King of Beasts Read online

  My parents hadn’t played here in years and the delicate craftsmanship on the pieces had tarnished to a greenish hue that gave the lion-shaped knights more menacing glares. I stood back, hands deep in my pockets and watched my friends as they navigated their way around the board. Late nights out always followed with late morning chess games in the square. For the elite, ritual kept the days from dragging until we had to assume our parent’s responsibilities. Some dreading that day more than others.

  Harding watched the game, his body stretched out from a front-row seat and holding his head. Without even looking, I pictured his bloodshot eyes after another long night his body couldn’t handle. His shoulders sagged low to support my theory.

  In contrast, Kalmin stood stick straight, his hand on his chin as he studied the game with the shrewdness of a judge. Except, unless he could perform a miracle, Sophia would take his king in about three moves. Maybe he’d finally found a worthy opponent, or maybe something had him distracted this morning.

  “I’d suggest moving that bishop Kal before you’re outdone by this lovely lady.”

  I joined the group and slid my arm around Sophia’s waist. Her muscles stiffened under my hand. She glanced at me with wide eyes as her body shivered in my grasp.

  “What a pleasant surprise, Your Highness.” The words glided off her tongue like a rehearsed melody as she slipped from my embrace and off to the far side of the chessboard, her lingering lavender perfume following close behind her.

  “Am I no longer welcome?”

  She twisted her fingers in front of her and glanced at Kalmin, then Harding, then back down again, refusing to meet my questioning gaze.

  “Of course, you’re welcome. It’s your kingdom after all.” Kalmin smiled, but the edges of his mouth twitched as he forced it. “It’s just…”

  The hum of the bustling market amplified as Kalmin searched for words on the tops of his shoes.

  “Everyone’s afraid of you.” Harding scoffed and shifted in his seat.

  “Afraid of me?” I laughed, but no one laughed with me. “You can’t be serious?”

  All three of them stared off in different directions, none anywhere near me.

  “Is this because of the story in the paper this morning? About a beast in the castle?”

  The collective groaned in agreement.

  I crossed my arms and pulled my cloak tighter around me, trying to hide my family’s shame like it was tattooed across my chest. “Do I look like a beast to you? That newspaper story is a bunch of lies. You should’ve just come to me and asked for the truth.”

  “I wanted to.” Kalmin’s lips tightened along with his shoulders. "But there were all those reporters outside the castle after the story came out. I didn't want to be in the way."

  “You know the guards would’ve let you in. They always do.”

  “Right,” Kalmin nodded. “Next time. For sure.”

  Sophia’s hands twisted faster, as she dared to glance over at me. "But what if that thing came after one of us? That would be awful."

  So it was. The real truth. “Except none of you cared if it came after me?”

  No one responded as their silence punched into my gut and stole my breath.

  I flung my arms in the air. “That’s real nice. What if I was hurt or maybe even dead? I would’ve helped you if you needed it.”

  “Would you though?” Kalmin finally stepped forward, his hands curled into fists and anger settled into his clenched jaw. “You’re Prince Fallon. You always help yourself first.”

  Every cutting word flew straight from his mouth and pierced my skin like tiny razor-sharp arrows.

  “Wow. Okay.” I shook my head as my body seethed in pain from the attack. “I didn’t realize I’d been such a burden.”

  I turned sharp and started to walk away.

  “You’re not a burden. You just never seem like you really need any of us. It’s always about you.” Kalmin called over my shoulder, the edge smoothing off his tone. “Falls, wait.”

  In the distance, thunder rolled. I quickened my pace, but no footsteps followed behind. I slowed again, hoping to feel Kalmin’s hand clasp down on my shoulder, but it never did. They all just let me go.

  Head down, I hurried through the city streets. Gossip and chatter about the ferocious castle beast blew past my ears on the gusting wind. I always helped myself first. What did that even mean? Had I not given them everything they had ever asked for? A thin sheet of light rain started to fall, misting the miserable world around me. Maybe I should let my father loose on the city and see what happens. I’d bet they’d be begging for my help then.

  I approached the bridge as the drizzle began to seep into my bones, and I ached to close myself up in the castle and forget about everyone in the world outside. Ahead, the throng of reporters still lurked outside the castle gate. Scavengers. I glanced back toward town and my ribs contracted tight around my lungs, my breath hard and labored. Stuck between two places I clearly didn't quite belong. I leaned against the bridge's railing and dropped my hood letting the mist wash over my face.

  "It's the prince," someone shouted. "Prince Fallon, what is that thing in the castle?"

  Not again. I flipped the hood back up, ignored the voices, and ran the opposite way toward the towering cluster of trees up the hill on the far end of town. People shouted as I ran against the foot traffic and nearly knocked over a half dozen citizens. Shame fueled my run, and wouldn’t let me stop. I didn’t want to see another person for the rest of the day if I could help it. If they didn’t find a solution for the curse soon, I might never leave the castle again. No one wanted a monster on the throne. I didn’t want a monster for a father. But I guess none of us would be getting our way, so why couldn’t they all just leave me alone.

  Just outside the edge of the forest, I buckled over and grabbed my knees. My gasping breaths echoed in the air. Looking back over my shoulder, my body relaxed as no one had bothered to follow me. The crazy prince from the haunted castle running through the streets like a mad man. I'm sure that would make for fantastic gossip to humor the Aborians. I crept down the hill to the right of the main pathway and stood outside the familiar small abandoned cave. Moss grew over the rocks and provided camouflage to the one unknown access point to the castle. The end of the passageway. A safe way home. Except, the thought of going back didn't provide the calm I'd hoped for. The tightness in my chest squeezed harder. Not yet. I wasn't ready. I stared up into the sky, waiting for something, an answer, a calmness, anything to make this hopelessness go away. A weak beam of sun cut through the black clouds and led deeper into the forest. I sighed. Not what I'd expected, but maybe getting lost for a little while might help me find my way.

  Spring had blossomed in the forest and the fresh foliage protected it from the rain. I wandered underneath the meandering rows of towering teak trees down the lesser worn paths deeper into the heart of wild Aboria. Sunlight peeked through the dark clouds and created misshapen shadows across the dirt pathway as it filtered through the canopy. Thick emerald leaves of the lower flora hung just over my head and the sweet scent from the delicate white buds clustered at the end of their branches swirled around me in the afternoon breeze. The whole aesthetic hummed of an otherworldly calm, but its brilliance dimmed under the black thoughts churning through my brain.

  No one cared if I lived or died. Even people I thought were my friends. My best friends. But did it mean nothing? Did they simply hang around to be amused by me? Bathe in the royal glow and reap its glories? But I guess, why not? That's what I'd done. Years of living in the luxury of who I was without knowing the price that it might come with. How it might have been earned.

  An image of Veda flickered in my mind. Her charming awkward smile when she told me I had potential. The only person who didn't treat me like a prize to be won or a cow to be milked and she probably hated me. She didn't care about all the things I stood for. If anything, it repulsed her. I repulsed her. If only I had a chance to talk to her again. Ask he
r about what she saw in me that everyone else didn't. I grabbed the back of my head and groaned looking up toward the sky. She's the last person I needed in my thoughts right now. I had my father to deal with. I had to keep my mother together. I didn't need some know-it-all mountain girl telling me about things she probably knew nothing about. But why did I suddenly want it?

  I let the mist of the forest paint across my face, the coolness soothing the burn in my cheeks. How did everything get so complicated? I started to take my next step down the same old route, but a strange unsettled fury bubbled up inside me and I tramped off through the bushes into the unknown.

  The remaining sunlight vanished under the denser bush, better matching my mood. The sharp branches and thorns ripped at my legs as I trudged deeper, the pain providing an odd satisfaction. Anything to pierce the veil of the numb dreamlike state I’d been stumbling around in.

  I stopped near the gnarled roots of an old banyan tree to catch my breath. Odd-shaped mushrooms gathered in clusters creating an almost perfect circle around the clearing. I dropped to the ground and pulled my knees to my chest. The darkness of the forest surrounded and provoked me like an itchy blanket. I closed my eyes and breathed in the damp musty smell of moss and wet leaves. If I lost myself in here, would anyone even bother to come looking?

  "Princes shouldn't venture far from their castles."

  The words whispered through the treetops. I snapped my eyes open, but no one appeared. I shook my head. Probably just the rustle of leaves and my distracted imagination.

  "The woods aren't safe. Nothing is safe anymore,” the whispers returned, louder this time. “Pretty princes should walk in the light."

  "Who's there?" I clambered to my feet and bunched my hands into fists, ready to strike.

  A chorus of giggling bounced around me from every angle. "Silly Prince, trying to fight the fairies. Don't you have bigger battles?"

  Fairies. Great. Tricksters lurking in the woods, sending people in the wrong direction just to laugh at them wandering around lost. Stealing fruit from hiker's packs then throwing it at them for amusement. Just what I didn’t need right now.

  I started back the way I came, the day getting bleaker as it stretched on. Wings fluttered past my face, like a hummingbird, but more annoying. I swatted my hand in front of me and kept moving forward through the brush.

  My head yanked back as my hood flew off my head, but I refused to stop. The bushes and treetops erupted as flocks of fairies burst out of hiding and zig-zagged to create a living wall of limbs and wings to block my path. Tiny lights of every color flickered back and forth.

  “You don’t believe us?” the chorus chimed.

  “Why would I?”

  “Because we speak for the trees. The trees know things.”

  I surveyed my other options. I could plunge deeper into the forest, but they might just chase after me. Waiting them out seemed unlikely. The only way out was through. I continued forward, arms extended to push the fairies to the side. Hopefully, they would be smart enough to move. I’d never heard of anyone dying by fairy bite, but knowing my luck it could happen.

  “The trees speak of the coming darkness. They’ve seen it before. They can feel it coming.”

  The words coursed through my blood. My pulse pumped faster at my temples. I let my hands fall to my sides, my feet rooted still like the banyan tree.

  A shrill cry split through the air and the fairy shield dispersed, a cool current from the fleeing wings blew over my skin as they all disappeared into the forest. A single fairy remained. She flew back and forth between me and the way out.

  “The heartless prince might have feelings after all,” she said, gliding through the treetops as a silver trail streamed behind her. “Wealth cannot buy kindness, you know. But I think maybe something struck a match. But how many tick...tick...ticks, until our prince goes boom?”

  A flash of glitter exploded. I jumped back, and tripped, falling to the ground. The fairy laughed and zipped over my head as I struggled back up to standing, her tiny voice echoing through the trees.

  "Enough. What do you know about the darkness? Does this have anything to do with my father?"

  "I guess that depends. Who is your father again?" She tittered and zipped straight up in the air then dropped like a stone back to the forest floor before she changed direction and cut across the tops of the long wild grass, lobbing off the heads of a few flowers in her wake.

  "Always so funny. My father. The king."

  "Ah. The king. Maybe it does. Maybe it doesn't."

  "That's a huge help. Thanks." I crossed my arms and pushed up to my feet, then started to stomp off again. Even my escape plan hated me. I shouldn't have bothered getting out of bed today. Besides, no one ever believed the fairies, why should I?

  “No. Don’t go.” She flew in front of my face and pressed on my nose with her small hands. I stopped, finally seeing her tiny body close up. Her wavy rose gold hair blew in the draft from her beating wings, her silvery skin glowing in the dim light and illuminating the faint lines of fairy symbols painted or tattooed on her shoulders and down her arms. I held out my palm and she took the gesture, resting on top of the gauze still twined around my hand.

  "You're hurt? That just won't do." She dug her bare foot under the first layer of gauze and attempted to pull it up and peek underneath.

  "It's fine. Don't worry about it. Just tell me what's coming. What does it have to do with me and my family?"

  "Patience, prince. You'd learn much from looking beyond yourself. Nature is a web of connections. We rely on each other." The fairy bent over and planted her hands on the gauze. A blue glow came from grip as her petite face squished together. Pain jolted down my arm as a deep burning raged in my palm. Invisible flames ripped through my skin, devouring it, consuming.

  "Ow!" I snatched my hand away. "What did you do to me?"

  The fairy tumbled through the air and crashed into a pile of dead leaves.

  She huffed and regained her stance, flying back up into my eye line. "I think the words are 'thank you'. We don't just heal anyone, you know."

  I unwrapped the gauze but the huge gash from the glass was gone, except for a few crumbles of dried blood still left from yesterday. I flexed my hand. No pain. Nothing.

  "You're welcome," the fairy said, peeling a leaf from her hair and tossing it behind her. "Now can we move on. You have much work to do."

  "Me? I don't think you get it. It's my father that’s the problem. Not me. He's the one who needs to get better."

  "But you need to defeat the coming darkness. The darkness is what's affecting your father. It poisons the blood, brings out the evil."

  "So you're saying he's been poisoned?"

  She shook her head, a glittery cloud puffing into the air around her. "The darkness is many things. Many bad things. But things are changing. Moving. We can feel it. The forest feels it. And you need to save us. Why do you think you came here?"

  "Ha.” I stomped my foot and pointed at the ground. “I came here to get away from everyone else's judgments, not to find more. And I'm not exactly the hero type. Why do you think I would be the one to save you?"

  "Because that's what the forest is telling us. They know the stories. The ancient ones. The ones others don't dare to tell. There is a plan for you, even if you don't know it, even if you don't want it. You have potential, Prince of Many Faces."

  Potential. A dirty word. I definitely didn't see it.

  "Besides,” her wings slowed and she hovered ethereally in the air, her tiny eyes welling until she blinked and pushed the tears down. The weight of a thousand stares bore down on my shoulders as the rest of the fairies edged in toward us.

  The silver fairy narrowed her stare toward the onlookers than flitted near my ear as her squeaky voice dropped low. "You might be our last hope."

  4

  23rd May

  I looked in the mirror and tilted the crooked crown straight again. The thick gold frame and ring of sapphires weighed nearl
y as much as a brick. It strained my neck and constantly slid off to the side. How did my father ever wear these things? So uncomfortable. Even the golden rings in my eyes seemed tarnished next to the large hunk of gold on my head.

  I slid a few jeweled rings on my fingers. The large rubies looked massive next to my simple signet ring, but Griswold insisted that I needed to be in full dress. Not just a prince, but not quite a king. Something in between that I didn’t know how to be.

  "You look great, darling."

  Mom slid into my room, her beautiful raw silk gown in deep shades of midnight blue and gold swept across the floor, the skirts swishing around making her look the regal queen even without the sash across her shoulder emboldened with our family's royal crest. The lion in the center stood for bravery, but I didn't feel I lived up to the legacy, especially not now. My aching stomach seemed to agree.

  "As do you. The kind and gracious queen." I leaned down and kissed her cheek, her skin dry and tired as the brightness in her eyes snuffed to an exhausted glaze. My throat closed and I struggled to swallow the words of pity she didn't want to hear. The toll of caring for a monster slowly painting its horror across her face.

  “How’s Dad doing?”

  The sash sagged as her shoulders fell, the heavy sigh collapsing her posture. “It’s getting worse. Sometimes he doesn’t even know who I am anymore. The doctors have taken to sedating him most of the time, but if we don’t find a solution soon...” Her eyes welled, but she turned away before wiping the tears and flicking them to the floor. “Let’s just stay positive okay. Are you ready for your big debut?"