Lost but Loved

Chapter Eight: Meeting Sophie and Planning Revenge

The sun came up, the bright sunshine spreading across the land and waking a prince and a man. They groggily climbed to their feet, stumbled to the fire where a rabbit they had caught last night was readied for breakfast. Water was gathered from the nearby brook and the prince tore pieces of meat off the rabbit's bones.

"Would you like me to take you to Sophie's today?" Thanos offered as they ate in silence. Damon chewed his piece of rabbit, swallowed and stared into the fire. Thanos watched the young boy, always wanting to have a son but not able to.

"Its what Lucy would want for me to do. Yes, please take me there. Where does she live anyways?" Thanos grunted, set his breakfast down and sighed. "What's the matter?"

"Do you really know Lucy that well?" Damon's cheeks reddened as he drank from his cup and looked out at the trees. The leaves were a bright green with the sunshine shining through them. The forest was alive with birds chirping, squirrels quarelling over nuts and berries, small game animals scurrying through brush to get away from predators.

"I guess so. Anyways, how long will it take to get to her house?" Thanos barked out a laugh and clapped Damon on his back.

"House? Its a small castle! Didn't you know that her father is an important lord? They live in a gray drab old castle with guards everywhere. It won't take long, an hour at the most. Its past the forest and over some hills."

"Thanks, Thanos. This means a lot to me." Thanos raised an eyebrow in suspicion. Was this the crown prince?

"What has happened to you? Did you get knocked on the head at some point recently?" Thanos' grinned turned impish as he stared at Damon. "Has Lucy changed you?" Damon nodded slowly, realizing how much Lucy had changed his point of view. Thanos laid a hand on Damon's shouder. "You're in deep, aren't you? You really like her."

"Yes, I do! Yet she believes that I'm just using her. Which, at first I was, but she changed me! Even I notice it now!" Thanos smiled sadly.

"Yes, that's how it was with my brother and his wife. Even with me it was so. Women are known to weaken even the strongest of men. Lucy is an amazing girl, pretty, smart but head strong. She'll need a man or boy," Thanos said with a twinkle in his dark blue eyes that almost matched Lucy's, only Lucy's were filled with a fiery passion. "To keep her close and love her dearly. She's had a hard life, she'll need someone who will care for her and craddle her in the night when she cries." Thanos tilted his head to the side. "Have you seen Lucy cry?"

Damon nodded his head sadly. "A few times. I've seen her angry too." Thanos laughed as he packed up his beer, blankets and extinguished the fire. "It's just that Lucy is, she's different, special. No other girl has made me feel like when I do around Lucy. I feel so comfortable, free to tell her anything. When she smiles at me," Damon smiled, then set his head in his hands. "I used to be the player, now I'm being toyed with by a girl! No, a woman who doesn't even know the real me. I don't even know me anymore."

Thanos laid a hand on the prince's shoulder. "Maybe now is a good time to find the real Crown Prince Damon." Damon nodded, stood and helped Thanos pack. When everything was finished, they rode out on a well traveled path that Thanos knew.

They rode at a comfortable gallop through the forest, and soon were out of the forest and riding across plains. The only sound to be heard was the beating of the horses' hooves and the swaying of the long grass alongside the path. Up ahead loomed a great forboding castle, gray clouds lingering near the tallest of towers. Damon could see the big iron gates from where he sat on his horse.

As they grew closer, Damon was able to get a good look at the home of his ex girlfriend. The tallest of towers was like a medium tower of his castle. The walls were about as tall. Two gruff guards stood by the front gate and stood at attention when they noticed the crown prince. Even without the crown and the fact that his clothes were rumpled and dirty, Damon still put out the image that he was royal. His back was straight as a rod, his chin jutted forward, hands clasping the reins tightly. His horse was a purebreed, beautiful when clean but even after days of riding, the horse was still very acceptable for a crown prince.