Chapter 14: Chapter 14

Colter

Kingdom of Howard, Unknown

The morning dawned and Colter was up, shaking off the hangover and unlocking the chest he left the sketch in. It was the same woman he just had a wild dream about, a brunette with amber eyes and fair skin. The dream felt too real for him, so real that his heart stirs and his penis hardens involuntarily just thinking of it.

“It felt real. Who is she?” the young prince muttered to himself still staring his art, the thoughts kept pestering him like a mosquito buzzing insistently around his ears. He had felt her, even if it was through a dream. He had felt his body on hers, he had parted her legs and ravaged her.

Plausible places where she lives suddenly filled his mind, could she be in the kingdom? Is she an Ecanus too? He had forgotten or didn’t focus enough on her chest marking.

“Now I have to find her, don’t I?” he muttered, rolling the piece of paper, and keeping it in the folds of his clothing. Slamming the chest shut, Prince Colter ran out of his room towards the stables where Nimrod was staying. Flying seemed to be out of his interest now, he wanted to feel the road, and the whips of wind while on horseback seems preferable than the strong gales he faced while flying.

“Hey there buddy!” Colter greeted his mount, who snorted as if to acknowledge him, “Want a carrot?” he had stopped by the kitchens and got a bunch of treats for his beloved Nimrod. With a soft whinny, Nimrod accepted the carrots and ate contentedly.

“Good boy!” Colter praised his horse, rubbing its head affectionately, the horse nudge him in the shoulder with its head in return, “Want to go out for a ride? Want to come with me? Let’s go!”

Unlatching the saddle that was hanging on the closest wall, he put it over Nimrod who snorted with importance.

Without effort he managed to mount the horse and they cantered out of the stable, “I’m going out!” Colter announced to the stableboy watching over other horses . As he made the announcement, they galloped out and into the heart of the Kingdom, to look for a dream that felt so true to him.

Colter and Nimrod galloped around the kingdom, passing by various citizens, he had also stopped to quell a commotion that was brought about by a disagreement with the price of a product sold by a merchant. Yet there was a blank look on his face as he did these things. The girl still flickered in and out of his thoughts, he felt uncomfortable suddenly getting erect out in public. But he was relieved that it was not noticed by anyone.

Stopping by a small village, he left Nimrod to graze behind a tree . He had also left him some carrots as a treat for being such a good horse. Again, he is pestered by these thoughts, it was starting to disrupt his daily life and as he imagined the lips of the girl in his dreams locking with his…

“Prince Colter!!” a voice filled with childish wonder called out to him, snapping him out of his daydreams. He turned to stare at a group of children smiling at him, he had not noticed them due to his brain going into overdrive thinking about the girl. “What’cha thinkin’ about, Prince Colter?” one of the children asked him and the young prince offered them a smile.

“I am thinking of my dreams, now then younglings, what is it that you wanted me for?”

The other adult citizens of the village also smiled and waved at him, realizing that royalty had come to their humble village.

“Show us fireworks, Prince Colter!” a kid pleaded with him as he walked through the village. The prince grinned at them and tried to shut the idea down, but they all pleaded at once and he couldn’t just say no to these sweet but distracting children.

He lifted his hands up in a mock surrender, “Alright, alright! Give me some space to work then.”

The children cheered at this and watched as Colter made a finger gun with his right hand and pointed it upward. “Alright you twerps” he said endearingly, “keep an eye on the sky!”

He focused energy into his fingers and streaks of fire shot out, ascending at a rapid pace into the sky. A whistling sound accompanied it. As the firebolt reached the absolute peak of its momentum, it exploded into smaller orbs of fire that took the shape of a gaping skull. It was a menacing visage, the children cried out and the crowd gasped in shock, but Colter was still grinning, not yet done with the show.

As the fiery skull floated in the sky, terrifying everyone who could see it for miles, Colter used his free hand and pointed it palm up. “For the grand finale!” he exerted more of his magic into this one and another bigger firebolt shot out of his hand.

The second streak of fire hurtled into the fiery skull in the sky, as it flew through the air it took the shape of a sword made entirely out of fire. It connected with the skull’s forehead and drawing another gasp from the crowd. With a massive explosion, both shapes burst into tiny particles of fire that seemed to put on a light show in the middle of the day. It was like firecrackers exploding spectacularly, hundreds and thousands of them at the same time.

The people around Colter cheered and the children surrounded him hugging him and asking for even more favors. Colter chuckled like he has no problems now but then something caught his eye. Someone.

It was an Ecanus, watering flowers and smiling to herself as she listened to the cheers of the crowd. Colter lost all interest in the people around him and started making his way towards her, sensing that the prince had better things to do, the people parted and gave him easy access towards the direction of where he was going.

“No way…” he muttered walking slowly; she had the exact same features as the girl from his dreams. She had brown hair that was wavy at the ends, her fair skin glistening with slight sweat gave off a brilliant shine and showed an aura of focus on her current chore. “Is it…her?”

He was about to reach out to her when she looked up at him, there was a slight surprise in her eyes as she saw the figure of the prince with an open hand reaching out to her. It hit Colter like a pile of bricks, it was not the same girl. But it was close. The color of this Ecanus’ eyes were different. The joy of putting on a show, the sunlight and not to mention his slowly dwindling sanity due to his dreams played a trick on his eyes. Disappointment filled the young prince, but he lowered his hand and smiled at the Ecanus sheepishly.

“D-do…you need anything… P-prince Colter?” the girl timidly asked him; the prince shook and scratched his head.

“My deepest apologies, I had mistaken you for someone else” the prince apologized, bowing lightly to the chagrin of the woman. He left the woman to tend to her garden and started walking around the small village. He greeted even more people, talked to them, and listened to how they were. It could be tiring for some people, but this prince enjoyed being with the common folk more than his own blood. Minutes later, he said his goodbyes and started to make his way towards Nimrod who would probably be sulking by now after being left behind for quite a while.

“Hey there buddy!” Colter greeted Nimrod as he approached him, his trusty steed simply snorted, “Oh come on, bud. What if I got you some sugar cubes when we get back to the palace? You’d like that wouldn’t you?” he said trying to make the horse feel better after being left behind.

He sat down at the bottom of the tree, Nimrod decided to graze some more since his master was still enjoying the day.

Reaching into the folds of his clothes, he pulled out the sketch of the mystery dream girl. Her face was so beautiful, to him she was the most beautiful woman in all of existence. “Where can I find you? Do you actually even exit, or are you just a product of my fucked up dreams?” he muttered at the sketch, hoping it would answer him back and tell him where she was. Hope ran out, the encounter with this woman’s look alike in the village left Colter distraught and annoyed.

“Maybe…” he thought, “Maybe she’s from the village further from he-“ but his thoughts were cut short, as a gloved hand suddenly grabbed the piece of paper in his hands. Colter felt his rage build and got up to take it back from the thief and saw his older brother, Gian.

He was smirking at the piece of paper, his eyes flickering to Colter and the paper he had just stolen from the younger prince. “Well, well, well, Colter, Colter, Colter…” Gian said in a mocking tone, “You’ve began fantasizing now, huh? Who might this beautiful, brown-haired girl be?”

“Give that back to me, asshole!” Colter roared, hurt and embarrassed by his brother’s actions.

Gian simply chuckled and crumpled the sketch into his fist and lobbed it behind him.

A cry of pain filled Colter and he felt control over his anger come undone. Two seconds later he his hands found the throat of his brother, throttling him with all his strength. “What the fuck is your problem, Nate?! You don’t have the fucking right to do that!” Colter hissed at his brother’s face, who was still smirking evilly at him even while being choked.

“What ever would my dipshit younger brother do? Run towards father and tell him?” Gian said in a strained voice, still mocking Colter.

Colter exhaled and released his grip on Gian, the elder prince caught his breath as Colter stepped by him to grab the crumpled paper on the ground.

“Sure, whatever you say, Gian. Like I’d give father another opportunity to lay into me again.”

Colter’s instant transition into calmness irked Gian, as he had wanted to trigger a response from his younger brother that would get him reprimanded again by the king.

“You piece of shit!” he spat at Colter, who was now hellbent on ignoring him, “Your fantasies are way in over your head, Colter. A girl like that would never be with you. There’s a bigger chance for me to bed her and fuck her right in front of you! Because you are the useless, back up prince in case something happens to me. You’re a useless little shit and you bring shame to our family! USELESS! Plant that in your thoughts” But Gian’s tirade fell on deaf ears, so to save face, he turned away from Colter and launched himself into the sky to get back to the palace.

While his brother was ranting and spitting venomous words, Colter was desperately trying to bring the paper back to its original look. But it was already crumpled badly, and it had slight tears in the middle. He obsessively tried to iron it with his hands to no avail. As he accepted the reality that it will never be back to what it was before, he heard two passing Ecanus gossip. There was something about what they said that caught Colter’s attention.

These are the words he heard from the two Ecanus: “Samuel, the lost Ecanus has returned at last.”