The day the gods died

Prince Atharva was feeling good about himself. He had finally managed to convince the representatives of Balin, their neighbor, that forming an alliance was the best way to go. Ever since he could remember, Balin and Vedas had always been at war with the Drevers. The Drevers were a group of nomad peoples that constantly attacked farmlands in search of food. Had it been only a few times nobody would complain, but as years went by the problem grew steadily worse. However, that wouldn’t be so bad had the Drevers had no leader, but now they did and according to him, Vedas and Balin were rightfully his.
Atharva knew it was a load of crap, but it had Balin worried. Their neighbors weren’t militarily strong, having more interest in aesthetically pleasing activities, yet the news that the Drevers had a leader deeply shocked them. Any person with half a brain wouldn’t known that it was only a matter of time before the nomads got some type of organization. It was man’s natural instinct, to better himself even against the odds.
It had taken almost a week, but the idiots had finally listened to him and joined the alliance. Vedas would be the one benefiting the most since now trade tithes would be reduced allowing merchants to cross the border with no problems. The agreement also gave Vedas easy access to the Balin’s obsidian caves; this was a great victory for Vedas since Vedas used obsidian as their primary source of fuel.

Yet, this victory didn’t make him feel as good as the victory with Ceros. He had managed to bed the menckenian. Upon thinking it Atharva sighed noticing how fixated he had become with his toy. It was unnatural to become too attached to the pretty slave since his enemies could use that against him. His father was the king after all and as it was common knowledge a lot of people were against him. They wanted to get him out of power and go back to the way Vedas had been during Atharva’s grandfather rule. His grandfather had been a great warrior; this was partly the reason why Vedas was a strong powerful country. Yet, Atharva was not a of wof wars, he would fight when it was necessary but he would rather try and fix things a more peaceful way.
Not that it really mattered to his father either way; as much as Atharva loved the man, his father was not made to be a king.


He was a good man, that Atharva knew, however, he didn’t know much of what was needed to be a king or never really wanted to be a king. In Atharva’s opinion that was part of the problem. His father had become king at the very young age of fourteen and at the time he didn’t want to be king. However, he knew that if he refused the crown there would be a war between all the leading aristocratic families as to who was best suited to lead Vedas. A good thing was that he didn’t have a problem becoming a king; in fact he was looking forward to it because ever since he became of age he had been ruling in place of his father. A lot of countries knew this, that Atharva was becoming more essential to the kingdom of Vedas than the real king. It was a double-edged sword; in one way it freed his father of the constraints of making decisions that might influence the kingdom for years to come.
However, as much as he liked ruling he disliked the fact that now he had to pay more attention to the kingdoen aen at the moment the only thing he wanted was to go back to his menckenian. He liked the feeling of having the raven-haired youth beside him.
“Your highness?”
“Hmm?”
“We are about two miles from the castle. We should be arriving there by dusk.”
“Very well.”

Ceros could hear soft singing, it reminded him of his Nana. His nana had been with him until about two years ago when she had passed away. When she had died Ceros had been furious, but now he was thinking that Yauenki had spared her the pain of getting captured and more than likely killed since nobody wanted an old slave.
A part of his brain started to register that this wasn’t Nana, but he wished her here. Guess Fengdar would have to do.
“You’re awake. How are you feeling?”
His throat felt parched, “Better.”
“I’m glad, you had me scared for a while.”
“Me too.”
Fengdar laughed at this, “So was this because you slept with the Prince?”
“Ceros laughed, “Gods, no. This was just a cold. I usually get them if the weather changes too fast.”
“That’s good to hear. So…”
Ceros smiled, Fengdar could be a nervous kitty sometimes. “So what?”
“Is there going to be a problem? With you sleeping with the Prince?”
“Fengdar stop worrying. It was a one-time thing, won’t happen again.”
“I don’t think the Prince will agree with you.”
“He will get used to it.”