The Knight and the Peasant [FIRST DRAFT]

Chapter 15

A few days after Salvador left and only a few days before Angelica's mother was scheduled to leave, the Rookery Master received a dove carrying the message that the King of Sersalvon and the Crown Prince were making their way to la'Manse delle Simia to congratulate Prince Benedict on his grand victory over rebels to the empire.

When the news spread through the castle walls the attendants went in a panic to prepare the castle for the coming of the king.

This was unprecedented; the king rarely left the high walls of the Navitium Palace. This step into the outside world would be a shock for all nobility in Sersalvon. Many would wonder if the king was finally going to get a good look into the fractured duchies that was the Kingdom of Sersalvon. Some thought he was spurred by the Evrúopean force that had all but conquered the small Kingdom of Grenasserrat. Benedict was rarely seen as he was tending to the security of the king. There was no doubt that the possibility of an assassin was there.

A few weeks later, when the king arrived, there was a grand procession at la'Manse delle Simia. The attendants of the Manse were able to put up ample decorations and the cooks and chefs had prepared enough food for a large host. There was enough space to house the large host that the king was expected to bring. And a large host it was. A huge line of carriages and wagons followed the king, who was at the head of the procession. There were over a hundred knights and the Leviathan Guard that protected the king and prince along with his entire retinue. The nobles that still attended the king were constantly at his side, trying to curry his favor.

The king himself seemed to be an exact copy of Benedict (except for the beer belly). . . or perhaps it was the other way around. The Crown Prince had little in common with his father, if anything. He did not have the usual gold-flecked green eyes common in members of the Navíste family. His eyes were instead brown and plain with golden brown hair that turned almost blonde at the ends. Angelica assumed he took after his mother. Speaking of the queen, where was she?

Angelica's question was answered when a troop of noble ladies came through the gates of the la'Manse. They were all wearing extravagant dresses of all different colors that represented different houses. Their hairstyles were all in the latest fashion and they all had high-pitched and feminine voices. The queen was in the center of them all, a willowy and feminine woman she was wearing the colors of House Navíste, turquoise and sea-green. Her hair was dirty blonde color found rarely in the Caraíbes and her eyes were a light brown.

The king's brother, Prince Jacquez, followed the queen. He had light brown hair and emerald eyes. He was significantly taller than the king and built like a warrior. He strayed behind the queen, keeping his distance from her lady guards but not straying too far behind.

All fell silent in la'Manse delle Simia as the king dismounted from the carriage which he and the Crown Prince had rode in. As his foot touched the courtyard, everyone present got down on one knee, albeit a bit reluctantly. Angelica had never bowed to a king in her life; for as long she had lived the Duchy of Veroña had pretty much been a sovereign state. It felt strange. . . almost wrong to bow to this king. This man who had never been in her life until life, yet he called himself the King of Sersalvon.

The Crown Prince dismounted from the carriage and surveyed the castle. He seemed unimpressed. "A tiny castle. But I'm glad to hear my brother could conquer something."

Angelica glanced at Benedict and saw his face slowly turn beet red. Benedict lifted his head to look at his brother. "You've yet to conquer a castle, Francisco."

Francisco gave his brother a thin smile. "No, I have not. Yet. I did, however, destroy the thirteen strongholds of the brigand Lone Wolf Company."

Angelica knew of that event. Crown Prince Francisco had destroyed thirteen villages which the Lone Wolves, a free company that had formed in Sersalvon to feast upon the discord in the Kingdom of Sersalvon, had occupied. Francisco had claimed the villages were helping the Lone Wolf Company and had burned them all down, destroying the Lone Wolves along with them. The only reason the Crown Prince had done everything was because six of the thirteen occupied villages had been in his territory; Crown Prince Francisco was Lord of Lux Aestius, the summer home of the royal family.