Reginald had decided to head into the castle town that morning. He hoped it would help get his mind off what had happened that night. He wandered aimlessly through the town, starring down at his feet as he did so.
A little girl bumped into him by accident, "oh I'm sorry" she looked up to see who she had ran into, "o-oh, your highness. I didn't mean to bump into you"
"It's fine" Reginald helped her up, "I do hope you are okay"
The little girl dusted herself down, "I'm fine your highness"
Reginald sighed with relief, "that is good then, run along little one" he watched as the little girl ran off down the street.
Reginald watched her run off then continued on his way. He decided to just let his feet decide where he was going to go only to find himself standing outside the slums. He looked down the path that lead inside, "do I really want to be here… should I be here after what happened?"
Reginald turned to leave when he came face to face with Maximus. The horse neighs and snorts at Reginald, looking him up and down.
"I'm fine, Maximus" Reginald told him.
Maximus nodded then decided to stand by Reginald's side. This made him feel like he was being babysat by a horse, not something he expected when he awoke that morning. He began to walk back to the centre of town, escorted by Maximus.
Randy had once again snuck out of his father's mansion and was making his way to the market. This was something he did quiet often as he hated being around his stuck up father. Always kissing up to the King, he was such a bore. He had almost made it to his destination when he ran straight into Maximus' rear. This surprised Maximus as he neighed then turned to face him.
"Hey big guy.. you'd think I'd notice you" Randy said sheepishly.
Maximus nodded then used his teeth to help Randy back up onto his feet.
"Thanks, didn't think I'd run into a horse's rear today but then again my fault for not looking where I was going" Randy admitted.
Randy watched as Maximus sniffed him only to then whack him with his tail before walking off. Reginald had been quietly watching as it all unfolded.
"...okay" Randy adjusted his ladder glasses that had been knocked out of place.
"Oh my… are you okay?" Reginald asked.
"Never better" Randy proceeded to walk around Reginald, almost as if he were checking him over. He then suddenly got a hold of Reginald's hand then begun to pull him towards the slums.
"What are you doing?" Reginald asked.
"You wanted to go to the slums so let's go~!" Randy proclaimed, not telling him how he knew.
Sven was walking around in the woods, accompanied by Snowy. After waking that morning and noticing Right was nowhere to be seen, the two headed out to pick some berries. Sven hoped they would run into Right along the way but so far, nothing.
"Do you think he's abandoned us?" Snowy hooted in protest, "then where did he go? Does he not think I could get us out of the slums?" Snow once again hooted in protest. Sven sighed as they continued on their way.
Right was sitting in a nearby tree and heard Snowy and Sven coming towards him. He watched as Snowy flew on ahead of Sven, no doubt she had spotted a small rodent up ahead. He waited until Sven had gotten closer then jumped out of the tree, landing in front of him, "Sven?"
Sven jumped and screamed.
Right chuckled, "awww, Sven, come on, you don't have to sream"
"Fucking hell! I almost jumped out of my skin!"
"Language Sven. That's an overreaction"
"Says you, besides I was worried about…" a person suddenly fell out of the sky and landed on top of Right, "you…"
Right had got the shock of his life when a person had suddenly landed on top of him, for the sky of all places. He lay on the ground with the youth lying on top of him. Sven walked over to have a better look. He noticed they had long white hair tied back into a ponytail and a knife sticking out of their left arm.
Right sat up, pulling the white hair youth up onto his lap. He noticed the knife stuck in their arm then picked them up bridal style, "let's head home, Sven. We can use your healing ointment on him"
"Are you sure their male?" Sven asked as he followed Right back to the shack.
"His chest is flat so he's a guy" Right pointed out. Sven wasn't prepared to argue back.
Once back at the shack, Right place their new friend onto the sofa while Sven fetched the ointment. He handed it over to Right along with some clean bandages.
"Thanks Sven" Right proceeded to remove the knife from whitey's arm. He put some ointment over the wound then covered it with the bandage, "where the heck did he come from? There is no way someone can appear from the sky like that"
"Maybe he knows how to teleport?" Sven inquired.
"Hm… that could of happened. You know he might come in hand" Right thought aloud.
"Are you seriously thinking of asking him to help you steal from the castle?" Sven asked, somewhat annoyed.
"Yes, yes I am. whitey would get me out a lot quicker"
"Whitey… whatever" Sven sighed, "of course you would think of that"
The youth, currently named whitey, begun to wake up.
"Hi ya buddy, welcome to the land of the dead" Right smiled.
"Wha…"
"Of course you would say that" Sven huffed.
Right laughed, "just kidding whitey. Welcome to the slums"
"The slums… whitey? Where the heck am I?"
"Whitey is a name Right came up for you, I am Sven by the way"
"Right… most people tend to call me Henry"
"I prefer whitey but Henry will do. Your in the slums of the Crimson Kingdom"
"I teleported that far… huh"
"Where did you come from if you don't mind me asking" Right enquired.
"The Emerald Kingdom, it's about a three day trip from here"
"The Emerald Kingdom… what a stupid name" Right laughed.
"Well Crimson Kingdom doesn't sound any better besides I never named it that" Henry pointed out.
"And weren't we trying to save money to leave this place to go there? Because you said it was better than this shit hole… I know, language" Sven sighed.
"Yes and yes we are. We're wanting out of here. The King doesn't seem to want to help us. I'm sick of all his false promises. Long live the King, I hope he dies" Right growled.
"A bit harsh given how my pal keeps saying how nice your King is. I mean I don't know what's happening in the castle, just that Terence has his eyes set on this place" Henry stated.
"A friend of yours?" Sven narrowed his eyes.
"Hardly, we hate each others guts. Ever since I stopped him from killing my pal and his dad"
Right laughed, "yeah right, all that lazy, good for nothing King does is sit on his lazy ass and does nothing. Don't get me started on his backstabbing son, the Prince, kicked me while I was down and out"
"No, you got sloppy" Sven remarked.
"Listen, Terence is going to try and overthrow your King and take over your home. My pal and I figured that he must have a guy on the inside, he may be the reason why your all so miserable" Henry protested, "besides whatever happened between you and the Prince might just be a misunderstanding"
Right stopped to think about what Henry said. He could be right about it all, what if there was someone inside the castle stopping the King from helping them. What if Terence was the one who sent Reginald that letter. Perhaps he needed to speak to Reginald and ask him about it.
"Well he isn't gonna overthrow the King, not if I have anything to say about it. Me, the Captain and Lieutenant will stop him"
"Didn't Randy say something about the prince getting a threatening letter?" Sven enquired.
Right thought about it for a moment, "yes he did. Why would Terence want to take over the kingdom in the first place?"
Henry shrugged, "wish I knew"
Right sighed, "would you like to stay with us?"
"I have no other place to go so, sure" Henry said.
Archie ran around the slums like a headless chicken. When he and Sven awoke, neither of them could find Right. He had just checked the tavern to no avail. He begun to yell out Right's name in the hopes he would answer back. It was then he spotted Randy and Reginald.
"Oh, hello Randy… and… Prince Reginald" he huffed.
"What's wrong?" Randy asked.
"Right has disappeared, I can't find him anywhere"
"Oh dear… could this be my fault" Reginald pondered.
"Nah, Righty can't be too far. He'd never leave you or Sven behind… well maybe me since I can get on his nerves from time to time but not you guys" Randy stated.
"He wouldn't leave any of us behind" Archie told Randy, "what do you mean, Prince Reginald?"
"You can just call him Reg or Regi or Reginald, no one's gonna chop of your head" Randy pointed out.
"R-right"
"I may have been the reason he was captured last night but not to worry, someone broke him out of the dungeon… that still doesn't sound right" Reginald sighed, "I just want to find him and try to apologise for what happened"
"But that doesn't explain where he has gone" Archie sighed.
"Then let's head back to the shack and regroup" Randy suggested.
Archie shock his head, "I need to find him"
"So what do you suggest we do?"
"You and Prince Reginald go to the shack, I'll go look for Right"
Randy shrugged in defeat, "well, if your sure. Come on Regi" he headed straight to the shack then knocked on the door. He could hear Right talking on the other side of the door.
"You can stay here with us then" Right opened the door, "hell… oh"
"Hey Righty, thought we drop in for a visit oh and Archie is looking for you" Randy cheerfully responded.
Right nodded and let Randy and Reginald inside. He headed out after them and went off to find Archie. Randy saw Sven sitting on the sofa, he was soon joined by Snowy. The small owl fluttered over and landed on his shoulder. He quickly then saw Henry, the newbie who had also noticed him and Reginald.
"We come here when we're board and wanna see our friends" Randy told him.
Henry nodded, "I'm Henry"
"Randy's my name and this is Reginald, the prince"
Reginald sat himself down on the sofa beside Sven, he was trying to piece together in his head what he would say to Right. He even began to question if he would even listen to him. Randy appeared between him and Sven, leaning over the back of the sofa. Randy gave Snowy a little pet which she seemed to like.
After sometime had passed, Manny returned with Archie in tow. He left Archie at his workstation and headed out to Bess' stable. Reginald got up and followed him out. It didn't take long for Randy to sit himself down on the sofa and pet Snowy some more. The small owl decided to leave Sven's shoulder and sit on Randy's lap.
Reginald saw Right was cleaning out Bess' stable, stopping briefly to groom her. He took a deep breath and made his way over to them. Bess had noticed Reginald walking over to them and pulled on Right.
"Oi, get off… oh" Right quickly saw Reginald behind him, he pulled his sleeve out of Bess' mouth then continued to clean out her stable.
Bess trotted over to Reginald and nudged him.
"I'm sorry if I startled you" Reginald stoked her nose. Bess blew air in his face in response, "what a lovely horse you are"
Right stopped, "what are you doing here? Is your royal guard waiting outside?"
"I came here with Randy… I'm sorry for what happened last night"
"Aye, sure you are"
"I spoke to my father and convinced him to allow you to go free. However, by the time I got to your cell you had already broken out"
"Aye, sure you did. What's next? You'll be telling me that your father is trying everything in his power to help the poor?"
"Why do I get the feeling you won't believe anything I have to say" he placed the small pouch Right had dropped on the stable door. The coins Right had attempted to steal were still inside. He sighed, "I could tell you father is trying to help you and those in the slums. I could tell you the money he raises keeps going missing and how I know you aren't behind it but I know you won't listen. So, instead, I'm returning your bag"
Right picked up his bag, "look, you can believe what you want to believe. Although maybe… maybe I was wrong about you royal lot. You aren't stuck up"
"As ruler you must always put your people first. They rely on father to maintain peace"
Right raised an eyebrow, "put your people first?" he laughed, "your father hasn't done anything to help 'his' people and neither have you"
"Then that would make me a failure" Reginald walked away. He made his way round the shack and begun to head back to town.
Right was left to think about what he had said. It was then he realised he had made a mistake, "wait a minute Reg" he went after him, "I never meant that, I'm sorry" he quickly caught up to Reginald. He grabbed him by the shoulder and turned him around, "look I'm sorry. Not all royals are bad. I didn't mean to raise my voice at you"
"I can't change how you feel about my father" Reginald said.
"I know you can't but I really wanna change how I feel about your father"
Reginald nodded, "I will find out what is happening to the funds for the slums. I want to help father make his vision a reality"
"Thank you your high… I mean Reginald. Allow me to escort you back to town" Right offered his hand, Reginald gladly took it and nodded.
Reginald and Right made their way through the streets, chatting to each other. They took their time getting to the wall into town, simply enjoying one another's company.
"It's such a lovely day today" Reginald commented.
"Yes, but not as lovely as you" Right said.
Reginald blushed, "em… oh, father informed me I could invite you and your family to the ball so you are all invited"
Right nodded, surprised by the sudden invitation, "I'd love to, I'll tell 'em when I get back" he looked up and saw the wall in front of them, "well, goodbye Reginald" he took his hand then gave it a kiss. He winked at him
Reginald blushed and nodded, "well… goodbye"
Reginald waved and headed into the town. Right watched him disappear then turned around and headed back to the shack. He would tell his friends, no family of the ball. Something for them all to look forward to.
