Two weeks until Levi becomes king.
I weave my way through the tightening walls of the back alleyways, I am most definitely not meant to be here. I grin as I breathe in the damp scent of the tight walls, sunlight hitting the back of my neck as I push myself to run faster. The grey stone narrows along with the small slither of sunlight the further into Kire I run. Dash is chasing after me, leaping and barking from excitement. His paws hit the stone floor in time with my boots as the space finally starts to open up and becomes breathable again.245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2WihkNs4rm
My boots catch on one of the stones, sending me tumbling forwards. I bite back a yell at the sight of the blood leaking through the fabric covering my knees. I sigh and push myself up, turning around to make sure I was far enough that Malcolm didn’t hear and isn’t running down the alley to get to me. Either to make sure I’m ok or drag me back to the castle. Dash leaps over and licks at the blood blooming on the fabric.
“I’m alright buddy.” I keep petting him for a minute until he deems me in good enough shape to play and tries to play tug-of-war with my boot. I laugh and pull my foot away, calling to him as I start to run again, starting slower and regretting starting at all when my knees start to ache but pushing through and forcing my legs to moe faster.
I push through with my sprint until the cramped walls open into the busy streets of south Kire. I sigh and slow, walking calmly through the market, stalls pushed up against every unclaimed wall, people debating over prices, the clink of coins making their way into the seller’s hands. I start making my way down the staircase, dodging the scattered people sitting on the rough, beige stone. There’s a group of ladies about halfway down the stairs who are sitting and gossiping about someone called Derrick, who does not seem to be very liked by them. Dash strays every now and then to get attention from people, immediately charming the ladies when he approaches. What can I say? The dog takes after his owner.
A woman stops me as I start towards the next few stalls, she looks at me with concern then gestures down to my knees before hurriedly bowing and starts stuttering out an apology when she realises her mistake of touching a member of the royal family as if they were a commoner.
She quickly lets go of my hand and covers her mouth in shock at her own actions, “Oh! Prince Archer! I am so sorry, please excuse my—”
“No, no, it’s quite alright, but do, please continue what you were going to say before you recognised me.” I smile kindly at the woman and Dash plants a lick on her hand once she lets it fall down at her side again. The woman searches my face for a minute to try and find anything in me against her letting my dog, probably thinking she’s insulted the royal family enough for one day without touching a royal animal. When she deems it safe she scratches behind Dash’s ears and ruffles his golden fur.
“Oh, gods above, im so sorry, I was just concerned about the blood on your knees, I know it was totally uncalled for and not—”
I interrupt the woman again, “No, no, thank you for noticing, I’m quite alright though, I just tripped a while ago, just clumsy prince Archer at it again.”
“that’s not all you’re known for.” She huffs.
I smile at the woman and wave my goodbyes as I call Dash to follow me. I sigh and look around the lower level of Kire. I could head straight to the cliff but I haven’t eaten in hours. Being the most handsome prince makes one hungry.
More stalls are set up at the bottom but much less than on the level above. I245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLOP9qmDwdW
grin as I approach a stall selling lavender fairy floss, a delicacy to the simple minded teenagers who refuse to grow up and sit in on boring princely meetings like me. It also happens to be the stand with the most children begging their parents for coins nearby. 245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX98H1jzKdZ
I can barely contain my grin as I approach the stand, greeting the man with the most charming smile I can muster while I toss a few coins onto the table. The seller doesn’t look up while he hands me the sweet, not even grunting at my thanks. I glance at the coins that have rolled across the small table just to make sure I counted out the four correctly. The man sitting at the table gathers them in his palm while muttering something about the polite thing and handing them to him instead of being a brute and throwing them carelessly. The man reaches across the table to grab my arm, stopping me in my tracks as I was walking away.
“That’s three copper pieces, it’s four, if you can’t–” The man finally looks away from the coins and dart to the floor next to me, his pale face going somehow paler when he sees the golden furred dog with a green collar at my feet, then raises his eyes to the green sleeve he’s grabbed. His head slowly lifts to look up at my prepperly, taking in the crown weaving its way through my loose curls and the thick dark green cloak buttoned loosely around my neck with the shiny emerald surrounded my gold. His face quickly changes to match his pale yellow button down. His face is round and his brown eyes finally meet my green ones as he realises what he’s just done. I gesture to the fourth piece lying further across the table, uncounted, with my left hand.
The street is now silent, people stopping to stare at the vendor who just grabbed me. The man stares before letting go and standing to apologise, he puts the coins back into my hand and closes my fingers around them, I shake my head and place them on the table and chuckle before schooling my feature to a neutral.
I try to keep my face clear of humor as I talk again, “It’s quite alright, really I–”
“No, no, I’ve just insulted the royal family, I must make up for it, take it.” As the man babbles people around us gasp, interrupting someone is rude on its own but interrupting a member of the royal family is seen as punishable. The realization slowly dawns on the man, before he can apologize again I place a few more coins on his table and move to leave. I grin as he shouts after me, offering me more sweets and apologising more and more profusely the further away I get.
I give the man one last wave as I walk faster, ducking under faded banners from the parades a few weeks ago. Dash yips at my heels, I shush him and walk faster. I jump down the stairs two at a time, finally breaking into a run as I reach the lowest levels of Kire. These levels are meant for the lower class. I am most definitely not meant to be here, but who’s gonna stop me? Dash rushes ahead of me, leaping down the last set of stairs and sprinting along the lines of farms below, letting me chase him through the fields. I let him run in whatever direction the wind wishes him to go, while I let myself sprint for the trees we’ve run through so many times before. I whistle to call him from the animal he was checking out as I finally make it to the dense forest beyond Kire.245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3JBiJTHaCc
I let the constantly repressed stupid grin slide onto my face as I push myself to move faster, not caring when I last got to catch my breath. Dash yaps and manages to get to the front once more. The jutting cliff face comes into view as I barrel through the undergrowth and finally over the edge, letting myself fall into the cool, clear water below. I stay there for a minute, under the water, letting it crawl through my hair and lift my crown off my head before my lungs get tight and I have to paddle back to the surface. I thread my arm through my crown so it rests around my forearm and fight against my cloak now weighted with water to get back to the top.
Aly’s already laughing when I break through the seal of water. I let myself grin as I paddle over, my crown clutched in one hand as I drag myself onto the rocks next to her.
“So, how’s your princely duties going?” Aly mocks as I take my sopping cloak from my shoulders and hang it over a branch beside her red one, threading my crown over the limb of a nearby tree.
“I wouldn’t know, it’s not like I do any of them.” I grin and shrug as I sit back down next to her, watching Dash paddle through the water, I call him over and take his collar off so it won’t get snagged on a rock when he dives under.
“I thought Mason was coming too.”
“He said he would, he probably got dragged into another council meeting.” I flop back so I can lay down and watch the clouds through the gaps in the canopy of leaves over us. Aly and I descend into a comfortable silence. I perk up as I hear rustling behind us. I turn and grin and Mason trips his way through the trees, stubbing his toes on every root he passes. He is not the kind of person to be stomping around the woods all day like Aly and I, he’s more of the person to be sitting in a meeting between the royal councilors. Mason’s dad is one of the councilors and expects his son to follow in his footsteps so Mason often gets dragged around to all kinds of councilor duties by his dad.
“I’m here!” Mason wheezes as he almost throws himself onto the floor next to me, his blue cloak pooling around his coughing and sighing form, only managing to take it off when he almost slips into the cold water below.
“You good over there?” Aly moves up onto her elbows to look over at Mason, her brown hair tied back in a bun with a thick red ribbon.
Before Mason can try to wheeze out a response I decide I’m bored and roll off the rocks into the water below. That’s how a lot of my interactions tend to end, with me rolling off something for enterainment. Mason tries to pull me back up while Aly just laughs and lays back down in the sun. I grab Mason’s arm and drag him over too for good measure. His yells get cut off when he hits the water and sinks under for a few seconds. I laugh and float on my back. I hear Dash panting before he paddles on top of me, using me as a flotation device.
Mason gasps as he breaks the surface, doggy paddling back to the rocks. I look up at the cliff face, admiring all the little notches and extruding bits of rock we use when we’re climbing the wall. Well, Aly and I, at least, we can rarely convince Mason to climb up the cliff with us.
Aly and Mason are arguing about something I’m not bothered to listen to. I can hear heavy and fast footsteps getting closer and closer, the telltale thumps of the guard uniform boots coming closer and closer with every passing moment. I glance at Mason, his eyes are wide and full of the usual fear he has when facing a guard. Aly looks tense as she stares into the trees. They’ve heard the footsteps too. I call Dash and throw a stick as far as i can into the forest. That should hopefully keep him occupied until Malcolm leaves.
I duck under the water as Malcolm bursts through the trees. I open my eyes and duck into the gap under the rocks.
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