Finding a Prince

Chapter 12

A/N sorry I haven't updated in a while, my computer lost all my word documents when it undated. Oh well it's here now. Enjoy!

The following three weeks after Dan had been freed from the dungeon were interesting to say the least. The royal family of Serultria had been contacted to call for negotiations about the future of their kingdoms. Dan was well aware that he was somewhat of a hostage in this situation, and yet it didn't really bother him. He had been staying with Phil and Dan couldn't be happier. Phil was busy a lot of the time now but on the few days he got off he would spend taking Dan on tours of the castle and city as well as going for walks in the gardens or woods. Since Dan was still technically a prisoner it seemed odd that he was allowed so much freedom. Initially he had been confined to Phil's room which he had been staying in but after a few days it became apparent to the castle guards that he had no intention of escaping so they left him to wander round on his own. Phil's coronation had been postponed until after the negotiations with Serultria were over although he was still acting king.

The Queen, Dan soon found out, was actually a rather lovely lady and although at first, she had come across as rather shallow and cowardly she was actually a strong and fair leader. In her eyes the Serultrian royal Family had been the cause of her kingdoms misery for the last decade as well as her own. She had lost her husband to one of their raids and both of her children had been driven out by the fear of being left to rule such a country. She had every reason to hate Dan and yet she remained hospitable and even kind towards him. It had taken almost a week to get through to Serultria seeing as all of the Solmortan messengers had been stopped at the border and letters had failed to get through, courteous of captain Pieta Dan presumed. He had grown to hate that captain with all his heart as the idea of his betrayal worked itself out in his mind. It explained so much, the shortage of soldiers that had recently threatened the kingdom despite the fact that there were far more than those of whom were on authorised missions, the disappearance of weapons and supplies from the royal armoury. They had thought it had been thieves, in a way they were right.

Surprisingly the council of Solmorta had accepted that this was not they royal families fault and more their military that had become traitorous. They had simply said that it explained it had solved some of their own dilemmas although Dan could tell they were still weary of him. Unlike Serultria where most decisions were made solely by the king and perhaps a few of his most trusted advisers Solmorta had a council system that consisted of members that had been voted in by the citizens of Perinea. The current council consisted of two diplomats, two merchants, the mayor of the South city, Rus, and the North city Semita, as well as a baker called Mr Brown who was supposedly extremely good with words. Well that and the fact that he brought cakes to every meeting. The king or Queen would usually run decisions through this council however could still override the decisions. Apparently, this system was very popular with the citizens as it meant that they did not feel completely under control of the monarchy.

The population of Solmorta was tiny compared to Serultria. The harsh terrain of the mountain as well lower birth rate in general meant that the population had stayed basically the same for the past hundred years. This meant that while Serultria's capital had become cramped and overpopulated over the years, Pruniae had not suffered and the old buildings had stood proud for generations. There were only three main cities in Solmorta. There was also the odd town in the mountains or along the Serultrian border but most work in the kingdom concentrated in these cities so there was no real reason to live outside of them. Rus was the farming city. Its residents tended to the few square miles of farming land around it although most residents owned their own land and were able to live off of it Rus was still the poorest of the three cities. Semita was in charge of all trading connections. It lay on the south border and allowed supplies to be taken to and from the ports in neighbouring kingdoms. Most of its residents were merchants and tradesmen and women. Phil had promised Dan that he would take him to see all of them and Dan had promised to do the same for all of Serultria's high cities.