"And Rory..."
"Yes?" I laughed eagerly, hoping for more compliments.
"That girl who gave you the golden pin..." she paused for dramatic effect.
"Is your betrothed."
"M-My betrothed!" I stuttered, suddenly feeling as though the wind had been knocked out of me. My betrothed she said, but I wasn't even seven years old yet. How could I already be engaged? I suddenly felt light headed as the gravity of the situation hit me.
My dizziness was harshly knocked out of me as uncle Cassian laughed loudly at my reaction and slapped my back painfully hard.
"Haha! Don't look so perturbed Rory. It just an engagement." He laughed.
"Owww." I whined as I rubbed my throbbing back, sure that he had probably left a red hand print on my skin.
"Be gentle with him Cassian." My mother chided as she rubbed my back for me.
While I was close to my mother, the first mother I had actually ever had, I took the opportunity to wrap my arms around her neck and rest my head on her shoulder. She smelled lovely, a soothing vanilla sent that I breathed in happily.
"Mother," I spoke into her embroidered vest. "Am I really betrothed to that girl?" My eyes wandered to the to the hall doors where all the nobles had already exited from. I didn't even get a proper look at her. I wish I had known so that I could have properly introduced myself to her. I remembered that she had introduced herself as Aurora Favian, the cute shy girl who gave me a golden pin in the shape of a cloud. I reached down to my jacket label and traced over the pin with my fingers.
"Yes, my Rory." She soothingly combed her delicate fingers through my white hair.
"If the idea displeases you, you need only say the word and Your father and I will cancel the engagement. Isn't that right Alistair?"
My mother glanced over to my father who had shifted in his throne and was now gazing down at us softly. It was probably the most gentle expression I had ever seen on his stone face.
"It is true that we have secured all we needed from the Favian's mines and have sufficiently compensated them for their land. So if the idea of marrying miss Favian troubles you the engagement can be called off. However, I would prefer to keep my word to Lord Favian and go along with the engagement." My father directly looked into my eyes.
"The decision is yours Rory."
I dipped my head further into my mother's shoulder trying to conceal the smile that had appeared on my lips after hearing my dad call me by my nickname.
"Well, it's not that I hate the idea of being betrothed..." I started. "It's just that I don't know anything about her... I mean maybe she doesn't want to be engaged to me... I don't want to be the cause of any unhappiness." I turned to face my dad again. I didn't know if I was seeing things but it looked like he had a slightly proud smile on his face.
My other uncle, Duke Savras spoke up, "There is no need to worry about whether the maiden wishes to marry you or not."
Uncle Savras chuckled slightly as if I had said something amusing. He pushed his glasses up his nose with his finger because his chuckling had shifted them down his nose bridge.
"Of course it is every maidens wish to marry a prince of Azlantean." He said that as if it was common sense.
I thought his thinking was kind of outdated but I wouldn't point that out to him.
"Furthermore, I'm sure miss Aurora would be happy to marry such a beautiful and kind prince." My mother wrapped her arms around me and hugged me even tighter. I blushed sheepishly and turned my head away from her.
"But still!" I protested, thinking about Aurora's point of view in all of this.
"Even if I am a prince, she still might be nervous or unhappy to marry me. Shouldn't I first get to know her so I can see whether she is interested in me?" I asked them.
"But I also don't want to make dad break his word either..."
"Really Rory! You are too young to be so kind and considerate..." Uncle Cassian squatted beside my mother and me and persisted in ruffling my hair.
My mother proceeded to reward me with a big kiss on my cheek which made me blush and feel all warm and giddy inside.
"Don't worry my little Rory. Why don't you attend a few days at the academy to visit her or invite her to the palace for tea and get to know her a bit. From You're interaction you can make you're decision I think that would be the best solution."
I nodded in agreement. "Okay. For now let us keep the engagement. If I find out that she doesn't want to marry me I'll call off the engagement. As for me, I'm fine with with marrying her as long as she is a good person."
My mother continued to stroke my hair while Cassian decided that poking me in my side would be amusing. I was enjoying mother's affection while playing with Cassian with the background noise of father and uncle Savras talking about serious matters in hushed tones. This was my new family. A strange but happy mix of people I was already beginning to love. However, after spending years of my life with Nehemiah, I was really starting to miss her presence. I wanted to see her again but the excitement of the past few days had completely banished her from my mind until now. At the next opportunity I would ask mother about her and whether I could go and see her.
Suddenly our happy family time was interrupted by the announcer's earthquakingly loud voice.
"Duke Irathmus Rosenheim and his entourage enters!"
I felt my mother's shoulders stiffen and I lifted my head to see that she had a concerned expression on her face. Her light blue gem eyes had gone quite cold and her face and been flushed of any joy as she stared ahead of her.
My eyes shifted to uncle Cassian who had a similar unsettled expression on his face. Whoever this person was, I could feel that he wasn't welcomed by family.
I already didn't like him.
I turned to see a man, with the same black hair and amber eyes as my father and uncle Cassian. I immediately knew that he must be a relative of mine, yet another member of the Royal family.
He looked quite similar to my father actually, but older and somehow meaner with grey sprouts of hair on his beard disturbing his naturally black coloring. His brow was protruded and his beady eyes were sunken into his head behind them creating a dark shadow down the rest of his cold face. The combination of wrinkles and dark circles under his eyes made him seem quite old. Actually I take it back, compared to this man my father seemed like the bright dazzling sun.
He seemed to bring a foul mood with him as I saw both my father and uncle Savras tense up at the sight of him.
Around his shoulders he wore a large grey fur coat. Judging from the color and size of the fur, it looked like honey bear fur. This made my gut twitch uncomfortably because of my experiences with honey bears. One such bear had lived near the forest valley Nehemiah and I had stayed in. Honey bears were known for their gentle and inquisitive nature. They were never violent, they just traveled around a lot in an endless pursuit of more honey. They worst they ever did was squash people's garden when they made their travels through the forest villages I their search for honey.
My jaw clenched angrily at the sight of such a gentle animal strung around this man's shoulders.
From behind the man's grey fleece, I saw something even more disturbing. Two noticeably beautiful women with thick metal collars around their thin necks, with chains that lead to their ankles and wrists. Their clothes were made from unusual exotic looking cloths that seemed to be styled to be purposefully revealing. A lot of their chests and thighs were on display and I could see their discomfort in what they were wearing from the self conscious body language they displayed. The two women's eyes were downcast, they looked so thin and frail, underfed and badly treated. Most of all they looked so afraid.
A cold chill blew up me spine at the realization of what I was seeing in front of me. There was really no doubt in my mind about who the two girls were. From the fear in their eyes to the seductive clothes to the chains, there was no doubt that they were his slaves.
"Aha!" He smiled. "So the famous 'lost prince' has finally returned home!" The man's stare was directed at me.
"You must be so happy my King." Although his words were friendly his tone was not.
I got up from my mother's arms and took a step towards the strange man. I bowed to him even though I didn't want to. What I wanted to do was break those slaves's chains and free them. I knew that slavery existed because my teachers from the forest valley had taught me about it, but from their teachings I knew that Azlantean was a non-slave kingdom. Azlantean was famous for making slavery illegal and even punishable by death. So then how was it possible that I was seeing two slaves right in front of me.
"Ah.. that's right. You probably don't know who I am, do you?" The man asked me with an obviously fake smile.
"No, I am afraid I don't know who you are. But I recognize your hair and eyes."
He chuckled coldly, perhaps upset that I didn't know who he was but then proceeded to introduce himself.
"My name is Duke Irathmus Dusan Rosenheim. The older brother of the king of Azlantean."
I frowned sharply because his introduction didn't make sense. I knew I didn't perfectly understand how the inheritance of a kingdom worked, but I knew the cardinal rule. The kingdom was left the to oldest son or daughter. The first prince or princess. If this Irathmus was my father's older brother, surely he would be king and not my father. I would be sure to ask my mother about it later.
"A pleasure to meet you Duke Irathmus." It wasn't a pleasure though because all I could think about were the two slave girls chained up behind him. They looked really young, probably teenagers.
"Ahh..." A sly sickly tone seeped from his voice as he reached behind him and harshly tugged on one of the girl's chains, causing her to tumble forwards and stand a few meters away from me. She let out a terrified and painful gasp as she twisted her ankle and landed on her hands and knees on the cold floor.
I heard my mother and uncle Cassian sharply intake a breath of air, concerned for the poor slave girl. I was about to run forwards and help her up but his cold tone kept me in my place.
"It seems your eyes are drawn to my girls." He grinned slimily. I hated the way he said my girls. I hated the way he had attached some vile connotation to the words.
Before I could stop myself, I just blurted out the question.
"Isn't it illegal to have slaves in Azlantean?"
My tone came out quite harshly too.
"...Duke Irathmus." I quickly added to try and sound less hostile.
His eye twitched in response to my unwelcome question. He soon returned to his starkly cold demeanor and looked down at me with irritated amber eyes.
"Although the young prince is very gifted in the magical arts, his knowledge of Azlantean laws leaves something to be desired I see..." he looked smug and I hated it.
"It seems you are aware of the law that makes the trade of slaves illegal in Azlantean. That law does not elaborate on slaves that were not traded for in Azlantean. So I am well within my rights to bring slaves into this country, as long as I don't buy and sell them in this kingdom I am not breaking any laws."
His answer made me feel sick and furious at the same time. How could there be such a devastating loophole in the anti-slave law.
"I got these two beauties in the kingdom of Mannon..." he slimily gazed over the two young girls and it made my gut twitch in disgust.
"You seem so interested in them. Perhaps I should have gotten you a few slaves as a present instead." He laughed loudly at his own joke, which made me even more furious.
"I hate slavery."
I was so mad that I didn't even care that I was being rude. I saw the two slave girls look up at me for a moment, before quickly looking down again. There had to be something I could do to help them. There had to be someway that I could free them...
Duke Irathmus looked taken aback by my sudden comment as his sarcastic facade dropped for a moment. But then he regained himself and straightened up.
"Very well..." he tried to fill the awkward silence I had caused in the room.
Suddenly I felt Cassian's large hand come to rest in my shoulder which instantly acted like a soothing pill. My shoulders loosened up a bit and I felt myself calming down more.
"Brother. It has been years since we least saw you. What has brought you back from Mannon to come and see us?" Cassian's time was pleasant but not friendly like you would expect a tone between brothers to be.
"To meet the lost prince of course." Irathmus grinned. "I felt I had to do the honorable thing and present him with a fine gift as well."
With that, Irathmus signaled a gesture to his back.
Besides the two scared slave girls, his entourage consisted of a burly shaven headed man who had a very gnarly looking scar across his cheek. He was huge, at least six foot seven, fully armed with swords and spears, all secured to his back. When Irathmus signaled, the man picked up a trunk sized cage that was covered with a black cloth from behind Irathmus.
The giant bald man stepped forward and slowly placed the cage just in front of me. The cage reached the height of my waist and I could hear gentle purring from inside it.
I looked down at the cage curiously. I wanted to remove the black cloth and take a peak at what was inside.
"Well then go ahead lost prince. Take a look inside at the magnificent present I prepared for you." I was filled with a sense of mistrust for this man and I imagined that he had put some kind of horrible thing inside a cage and gave it to me to deal with. But I didn't want him to see me sweat. So with one swift motion I reached out to the thick black cloth and whipped it off of the cage.
I was half expecting some kind of poisonous snake to jump out and attack me, but instead, in the middle of the cage lay a lump of white and black striped fur. I tilted my head to try and make out what this fluff ball was. Cassian squatted down again to look into the cage while I heard my mother and uncle Savras step forward to come get a better look. I heard curious whispers from the sides of the hall from the servants and attendants who were watching this strange interaction.
For a moment I thought that the duke had gifted me a fluffy blanket in a cage but as I watched the fluffy heap I could clearly see the rise and fall of its chest. Thence the fluffy blanket was breathing and was actually not a fluffy blanket but instead some type of animal. I stalked around the cage looking at the small creature until I found the shiny white button of a cat like snout. I could then recognize the outline of its cat like face and closed eyes and small whiskers. It looked like a white tiger cub. It was really adorable. So soft and cute with pristine white fur with thin black stripes and big baby paws.
Even though it was about the size of a cat, it looked so majestic and beautiful as it slept inside the cage.
"If I'm not mistaken it is a very rare bread of saber tooth from the Valhalla kingdom... judging from its white fur and stripes, Is it not the Hekate Saber tooth?" Uncle Savras asked as he squinted at the animal.
From the corners of the room I heard footsteps walking towards us. I tore my eyes away from the sleeping white saber tooth to see Sir Jabari, my guard, and Sir Sakaru my fighting teacher, walking towards me. From their introductions yesterday, I distinctly remembered that they were Valhallen people from Valhalla. Maybe they were stepping forward to give their input since this matter involved their horn kingdom.
"Duke Savras is correct. This is a Hekate beast, one of the most sacred animals in Valhalla." Spoke Sir Jabari as he looked down at the sleeping animal.
"When I left my Kingdom, these animals were said to be near extinction and extremely hard to find. How did you manage to get your hands on one Duke Irathmus?" I could see the confusion in Jabari's eyes, it was almost as if he couldn't believe that he was seeing a real Hekate in front of him.
"Aha..." chuckled the Duke. "I payed extremely good money to get my hands on this little one. I payed for all the best hunters and trackers to enter Valhalla and capture one for me." Irathmus smiled as if what he had done was a good thing.
"Unfortunately the fully grown mother Hekate of the cub wouldn't let her child go without a fight. The darned beast just would not give up." He sighed.
"So in the end I just had the mother killed and then took her cub."
For the about the tenth time today this man made my gut twitch in disgust. How could he speak so freely about killing one of these creatures and stealing a scared animal from a kingdom?
Although I hadn't known Sir Jabari and Sir Sakaru for very long, I knew that they had very sharp control over their emotions. Their faces displayed very little of their feelings and it seemed they had trained themselves mentally to give away nothing from their expressions, but right now I could see fury leaking out of their stone faces.
Even though they had left their home kingdom a long time ago, I could feel the hurt they felt at having their sacred creatures killed for the sake of a mere present to me. I felt so guilty right now. A lump of disgust had formed in my throat and I knew that I wouldn't be able to accept this gift.
"In that case I can't accept this." I croaked out as I took a step back from the sleeping saber tooth.
I heard my mother's surprised gasp as she turned to me, as well as murmurs form the edges of the room.
"You killed this poor creature's mother and took it from its home. You should take it back to Valhallen Duke Irathmus and set it free." I said determinedly.
"You won't accept my gift?" He asked coldly as he looked down at me, his fake smile gone. I stared squarely at him. My answer was clear.
"Fine by me." Irathmus lifted his hand and signaled to his bald guard.
The bald men acted like clockwork. The man reached behind his back and slid out a silver knife from his trove of weapons and brushed past me in an instant towards the cage. In spite of his large size, the mountainous man was so quick on his feet. The large man reached inside the cage and roughly pulled the sleeping Hekate out of its cage by the gruff of its neck. The poor thing woke up in pain and screeched pitifully as the man held it up in the air. I watched in horror as the man raised the dagger and was moments away from stabbing the cub.
"Wait!" I shouted preempting his fatal move. The man's hand stopped mid air.
"I'm afraid this is the best action lost prince." The duke grinned.
"How is this the best action? You should take it back to Valhalla and reunite it with the other Hekate." I snipped back at him.
"I'm afraid that is impossible..." he sighed with a thin smile on his face.
"This beast is the last of its kind. It's mother was the second last. Even if I take it back, the cub will have nothing to return to." I was beyond furious now. How could he kill the mother Hekate knowing that the species was so endangered.
"Even then, it belongs in Valhalla in its own lands, where at least the setting is familiar to it."
I hated the way that the Duke chuckled down at me like I was some naive kid who was spouting out nonsense. Little did he know that I could drive in my previous life!
"Don't you see lost prince, that wouldn't do it any good either." He sighed.
"Look at it. Does this look like a creature that would survive a day on its own. Even though it is in pain now and is close to death, it doesn't fight back."
I looked up at the small helpless hetake in the painful grip of the Duke's guard. It just hung there, given up, hopelessly waiting to die. The poor thing was probably traumatized after witnessing the death of its mother and then being taken away from its home. It was all alone in this world. With no home and no family. I felt a great connection to this little cub. I wanted to bring the life back to its eyes. I wouldn't see it killed now or ever. I would take it in and look after it.
"It's hopeless lost prince. The merciful thing would be to let me kill it, don't you think?" Even now his tone was mocking me.
"No." I was burning with new passion and determination.
"I take back what I said. I will accept your gift and raise this Hekate." I announced proudly to him.
"Give it to me." I commanded.
There was a long pause, wherein I could see him struggling. He wanted to kill this little animal in front of me. He wanted to be cruel and sadistic and see me panic. This man was evil. He didn't want to obey me, but he had to. In the end, it all came down to rank. I was a prince and he was a duke so my word trumped his.
He was taking too long though.
"Give. It. To. Me. Now." I commanded again slowly.
Again, the duke hesitated to command his guard to give me the animal. So instead I took the cub for myself.
I dipped into my well if power and flicked my left hand in one swift motion. The silver dagger in the bald man's hand went flying towards the back wall of the hall instantly.
The guard looked visibly confused and I saw the shocked expression run across the duke's face. With another motion of my hand, pushing my palm forward into the air, the bald man was knocked a few feet backwards, while the little cub levitated in the air. With my magic I pulled the floating cub towards me as gently as possibly so as not to alarm it. I made him float right into my open arms and cradled it in my chest as gently as possible. The duke had been right about one thing, this little cub had lost the will to live. He seemed to motionless and still, but even so I smiled down at him. I was determined to make him whole again.
I turned around to my mother and father. My father was still seated in his throne, while my mother had already gotten up and was standing just a few paces behind me.
"Mother, father, may I be excused?" I asked politely.
Father nodded his head once, while my mother seemed a bit too shocked to speak.
I bowed to them both and began to walk to the doors of the great hall. I wanted to go back to my room so that I could set up a bed for me new little pet.
As I passed by Duke Irathmus, I stopped just in line with him.
"Duke Irathmus." I said softly.
"Please refrain from calling me the 'lost prince'. My official title is Prince Torryn Leonis Rosenheim and I expect you to call me by it."
I took satisfaction from the look of his jaw clenching in anger and the fists by his sides tightening.
I won this round.
I calmly made my way to the exit while stroking my pet gently, leaving this encounter behind me, but not forgetting the two young slaves by his side. I would help them in someway, somehow.
I smiled as I turned back to see Nanny Zelda and my maids, Sir Jabari, Sir Amren, Sir Sakaru and Lord Leopold following behind me.
I grinned at the thought that my entourage was so much better than Duke Irathmus's entourage.
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Helllloooooo Author-San here! Yes very long chapter, but it's very important for the plot so bare with it. Thanks for reading and don't forget to comment and vote 🗳