Bruised scales (Prinxiety)

//prologue\\

A soft trickling noise echoed against stone walls.

A small pile of bones rested against the back wall.

Another pile, kept far away from the bones, was only a little bigger.

A few gold coins, some prized skulls, and several scrolls scattered the floor haphazardly in that pile.

Next to it, a large beast was draped gracefully across a large overhang, watching the water below him guzzle by slowly in its small stream.

"Another day, another week, another month, and another year," he grumbled, rolling onto his stomach.

He stretched his jaw in a yawn, showing of his massive set of teeth. Then he stood, shaking his body, ridding his scales of loosed dirt.

"Another day, where nothing changes," he added, in an almost sing song way as he padded towards the mouth of his cave.

When he reached the edge, he stared out over his territory, the massive forest stretching out beneath the black sky.

He stretched his large black wings, and launched into the night.

- -

A small bell jingled as a worn wooden door creaked open in protest.

A muffled greeting sounded from the front.

A young man popped up from his desk with a yelp.

"Coming!" He called, dropping his pen into the empty jar next to a pile of books

The boy leapt to his feet and ran to the door, peeking out. One of his regulars stood in the lobby, strolling by the foods he stocked

He was shifting through the apples when he noticed the young man in the doorway and smiled.

"Good morning, young man," the older man said, amusement hinted in his tone.

The young man flushed as he brushed off his clothes and pushed his round rimmed glasses onto his nose.

"Good morning Mr. Hendrickson, how can I help you?"  he replied, still blushing as he moved to the front counter. The man laughed as he walked up to join him.

"I ran out of jam, so I returned to buy some more, you do still sell jam correct?" The old man asked, scratching his scraggly white beard.

"Uh- yea!" The boy with circle glasses nodded, then murmured something to himself before softly jogging to the side counter covered in jam jars.

"It was um... blueberry? Or uh- Raspberry?" He asked, the older man frowned.

"Huh?" The old man asked and the young man sighed.

"I asked if you wanted Blueberry he t Raspberry," the boy repeated, shuffling the jars around on the shelf.

"Oh! Both is fine," Mr. Hendrickson answered. The young man nodded, padding back to the counter. The man dropped two rich gold coins on its surface and the young man swapped them with four jars of jams.

The two shared a farewell and the young man sighed before returning to his room and desk.

- -

"You will meet her, and you are going to marry her, you do not get to chose!"

Shouts of anger rang through the air.

Two people at each end of a long table.

"What if I don't love her!" The younger of the two asked, his chest heaving.

He could feel his eyes sting slightly, threatening to spill.

"I don't care if you love her, this is for the kingdom! Your first duty is to your kingdom do you hear me!" His father screamed, he could see his sisters and mother sitting uncomfortably in their seats.

"But-"

"No buts! You serve the kingdom, which means you serve me-"

"What if I don't want to serve the kingdom!" He screamed in a sudden roar of anger, his blood boiling in the heat of it.

He could feel the whole room freeze. His siblings stared at him as if he was crazy, his parents seemed shocked, but his father was the first to recover.

"I will not let any of my children speak that way," his father growled, his voice echoed through the otherwise silent room.

The boy felt his chest constrict in on itself.

"You're not-"

"You are not aloud to leave your room until you can learn who your superiors are," his father snarled.

"Lidya, take him to his room please, and make sure he does not leave," the king growled.

A servant from nearby wandered up to the fuming boy, she bowed to him. He only followed cause he still knew self preservation, and he had pride.

He was not going to fight anymore than they'd already done today.

He kept his head up all the way to his room.

- -

Busy halls were loud, he noted.

He made his way through the crowd in the main hall as he headed towards a specific wing of the castle. It took him a little longer than usual thanks to the amount of maids bustling around.

He knocked on a large door and opened it immediately after.

"Sire," he said, announcing his arrival. The prince was angrily shining his sword with a rag on his chair next to the window.

"It is almost time for your daily lessons, why have you not made your way to the teachers wing?" He asked. The prince glanced up, he was glaring but the servant was unfazed.

"I'm not going today," the young man snapped. The servant noted than the young princes face was flushed and his eyes just slightly puffy if not red.

"That is unwise, your duties should not be ignored, sire," he commented. The prince growled and put his sword on the wardrobe next to him, then passed the servant, shouldering him out of the way as he headed out the door.

The servant sighed, beginning his very own daily duties.