Royals

ii.

Jack

"Open the gate."

"We are sorry your highness, but your father put us under strict orders, you cannot leave," one of the gate watchers spoke.

Dammit I don't have time for this.

"You listen here Julius, I have errands to run, and I am on a time limit. You open these cursed gates right now or I will have you in the dungeon by nightfall and beheaded by sunrise, do you understand?"

There was a brief silence, "open the gates!"

"Thank you," a smug smile forming on Jack's lip, "I'll bring you an apple for your troubles."

"Th-thank you sire," the guard sputtered out.

-

He rode full speed for about a mile before coming upon the marketplace.
Where all the normal people lived.
Their normal lives.
Their normal jobs.
Their normal families.
They also had full control of what they wanted to do in life.
In which Jack envied them tremendously.

He walked cautiously through the streets, buying treats and herbs along the way.

Occasionally he earned a few stares from villagers, which was expected, but never the less made him feel self conscious.

He obviously did not belong here.
And was possibly not wanted here.

But this whole shopping for his servants thing made him feel better.
So he just hoped the people would get used to him or something.

Hopefully.

-

He made his path through the rest of the marketplace, specially buying Harry some chocolate and Elise a tiny shell necklace.

The sun was setting now and Jack was all done with his 'errands' for the day.

He was about to head out of the village when a small boy came running up to him, "prince jackson?"

"Uh yes?" He knelt down beside the tearful kid.

"Could you please help my mommy?"

"Your mommy?"

"Yes, she's very sick," the boy began to talk rapidly, "she keeps on sweating but says she's cold and hasn't gotten out of bed in so long," he was weeping now, "please, please help her."

"Okay, okay calm down, I'll uh try to help."

What am I getting myself into?

"Okay um where does your mother live?"

"Near the edge of the village, where the forest begins."

"Okay, uh, let's go tell the herb lady about your mother, then we can fix this alright?"

"Okay," the sniffling mess of a boy cried.

"Hey, hey. Don't cry, your mother's going to be fine. Everything is going to be fine."

But Jack felt more as if he was trying to assure himself rather than the child.

-

By the time Jack arrived back at the castle night had fallen and you could smell dinner being set.

He would have gotten home sooner if he hadn't made the impulsive decision to take the kid, whose name was Charlie, home to his mother first.

But Jack just wanted to make sure the family would he okay, which they were.