The Dragon & The Prince - A Moceit Story

"Purple Mist"

 Patton had been staying in the tavern for a few days. He'd mostly been keeping to himself in his room, occasionally going out for meals. Virgil had been quite distant but wasn't necessarily rude. At Patton's mealtimes he had served him decent food and made small talk with him, which was much more than he seemed to do for others. Patton appreciated the company.

During the time Patton spent with Virgil, he'd begun to notice small oddities. Sometimes Virgil had a large collection of drinks behind the counter that he never touched for customers. He sometimes seemed to have things in his hand that Patton hadn't even seen him pick up. But the most confusing thing that Patton had seen happened on the second day he'd met him.

Virgil had been arguing with a customer over some ridiculous quarrel, but the customer's attitude completely changed when Virgil muttered something to them that was far too quiet for Patton to overhear. The customer had dropped the subject, settled for the food they were given, and left a rather large tip.

Regardless of the strange things he'd seen, Patton felt oddly close to Virgil. He still hadn't told him his true identity but Patton didn't think that really mattered.

One morning while Patton was talking to Virgil during lunch, a group of men who he hadn't seen before arrived for a meal. They took a seat beside Patton and ordered lunch with a round of whiskies before starting a very interesting conversation.

"There's no way he just disappeared." one of the men said gruffly.

"Well no one's seen a corpse, have they?" another one retorted.

"He was eaten, remember? By the Dragon Witch."

That got Patton's attention. Without thinking twice, he shifted in his seat to face the group of men.

"Excuse me, but who are you talking about?" Patton asked them. The men gave Patton a strange look before answering him.

"Crown Prince Janus of Apollonia. Or I suppose now it's ex-crown prince Janus." one of the men said with a small chuckle.

"Yeah, Apollonia's not his anymore." another man said. Two of them high fived while another laughed.

"Well if it's not his, whose is it?" Patton asked.

"Have you been living under a rock the past few weeks? He died, and left his kingdom to his advisors. Stupid decisoin on his part."

Patton felt his temper rising. He hadn't even known he had a temper until recently!

"Janus isn't stupid!" He snapped. Both the men and Virgil looked at him surprised. A few moments of silence passed before the men burst into laughter.

"He hand-picked Dulcineans disguised as Apollonians as advisors. That's pretty damn stupid."

Patton couldn't believe what he was hearing. Dulcinea had infiltrated Apollonia years ago and no one outside of Dulcinea had seemed to know. It was totally jarring. But if he got one thing out of the conversation, at least now he knew where he was: Dulcinea.

"Now our king has been runnin' the place since the prince went and got himself killed."

That was Patton's breaking point. He smacked his hands on the counter and stood up, accidentally getting the attention of almost everyone in the tavern.

"Stop being so rude! If someone died you shouldn't make fun of them." Patton scolded them.

"Patton, stop." Virgil hissed.

But Patton ignored him and pushed.

"Besides, Janus isn't dead! Janus is an incredible crown prince, and he will make an even more incredible king! He truly cares about his people and loves m-... making sure he carries on his parents legacy. To disrespect him the way you just were is shameful!"