The Clan of Outcasts (Seasons 1 and 2)

Part 11: "Betrayal"

In The Forest, Nearly Eighteen Years Ago...

High in the branches of a tree, a small bird perched on the edge of a tiny nest. Three eggs lay nestled in the down. It would be not long from now until the time they would hatch. The proud little bird bent to inspect her clutch, when a furious wind nearly carried her away.

The arrow narrowly missed the nest but sailed high among the branches, dropping finally some distance away.

"On your left, Kaidan!" Crown Prince Beren Seramis peered keenly at the spot where his arrow fell. He had been aiming for the squirrel now safely stationed on an impossible branch, chattering away at him.

Kaidan brushed aside his unruly red curls and wiped at the sweat pouring down his neck. He offered the arrow back to the prince. "Perhaps Your Highness might try a larger target," he mused.

Beren shrugged. "Nah, I think I'm done for the day." He handed the bow and quiver to his servant and ran a slender hand through his spiky, dark hair. "Let us return to the castle and see what a mess my father has gotten himself into!"

The two young men turned their horses to the road and set off in a light trot.

Beren glanced sidelong at his servant and saw a pensive frown on the boy's face. "What's wrong, Kaidan?"

The servant sighed. "Forgive me, Prince, but I do not think it wise to treat the King's business so lightly; after all, you will be King, yourself, someday."

Beren snorted. "Yes, and then I will bear the scrutiny of old men who think they can rule better than I can, and who delight to whisper behind my back while slathering me in compliments to my face!" He shook his head. "Some say my father's generosity in putting Gifted citizens to work in whatever capacity uses their Gift is a generous one—but the Council is convinced that there will come a time when the Gifted ones will rise up and demand even more rights."

Kaidan shrugged and tried to diffuse the tension. "That is only conjecture—"

"I hear them talk, Kaidan!" Beren snapped. "I know what they say behind Father's back, the way they corner me in the hallway or talk around me as if I don't exist."

"You have the power to change anything that does not please you—"

"But what if I don't want to change anything?" Growled the prince. "What if I would rather just continue having the freedom to be myself and make my own choices, and let the Council run the kingdom?" He forced himself to calm down when a small river sloshed through the grass toward him, flooding the forest path and causing the horses' hooves to sink in the mud.

"It's not as if Father is really doing any ruling just now, either," Beren continued. "His rules and convictions might be fair and just, but the Council takes his laws and amends them with their own stringent regulations, giving the illusion that he doesn't care about the kingdom, when in fact the laws themselves are produced out of a caring and considerate heart, to protect both Gifted and unGifted people!"

Kaidan answered calmly, letting Beren have his own fire without adding fuel to the discontent. "You do not wish to be King, Prince Beren?"

The young man huffed and urged his horse a little faster. "I don't like being manipulated and forced into a choice I don't want to make," he stated.

"No one can force you to do something against your will, Highness," Kaidan reminded him.

They arrived at the gates of the castle and two stable hands met them to take the reins and care for the horses.