Downhill

Prologue

"The boy with the face of a queen and a king, new to the world, with eyes who have never seen will bring the end in a fire, holding hands with a boy who has eyes as blue as the sky and as wild as the sea. Their love untouchable, unbreakable. The curse will be no more," an old woman smiled softly, her eyes closed. She stood on a stage with a crowd of women watching. Behind her closed eyelids a bright blue light, her eyes glowing.

It was night, scarily dark, the only light being the stars that were in a straight line above them. The date being December 15, 2003. A cold night around the world. A prince, heir to a throne, born a little more than ten thousand miles away. A prince destined to go down in history.

"We shall send the newborn prince our best soldier," a woman from the front row declared as she stood up. She had long black hair and brown eyes. Beside her sat a young looking woman with long blonde hair and her blue eyes closed, a baby wrapped in a blanket in her arms. The blonde woman hummed a simple song.

"Perfect," the old woman stared at the baby who had opened his eyes to reveal shining blue eyes.

****

A four year old little boy sat at the desk. His nanny was sitting next to him to make sure he stayed focused. The boy had many other places he would rather be. He looked over at the tutor who was trying to explain something to him, he wasn't really paying attention.

"Prince Maxwell, focus please," the tutor quickly tapped at the table in front of him. The boy frowned but nodded while kicking his legs. "Thank you, your majesty," the tutor clicked the mouse pad of her laptop and the slideshow in front of her changed to show a royal wedding. It was his grandfather and his husband's wedding.

"When you get older you can get married to a prince or princess, or any other royal you would want to marry. This isn't required as you may be asexual or aromantic. It is encouraged that is all. You will need to have a child though. So that there will be an heir after you, your majesty. Do you understand?" the tutor explained, clicking through the slides. "You may be able to find a partner already though." the tutor smiled. They were very pleased with themself.

The young boy's face scrunched up in disgust. He crossed his arms and looked away from the photo of his mother and father's wedding. He wasn't fond of romance, he always gagged dramatically and turned away when his parents kissed. Even in public. That always got a laugh out of the media.

The nanny gently touched his arm and he pulled away. "Your majesty, you have to go to Princess Lara's birthday party. You will meet so many people. You could even make a friend or two," she spoke gently trying to convince the young prince.

"No way," the prince had his arms crossed, still refusing to look at his nanny. "I don't like people. They are yucky."

The nanny stood up with a sigh.

"Well either way you are going. Her majesty, your mother, ordered it." the nanny was going to continue with her rant but it was too late. The young boy had taken off running. She looked around and then saw the prince running down the hall.

"Your majesty, come back here!" she yelled and ran down the hall after him. This is why all of his nannies so far have quit. He acts like a prince, a spoiled brat.

The young boy looked around for a way to get away and saw the front door of the palace open as workers brought in some new furniture for his bedroom that his mother ordered. He was getting a 'big boy' bed as his father put it.

He ran down the hall and stopped when he saw the grand staircase. He hopped up and slid down the railing of the stairs while the nanny tried to run after him. She tripped at the staircase and tumbled down like a bowling ball.

The prince didn't look back and ran out of the front door. He ran and saw the front gates open and ran through them. "Somebody stop him! Prince Maxwell is running away!" the nanny yelled as she burst through the front door.

The little boy ran into the forest that was right across the street. He ignored the nanny who was calling after him and the guards who began searching. There was a hill leading down into the forest and the small boy ran downhill.

The boy nearly fell but he continued running through the small paths of the forest. He looked back to make sure the nanny wasn't following him but he bumped into something. Well more like, someone.

"Ow!" he yelped when he hit the floor and looked down at his knees and the dirty new scrape that was on one of them. It began bleeding and his lip quivered. Being a four year old, he was going to cry.

"Don't worry! I got this!"

The young Prince looked up and saw another little boy of the same age looking down at him. The young boy dug through his pockets and took out a small yellow band aid. The boy kneeled down and put the band aid on the prince.

"I hope you're okay," the small boy smiled. The prince looked up at him confused. The first thing he noticed was the shining blue eyes. The prince was going to reply but was rudely interrupted by his nanny. She picked him up into her arms. She was considering quitting now too.

"Come on, you're majesty." she muttered angrily before turning to look down at the young boy. "Thank you for the band aid," she turned and walked back towards the palace. The young prince waved at the young boy who waved back with a smile, his blue eyes squinting closed.

The prince was taken to his father's office. "Sit down Max." the king ordered and the young prince nodded and sat down in the chair at the desk. The chair was much larger than the small boy.

"Max, why did you run away like that? Another nanny quit." the king sighed. He felt defeated by this hyper, sassy, prince. The prince got up to begin his rant.

"She told me I have to go to the silly party," the boy walked around the room gesturing dramatically with his arms. "I didn't like that nanny anyway. Hire a better one, dad."

The king rolled his eyes at his son. "Max, they are real people. You can't just throw them away. But whatever, we will deal with that later. Why do you have to go to the party?"

"Mother said I have too! You know how she is," the prince sat back down and crossed his arms angrily.

"Okay well then I am sorry you have to go. It can't be that bad Max," the king brought a hand to his chin like he was thinking. The Prince watched as his father rubbed a beard that he didn't have. It was imaginary. "How about this, I will go with you. We can do everything together," he smiled.

The prince stopped pouting and he smiled. He nodded.

"Okay, the jet is picking us up in an hour. Go back to your lessons and I will go get you in a little bit," the king picked up his pen to continue with his royal business.

The prince nodded and hurried out of the office. The yellow band aid on his knee.