The Liar's Reign

Chapter 1

Seven years after that...

Flynn was sent on his task later in the day than usual. This was quite odd, since Uncle Wayne had always taught him that the light before dawn was the darkest time and therefore, the safest. Now, it was midday. He was walking with no disguise and only had the simple task of walking around the square until he found something worth buying. Then he would go back out to his home just outside the capital.
He was practically strutting around the square, but what else was a teenager supposed to do? Flynn hadn't been around anyone his age ever and now there were groups of them clustered on the street corners. He was sixteen now and though he knew he shouldn't be this careless, he couldn't help it. He smiled, scanning the streets.
All these streets and there still wasn't anything too notable. Though, to be fair, Flynn wasn't exactly sure what he was supposed to be looking for. He didn't even ask. He practically took the simplest statement Wayne gave and ran out the door. It wasn't every day that he was asked to go out in broad daylight without Wayne checking every corner.
This was a special day.
People started to stare at him. They turned to him with something between confusion, fear, and respect. He smiled brightly at them, but apparently this was the wrong thing to do. Their confusion and fear seemed to amplify. He tried to think of everything Wayne had told him. He never laid down the things that he shouldn't do, so what could it be?
Faces all turned to him, frozen in utter confusion. The groups of teenagers his age fell on one knee with their heads bowed. There were whispers running wild along the street corners, something about his eyes. Flynn focused on the ground in front of him, suddenly insecure and vulnerable, but that decision sent gasps igniting through the crowd with an intensity of a gunshot.
"I thought his eyes were brown." one of the teenagers said as he came closer. His spine straightened, the tension in his shoulders tight and uneasy.
A shopkeeper came out on the corner asking, "The Forgotten Prince?"
Flynn sped up his pace, paying little attention to the shops flying by him in neutral colors of stone. Finally, he turned down a street with the hope to press himself up against the stone wall. He was cornered. A woman and a man saw him panicked and stopped beside him.
"Your Highness, are you all right?" the woman asked, sweeping into a bow. She looked at him curiously.
"What are- what are you talking about?" Flynn sputtered, his mind spinning.
The man stepped forward, "Pardon, Your Highness, but the citizens thought you and his majesty were in Abolonia."
"Why are you calling me 'Your Highness!'" he demanded.
They stared at him, but he gave away nothing. The man started to talk again though his voice was strained with fear, "I-You are Prince Axton Sathorian."
"No, I'm Flynn! Just Flynn." he stared at them.
The couple backed away from him slowly, staring at him with wonder. The woman stopped, "The only difference between the Sathorian twins are their eyes." Though she was watching Flynn like he would disappear in a matter of moments, she seemed to be talking to the man. "He's not dead?"
Then he was running. Flynn pushed off the wall and sprang into a sprint, taking the streets he studied all his life and knew like the back of his hand. Forget about the task Uncle Wayne had sent him on, Flynn needed answers. He ran until he was on the edge of town, the glimmers of the castle shining all the way to the hill side he used to escape.
He ran through the trees, branches snagging his clothes, reaching for his feet, and attacking his bare arms. His short-sleeved shirt had holes in it everywhere now, and his pants were torn just above his boots. Flynn didn't care, he kept running until he reached the familiar open field just a couple miles between the nearest village, Suran, and the Brayzen River.
Flynn fell to the ground, grass poking through his pants, and he pushed himself against the nearest tree. What just happened? He knew that he shared similar looks with Prince Axton, but he was Flynn, not Prince Flynn Sathorian. He died when he was three. Flynn was thrown away, but the prince was murdered. Right?
His head spun, so he attempted to quiet his thoughts by closing his eyes and leaning his head against the trunk of the tree. Thoughts floated in and out, questions that he wasn't sure the answer echoed, and he silently curled up in a ball. His hair pressed against his forehead and eventually, he decided he needed to ask Uncle Wayne. He would know because he knew everything. He saved him and he could tell him what all of this means.
The sun was a couple hours from setting by the time he decided to walk the rest of the way home. The trees were washed in the last orange light from the sun yet the sky was growing dim. It didn't take much time at all before the sky was an inky black, but Flynn didn't mind, he only had a little bit of the forest left before he broke through and found himself on the outskirts of the village of Suren.
The tall pines rustled melodically in the slight breeze, rich with the icy chill and fresh air from the Amarian Mountains. Flynn breathed it in, his eyes closing automatically with the sense of calm that overwhelmed him. There was something different about the air tonight though, he realized with a jolt. The smell of burnt wood was more vibrant than usual. There weren't always a whole lot of wildfires, but it did happen. If one did occur it snuffed out quickly because of the major altitude of the mountains.
He sniffed again, this time inhaling smoke. Breaking into a coughing fit, his eyes flew open searching wildly for the source. Just beyond where the trees broke off, was a dull red glow and smoke billowing into the sky, the forest. He started running again. He couldn't believe how his day was going. When the screams pierced his eardrum he immediately realized his day couldn't be as bad as the people involved in- in whatever this was.
The smoke grew thicker as he tore his way to his little farmhouse. The building was engulfed in flames, the windows dark with smoke. Flynn took a deep breath, he knew what he was probably going to find in there. Wayne on fire, already dead, but he had to know.
Flynn pushed off his back foot to sprint forward into the house. He was grabbed so roughly that he flew backward, landing hard. He wheezed and gasped as a face peered down at him from the top. It was Wayne. His similar sapphire eyes, white skin, the cropped brown hair, the laugh lines that come with age. Flynn attempted to smile but his lungs started to burn.
"Do not tell me you were going to run into the burning farmhouse!" he shouted, scooping him up and away from all the devastation. "If you tell me that that's what you were planning then I should just retire now!"
Wayne dropped him on a log, holding one hand out to keep him steady. Flynn realized they were a long ways into the forest. The screams were no longer audible, but the smoke was still thick in the air.
"Uncle Wayne, I thought you were dead."
The older man sighed, his shoulders sagging slightly, "Flynn, it's all right. I'm going to help our neighbors, but you have to stay here. You're too important. Stay here. If I don't come back you just manage to survive alright?"
"Wait! What do you mean if you don't come back?" Flynn asked sitting up straight, his head spinning.
Wayne looked over his shoulder and then crouched in front of him. "Flynn, listen carefully. The fire was set by our own soldiers from the kingdom. The king would not regularly send soldiers to ruin this big of a community without a reason." His sapphire eyes were entirely focused on Flynn. It almost made him want to turn away from the intensity of it. "You are that reason. They know something so they wanted to stop it, but they failed and other people are getting hurt. Stay here. Stay hidden until midnight. If I am not back before then, you have to take care of yourself."
"Where would I go? What am I supposed to do with my life?" he asked, desperation taking control of his voice.
"Remember that field a couple miles back?" He pointed to the direction Flynn had come from earlier. Flynn nodded. "On the outskirts, more near the Brayzen, there is a small cottage I built a while back. Go there and do the right thing. You are very important to your country."
"I was thrown away by an abusive father, right? What importance do I have?"
Wayne sighed, his tapping fingers the only sign of impatience, "Flynn, come on. Haven't you noticed the terrorized and confused looks you get when you are seen out in public?"
Flynn instantly thought about the people that called him "Your Highness" and commented on his whereabouts, the king, and something about his eyes.
"You are involved in the kingdom. Your status can change the world. If you don't know exactly who you are, someone will and take you the right way. Except that time isn't now. When you come of age promise me you'll do something about it."
Flynn nodded vigorously, his mind swimming with questions and doubts.
"Hey." Flynn looked up. Wayne stepped closer, his eyes now loving. "You'll make it, alright? Come here." He pulled Flynn into a long hug. He was tucked in under the only family he ever knew, then Wayne planted a kiss on the top of his head. "I love you."
Then he went back to help. He didn't come back. Flynn never thought that he was engulfed by the flames though. Not Wayne who had taught Flynn how to hunt, fight, and punch. No. It couldn't be. He had told him something about the kingdom soldiers doing this. Nothing else could explain why he didn't show up at midnight. Nor in the morning. He was just gone. Flynn accepted no other explanation.
Flynn found the small cottage in the woods and started to take care of himself for two long, seemingly endless years. He was alive though, he could still make a difference. He could keep his promise.