Sweet Waters Throne

153 Chapter 15The shock of what she saw led Katarina to walk straight to her manse, her head was spinning and she felt lost after Aryan told her Princess Thelma may have received her letter in Loni but chose not to reply and that’s because she wanted Prince Ambrose on the throne. Maybe even Ambrose himself wasn’t aware that Amabel and Barkis lived, or he was but he chose to ignore it since he will be the King of Prophis. “And who doesn’t want to be King?” said Katarina to her son.

Amabel was as confused as his mother was. He didn’t say a thing.

“Do you know what that means Amabel?” she asked.

Amabel sighed, he was too young to know anything but he was smart, maybe smarter than his mother. “I know exactly what that means mother. My aunt and my uncle means to surpass me as the heir, they want the throne for themselves” he said. Then he stood up and paced back and forth while he stroked his long hairs, they were so long in such a way they fell back effortlessly behind his back.

Amabel Taelin had grown so much in such a way if one had seen him when he was ten, he may not recognize him anymore during this time when he was thirteen close to his fourteen name day. He knew what he was and who he was, a runaway crowned prince whose home was lost. Even though his mother seemed to speak kindly about Queen Aryan, he was rough with her. “She was there when her brother beheaded my father, she is no good” he would say.

“So what will we do mother? My own family wants to rob me of my inheritance, do we have allies to support my claim?” he asked like a grown up man, his face was hard and he barely smiled.

Katarina felt like she failed her son “We don’t have allies my dear boy. I expected your aunt to back up your claim, but she will rather see your uncle on the Silver throne than you”

“Then she will be punished by that, we must seek allies mother. I am the true heir to the Silver throne, and if my aunt is seeking help from Maldonia, don’t you think we should make our own claim to the King. I’ll write him a letter, I’ll tell him that I live and as long as I live my uncle cannot be the King of Prophis”

“No, I forbid it” Katarina was stunned “The King of Maldonia doesn’t care about Prophisians, he let his own uncle die in the Battle of Stonedance. He will care less about you or your claim to the throne, besides Lady Aryan…” Katarina seemed to hesitate when she mentioned Aryan.

.....

Amabel noticed how soft hearted his mother had become “Aryan is nothing but a Usurper, as was her brother” he said it with a straight face as if reminding his mother, the position they were into.

“She is the reason why you breath and even stand right now” Katarina reminded her son.

“And for that I must let her take my kingdom?”

“I’m not staying that…”

“Then what are you saying mother?” Amabel stood tall facing his mother as he waited for an answer. Katarina had none, she just sighed and remained silent. All she knew was no matter what they do, they will never win the throne back especially since now they had to win over the Taelins who wanted the throne too.

What will be later known as the “War of Kins” was established that day in Whitebridge when Katarina had no answer as to what was next, hence Amabel decided to take things on his hands and wrote a well worded letter. During the night when his mother was sleeping, Amabel asked for an ink, a quill and three pieces of paper from the servants.

Then he spent the better part of that hour of the wolf crafting a letter to Artemis, who he referred to him as “The Dragon Rider King” and he went on to talk about how much the dragons have caused fear in the Liberty Cities and all neighboring kingdoms. Then Amabel pleaded Artemis not to support his uncle Prince Ambrose, with only one reason “I still live Your Grace. My uncle cannot surpass neither me nor my younger brother as long as we live, I know you are a just King and a good one too and for that you will support the true heir to the throne” that’s how Amabel ended his letter.

Then without waiting for his mother to wake up, Amabel went to his own raven and tied the letter to it. Then he whispered “Send this to His Grace, look for any sign of dragons” and then released it to the sky. The Liberty Cities weren’t that far from Blackmount, it only took crossing the Silent Sea and hence Amabel knew the flight will be short too and mayhaps by morning his raven would have delivered the letter to Artemis.

In Blackmount the celebrations for Jahery’s first name day were happening and they were as grand as how everyone hoped. The bell tolled from midnight to dawn, and the streets gathered outside the main palace eager to see their crowned Prince. During this time the good folks of Maldonia were aware of Aurora’s condition, hence this was a double celebration ─ their Prince’s name day and Queen’s congratulations ceremony.

The wealthy Lords of all ten houses showed up to the celebrations but only Lord Leoric and Princess Aeryn created the attention when they arrived in a royal wheelhouse. When they passed through Artemis’s admires, the good folks mocked them for their decision of naming their son Jeremiah, a Prince and second in line to the throne.

Some of them shouted “Traitors! They should be hanged” while others went even further and pushed the royal wheelhouse, but they weren’t successful because they were stopped by five hundred slaves Lord Leoric brought to the capital. The chaos stopped when they entered inside the gates of the main palace, Lord Leoric was heard saying “If you can’t pass through the gates of the main palace then whatever you say doesn’t mean anything to me”

“They are peasants my Lord Husband, we shouldn’t care what they say or do, in fact they are too poor to tell us anything” Princess Aeryn rallied in support of her husband. These two were really made for each other.

Aeryn was accompanied with three wet nurses who immediately took Jeremiah to their care and allowed the princess and Lord Leoric to walk towards the celebrations. It was in clear daylight, and this day the wealthy Lords and Ladies dressed to impress and displayed their silks and satins. Aurora wore a dazzling red silk dress with a touch of purple and blue, her silver hairs sparkled and she was indeed the most beautiful woman above all who were invited.

Princess Aeryn opted for maternal blue satin dress, she was still in her breastfeeding stage and not yet healed. It’s been a fortnight since she gave birth to Jeremiah, still not yet healed but she was looking fine and happy. Leoric wore a brown robe with golden threads and black sandals on his feet, as usual he was adorned with gold from head to toe ─ just like what Artemis said, Leoric loved his golds.

The whole place went to a halt when these two walked in, especially Lord Leoric who took the attention with his flowery scented perfume and his golds. Artemis and Aurora were conversing with few Lords but they had to stop and look, just like everyone else. “My, oh my… all those golds” Artemis was pissed off just looking at Lord Leoric.

Aurora leaned on to him “We should thank the gods for listening to our needs, now I can grab one of those little pieces and read his mind” she said with a smile.

Aurora was holding her son Jahery in her arms, she never let him go throughout the whole feast because she feared after what happened to Gandalf and his son. Also each food was tasted by the cooks, they trusted Mrs Gibillis to take care of all the manners of food but still everything needed to be tasted before eaten.

Lord Leoric found his way to Artemis and when he approached him, Leoric slowly knelt down on one knee “Your Grace” he said with his head down.

Artemis’s look was on his sister who looked pale and exhausted, but she seemed happy. Aeryn then smiled and slowly curtsied “Brother…”

“Sister, how… how are you?” Artemis found himself speechless.

“I’m alright, I’m a mother now”

“Mother will be so proud of you. I hope the labors weren’t cruel to you”

“I believe I bit my midwife’s nose, or whatever else I bit” Princess Aeryn laughed and then somehow everyone laughed even Artemis himself, it’s as if Artemis completely forgot that Lord leoric was down on one knee and he was yet to rise.

It’s not that Artemis forgot about him, but its because he wanted him to remain like that as a reminder of who was actually in power and that’s him. After one minute had passed, that’s when Artemis said “You may rise Lord Leoric” knowing how much he destroyed the Lord’s ego.