Excerpt: The Unfortunate Prince

The wind whipped past the princes faces as they raced across the fields towards the forest. Prince Arturas led the way through the tall fields of waving grain. It was he who startled the peasants. He was tall and unusually thin as if he had grown too fast. Somewhere in one of the fields he had lost his cape but he did not worry about it. Prince Bernandas followed closely on his heels. The peasants started their shouting and cursing as he sped by. He was only 16, but he had already developed into a bear. He was still nearly a foot shorter then his older brother, but he was all muscles. Prince Mykolas lagged behind the other two. He felt badly for the chaos his elder brothers where creating and apologized to the people on the way through their food crops. By the time he had passed, all was forgiven. Mykolas was much smaller and shorter then his two older brothers. At 14, he was just waiting for that growth spurt. Arturas pull his horse up near the edge of the forest. Bernandas skitter by him, but stopped as well.

“Why wait for him? He’s always slow. Leave him be,” Bernandas said impatiently.

“I promised father,” said Arturas.

“Really you two,” Mykolas scolded as he approached. “Father had a perfectly good road build two years ago. Why couldn’t you two take that instead of rushing through the fields?”

“What? You want to break your horse’s leg in one of the ruts on the road?” Bernandas snorted. “Don’t be a dundercap.” He started off into the forest.

“Don’t mind him,” Arturas touched his youngest brother’s twisted leg. The sight always made him want to scoop up Mykolas in his arms and cuddle him like a baby. Mykolas stared at Arturas’ hand. Arturas removed his hand. Mykolas was not a baby any more and did not appreciate his older brothers gestures of affection. “He woke up grumpy today. Now let’s go see what we can hunt up for dinner.” Arturas brushed his black hair off his forehead rode into the forest.

Mykolas started at Bernandas’ slumped shoulders as he waited a little ways in the woods and slowly he followed his older brothers. Arturas glanced back at his overly thoughtful brother. He quietly swore under his breath and wondered what possessed him to take his siblings out into the forest when they were both in foul moods. He closed his eyes to savor the rays of sun on his face before the forest swallowed him.
Bernandas led the way this time. Picking his way over fallen trees and along stream banks. The horses knew the way and did not slip in the mud. The forest hid an entire range of hills. The path he took ran up and down the tree covered hills. It occasionally went around large boulders and odd rock formations. This was the princes’ playground. Bernandas reined his brown horse up to a clear spring that flowed out of a split in a small cliff face that backed into a hillside. He dismounted and studied the mud around the spring looking for paw prints. He cupped his hands and offered his horse a drink. His horse noisily slurped up the water. Arturas dismounted as well and held Mykolas’ horse as he dismounted. Mykolas leg crumpled under him and he fell amid his horse’s legs. The golden mount did not move or even blink as the boy scrambled out. Bernandas laughter filled the small clearing around the spring.

“Stop,” yelled Mykolas. “Shut up!”

“Make me,” Bernandas yelled back. He had stopped laughing and took up an aggressive stance. Mykolas made a run for Bernandas, but Arturas grabbed him before he could get too close. The last thing Arturas needed was a fist fight between his two brothers.

“You don’t have to stop the cripple. He can’t hurt me,” Bernandas said puffing out his chest like a barnyard rooster. Mykolas spit at Bernandas. Arturas suddenly found himself between his two younger brothers with a hand on each trying to keep the two from coming to blows. Even though Mykolas was much smaller than Bernandas, he was always ready to fight his older brother.

“Enough,” Arturas yelled as one of the blows meant for Bernandas caught him in the side. “By the gods, you two are fools. Why can’t either one of you work together for once.” Both backed off in shock. Arturas rarely raised his voice. “All I wanted was to get out of that damp castle and have some fun in the woods.” His voice was lowered now. “I don’t know...”

Arturas froze in place with his arms outstretched to his brother on either side of him. He stared hard into the trees in front of him. His brothers turned to look as well. Watching curiously at the brothers was a beautiful stag. Its fur was a creamy white color and its sprawling antlers shone gold in the sunlight. It stood on three legs with its right forefoot lifted off the ground in mid-step. The creature blinked at the frozen princes as if debating on finishing its journey to the spring or fleeing into the woods. It chose the latter as one of the horses snorted.

Arturas nearly threw his smaller brother onto his horse as he rushed to mount his own. Bernandas was the first up onto his horse and was already rushing after the stag. Arturas rushed after with Mykolas trailing behind. Arturas was not worried about Mykolas since the horse knew what it was doing.

The growth in the forest began to get thicker as they chased the stag. The creature was just in sight and did not seem to be trying to pull away. Arturas noticed that they were not getting any closer to the stag though. The stag leaped over a small stream and the princes’ horses splashed through the muddy water. Bernandas rode like a man possessed after the stag. Mykolas called to both Bernandas and Arturas but neither noticed that he was lagging even farther behind than normal.

There was a flash of bright light and the stag disappeared over the top of a thicket. Bernandas raced along the bottom of the hedge, looking for a way through. With shoulders slumped he rode back to Arturas who had stopped.

“Blast,” Bernandas said breathing heavily. “I thought we had him. We should go back to the castle and get the dogs.” He looked hopefully at Arturas. Arturas studied the thicket. Thorns poked in every direction. He knew that any dog sent into the thicket would be cut to pieces.

“No,” he said slowly. “Let the stag go. We will get him some other day.”

“What? Have you lost your mine?”

“Something that beautiful should stay in the forest.”

“Something that beautiful should be on my wall as a trophy,” Bernandas said. “I don’t believe this. I’m going to go back and look for Mykolas. Brat must have gotten lost.” Bernandas spurred his horse back the way they came.

Arturas sat still on his black horse staring at the thorns. The beast shifted under him and he shuddered. He slowly dismounted and approached the wall. He knew this forest intimately and where he was at in relation to the castle. He also knew that there should not be a thorn hedge growing across his path. Suspiciously he approached the thicket. He reached out a hand and felt like he was reaching into a fire. He half expected to touch nothing but a thorn ripped his hand and blood flowed out of the wound as if it were cut by a dagger. Pain burned its way up his arm and dissolved the fog from his brain. He felt as if he just woke up.

He grasped the wound with his other hand. Blood squeezed out between his fingers and fell to ground. He heard a long low moan echo through the forest and the wind rushed across the tops of the trees. The air became chilled and he could see his breath. The thicket shuddered then groaned as it parted. Arturas stepped backward away from the split. He had only one explanation for this: Magic.