassio in shock. He quickly recovered from the initial shock and replied nonchalantly," Oh, just a friend from the village. And...were you spying on me?

My face flushed as I shifted my feet rubbed against each other from embarrassing.

"Whatever, have you heard about the war?"Marcus asked curiously.

"How did you know about the war? We were about to tell you that!" I questioned.

"Oh! News in Orlinda travel pretty quickly, hey let's not worry so much about the war. Come on! Let's ride some horses and drive those worries away!" Marcus laughed as he ushered us to the horses

From what I know, only the king's council knew about the war and the announcement and enlistment scrolls would only be given out tomorrow. There was no possible way Marcus could have any knowledge about the war. Something fishy was going on but when I took a second glance at Marcus's affable face, all my doubts and suspicions were erased.

Lucas
"Prince Lucas, his majesty wishes you to see him in his library." The castle steward said as he gave a sweeping bow. I nodded and headed to the library.

"Your majesty."I greeted father as I bowed and went to sit on the chair in front of him. It had been quite some time before I have taken such a close look at him. There were strands of grey hair and grey patches on his blonde head and his shoulders were hunched as though carrying a heavy weight. His face looks unfanthomably weary, the vigour that I had once seen in his eyes in a seemingly long time ago were now replaced with exhaustion and distress.

"Lucas, I have matters of great importance that I must discuss with you right away."

"What is it, father?"

"The council have received a declaration from those dammed Arindians. The war is imminent and we have decided to recruit soldiers immediately to train for the bloodbath that is about to come. I have observed great leadership qualities in you and seen some wonderful fighting skills from you, my son. Thus, I appoint you as general of the army."

"I accept this great honour bestowed upon me, your majesty. I shall try my very best to avoid any loss of precious men and win the war. I will take my leave now." I stood up abruptly and prepared to walk towards the door.

"Lucas!" Father cried out.

I halted.

"I...I really miss you. I miss your laughter, the warm hugs that you used to give me, that charming smile that you used to have. They seemed to have all vanished away from the moment your mother died. The courtiers...they keep talking about this cold attitude of yours. It has been 10 years now, surely you would have stopped grieving over her."

I spun around on my heels and looked at my father in the eye, "Father, I never grieved for mother for I never loved her. Well, I used to and because of that I had to suffer a very great ache in my heart. Then I realised the only way out would be to stop loving. Without love, you wouldn't have feelings, without feelings, you wouldn't grieve. Isn't that right, father?"

He paused for a moment before giving me a wistful smile.

"I suppose so Lucas, I suppose so. You may leave now."

I strode out of the room and shut the door behind me.