The next King

Chapter 3

Luchigan was seven years older than Regis, who had turned seventeen the previous year. "Dad! The spoilt brat I brought as a prisoner... I want to challenge him," Luchigan reported to his father.

“There's no need for that. You've already conquer him once," king Galliard said, "or was your winning not honourable?" "It was. But I want to beat him at his own game. He thinks he can hunt better than me," Luchigan said.

"There's no need for that! He's a traitor for attacking you and we have to be very careful dealing with him," his father said. Luchigan left his father alone and went to visit his girlfriend, Marie, a peasant whom he loved secretly.

"My love, don't be mad at him. He's only but a young boy. He hasn't experienced the spoils of war. There's no comparison between you and him. He's still far from getting to where you are," Marie said to him as she gradually rubbed her hand on his shoulder.

She was giving him a massage to calm him down. Whenever he visited Marie, they went to a secret place known to only the two of them and there they spent hours talking to each other. Luchi had promised Marie that nothing would stop him from marrying her but she knew it was a pipedream. His father Galliard would never allow such.

"Marie, you're beautiful," he said, dragging her face down and pulling himself up to kiss her forehead.

"I get more beautiful everytime I see you," she said. His horse, Spotless was parked at a stable waiting for him. Marie had covered it in brown sacks so no one could identity it as the princes horse. And luckily for them, Spotless was a quite stallion. Even the presence of a female wouldn't make him misbehave. Marie and Luchi talked and had fun till evening when he decided to go home and face responsibility.

"Yes, the kingdom awaits you my love. I'll miss you and I know you will miss me too," she said to him. He held her face and looked into her eyes, "I'll always come back for you. I can't not stay a day without you." "Now, don't go confessing all that love to me," she blushed, "you're a great warrior and I don't want anyone to see a weak spot in you."

"I don't mind them knowing you're my weak spot, but I'll never let anyone get a hand on you," he assured her. He rode off and got to back to the palace. He was late for dinner. He met his mother and brothers at the dinning without his father.

"Where's dad?" he asked.

"A way of bypassing the question of where you've been today?" the eldest son, Bran, asked him.

“I'm not a kid. That type of question is no longer meant for me," Luchi answered him then diverted his attention to his mother. Chrollo smiled keenly.

“Mother, where is my father?" Luchi asked.

“Your elder brother is talking to you," she said to him.

"No, I'm not sure he is. Even if he is talking to me, he's not the one that I'm talking to," Luchi said.

"That's rude of you!" she reprimanded him.

"Mother, let Luchi have his seat and eat. His meal is getting cold," Chrollo said in his soft and calm demeanor.

"Thanks brother," Luchi said.

"Dad went on a meeting at the council of kings. You know we always hear that a brawl suddenly started up at the council, but our sources said that everything had been calm since the meeting begun. It seems they have a serious issue being discussed there," Chrollo said.

"I wonder what it is," Luchi said. "Yeah. But whatever it is that had kept that so long at a meeting, it's not normal at all," Chrollo said.

After having his meal, Luchi went back to visit Regis at the dungeon. Regis had asked that he come.

"Why did you ask to see me?" Luchi asked Regis.

“I've smelt the atmosphere. It is really bad. I need to go take care of my people," Regis said.

He was panicking a bit and Luchi could read that. "Why? Would anything happen to them? They're all hunter, I don't think anything can happen to them," Luchi teased him.

"I'm not joking now. I smell danger. I have to prove them!" Regis yelled.

"There's no need for that. Your people don't need brats like you protecting them," Luchi said.

"If anything happens to them, I swear I will destroy this kingdom!" Regis shouted. Luchigan's countenance changed. The expression of levity on his face disappear and a dire look of utmost authority appeared. "Which kingdom are you threatening to destroy?" he asked, fire suddenly burning on his head. His eyes were brimming with flames and his fist red hot. He touched the cell lock and it melted off, then he started closing in on Regis carefully. Chrollo sensed his brother's rage and ran out from his room. He cast a teleportation magic and appeared in the dungeon right were Luchi was going berserk.

The cell was brimming with heat and the bright flames from Luchi's body lit the whole room. Regis stepped back, holding back his terror. The flames were hot from he stood. But the stance he took even though he was terrified resembled that of the water crested people. He was ready to counter any attack from Luchi. Without wasting time, Chrollo weaved a sign and cast a binding spell on his brother who was about to pounce a heavy fire-fist attack on Regis.

Luchigan fell down immediately and Chrollo heaved off a heavy sigh of relief. Chrollo observed that the guards were outside the room and so he asked Regis to narrate what happened to him. Regis came told him everything and he in turned explained to Regis that his brother, Luchigan, had a possessive crest. It could go berserk by synchronizing with his emotion and taking advantage of it.

Regis told Chrollo that he had to go protect his people and Chrollo told him to go back right into his cell. Regis told him that he had to force him back if he could. Chrollo told him not to leave his cell which its lock had broken now, and then calmly left the room carrying his younger brother on his shoulder.

Chrollo's calm warning was more threatening than anything Regis had ever heard. He wanted to move but his legs were terrified. Sniffing deeper into the atmosphere, Regis sensed more danger and thus decided to overcome the fear he had developed for Chrollo. He broke out of the dungeon and he fled the kingdom.