Til Kingdom Comes - The Banished Prince Vol 1: The Beginning

Just Call Me Audemars

As soon as I lay down and placed my head on the knapsack, I immediately dozed off and had a dream. In that dream, I saw myself in a big and magnificent courtyard, surrounded with guards and soldiers, all wearing their suit of magnificent armour and carrying various sets of weapons according to their class and type.

There was a big keep behind me and I was standing on a slightly elevated platform. The group of soldiers, guards and even citizens were standing before me and it came to about close to 500 of them altogether. As I stood there, wearing a robe with a crescent of the coat of arms in my left-hand side, watching intently in their direction.

The robe I was wearing was dark in colour and had a golden ornamental piece across my chest like a half necklace. There was also a golden tassel around my waist as it held the robe fast.

The looks on those guards and soldiers were very solemn and as I walked through the courtyard. Their commanding officer immediately gave a command and everyone went down on one knee and raised their right fist to their chest as a soldier's salute.

I saw a kind of hope and anticipation that lighted up on their faces and sparkled in their eyes. The kind of hope that I would be leading them to a prosperous living, far away from the troubles that had befallen them since.

I looked around me as I walked down the courtyard towards another raised platform where a solitary throne was set in the centre of it. Two of the Royal assistants were standing on each side of the throne, holding a large fan each.

As I walked along the courtyard, i looked down and saw that the robe that I had worn earlier had transformed. I was now draped on a long robe that was made up by some kind of woollen material and it was warm and fuzzy to touch.

On my fingers were several rings that were made up of precious stones and it shimmered slightly when rays of light fell on it. There were rubies, emeralds sapphires and diamond stones on each on ring.

"Son, you made us very proud of you and your achievement." I looked in the direction of the ever-familiar voice and saw my parents, the long-gone King and Queen along with Tanya, my younger sister, waiting at the sides and waving their hands and bowed slightly as I passed them.

"Why are they at the sides along with the citizens? Shouldn't they be up there with me in the raised platform, in the throne, maybe?" I thought to myself as I continued to walk against my will on the courtyard, towards the solitary throne, as if a strong magnet was pulling me towards it.

Their expressions were lit up with some kind of light as if an aura was diffusing from them at that moment. Their smiling faces were contagious as smiles were all brought to the faces of the masses. I wanted to approach towards them but a force beckoned me to walk straight along the courtyard towards the solitary throne ahead.

I tried to open my mouth to speak to them but instead, no words escaped from my lips as I was steered right to the raised platform. A knight in a s******g new full plate shining armour assisted me as I walked over the throne. His face was covered with a half mask, revealing only his eyes. He wasn't wearing a helm and his blonde hair was slightly waving in the breeze.

There was our coat of arms etched on the left-hand side of his plate armour. There was a long sword dangling on his left waist and when he turned around, I could see 2 curved daggers behind his back.

"Your Lordship, it is time now..." I heard a voice spoke right beside my ears and I tried to focus my sights before me. Almost instantly the images of the subjects including my parents slowly dissipate on a glimmer of light and the surroundings around me turned from being magnificent into ruins.

"Huh...? Where did everyone go? Where is this place?" I muttered as I swooshed and turned around frantically to determine where I was at that time. "Hello... Is anyone out there? Can anyone hear me...?!" I bellowed out but my sound sounded very weird as if my voice bounded off against an unseen wall back at me — hollow and almost metallic.

Creepers lined the walls, broken pillars strewn across the grounds and cracks began to form on the stone floor. "Your Lordship..." I heard the voice again and suddenly a soft pair of hands were placed on each side of my shoulders and gave me a slight shake.

I could smell the earth, moistened by the morning dew and the distinctive smell of burning wood. I opened up my eyes and adjusted to the rays of sunshine as it broke through the horizons, giving it a hue of red and blue.

"Wh...where am I?" I sat up and rubbed my pitiful sleepy and swollen eyes as I was slowly focused and was able to recognise the surroundings. "Take your time, Your Lordship. We would be moving out and breaking camp once you have something filled in your tummy."

A pang of remorse tugged at my heartstrings once again as I recollected the uneventful event the night before — of the demise of my dear parents and sister. I noticed that several of the citizens that I was travelling with were preparing some hot beverages and were roasting some meat over a bed of embers.

The smell of roasted meat over the hot embers wafted through the air. And old lady was sprinkling some condiments over it and the fat slowly trickled down and sizzled in the hot embers below. The meat was hare, and it may have been caught the night before when I was conked out due to sheer exhaustion and stress.

"You were extremely exhausted and were talking in your sleep, Your Lordship. I didn't try to wake you up and I know that you had gone through such an ordeal. Come, let's have some breakfast first before we head out." Heather spoke to me as she shoved a mug of warm tea in my hands.

The scent of the freshly brewed tea tickled my nostrils and it was truly a welcoming drink in the cold frosty morning. I didn't realise that I had slept on the hard ground, with just my cloak underneath me as I huddle myself into a ball to sleep the whole night.

"Would we be making a kind of permanent camp very soon?" I queried to the group of travellers as Gwen the huntress replied, "We are still in the vicinity of the rebels' influence. We have to get to higher ground where we would have a vantage point as well as locating bountiful resources around us."

"All we need is a body of water close to our proximity. Without a constant supply of freshwater, there is no life. Without life, there's no point in going further to survive here."

I knew that Gwen the huntress would be able to lead us out from our predicament and to settle down as soon as possible. The thought of querying whether we could settle down in the nearest town surfaces but was soon dismissed as I soon realised that the settlement would have suffered and gone through the same fate as Darlington.

I sipped my warm cup of tea and had 2 skewers of hare meat that had been roasted earlier. The fire was immediately doused and signs of a fireplace were quickly being covered up to hide the existence of any activity the night before. The meat was totally roasted as I slowly blew the heat off from the sticks that held the meat together.

I took a whiff of the meat and discovered that it was pretty cooked to perfection. When I took a bite, the aromatic smell and flavourful taste exploded in my mouth. I chewed on the meat as it bounded around my teeth and the cavity of my mouth. It was somewhat flavourful and gave me the sense to look forward through the difficulties that everyone had experienced.

Before long, after finishing the meal, we broke camp and made our way with Gwen the huntress in the lead. We skipped through a small brook as the wild forest behind us got denser. We had trekked for more than half a day and were fortunate not to meet with any reconnaissance scout from the rebels.

We soon reached a wide body of water about 30 feet or more across. Before the stream, there was a clearing and discovered that it would be suitable to be made into our shelter.

"This would be perfect for our main encampment. We have bountiful resources within our reach. Wild game and fish could be found in the stream as well as around the forest."

"There might be some stone and mineral deposit around us here. This is part of no man's land and it had never been ventured this far."

"No rebels would find themselves here since there's nothing for them to loot. The forest where we had come from is virgin forest and there's no sign of deforestation so far." Gwen the huntress explained the whole situation to us as we sat down in a circle and listened.

"There are some towns or villages nearby but as you can see, they have long been abandoned it had been pillaged by the rebels."

"We need tools in order to build this piece of land to call our home. I am a blacksmith by trade but I'm pretty sure we could work with some stones to make into basic tools and weapon."

"It may be crude but it's a start from now." an elderly man named Jack Levi spoke up as he pointed out his point of view.

Jack's hair was silver due to his age but his bulging muscles on his arm indicates that he had been working behind the furnace for many years.

His wife, Kayla, was a short and stocky woman. Her skin was quite weathered through the years working as a gatherer and herbalist and she spoke about her future contributions as well.

Soon, I got to learn the rest of the survivors' names as well as their trade and profession. I made a mental note of their names and their abilities before I finally spoke up.

"From now on, I am just like any of you. Please do not use any honorifics to address me. This would reduce the risk indefinitely."

"We can't do that, Your Lordship. You are the surviving heir of the Royal Family," suggested Frank the Woodcutter while everyone around nodded their head. "Would calling you a Young Master be alright? At least it's less conspicuous but no lesser than a noble."

Crystal spoke up as she was used to dealing with the nobles as a livestock herder and had been managing various kind of farm animals for the past 5 years or so. Her exposure with the nobles was vast and was in favour of several of the employers she had worked for.

"I guess it would be alright to address me as a Young Master and pardon me if I would be calling you by your first names then," I replied approvingly and soon the first initial work of setting up our permanent took place.

The young children were assigned to gather up the stones and rocks around the clearing and placing then into a designated collection point.

Frank and Been proceeded to gather the fallen branches for firewood as well as building materials and placed them next to the stones and rocks that were collected by the children.

Kayla and Heather had gone inside the forest in search for edible plants together with Gwen to hunt for small game and setting up traps as well.

The rest of the tools that were brought along with several of their essentials were placed on the ground that was marked as a designated location.

I looked at the orderly manner that they had partaken in this process and was surprised at how meticulous their methods were. it was as if setting up a settlement had been in their blood as everyone knew their roles and responsibilities.

I was left somewhat scratching my head as I was thinking on what to do as I held a handful of berries that were still in the hood of my cloak. I munched on it as I went to use my feet to kick at some small broken branches to gather in a small mound.

After doing so, I placed the remaining berries in my pocket and carried the branches to the collection point. I hung my knapsack and cloak on a nearby tree branch and helped the children to clear the ground as much as possible.

"Hmm...Uncle. Are you really a Prince?" a boy around the age of 5 asked me innocently as he squatted down to pick up the rocks around me. I looked at him and gave him a rub on his head and replied, "I am just like you and your friends. I am just a Fallen Prince." I tried to put on my best smile but somehow the events that took place the night before tried to rear its ugly head once more.

Avoiding the subject, I asked the boy for his name and he answered gleefully, "My name is Devon, what's yours?"

"Just call me Audemars, and I would like to be your friend so don't call me Uncle."

"Ok Big Brother..." Devon flashed his toothless grin at me and scuttled away carrying a pile of rocks in his hand before he deposited it at the designated collection point.

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