Crowns and Daggers

Chapter four

After the street rats escaped, Ash lay on the rough cobblestones of the courtyard, rubbing his jaw, until a guard came over and hovered over him in concern.

"Are you alright, your highness?" he asked. Ash groaned and let the guard pull him to his feet.

"I'm fine." He straightened his vest and tried to strut proudly away, though the effect was ruined when he almost tripped over a small rock.

Ash entered The Castle, cheeks slightly flushed with embarrassment. Before Ash could reach his rooms, a guard appeared in front of him and saluted.

"Your royal highness, the king has requested you meet him in the throne room."

Ash winced and hesitantly made his way back down the spiral staircase, trying to keep his back straight and his chin jutted determinedly. As soon as he pushed the large wooden doors to the throne room open, his father stood from where he was seated, discussing something with an advisor, to fix his permanent glower on his son.

"What is the meaning of this?" King Alexander boomed. Ash sighed, casting his gaze downward.

"You mean the thief, Father?" He could feel the eyes of every guard in the room moving back and forth between him and the king.

"Yes, Asher. The thief," he said impatiently. "Why did you let it get away? Son, I've trained you better than this."

"First of all, the thief was a 'she', not an 'it'" Ash shot back, then immediately regretted it. His father did not like when Ash talked back at him.

"What was that?" King Alexander asked in a dangerously low voice, his hands flexing at his sides.

"Nothing, Father," Ash looked at his feet, tempted to run right out of the throne room and leave his father and the questions behind. Years of experience told him that would only result in further fury.

"I am very busy, so leave, but if this happens again..." the king trailed off, lowering his eyebrows and glaring darkly to emphasize his point.

Ash took a shuddering breath, in both terror and relief, then spun on his heel, rushing out of the stifling room. As he hurried back down the halls, trying to shake off flashbacks of his stern, aggressive father, he found his feet steering him into the huge castle library. The familiar scent of paper, leather, and dust greeted him as he found his favorite plush armchair and collapsed into it, putting his head in his hands. After a moment, a hand touched his shoulder lightly, and he looked up to find the old, friendly archivist and librarian smiling at him.

"Prince Ash, are you feeling okay?" she asked. He pushed the hair out of his face and tried to smile back at her.

"Yes, thank you. I've just had a bit of a rough day." The librarian, Agatha, nodded sympathetically.

"I could hear your father from here," she said. Ash sighed.

"Sometimes I just wish I knew why he's like this." Abruptly, the old woman sat in the chair next to his and put her hand on his comfortingly.

"You know what always makes me feel better after a long day?" Agatha asked. "A story. Would you like to hear one?" The prince shrugged, and she started.

"Once upon a time, there lived a handsome young prince." Her voice transformed as she told the tale, becoming clearer and seeming to fill with magic and wonder.

One day, he decided to explore outside of his kingdom. So he prepared his gryphon, and set off. At the end of his journey, he ended up in the enchanted Stormbird Woods, where the elves lived.

Elves were awed by all the kingdoms, and greatly respected, so he hoped to meet one in person. He had seen them from a distance, but it wasn't enough for him.

Being young and naive, the prince didn't bring a map or compass and quickly got lost in the thick vegetation. Time passed as he wandered around in circles, and soon, it was almost dark, and he still couldn't find his way out of the forest.

Then, he spotted a young elven woman collecting water from a stream. She was beautiful, and the prince was struck with love at first sight. He approached her and asked her name. It was Destiny. She was very kind, so she helped him out of the woods. Every day after that, he came back to visit and they fell in love and were married not long after, Destiny coming to The Castle to be a princess.

Before long, Destiny was going to have a baby. Then, the old king died and the prince was left to rule the kingdom. He was a fair king, and all the people loved and respected him.

But soon, all the power and wealth led to him becoming overconfident and careless. One day, there was a mountain of documents piled up on his desk that needed his signature. He was lazy and signed them all without reading what they entailed. It ended up that he gave his permission to cut down trees near the elves' homes, and the elves became angry and started The Great Elven War.

Horrified at her husband, Destiny sided with the elves and broke his heart. The king had no choice but to drive the elves away into the mountains, where he thought they all perished.

Before leaving, Destiny had given birth to a baby boy, and the king was selfish so he snatched the boy away and decided to raise him on his own, but these events had left the king bitter and vengeful, and he became mean and unfair and was a terrible father.

Ash blinked, and his hand drifted up to touch the pointed tip of his ear. He stared at Agatha questioningly, but she just gave him another warm smile.

"Who was the king in the story? Was he real?" Ash asked.

"That, you have to figure out by yourself. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some scrolls to organize. Have a nice day!" The librarian proceeded to disappear behind a shelf, leaving a stunned Ash to stare at the space she had just been occupying.

After a few moments of this, he came to his senses and left the library, heading straight to his rooms and the large mirror that hung above his desk. Studying his golden-blond hair, sky blue eyes, and, of course, his strangely pointed ears, features much more delicate than his father's, it was easy to imagine that his mother might be...

Ash cut off his own train of thought. He could not be half elf. His father had always warned him that elves were vile and arrogant creatures, but they had been extinct for years. Still, he continued to peer at his reflection, until the moment was broken by a small green ball of scales hurtling toward him from the open doorway.

He shook the last wisps of his thoughts away and laughed, "Ember! Do you think you could do something that's not dive bombing people?" The little dragon bounced in the air and proudly blew a tiny smoke ring from his nose. Ash laughed again, momentarily forgetting his problems.

"It's been a crazy day," he confided in the little dragon, and flopped back onto the soft velvet coverlet on his bed. After a moment, Ember joined him, plopping onto the pillows with a contented sigh. Ash ran a hand through his hair and stared at the ceiling, trying to shut off the thoughts racing around his mind and enjoy the peace.

When it didn't work, he continued his conversation with Ember. "Do you think my mom's still alive, buddy?" He rolled over and stared at his pet, pretending to wait for a response, but Ember was asleep, sprawled across a good portion of the bed, releasing tiny puffs of smoke as he snored.