THE TAUREAN PRINCE
CHAPTER I: The Legend Begins
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“Wake up! Wake up!”
“Huh, what?” Ferland muttered as he squinted his eyes against the morning sun shining through the windows. Raising his head slightly, he could vaguely make out the form of his older sister standing next to the door of his chamber. Deciding that whatever she had to say wasn’t important in the lease, he flumped his head back down on the pillow and closed his eyes, intent on getting at least a few more minutes of sleep.
“What do you mean, ‘What’?” she yelled. “It’s coronation day! All of Taures is awaiting your appearance!”
Ferland’s eyes now shot open fully. He flung off his sheets and ran over to his wardrobe. “Coronation day, already!” he thought as he rummaged maniacally through his various clothes, cursing himself for not organizing them in a way other than “a big pile”. Still shaking off the effects of his chemically-induced sleep, he threw to the side a large amount of mismatched stockings. “How could I have been so careless? I’ve spent all my life working for today, and now I can’t even find the right outfit? Wait a minute…” He turned and faced his sister, who was now laughing.
“Freylin, you cow! Coronation day isn’t for another Arponian cycle!”
“Well, mother wanted you up, and I figured that was the best way to do it! Besides, a prince has to learn how to act under pressure, does he not?” Freylin responded, a large grin on her face.
“A prince today, a king tomorrow. By this time next cycle I could have you drawn and quartered for such actions!”
Freylin laughed again, though she was visibly annoyed. “Spare me, Ferly. Were it not for the unique circumstances of your birth, I would be king, supreme ruler of all of Taures, and you would be naught but a lowly peon beneath my hooves!”
“Unique circumstances?”
“That thing dangling between your legs, bull-head. And I wasn’t joking, mom wants you out in the garden pronto. I don’t know what’s so urgent, but it is. Put something on, and be quick about it.”
With that, she left. Ferland flopped back into his bed, wishing he could reclaim the dream he had been having. He had been flying, flying far away from this planet, out in the deep blackness of space… he sighed, wishing he was anywhere else but in this bed, surrounded by these sparsely-decorated earthen walls. “Always being ordered around, like I’m still a child. What way is that it to treat the Taurean prince?”