3 Chapter 2 - Father and Son

The council room was very large. In the center of the room sat a big, rectangular table that reflected a map of the five kingdoms. The king was sitting at the head of the table, facing the oak doors Archer had bursted through. Behind the king stood a large fireplace and above the licks from the flames was a banner showing a phoenix emerging from the cinders of a diminishing fire. There were birds scattered above the phoenix that appeared to be spread out in the distance, above the mountains. Their family crest had remained unchanged since the Morvlinsk predecessors created it many years ago.

Surrounding the table sat six other people. Two of these individuals were Sir Harrington and Sir Lobbinsen. These were knights of the kings inner circle but also his two advisors. The other four people were representatives from the neighboring kingdoms. Every six months, this council was held to discuss matters happening within the kingdom. This is where the well being and peace between the kingdoms was reestablished every year. They also used this time to discuss provisions for making it through the summer and winter months. There was never a war between them for the sole reason of having these meetings as all issues were able to be resolved.

Seeing the intrusion of his son, King Smitten became infuriated. Fire flashed across his reddish brown eyes and the flames behind him flared. Quickly standing up, the king slammed his fist on the table. The sound of the massive chair Smitten was sitting in echoed throughout the hall as is crashed onto the ground.

"Leave this room IMMEDIATLEY! You know better than to intrude now of all times! I will deal with you momentarily." Instant regret filled Archers chest when he noticed the look on his fathers face, and he bowed his head apologetically, slowly inching his way out of the room.

"I'm sorry, father." he whispered, as he latched the door shut.

Archer sat in his room, feeling a pang of fear in his gut. The look in his fathers eyes before he left reeled through his head over and over again. He had sat in on one of these councils before with his father, so he knew the gravity of what he had done. As the head kingdom of the five, him barging into the room like that reflected poorly on his father. King Smitten was a very respected king, and his word was law among all the kingdoms, but his law was good and he was revered by his subordinates. The land had been at peace for the last 800 years and King Smitten was the sixth in the line of kings for the family Morvlinsk to carry this torch.

Getting bored of twiddling with his bedsheets, Archer walked over to his arched stone window to look outside over the land. The kingdom of Draconvale was a beautiful place. His room was high enough within one of the towers to be able to see just past the castle walls.

The sun was setting, and finally managed to break free from the clouds that had blotted the sky. It cast a golden shine through the air that reflected off the small bits of snow that were still falling. The shine of the snow that the covered castle walls was forgotten when Archers eyes looked past them, the houses just outside the gate were nice, not compared to his castle, but nice. The shine of icicles was almost too much from the sun coming out, causing Archer to have to avert his eyes from the glow. The houses were reserved for higher ranking people within the kingdom. Nobles, business owners, esteemed guests, etc. Beyond that, were the markets. He had always wanted to see what the market had to offer. On his small excursions outside of the castle, he had only been allowed to look from afar at the multitude of goods that were available. He could only watch from his window at the scurrying below when he wasn't stuck training of studying.

The market was set up in a circular pattern with a fountain in the center that had an all too familiar phoenix in the center. Beyond that was lower class housing. This was for everyday workers such as farmers, ranchers, business employees and the likes of those, however; this area was preferred by the people, not forced on them. Being on the outskirts allowed the individuals to properly care for their crops and animals in the fields beyond the housing. Archer pondered what was past even that, as he had already barely seen the kingdom as it was.

Archers daydreaming was cut short by a knock on his door. All at once, he was slammed back into reality as his gut began to feel a churning in his gut again. "C-Come in." he stammered. The door opened and King Smitten walked through, the look on his face was much calmer than what Archer had last seen. The fire in his eyes had gone and was replaced with his usual calm look. The king walked across the stone floor, lifted his robe that trailed behind him and settled at the end of Archers bed.

"Archer, are you daft?! You know as well as anyone that the council is not to be disturbed. The matters discussed there take precedence over everything unless its detrimental to our land or the others."

Using the same apology that he had rehearsed over and over in his head, "Father, I apologize for my shameful action. My mind was clouded with pent up frustration and my sense of logic left me." Archer placed his hand to his heart and bowed, as an apologetic sign of respect.

"Its behind us and a lesson has been learned. Think no more of this, just be wary of it in the future. Now tell me, what troubles you?" asked the king as a concerning look crossed his face and he glanced over at his sons face.

Archer mustered up the willpower and took a deep breath, "Well, when I was younger, it didn't bother me. But now... I sit and watch the city and see so many people and an entirely different world that I've never gotten to experience except when I am with you."

Taking a breath, Archer continued, "Training and study. That is all I have received in my life as a memory. I think its way past time father. I've felt like a caged animal for years now." Tears began to fill Archers eyes as his emotions began to start flowing, the prince couldn't tell if they were from anger, sadness or both. "I train and study day after day as you wished. I've mastered the sword and the bow. I've passed every class I've been forced to take.. Yet, I've never seen past the castle portcullis without you. Why am I treated like this.. what have I done to deserve this?"

Sorrow crossed Smitten's face. He knew now was the time and there was no more avoiding this talk. This was a day he dreaded to bring up as this would affect Archers judgement on things and possibly his opinion of his own father. Smitten stood up and gestured Archer to follow suit. Confusion began to grip Archer as he followed his father for what seemed like forever till he was outside the familiar looking oak doors he had seen earlier that same day. Upon entering, the king wandered immediately to the left and pulled a book out of a secluded spot on the shelf. The king blew the dust off of the cover and turned around, striding back to the table, and placing the book down. The book looked so old the spine seemed to lose its grip on the pages that were contained and it was hard to even determine the artwork.

"Its time you learned of the origin of our way of life, and our kingdoms. The reason I have had you train and study so mercilessly. What I'm about to tell you is true, and will happen again. It is not a matter of if it will happen, but when. This was the time of and the war with mythical creatures.."

"Mythical creatures?!" Archer smiling slightly and starting to scoff at his father slightly, but the King's expression never once changed as he continued to stare at his son, slightly nodding his head.

"This isn't a game Archer. What I'm about to tell you will change everything you think or know about our way of life. So stop fooling around and sit."

Archer sat in one of the the wooden chairs close to his father, wonder beginning to fill him. "Why have I not been studying this instead? Math, Science and war.. Wouldn't this be more beneficial for me if this is true?" He began to run this question through his head.

He couldn't help but fidget with the small splinters of wood on the arm of the chair as he waited for his father to flip through his book. His father delicately removed some of the pages that had finally detached over the years of weather and dusted off some of the other pages. Finally, Smitten murmured under his breath and pulled out a chair next to the prince and begin to read from the book.