Out of the Castle, Into the Woods

Prologue

You never know how truly dull the life inside a castle is until you actually live it. It's especially dull if you are not the heir to the throne. Nobody really expects the second son to become king, he is always just the backup plan in case of an accident with the firstborn. I would know.

 Being the second son to the Cervius throne means I have grown up in the shadow of my older brother, Bentley. Now this doesn't mean I hold any resentment towards Bentley. I mean, it's not his fault I was born after him, and he never really taunted me about the fact he would be king instead of me while we were growing up regardless of how my father would try to pin us against each other. 

Frankly I never really wanted to be king at all, I just want to be able to prove to my father I can be worth something without wearing the royal crown on my head, that I could make a difference to the Kingdom of Cervitaurs.

Cervitaurs are elegant creatures, with the body of the deer and the torso of a human extending from where a regular deer's neck would be, we are nimble and light on our feet. Since I was a young fawn, I had heard all kinds of stories of before the different centaur kingdoms cut themselves off from contact with one-another, when centaurs of all kinds would travel between kingdoms without a care in the world and live in synchrony with each other.

My father claims he wants the kingdoms to be like this once again and has arranged an extravagant ball in a few weeks to reintroduce all of the centaur kingdom's royals in an area of good tides, music, and foods to become united once again. This could also open up all kinds of trade and alliance-building opportunities.

Hopefully the ball runs smoothly, and the kingdoms leave not estranged any longer.