Chapter 2: The good prince

Darkness.

"I'm waiting for you." A soft voice called.

"Who are you?" Lucius responded.

"You know who I am! I'm waiting for you…"

"W-where can I find you?"

"You know already," The voice softened, almost fading, "if you come… you'll find me. In your heart… you have the key."

"They key is in my heart?"

"No…" the voice had nearly gone now, "The book is the key to you heart, in there… you'll find…"

He felt a soft sensation on his lips, as he'd imagine a kiss would feel. Lucius closed his eyes, "Oh Elimine, Elimine… I feel so lost… Elimine." He felt tears choking him as he began to weep, the voice was gone, blackness all around him. He was alone. So very alone.

Darkness… fading…

Lucius roused slowly from his delirium, groaning softly as his senses came around. Slowly he took a scope of the room, the drapes wafted in the early morning breeze, the sun shone into his room as morning birds twittered on the branches outside. "Doctor! Doctor!" A lively young voice called, "He's waking up! He's waking up!" Lucius' mind was swimming, still feeling incoherent from his dreams… that haunting, beautiful voice that always beckoned him.

The doctor was quite an elderly man, he was somewhat bald, but hair still clung to him around the back and sides of his head. He put in his monocle as he approached the ailing bishop, raising his hand and kissing his ring reverently, "Your Excellency…" he said in greeting. Lucius nodded a response, looking around, he saw all the children in his room, he moved to sit up. "Children!" He scolded, "What are you all in here for! What happened?"

It was Tracy who approached to push Lucius back, gently explaining, "I was about to go to sleep last night when I heard you yell and fall to the floor… w-when I rushed outside you were unconscious, I didn't know what to do! I called everyone and we brought you to your room so you could rest… then we went and got the doctor, we were so scared uncle!" The children had developed a strange bond with Lucius, sometimes calling him brother, other times uncle or father.

"Oh Children," Lucius flustered softly, "All this bother over me?" he managed a weak smile and coughed softly, feeling worse than he'd like to admit, "Please, you should only concern yourself with your studies and food… I don't want you worrying over me…"

"But we were so scared!" a young boy exclaimed, in a rush, all the children rushed over, piling over Lucius and wrapping him up in a huge embrace, some of the children had teary eyes, others squeezed a little too tightly; Lucius could only smile and try to give them all a reassuring hug.

After a few minutes, the doctor was feeling a little uneasy and cleared his throat loudly, "Now children, His Excellency and I have a few things to discuss… so I think it would be best if you left us alone for a little while…" This was met with a collective "Aww!" of disappointment, one by one the children turned to leave, the last to leave was Tracy, who turned and said, "Will I bring in your breakfast Brother Lucius?"

He smiled at her warmly, nodding in response, "That would be lovely little sister… thank you very much…"

Tracy giggled softly, then disappeared hurriedly through the door, he heard the sound of children's whispers echoing down the hall, he picked out the words, "He'll be so surprised!" and smiled to himself… they were plotting something… he usually didn't even eat breakfast.

The sighed as he sat slowly on a chair next to his bed, "If only my children were that well behaved… I have trouble with two kids, I don't know how you manage fifteen odd!"

Lucius chuckled softly, "Oh it's not always like this doctor… these halls have seen their fair share of scuffles and tears. The children are well disciplined so they can succeed in the future, but I make sure they are also happy in the mean time."

The doctor nodded slowly, and leant forward, taking a business like approach, "Now, your Excellency, you haven't been eating right… have you…" he said sternly, before Lucius could respond, the doctor continued, "Also, you're not getting enough rest, you're covered in bruises, stressed, and apparently quite a bit ill." He looked over Lucius disapprovingly, adjusting his monocle, feeling Lucius' forehead.

"It's just a cold," Lucius rasped out in between coughs.

The doctor shook his head disapprovingly, "Be that as it may, you'll need two weeks of solid bed rest before you'll be fit to work again…"

"No!" Lucius almost yelled, sitting up on his elbows, "I-I Can't afford a couple weeks!" he went pale, blood rushing away from his face, making him feel dizzy and queasy. "Ah… I'm ruined… ruined…" he clenched his eyes shut, trying not to let tears out, a dull ache emanating from the back of his head. The doctor calmly put his hand over Lucius' forehead and nodded to himself, "Lucius… listen to me." Lucius opened his eyes to look at the Doctor; half surprised the doctor used his name. The doctor looked grim, "You're working yourself into an early grave, if you keep working like this you'll surely collapse again… and I don't know if modern medicine will be able to save you. As it is I don't want to cover a Bishop in leeches or to bleed you for that matter."

"But I need a cure doctor!" Lucius said in a low, desperate voice, "Please… if I don't scrape together what little money I can… the church will seize the orphanage… a-and then…" Lucius felt a sob overcome him, tears flowing down his cheeks, "I-I can't let that happen, I need to work, I need the money!"

"Lucius! Look at yourself!" the doctor raised his voice in a harsh tone, snapping his attention, "You're too weak to be bled and in my experience the leeches haven't worked yet! You can barely scrape enough together to keep yourself alive, let alone fifteen children. You need to be rational… the church will leave you in charge… you can still raise your children…" The doctor was trying to reason with him.

Lucius just shook his head, "You don't know what it's like… the orphanages…" he shuddered softly, "I can't, I just can't… there's no way… oh Elimine…"

The doctor knew this was a pointless argument; the local Araphen community had been pressuring Lucius to submit his orphanage to the church's authority for over five years now, when his money trouble started. He was as unshakeable then as he was now, even on what might be his deathbed.

Throughout time, philosophers will always agree that the Gods work in mysterious ways.

The young prince of Araphen, Lemuel, was walking lazily in the soft Autumn day. He was a relatively tall young man, with a head full of wavy blonde hair and the gait of a highborn lord, his eternal smile was soft and refreshing, his eyes were amber brown and he had his father's large nose. He was enjoying the familiar countryside; it had been so long since he'd set foot on this soil. He sighed happily, taking a deep breath of fresh air, his loyal retainer and best friend by his side. "Do you suppose Mrs. Crab still makes those lovely cakes Raul?"

Raul chuckled at the question, pulling his horse's reigns to gently in order to slow his steed, the young cavalier looked down at his boyhood friend, "I sure hope so, I'm absolutely starved!" It was a common saying for Raul, the eternally hungry cavalier. During his training he ate so much that commander Oswin had to petition Lord Hector for a larger food budget. The food never made him lose his young, athletic figure though, throughout his rigorous training he became rambunctious and playful, although still steadfastly loyal, ready to lay down his life at a whim. He looked tall and stately on top of his sorrel horse, military short blue hair and striking blue eyes looking down a stately nose.

The young prince was much loved by the townspeople, even though their parents' marriage was far from a happy one. In fact, his existence was only the result of a bitter Marquess trying to sire an heir before it was too late. He was often reminded of this by his father, and remembers his childhood being far from happy. Raul was a few years the prince's senior, he'd grown up in Lucius' orphanage; his parents were killed in an unfortunate fire when he was around seven. Lucius often let Lemuel play with the other children in the orphanage sop the young prince could get out of the castle, which is how Lemuel and Raul ended up as friends. As things happen, Lemuel was sent off to Ostia to learn how to be the next Marquess, tutored in reading, writing, politics, swordplay and ethics. Lucius didn't want to see the boys separated, and managed to persuade the Marquess of the most powerful country in all Lycia to take Raul under his wing and become Lemuel's retainer. To this day, (especially after meeting Hector) neither Raul nor Lemuel have been able to figure out how Lucius achieved this feat.

That was ten years ago, now, with their studies over they were finally returning, Raul a fully trained cavalier and Lemuel ready to accept responsibility of Marquess. They were entering the city of Araphen and heading towards the castle, when suddenly a young boy ran into Lemuel, falling over, Lemuel going off balance a little but helping the boy get up on his feet "Ah… I say boy, what's got you in such a rush this morning!"

The boy got up and blushed, brushing himself down, "Ah, I'm sorry sir, I-I was running to get eggs for the patron of the local orphanage…" he stammered a little bit, Lemuel smiled at the bright eyed boy, which made the boy smile back.

"Brother Lucius… do you think we ought to pay him a visit Raul?"

Raul's horse shuffled a little impatiently, "Of course we should…" He said merrily, "he's almost what I'd consider my father!"

Lemuel smiled and turned back to the boy, kneeling down to his level, "Tell me, is brother Lucius well? Why are you fetching eggs for him?"

"Ah…" the boy stammered, looking down at the floor, "I'm not supposed to tell… it's a secret!" he bit his lower lip, shuffling his feet, looking around, he moved to Lemuel's ear, eager to tell somebody the great secret and whispered, "We think brother Lucius is ill good sire… he collapsed last night so Aunt Tracy and Hellen are making him a king's breakfast so he can get better… it was my job to get the eggs…"

Lemuel looked shocked at the news, "Brother Lucius is ill?" he murmured back, loud enough so that Raul could hear, his blue haired friend went a little pale at the news.

"Lemuel… we must see him!" Raul almost commanded as Lemuel stood up, the boy ran off to get more eggs.

Lemuel paused for a moment, his first instinct was to agree of course, but then a thought struck him, "No… fetch all the children and bring them to the castle…" he grinned broadly, "If it's a king's breakfast he wants, then by the Gods he'll get it!"