Prince of the Beaverland

Chapter Three

"One." Swords clanked together, left foot forward. "Two." Another clank and a few corrections were made. "Three." Out of the corner of my eye, behind the men training to my left, a dark blue dressed beauty strutted gracefully down the stairs, following closely behind my Mother. "Four." Sir Des, who now was helping train some of the soldiers and knights to be, was distracted, watching the blond haired princess say something to Mother. Both ladies giggled as their maids stood off to the side. "Five." Another clank. The morning sun was bright, wafting a fresh smell over the training grounds. "Six." The grass still had some water on it. All in all, it was a beautiful spring day. "Seven," I strongly spoke to the men. Another giggle caught my attention.

My mother made eye contact with me and before I could avoid it, she waved me over. I sighed, kicking myself for looking in the first place, and turned to Sir McMinn, one of my head knights, on my left. "Take over."

"Yes, Sire." The man straightened and continued the training. "Eight!"

I jogged over to my Mother, who was continuing to converse with Princess Salem. The Queen herself was dressed in a light blue flowy gown, unusually airy compared to most of her other dresses. "Eugene," Mother addressed me.

"Mother." I turned toward the princess. "Princess."

She curtsied back. "Prince." She took a moment to turn toward the knights training. "Do you do this every day?" There was a wince on her part as one of the men messed up his footing and fell hard.

"After this initial warm up the soldiers are free to go while the knights continue to train. We do a four days on, one day off layout," I informed the Princess of the Bee Homeland. "It is very important we stay in the best physical and mental shape." Sir McMinn continued shouting numbers as the men moved with practice.

The princess met my eyes with her bright green ones. "Especially with those Gem brutes on the move. Have you heard they took an upper corner of the Evergreen a few months ago? I am so happy we only have a small northern border with them." My Mother blinked rapidly before doing a nervous giggle.

I was taken a back by the Gem talk from the princess. "Yes. They are a pain," I hesitantly answered her. "We have the east border with them. They do not seem to be trying to make advances with us." I had a council meeting a few days before and some of the older men were concerned the Gems had other plans up their sleeves than pressing our border. We recently added extra troops to the east, just to be on the safe side.

"It makes you wonder if they have a bigger plan we do not know about," Princess Salem continued. "They are quiet along our border as well." She used one hand to daintily push a piece of hair behind her ear. "The only good thing about them is the alliances that the Evergreens, Beaverlanders, Bee Homelandians, and the Silverwarers have created because of them. Those peace talks a few years back were a great idea." In the background, McMinn switched up the training and I could hear the men starting to run laps around the training grounds.

"Of course, we were always on good terms with the Evergreens," I reminded her.

"Yes, but now we all are on good terms. I think it has improved all our countries in the last year or so." My Mother did another tense giggle, obviously not expecting the princess to engage in these sort of talks with me.

Neither did I honestly. "Princess, if I may be so bold, I did not realize that you were interested in these sort of peace talks and border discussions."

Princess Salem nervously giggled. "I know it is not the typical princess talk. I am sorry if I offended you." She twisted her earring, keeping her eyes down.

"Not at all," I answered honestly. "Usually only heirs to the throne have such points to discuss." I took a step closer, now wanting to hear a little more on her opinion. "What do you think the Gems are planning?"