The Hidden Lands

Chapter 6- Turned Upside Down & Inside Out

Rowan

After Kollin left, I forced down most of the food on the tray. I was hungry but eating felt like a waste of time. I hated letting Willy down, it wasn't fair to him for me to be moping about my wife and baby that I had never even met when he was there, very much alive and healthy.

I stood and walked down the winding halls to Prince Wilbur's room. I knocked, glued a proud fatherly smile to my face, and waited for the door to open. When it didn't, I opened the room just a crack, of course, it was still early by Wilbur's standards. My son was snoring under a mess of blankets, his brown hair sticking up like a dog had been chewing on it. His freckled face seemed so young when he slept. As I watched, one of his big brown eyes twitched open for a second. He rolled over on his stomach and threw a pillow in my direction.

"Very well son, ' I said, pretending to turn for the door, but at the last second, kicked his door closed and walked towards his bed, preparing to pull him out by his feet. He tried kicking me off. I let out a laugh and threw the blankets off him.

"I might be a king," I start, using the old joke he'd started, when he was young. He'd say stuff like ''I might be the next great Faellen king but I still enjoy mud. "And you might be 18 But I still am willing to drag you out of bed by force.

"Dad," he protested, "It's not even 7," then he sat up and checked my watch "Never mind," he said sitting up.

"Sorry about the hunting trip, how about we try your hand at fencing instead?" His eyes lit up at that and I left the room so he could dress and eat.

I made my way to the fencing field to wait, pulling on the thick gray suit and tugging the helmet over the mess that my hair always was.

Willy met me in a few minutes, still chewing the last of his food. He looked the furthest thing from royalty but then again, Kollin would say the same thing about me to this day, at least he was still young.

"En guard?" I suggested and we began, parry strike dodge, it all came from memory. "You're good," I told him when he disarmed me shortly after. We started again, this time, despite dropping his sword he managed to get me pinned against the wall

"You're out of practice Father." he said pulling his helmet up, "need a break old man?" he teased

I moved away from the wall, "I'm not forty yet boy," I retorted, pulling my helmet off "But who am I to argue if you're tired." I joked though I was slightly winded, and he knew it.

"Your Majesty, your Highness" a young guard jogged from around the corner "General Kollin requested that you leave your swords up here and meet him at the cottage." With his message delivered he turned around and ran back to his post.

I took off the protective gear and hung up my helmet. "Sounded like you were invited to." I told Will as he turned to walk inside. I was reluctant

"If you say so," he pretended not to care, but in truth I could see in his eyes that he was excited to see his uncle.

We crossed the drawbridge and walked straight across the grass, the tiny cottage was nestled behind a thin wooded area and Kollin was waiting outside. He crossed the remaining distance and clapped Wily on the back, "Did you beat the old man?" Kollin asked Willy with a mischievous grin.

"Every time," Will replied, the pride evident in his voice.

"I believe it, would you do me a favor? I need to talk to Rowan first, but would you run up to the stables and give my horse to a stable hand?"

"Sure, thing Uncle Kollin." He ran over and grabbed the old bay gelding's reins and began leading him in the opposite direction.

"You got company Kollin?" I nodded in the direction of the other horse tied to the tree.