Finding a Prince

Chapter 4

As it turns out what Phil thought as 'not far' turned out to be more than Dan had ever had to walk in his life and he hated it. In the Palace the most exercise he ever really had to do was swordsmanship training. Despite being quite good at it he always found a way to wriggle out of his lessons through supposed injuries or the simple fact that he was a prince and to any servant or guest in the house it his word goes and that's it. Despite skipping certain lessons as a Prince he was well taught in how to run a kingdom and things like that. He had to be or he'd be a pretty crap king. The importance of his future job had been drilled into him before he could even understand the language they were talking in. It was quite a scary thought, that one day he would be running a kingdom. He had also been around people who treated him with a lot of respect and to have someone like Phil who he barely knew laugh and make fun of him was odd. The only people who would usually do that were Louise and the occasional cocky palace guard.

He missed Louise.  It had only been just over two days since he saw her last but Dan missed her comforting presence and advice. He wondered what she would think of Phil. She'd probably be so desperate to get Dan back he would force Phil into marrying him. He could just what Louise would be doing now if she was stood behind them, probably trying to get them to fall on top of each other in order to have a dramatic first kiss or something equally cheesy. Dan let out a giggle at thought earning an odd glance from Phil but he didn't really care. His thoughts on Louise got him back thinking about the palace and everything he was missing there.

               Judging by the sun it must have been about three in the afternoon and it was Thursday today so usually Dan would be in economics. Part of him was sad that he wouldn't be seeing Marilyn to discuss the financial position of the neighbouring kingdom, but most of him was glad he was missing it. Then he began thinking of all the lessons he would be missing, English with Mrs Ashwyn, Sciences with Mr Sky and Music with Miss Haylor (though he was actually glad to be missing that last one, she was a bitch). He realized then that the sinking feeling in his gut was homesickness but quickly dismissed it. Zakira, his cousin, was even supposed to be visiting the Palace next week. He wondered if she had even been told about his disappearance.

               It would be unlikely that his parents would release it as public information themselves but he was sure it wouldn't to be kept a secret for long. Some soldier sent to find him or a palace servant would let slip and soon his face would be plastered around the kingdom. He probably couldn't stay with Phil for long before the other man would figure out who he was which was a shame because even though they had met not two hours ago he was quite fond of him. He was witty and funny, not to mention drop dead gorgeous, perhaps Dan could persuade Phil to be his prince. No. Dan shook his head to get rid of the idea. He couldn't just decide to stay with the first attractive guy he saw; he would at least have to have a browse of the other options first. He wondered if he could stay with Phil though, let him be the backup. Once Phil found out Dan's true identity Dan could simply ask the other man to travel with him. He wouldn't say no to the prince. If nobody else came along he could simply settle with Phil, yeah that would do. Dan smiled at his plan but then a wave of guilt washed over him. Maybe that was a bit mean, it felt a bit like he was using Phil. Dan shook his head once more; he would cross that hurdle when he got to it.

               So he and Phil would travel, what would Dan do about being recognized though? Perhaps he could escape over the border. The king and queen probably wouldn't believe that their son would cross over into another kingdom after having brought him up believing all other kingdoms were evil. Of course he had visited many of them on royal visits to pay homage to various deities or to sign some peace treaty of another and as far he knew they weren't actually too bad. There were three kingdoms bordering Serultria; Montersera, Ipsum and the other, the one they don't talk about.