Chapter 2

Kingdom of leosa

Jason woke from the heavy thud of his carriage going over a rock. The creaking of wooden wheels and tapping of the horse's hooves were the first things to grab his attention.

He quickly rubbed his eyes and blinked a few times to rid himself of his blurry eyesight.

The sight that greeted him was that of an empty carriage seat before him, the red cushion obviously worn and faded from much use and the wood carriage that engulfed him in a dim light.

He looked at the carriage door beside him, its cut out window was covered by a small red curtain to keep out the sunlight, he could hear the natural sounds of birds singing and some other horse riders passing by on the road.

The carriage rocked again as it went over another bump, they were still on a dirt road, that much was easy to tell.

He glanced outside through the curtain and could see they were aproaching a town, the land surrounding them was a vast open field of crops and farms, beyond the town he could see a castle standing tall.

He took a deep breath and could smell the salty ocean air, he sat back in his seat and sighed, his muscles were stiff after riding in the carrage for 4 days straight, he couldnt wait to get out and strech his legs.

As the carriage pulled into the town, the streets turned from dirt to cobblestone, greatly smoothing out the ride.

He could see people throughout the town working and going about their buisness, most payed no mind to the ordinary carriage. That was a good thing, he didn't want to attract attention. Keeping away from the windows, he watched through a crack in the curtains as people passed him by.

The carriage continued up the path towards the castle walls, only stopping when it arrived at the gates.

"Halt!....who goes there! Identify yourselves!" A Castle guard spoke in a commanding voice and walked up to the carriage.

Jason sighed and opend the door before stepping out. He straightend out his white coat and black pants then streched his arms and back.

The guard walked up to him and bowed. "My apologies sire, please right this way, his majesty and the prince have been awaiting your arrival. " the guard quickly led him inside the gates, and towards the entrance.

A old and a young man stood atop the steps leading to the castle doors.

The old man, dressed in royal attire with a gold crown and blue sash across his chest, gave a warm smile to jason as he approached while the younger man, dressed in royal military attire, quickly started going down the steps to greet him.

"Jason! I'm so glad you came! Its been years since I last saw you!" The young man spoke brightly and pulled Jason into a hug.

The young gentleman had messy brown hair and hazel eyes with classic handsome features, although mature he still looked more like a teenager.

Jason smiled and hugged him back before pulling away.

"Its good to see you Jake..." Jason spoke before looking up at the old man who was making his way down the steps towards them. His hair was grey and darkbrown like Jakes and wrinkles covered his face.

Jake stepped back for his father as he approached Jason with a warm smile on his face.

"How are you boy... its been a few years since we have last seen you, especially since you last visited! Im hoping your doing well and that the trip hasn't worn you out?" The old man spoke and gave jason a hug.

"Haha! Yes indeed I'm a little stiff but besides that all is good sir, it's good to see you both" Jason smiled at them both.

"Im glad you made it here safely, especally without any escorts. It's very dangerous traveling on your own." the old man sighed and shook his head.

"Your lucky you weren't attacked! Come let us go inside I'm sure you're hungry after your trip, lets talk more over a snack."

Jason nodded and followed the pince and king inside the castle doors. The castle was made of grey stone amd had many tapestries hanging with the kingdoms leviathan emblum weeved into them with gold thread , and a blue background.

The Leviathan was a fitting symbol for the kingdom of Leosa because they were well known for the massive navy force and tight control over most of the seas.

They walked down the corridor into a lounging area where chairs and a couch sat with a table between them.

As they sat down in the chairs across from eachother, a maid walked in with a tray that had tea and a few plates of cheese and other pasteries on top.

The maid placed small cups on the table and took the kettle off the tray before filling each of the cups and leaving.

Jason sat back in the lounging chair and sighed as the cusions let him sink back, releiving some of his aching muscles. The carriage was not of the best quality and had made him stiff and sore after the entirety of the trip.

The king took his cup and sat back in his chair taking a long sip of tea before letting out a refreshed sigh.

"So.." the king spoke up breaking the silence. "What brings you here? You didn't give much of a notice and came under cover it seems with the lack of guards."

Jake sat back and put his feet on the coffee table before putting his hands behind his head.

"Knowing him he probably had another suiter come knocking at his door and decided to run away under the cover of night!" Jake chuckled.

Jason mentally rolled his eyes and looked at his best friend.

"Well even if that was the case, I wouldn't have ran away, I'd probably have just sent them your way. How could I not give you a chance at love with a gold digger?" Jason smiled.

"Uhg, i don't need you sending me your rejects! Not to mention I don't need any more suitors" Jake cleared his throat.

"In fact as of recently I've been betrothed!" He exclained excitedly.

Jason arched his brow now having his interest peaked."Oh really? How come I haven't gotten a wedding invite?" Jason faked a pout.

The king spoke up taking his attention."Truthfully we haven't set a date for the wedding yet, and we thought it would be best to inform you when you arrived, I'm sure you've been quite busy recently."

Jason sighed and nodded in agreement before sitting up.

"Indeed...it's been quite hectic in my home, the load of work I have now has me running all over the place. Especially after my fathers passing..."

The room was silent as Jake and his father glanced at each other and wore solemn expressions.

"Yes well, I'm dearly sorry for your loss, I'm sure it must not have been easy for you." The king spoke softly.

He could only stare at the cup of tea and tray of food on the table, he had suddenly lost his appetite. They sat in silence for a moment.

"Your father was a great man, I'm sure he would be proud of the great young man you've grown up to be." The king continued.

"Know that your always welcome in my home jason and should the need ever arise, we shall stand by you in your time of need."

He only nodded in acknowledgment and looked up at them. The man was like a second father to him, and Jake was like a brother, they grew up together, despite jake being to scared to even associate with him for the first few years of their lives, they grew to be great friends and always had each others backs.

Jason closed his eyes and took a deep breath before trying to lighten up the mood. "As for why I'm here, I'd like to renew the old trading agreements my father made years back, and possibly would even like to add a few new things to it to show both your people and mine that our strong ties will be kept!"

Both the king and Jake looked surprised at the request, it had been 17 years since the last time the trading agreements had been changed, and this was a chance to make them even better than before.

"Of course that would be much appreciated! But...um is that really all you came here for?" Jake questioned.

And the mood dropped again. Time for the bad news. Jason glanced around the room, the only other people in there with them were two of the kings royal guards who stood by the door, the royal knights were often very close to the royal family and very loyal, willing to lay their lives down no matter the reason for the royal bloodline.

Jason looked at them both with a serious expression becore he leaned in resting his arms on his knees.

"I'm wanting information on Nezra, in the past week I've had five Nezra spys break into the castle grounds.... they are planning something I know it, And Leosa is the only thing seperating them from the mainland..." Jason spoke quitely.

The king and Jake turned serious looking at Jason. Nezra was a cross ocean kingdom that has a bad reputation, they usually tried bribing Leosa to let them into the mainland, but that would only mean war, Jason's father was one of their greatest enemies and the biggest threat to their crude empire. Often times they attacked the smaller kingdoms and territories in order to grow in power, Jasons father put a stop to their raids years ago but they still were bloodthirsty barbarians and would do anything they could to take over the continent.

"Those fools never know when to quit, they only try to be friendly with Leosa so they can get free passagway into your kingdom, you know we would never let those rouges in right? If they are sending spys, it has to be through one of the other costal kingdoms" Jake spoke, crossing his arms across his chest.

Nodding Jason looked at the window that looked out acoss the docks. Ships were covering the coastline comeing and going with goods to trade.

"Thats what I thought to but, through an interrogation I found some interesting news!" he looked back at Jake and the King.

"He said someone was helping them to get onto the mainland, someone who has some kind of control in Leosas docks and was smuggling them in."

Jake looked a bit surprised then quickly looked at the window. "Father we need to do a thorough investigation of the dockmasters, this is unacceptable!" He looked back at the King who was in deep thought.

Coming out of his thoughts the King spoke and looked up at Jason who was patiently waiting.

"We will start looking into this imediately, having spys sneaking in could spell disaster, I can assure you we won't tollarate this and will put a stop to it for the sake of both of our kingdoms!"

Jason smiled."Thank you I'm glad, this takes some burden off my shoulders and brings a little peace to mind, I only planned to stay for about three days before heading back to my kingdom"

"Well let's make your stay enjoyable while your here and make sure you have a nice visit that you can relax and enjoy!" The King exclaimed and stood from his seat, followed by Jake and Jason.

"Jake, kindly show Jason to his room while I go send a team down to the docks to start our investigation, I shall see you two again at dinner!" The King quickly turned and left the room followed by the two royal guards who were at the door.

Jake pat Jasons shoulder getting his attention. "Come on! Let's get you to your room. I'm sure you could use a good bath before dinner."

Jason smiled and they both left the lounging room before walking down the hall.

"So" Jason broke the silence. "Your getting hitched? Who's the lucky lady?"

He looked at jake who smiled brightly.

"You remember Lyla? The girl who would always tease me when we were kids?" Jake looked down the hall reminicing about the memories.

Jasons brows arched. "Lyla..." he grabbed Jakes shoulder stopping them both. "Your kidding me. Your marrying Lyla!? She practicly made your life a living hell for 7 years!"

Jake scratched his head. "Yeah I know we kinda got together a year ago and since then it seems like we became so close, and I know how cheezy it must sound to say this but like....I dont know man we just fit, we get along so well you know and its hard to even think that we once disliked each other."

They continued walking. "She never did anything that bad to me when we were kids and she told she did it because she was jealous. She even admit to having a crush on me back then!" Jake beamed happily.

Jason sighed and shook his head."dude youve been bewitched... I could never see you two getting along, in fact I don't even think you two could stay in the same room as each other before she starts trying to claw your eyes out!"

Jake laughed and stopped outside the door of a spare guest room. "Yeah well she's changed, go ahead and get cleaned up for dinner then join us in the dinning hall for dinner!"

Jake walked away and down the hall out of sight.

Sighing and shaking his head, Jason stepped into the room before shutting the wooden doors behind him. Light flowed into the room through the cracks between the blue saten curtains on the opposite side of the room.

A dresser stood against one wall with a candle lamp and mirror. The opposite side of the room had a queen sized bed covered in blue silk sheets and white pillows, next to it stood a door that led into the private bathroom.

Walking to the door he opened it to see a bathtub fully prepared and wooden bench with towels and other toiletries stacked on top.

He walked over to the bath and quickly stripped off his attire, laying it neatly onto the bench before stepping into the water.

He sat in the water and stared at the ceiling. He thought about all that was happening around him and how his best friend was soon to get married and become the king of Leosa.

He honestly wasn't sure what was going to happen, he didn't know what he was going to do about his own kingdom. He wasn't ready to be king, and he definitely didn't want to just marry whoever his councle suggested so that he could be fit to be king.

He sighed and sank into the water, he was happy that it wasn't cold, but it wasn't as great as the royal springs in his home.

Shaking the thoughts from his head he quickly cleaned off and stepped out of the tub. He then dryed his body off and dressed himself before going back into the bedroom and walking over to the dresser and mirror.

He looked into the mirror. Silver eyes stared back at him. His short and messy silver hair was ruffled and his toned skin seemd to be the only color in his face. He was young and physicaly handsome, although he looked plenty mature he had that young adult physic, most girls would flock toward him and romanticize about him, but only until they found out who he really was. He was not a man to be messed with and many saw him as anything but human. Some believed he was elven, despite the sharp looks most elves had and the pointed ears. Some thought he was a demon even, but no one ever understood that he was one of a kind.

But his species did not define who he was entirely, he had made a name for himself not based off his bloodline nor his kind. He was,

Prince Jason, of Atheria.

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