Two Brothers

The king of Dars stood under a shed with his queen beside him looking on as his two sons spar with each other, the king now in his early fifties, still looking as handsome as he looked twenty years ago, the years that has gone by has done nothing to diminish his great body physique, the king has never been more happy as the years passed by, eighteen years it has been since the death of his childhood friend the king of Esop at the hands of his cruel brother, eighteen years since he has taken in his son and raised him as his own, the boy now of age and over the years has shown the strength that he inherited from his father, Prince Neptis now known in Dars as prince Kristoff does not know that the man and woman who has raised him as theirs are not really his parents, but nonetheless they have showered him with the love and affection any child would receive from his parents.

 "My queen, don't you think the boys have grown strong enough? I am proud and happy with the way they've each shown each other love, it reminds me of the younger days when Silas and I were much younger, people do think we were brothers."

"Yes, I have heard of the tales of you two, tales of your mischievous adventures, most especially among the girls."

"Ha ha" the king laughed deeply "those were the good old days, but I am happy I finally settled with a woman I wouldn't change for the whole world."

"Hmm, I hear, I also hear about how sweet your mouth was when wooing ladies back then, well I can attest to that because I was one of those ladies."

"Indeed, you were, and you were the last of them."

"Are you trying to say I am lucky?" asked the queen raising her eyebrow.

"Are you not?" teased the king flashing her that special smile of his that she has grown to cherish over the years, sometimes she is still amazed at how her life turned around, she was just the daughter of a nobody, the daughter of a blacksmith, fate really does have a way of putting things together, over the years she has grown to appreciate how fate changed her life for the better, when the king, a prince back then in his early thirties wooed her, his father the late king had frowned on the idea of his only son having the thought of marrying the daughter of a blacksmith, but the prince had been adamant and stood his grown, the king intended to make life difficult for her and her father but her only consolation was the queen who supported their courtship, she was the one who did her best to convince the king to allow the prince marry the girl of his choice, twenty five years later, they have two loving boys and to show for it.

"You are the lucky one because no woman has shown her man the kind of love I show you, and I still will till death do us part.

"Ha Ha, that's right, I guess I am the lucky one then" said the king holding her hands tenderly.

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      The two princes having just finished their sparring session both walked towards the weapon shed to hang their swords.

"You are getting better, I should be careful as you are almost getting better than me" said prince Aps, the older prince.

"You are exaggerating big brother, everyone in this kingdom knows you are the best swords man in the whole kingdom, so why are you trying to mock me?" said prince Kristoff slapping his older brother lightly on his shoulder. "Moreover, you are expected to be the best as you are the future king of the nation, and my duty as your little brother is to support you and keep that big head of yours in line."

"Wow!!! Are you insulting your future king?" said prince Aps looking jokingly offended.

"Well, I don't mean to be rude your majesty," Prince Kristoff bowed playfully to his older brother laughing out loud.

Prince Aps beckoned to his younger brother to come nearer, and he put his hand on his shoulder and beckoned him to look ahead, "look at them acting like they are still young, they amuse me at times."

"Well, when you are their age and you are with the woman you love, you tend to appreciate each day you spend with each other because you don't know when it will be your last, I am just happy for them that they still love each other at this age." 

"You know sometimes you astound me with your wisdom" said prince Aps patting his younger brother, just ask they were having their private conversation, a royal bodyguard walks up to them.

"Greetings my princes," he said bowing his head, "the king would like a word in the throne room."

"Ok but hope no problem?" asked prince Aps looking puzzled because he was wondering why they both just left when they could have spoken to him earlier when they were over at the shed earlier.

"None that I know of your highness" replied the royal guard.

"Let us go brother, we can't keep father waiting."

And so the two princes set of toward the throne room, the throne room is a vast hall, with doors made from rich mahogany tree, the flooring is made from fine and smooth maple tree, so smooth you could fall if you run without minding your steps, inside the hall, on both right and left stood five large, round pillars each supporting the roof, on each pillar, a shield is hanged, each shield representing the noble houses of the kingdom, up right ahead is a dais for the king's throne which is made of hard and rich walnut, behind the throne is a beautiful baldachin and on the wall behind the king's royal throne is a shield representing the royal house of Dars, the symbol on this shield is a roaring lion facing the east, this throne room is generally used for royal or state function, whereas on the right side behind the king's throne is a door leading to a more private royal state room where the king and his chieftains discuss important matters relating to the kingdom, in the room is a long fine table crafted from red oak tree, surrounding it are chairs set for the chiefs and at the head of the table is the king's chair, a beautiful chair, made of mahogany, smooth and comfy, seated on the chair is the king himself, the queen sitting on a chair at his left side, the door to the state room opened and the king looked up from a discussion with his wife and smile as his two sons walked in.