Meteor Black sat in his room pouting, his hands clenched in his lap. He groaned loudly and put his head into his hands before waltzing out of the room, shoving through the servants.
"This is absolutely ridiculous," he muttered to himself, walking to his father's quarters.
"Father!" he shouted through the hallway. "Why can I not have the castle?"
"Meteor, be silent. You should know better than to yell at me in my own quarters, and over something so mundane as a simple castle! You know that we are in the middle of a drought. We simply cannot afford something like that," Meteor's father replied to him, his voice rising slightly but the expression on his face staying the same as it always was, solemn and unemotional.
Meteor resisted the urge to stomp on the floor like a bratty four-year-old.
"It's a castle, Father," he growled, "It's not like I'm asking you to buy me the world."
"Son, leave my quarters. I want no more of your silly arguing."
Meteor stepped closer to his father.
"If I don't get the castle, I'm leaving," Meteor stated stubbornly, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Then leave. You wouldn't last a day in the real world without the riches of being a prince."
The prince raised his eyebrows, saying, "Really? Try me."
With that, he rushed out of the king's quarters and stomped up to his room, muttering incoherent things all along the way.
"I am not a child. How dare he treat me like one!" Meteor muttered to himself once he reached his room, "I'll show him. I'll show him I can survive easily without him. Then he'll surely buy my castle for me."
He rushed into his room, grabbing his sword and bow-and-arrow. He mumbled angrily to himself as he slung the bow and arrow carrier onto his back and shoved his sword into its holder. He took one last look at the room before walking out of the door.
***
In the conference room, a young girl sat facing the king. She tried to keep her hands from shaking, but all of her efforts failed.
"Yes, Your Majesty?"
"Isabella May Campbell," the king's booming voice stated, ignoring her original question.
"Yes, my King, you called for me?" The girl shook in her spot, trying desperately not to show it.
"I can see that you're shaking. Now, Isabella May Campbell, do you know why you're here?"
She thought, 'Did he know it was me who took the extra rations for my family?'
"Sir, Your Majesty, I promise I didn't mean any harm by taking the extra rations, I just thought . . ."
The king broke into a chuckle.
"Didn't everyone steal extra rations? No, I called you for something else. Do you know why?"
Bella thought for a moment, trying to remember whether or not she had done anything worthy of punishment. Coming up blank, she shook her head.
"No, sir."
"You know my son?"
She nodded. The spoiled brat, she thought.
"Isabella, as much as I know my son isn't the most down to earth person, it is still disrespectful to call him a spoiled brat," the king said sternly, staring down at Bella and making her eyes widen in realisation that she had spoken her thoughts aloud.
"I'm sorry, sir, the whole castle calls him that, I meant no harm," she spluttered.
"He left the castle."
'Thank the Lord,' she thought.
"And I want you to find him," the king finished.
Bella's eye widened even more and her mouth dropped open. 'He couldn't be serious.'
"Oh, yes, I'm being serious. Without him, I would be left without a heir. You know how messy it would be if I was left without a heir, no matter how spoiled he is," said the king.
'I need to stop saying my thoughts out loud.'
The king looked at her strangely, which made her wonder if she had said her past thought out loud as well.
"But why me?" she inquired.
"The whole kingdom knows of your legendary tracking skills. The kingdom needs you to do this for its future. If you employ these skills in search for the prince, you will receive enough rations to last the drought."
Bella pondered over the choice she was given. She would probably have to do it anyway, even if she refused.
"I'll do it."
***
Meteor Black stared at the trees in front of him.
Should I climb one of them? he thought.
Thinking again, he shook his head. 'There is no way I'm getting my clothes dirty. The tailor just made them for me.'
He shrugged his shoulders thoughtlessly and continued his journey into the forest, not sure where he was going.
He spared a glance around him as he walked through the seemingly endless woodland, no sights of human life around him.
'I wish I would've stayed.'
Meteor stopped in his tracks. 'Where did that come from?' he thought. He surely didn't regret it, not one bit. His father was just as he always was; bitter and stubborn. The kingdom had more than enough gold to buy the castle he wanted, with or without the drought.
Meteor groaned aloud, before hearing the sound of something large stepping on sticks as they crushed beneath its feet. Heavy breathing came next and Meteor glanced all around, searching for the source.
Inhumane groans seemed to come from all around him. Those sounds were the last things he heard before he fell into unconsciousness.
