The forgotten prince

Alexios' eyes opened against the blue sky, which was covered with trees in front of his eyes.

 He moves his dizzy head around and to get a look at his surrounding and as he gains his complete consciousness he swiftly gets up to see if he is safe. 

"Don't worry, I'm not going to harm you," a peculiar, charming young man same age as him greets him with his manly voice, as he chopped wood near the tree that was shading them from the sun.

 "Who are you?" Alexios inquired cautiously.

 "Calm down man, let me finish with this and we will talk," he replied as he raised his wood axe to chop another log of wood.

 As Alexios spoke his head rang like bells on a tower, the expression of pain on his face was genuine and it was so much that it didn't take long before he collapsed. 

"Fainted again? Anyway, I will prepare dinner for now," the young man peeked by his shoulder, and a slight smirk appeared on his face and he went back to his work. 

***

When the guard told the king about the situation, he is taken aback. 

"Are you sure he said that?" the king inquired with nothing, just fear in his eyes. 

"Yes, my lord," the soldier replied. 

The king of Yorkan got into serious distress as he heard those words; he sat down on his seat in deep thoughts as sweat drenched down his forehead and after deciding onto something he moved his eyes up at the guard and inquired, 

"Where is the White knight?" as the king asked, a guard came running into his quarters with just fear on his face.

 The way he was panting and panicking, it was clear that something worse had happened.

"YOUR HIGHNESS...YOU HIGHNESS, I am sorry to interrupt your peace, but this is important… the… the white knight's brother passed away, and he's gone berserk"

*** 

"NO! NO! NO! THIS CANT BE HAPPENING, YOU KILLED HIM!" the white knight had lost his cool, his rage and sorrow was right on his face, the first person he held responsible for his brother's death was the maestro who couldn't save his life... and he had to pay the price… 

"Bring him back!" the white knight yelled as he choked the maestro with his left hand he had lifted him in the air by his robe and was constantly putting pressure on his neck, the grasp of his hand was so tight that the maestro fainted in no time.

 Everyone there saw the rage, grief, remorse, and tears in his eyes, but no one had enough courage to even say a word.

 "WHITE KNIGHT STOP... STOP!! IT'S YOUR KING'S ORDER!!" The king arrived just in time, he was the only person who could have stopped him and he knew the power he held in his arms, but despite the order of the king the white knight did not put an end to his voilence. 

His response did not surprise the king. He had known him for years and also knew how to stop him, so without wasting a second; he stepped over to the white knight and tightly pulled his arm and whispered, 

"Nido, he's back. He killed your brother, not him. Let him go! We'll find him, and I swear he'll pay for this." 

The white knight moves his eye to the side and glares at the king with a terrifying look on his face, he takes a deep breath and throws the maestro on the sofa beside him and speaks in a slow yet cold tone "He has to… I'll make him pay."

***

Later, after the ruckus of the infirmiry the king called Nido into his quarter to talk about "the death storm" which have a became a serious problem for their kingdom.

  "Come here, Nido, sit down, and relax," the king poured the wine as Nido entered into his chamber. 

The room of the king was a luxurios and lavish, well lighted with candles and a grand chandeller in the middle of the room, women sitting naked beside a thin layer of white curtain, who were supposedly there to please the king, but all these pleasures weren't helping a bit to relieve the stress that had come with the storm.

Nido was still pissed about his brother's demise, but somehow he kept his cool… it was the fire in his heart that made him calm… the fire of revenger.

He entered the room, glaring at every corner of the room even though the king was an ally of his, but he was cautious because of his nature as a knight and master strategist.

As he sat on the chair beside the king, and grabbed the glass of wine the king clapped his hands and ordered everyone there to leave the room. 

" Nido, I am sorry for your loss, I hope his soul is in peace... you know who did it right." the king patted his shoulder and payed condolences to his brother and gently raised his eyes starring into his soul, making him realise what he meant.

 "We both know who did that to him and who he was referring to... they're back. He's back our natural enemy"

"Yes, your highness, but... but I don't care who he is, what he is... all I know is he killed my brother, and I'm going to find him," the white knight clenched his fist and the glass in his hand crushed like a ball of sand, spilling the wine all over the table.  

The king had the idea how much angry and weak he felt but he had a kingdom to run he preffered the kingdom before his emotion and continued his attempt to persuade him.

 "Sure, you will, but not now."

 "WHY NOT NOW?" the white knight growls. 

"BECAUSE WE DON'T STAND A CHANCE AGAINST HIM... look Nido I know you've lost your brother, but he claimed about watching him, Your proud brother, I knew him for years and I know how brave he was but even he was scared of him and till his death he kept saying he's coming" the king made a point of which Nido had to reconsider.

 "But this can't be possible. They were all dead like a decade ago. Maybe it was something else." Nido thought for a minute and spoke in a hesitant tone.

"But I don't care anymore, please my majesty give me one chance to make him pay for all he's done and I vow I won't let you down, this is the last chance for me to avenge my brother." Nido quickly kneeled with his sword in his hands and its top facing toward the ground. And spoke with his eyes filled with hope. 

"Fine, I understand how you feel and taking this moment away from you would make me regret about it for life, so... go bring that bastard's head to me." The king took a sigh and drew his sword out. And kept it on his shoulder and properly traditionally gave him the orders.  

***

Alexios again wakes up in the middle of the night and finds himself covered by red hot burning flames, For a moment his heart stops and the memories of the past flashes in front of his eyes and pulls him deep into painful and traumatic reminiscences of suffering of his people.

 The fire around him gets bigger, and he runs out of breath and his eyeballs bulge out in terror. And he let out a scream. 

"MOTHER!!!"

 His breath gets randomly high and low and he looks at his hands and finds them trembling violently.

 "ALEXIOS... ALEXIOS!" exclaims the young man as he shakes him by the shoulder and the daydreaming Alexios breaks out of it and turns his gaze toward him and blinks twice as he moves his head, quickly realizing he was just dreaming. 

"It's just a minor fire. A log strayed away from the fire. Calm down, everything's okay," the young man patted him on the back to reassure him of his safety. 

"Yeah... yeah, I guess it was just a nightmare,"  

"Take a deep breath and relax, Alexios... here's some food," the young man pulls out a stick from the fire on which fish was cooked.

 Alexios hesitates briefly before grabbing the stick and after a moment of awkwardness he takes a bite of the fish and his eyes starts to shine like crystals as if it was the best meal in this world and in just a minute he chomps the fish as if he hasn't eaten in decades.

 The young man laughs as he looks at him, eating like a pig and speaks

"You like fish a lot, don't you?"

 "Yeah, when I was a young, me and my younger brother used to go fishing, and my mother used to cook them for us," Alexios recalls.

 "What about your father? Where was he?" inquired the young guy. 

"He died when I was very little. He was in the army, his squad was dispatched on a mission, but they never returned," Alexios explained.

 "Oh, I'm sorry for your loss,"

 "What about you, what's your name, who are you, how do you know me and....why are you doing all of this for me?" Alexios had somehow started to trust him and had a somewhat belief that he was a good guy he looks at him and curiously asks so many question"

"I am Leon… prince Leon"

To be continued…..