Six

I stare at the Kingdom of Ferndale in front of me then I realized that if the Queen was indeed my mother and the king was my father then this entire land belongs to me. The question remains who am I? I am but a poor boy of a woman that lives in a forest.

I do not know the first thing about becoming a King or for that matter ruling a kingdom. I slowly feel something happening in my heart. I read the letter again and I realized that this woman must have loved me immensely. What I gather from this letter is that they sacrificed their lives for me to live.

They gave their only son to a woman so that she could escape with me. I start to think back if I can remember anything at all but everything is a blank. All the memories I have are from my mother...or is she not my mother?

Do I even call her mother? How can I go back to my life and act as if this letter does not exist? How do I face the woman that I used to call mother and see feel the same way towards her? But just the thought of changing the way I feel about my now mother makes me feel very sad.

How can I not love her as if she is not my mother? She has clothed me and feed me and made me into the man that I am today. Then suddenly I realized that Clara is not my sister. I wonder if she knows that I am adopted?

I jump off the rock pacing up and down trying to think of how I should feel but then without warning I stop and look in the direction of the castle. That castle belongs to me. The dragon king living in the castle killed my parents.

It is as if it just dawned on me. It is as if I just realized that I am angry at the dragon king. I am angry that he has robbed me of a life that I was supposed to lead. He has robbed me of being the King of this beautiful land. I know that the village is slowly dying because of the way that the dragon king rules this kingdom.

I also know that I or anybody, for that matter, can do a much better job. He does not allow people to prosper and do better. Everything is dying and everyone wants to escape this place. I walk to the edge of the hill and then something stirs in me. I want to make this place great again.

Then I turn around and run back to my house. I realized that I do not have time to sit and sulk about whose child I am but I need to take action and like the Queen, my mother, said I should take what is rightfully mine. I stop just before I walk into the house trying to gather some sort of courage.

I do not know what I would find or what I would feel when I open these doors but I take a deep breath and open the door. I find my mother sitting at the kitchen table. She has her hands in her hair but when she hears me she looks at me with her cheeks soaking wet. I realized that my mother must be going through something horrible.

I walk slowly up to her and she stands up. I say to her.

"I know that this letter tells me that I am the son of the King and Queen of Ferndale but in my heart, I will always be your son"

Suddenly she attacks me with a hug and it feels good because this is the mother that I knew all my life but there is something that changed in me. I will always love her but I know now that I do not belong here, in this house, I belong in the castle.

"Mother, do you know what this letter says?"

"No, I do not"

I turn around looking at the fire and then I say.

"It says that I am the rightful King and that I should take back what is mine"

I can hear a gasp as I say the words but I know there is nothing she can do now to stop me. I am not just eighteen years old but I am also not her son. Now, if I listen to her it is because I want to not because I have to. I hear her voice cracking as she asks.

"What are you going to do?"

I turn around to look into her fearful eyes and then I say.

"I am going to take the kingdom back and I am going to start with the winter games. I will infiltrate from the inside"

I expect her to tell me not to do it and be mad at me but then something strange happens, she smiles at me. She put her hand on my shoulder and say.

"You have a lot of courage like your dad. The King was known for his bravery and I can see it in you now. On the one hand, I am scared to death that you going to do this because even though you are not my boy, I have raised you and I still love you. But on the other hand, I believe that you need to do this to save this kingdom. I knew the day would come when you going to need this"

She quickly goes to her bedroom and comes back with a bag.

"What is that?"

"Your mother, the Queen, gave it to me and told me to raise you but I never could get myself to use any of this money. I did not want to attract any attention to us. My first priority was to keep you safe. So, I believe this is yours and this will help you in your quest"

I can not help but frown as I take the back from her. I look into it and I see more money than I have ever seen in my entire life before. This is enough to get me into the winter games and making me look good and so much more. I give the bag back to her and say.

"I can not take this money. I would rather give it to you as a thank you for raising me. You did not have to do it"

She quickly takes my hand and with the softest eyes say to me.

"I did not raise you because the Queen asked me. I raised you because I know how much you meant to this kingdom and how much you meant to me. I knew you when your mom and dad were alive. I saw you at birth and helped you walk. You were like my own already. I need you to use this money to get the kingdom back"

She gives the bag back to me again and I clutch it in my hand. I realized that she sees the bigger picture and then I put it to my side, looking deep into her eyes, saying.

"I promise to make you proud, mother"

She breaks down crying as I say that she is my mother. I hug her to comfort her but my mind is on the dragon king. The anger that started in my heart has now excelled because he has hurt my mother through these years by letting her be poor and not be able to use this money.

Then the door opens and Clara walks in. I jump back as if I am doing something wrong and then I look at her and realize she is not my sister.

"What is going on?"

My mother is wiping away her tears and suddenly, I have nothing to say. But then my mother walks up to her and says.

"Honey, there is something that you should know"

She looks at me but then I quickly look at the ground as if I am ashamed and then she looks back at my mother.

"What did I miss?"

She takes her hand and let her sit at the kitchen table. I do not know why my heart is starting to race in my chest. As if I am nervous about what her reaction would be. Now, that I know that she is not my sister...can it be true that I do not know how she would react?

I know that I am being silly but still, somehow it seems important to me. My mother tells her everything and I watch her facial expressions carefully. She just stares at my mother and lifts an eyebrow every now and then.

"So William...I mean Xavier is the long lost son of the King and Queen. Why doesn't anyone know about it?"

She looks at me and suddenly I see a softness in her eyes. I never thought I will see this kind of kindness coming from Clara.

"The dragon king killed everyone who knew the King and Queen but I escaped in time for him not to realize. No one that is living right now, knows that there was a King and Queen once or so he thinks. There are rumors but no one can confirm anything"

"Oh..."

That is all she says. Then she stands up and walks my way. I want to step back but then she will have something to tease me with. She keeps on getting closer and closer until she puts her arms around me. I never realized how gentle she can be.

She hugs me for a moment and I do not know what to do with my arms, so I just keep it next to my sides. Then just as she released me she whispers in my ear.

"God...I am so sorry, Xavier"