Solum et Lunam

Solum et Lunam - Part 1

The plan was simple. Travel to Veloxvale, get into the castle, capture the king, and bring him back to Solisdene alive. Executing that plan, however, would be a lot more difficult than Phil's father made it out to be. There were troll settlements and a bewitched forest full of centaurs and ogres in between the two kingdoms, not to mention the fact that Veloxvale was situated on the other side of an enormous gorge.

Phil's father didn't seem to care when Phil pointed all this out to him, instead calling for one of his servants to go and unlock the weapons room.

"I don't even know why you're making us do this, Your Majesty," Ava huffed from beside Phil, crossing her arms in annoyance.

"Because I'm too old and physically unable to do it myself," the King replied. Vince let out a long sigh. "I think she means 'Why do you want to capture King Daniel'," he said, rolling his eyes. The King looked at him blankly, then was quiet for a moment. He gazed intensely out of the window, mouth drawn in a tight line.

"Because he murdered my best friend. He took away from me one of the things I held most dear and I will not rest until I've seen him pay."

Phil didn't know what to say. Fortunately he didn't have to say anything, as it was Ava who spoke.

"Who was your best friend?" she asked quietly.

The King stood up and winced as if in pain, turning towards the door. His eyes flickered across the floor, finally opting to close before he spoke.

"His father."

Phil, Ava and Vince struggled to catch up with him as he speed-walked down the halls toward the weapons room.

"Since when were you friends with King Jacob?" Vince called after him as they turned a corner. The King slowed to a halt, not looking in their direction. Phil heard him mutter something under his breath before he spoke to them.

"I'll start from the beginning, shall I?"

He continued walking, more slowly this time so the three could catch up with him.

"I became friends with Jacob just over a year and a half before Daniel was born. The communications between Solisdene and Veloxvale were stronger then- we were allies, so to speak- and I would often travel to the castle to visit him. I had a Griffin back then, you see; it made getting to places a lot easier.

We did everything together. We practised swordfighting together in the grounds of the castle. He showed me everything he could do with his magic; it really was quite spectacular. I really did enjoy his company, you know- he was like the brother I never had."

He let out a deep breath, fixing his gaze on the floor.

"But then the Queen became pregnant, and I started seeing less and less of Jacob as he stayed at the castle to take care of his wife. And then nine months later she gave birth to little Prince Daniel, and I stopped seeing him altogether. I opted to stay at home with you and your mother, Phil. I realised I had been sort of neglecting both of you ever since you were born and I wanted to be a good father to you. And so from then on I stayed away from the Howells and all of Veloxvale, but that didn't stop me from hating that child of theirs. He took my best friend away from me. I know it was irrational- it wasn't Daniel's fault- but I couldn't help it.

Then 8 years later, I was given a reason to hate him when he...he murdered his father. I didn't hear about it until a while after it happened, as news doesn't travel that quickly round here and that was the year your sister was born and I'd promised myself and your mother that I'd take care of her.

From what I heard he was found standing over Jacob in a tavern with a bloodied knife at his feet. There was no one else in there at the time but Daniel kept saying over and over again that it wasn't him and that the man who had done it had shoved the knife into his hands before running away. No one believed him. He would've been banished from the kingdom had he not been Jacob's successor."