Bycrest

Ailments

It's been three years since Xander had been able to see anyone who wasn't a part of his army. He couldn't help but wait to lay his golden brown eyes on the place he called him. His birthright, Bycrest. The Prince wanted nothing more than to lay on a bed and eat actual food for once after the many years of sleeping on a cot and eating gruel. The only thing running through his young adult mind was seeing his mother,father and his younger brother.

As well as the land he called home.

The sun beamed down on what was left of his armor, as his horse gently galloped up towards the bridge just before the city gates. The men slowed down as they approached the guard at the beginning. He stood still, chin up, shoulders back and stomach in. His eyes were straight but he could see all the men in his peripheral vision. The guard didn't look friendly but he had to look the part. There was a gun in his hand with the barrel pointed down towards the ground and the butt up against his chest. Xander's army had on the same silver and black armor, only that theirs are more tarnished. Xander had on the royal armor which was also silver but with strips of gold and a crest of his family which lived in the middle of the breastplate.

Xander was from a highborn family. He sat on his horse as confident as could be, no matter how much pain he was in. His hair, which used to be a short haircut, had grown out down past his shoulders. His dark beard had grown out further than what he would have liked, but the war had limited his options. The fierce look in his eyes could put fear in anyone who might have just been scared of him. The light amber in his eyes resembled the sun, just a little. His chin as if it belonged to a statue. He had that look that would make females swoon over him. As a teenager, he was wild. As he grew, he realized that it was all pointless. Like all other young men, he had a temper and as a young prince, tempers weren't ideal. The trick was trying to get him to know when not to use it.

Today was not one of those days.

"Open the gates." The prince had been front and center. He stayed on his horse as he ordered the guard to do as he asked.

"What is your business?"

The gatekeeper guard didn't look in his direction. He didn't budge but kept his gun hilted as it was before. Xander took another look at the guard this time with a harder look than before.

"Open the gates, gatekeeper." He ordered again.

"What is your business?" He ordered back.

The Prince raises an eyebrow but instead of agitating the guard even further, he laughs. On his right, his best friend, Teauge. He sat as he took off his helmet and watched Xander laugh at the guard. As he laughed, the men began to laugh along with him.

Teague was able to swindle his way in and out of any argument. The young man couldn't have been more than the age of twenty-three or twenty-four. He held dimples and a sly smile. His chin wasn't as chiseled as his best friends, but his smile and cockiness made up for it. His eyes matched the blue sky. His slightly fair skin suffered from patches of sunburn from the days they spent in the desert fighting the Stordian Empire. He took care of his blonde locks but that was before the war. He made sure his handmaidens used special creams and shampoos. It was once light and bouncy but now lifeless and dull. A womanizer he was. Before the war, he was able to bring in countless women. Also making frequent trips to the brother that had been secretly kept in the city.

"You have no right to question me." Xander's laugh came to a quick halt. The humor in his face now completely went to disappointment and anger. He props his leg over his horse so he can get down. He lands on the ground. The heaviness in his boots bangs against the ground, which startles the guard more than it should have. "I said, open the gates!"