Finding a Prince

Chapter 15

The atmosphere in an inn was something that was completely foreign to Dan, of course it would be. He had spent the last twenty years, bar the last six months, of his life holed up in a castle. He'd visited various nobles' houses and stayed there when he travelled out of the capital but any member of a royal family staying in an inn was an unspeakable thing. The royals were god's chosen leaders, at least in the eyes of church goers. Dan had never understood that. Apparently it said it somewhere in the page of one of their ancient holy books, not that he had ever bothered to read them. Perhaps that was why the population of Serultria was so content to be ruled by a family who were so ignorant to their lives and suffering. Dan had learnt from a young age how to act and speak in public, although he didn't really like it that much. Although he often appeared rude to those he didn't particularly fancy talking to he never stepped out of the boundaries set.

In Solmorta the royals were more of a humble affair, although they still had to uphold a certain amount of policy in public. For instance, crying, drinking, shouting, cursing and a plethora of other things were all forbidden outside the privacy of the castle. Phil seemed to have forgotten all of that however, his time staying in the village by the border had all but obliterated his royal prowess and whilst he could deal with castle affairs with ease and knew how every lady, lord or any other member of his extensive family, most of which he had never even met, should be addressed, it took a certain amount of concertation to maintain a respectable mannerism.

That concentration of course dissolved once he had gotten a few drinks in his system. Phil didn't drink that much, unlike in Serutria where the water was often unclean Perunaes' water come from the mountains where it was fresh and unpolluted. This means that it didn't have to be made into ale to sterilise it. If there was ever a drought or the major rivers ever got to polluted, human waste being the main offender, the water had to be taken from elsewhere which often meant it was too dangerous to drink. In order to make it safe it was added to alcohol, which killed of anything too nasty. As a result, Dan was well accustomed to the common drinks, something that couldn't really be said for Phil.

Once the ceremony had been completed, and Phil had payed attention to every detail, there was something about Allister's behaviour that didn't quite add up, they had made a swift exit. There had been a fair few guards wandering the city, meaning that it had probably come to the two queen's attention that they had gone. As much as Phil disliked worrying his mother, whom he loved dearly and had already done a ridiculous amount of worrying on his behalf, he couldn't quite bring himself to go back into the castle. Telling their parents would cement what they had done, they were married now. Dan certainly didn't regret it but it would be quite a shock to the system when the magnitude of what they had done finally hit them. You see they hadn't just promise to be together for life, which was a rather big deal in itself, they had essentially tied two kingdoms together.

Dan shook his head to rid thoughts of what would happen next, he didn't really want to think about it. Phil was sat on a stool by his side, drink in hand, happily chatting to the people around them. Dan as pretty sure some had already recognised him as the prince but nobody seemed to be saying anything about it. The population of Solmorta was probably a little confused by the Lester's actions in recent weeks. The lost prince returned, he was being coronated, then he her wasn't, he was getting married, then he wasn't and then all of a sudden the queen of a neighbouring kingdom they mysteriously cut all trade links with thirty years ago show up. It was all a bit mad really, Dan was glad of it though. He was certainly glad Phil, his Phil didn't have to marry that vile, horrendous greedy witch that was Orthia. Speaking of her, Dan hadn't seen much of her since her outburst at the queen, maybe she had been arrested, Dan would give half his kingdom to see her behind bars.