"Goodbye your highness. I will keep my calendar open and hope that my dear mother is sick no longer and does not pass." Ven also winked at Arcas, and smiled with a sigh. "Nathaniel come here at once!" The psychic obediently came out of the shop.
"You called Ven?"
"Yes Nathaniel. I wanted to make absolutely sure that you and Sparrow set the explosives properly and set them off. I want to make sure my brother is dead."

Bellana walked outside of the castle gates with Morgana Faux. "Do you like those clothes? I cannot let you walk around the castle wearing that dreadful maid outfit. It entices the king too much. And the prince. If Alejandro weren't banished he would stop stalking you now right Lord Quinzby?"
"Thank you for the clothes Lady Bellana." Morgana squeaked.

Dorian laughed. "I don't know he may still be interested, after all he's seen her in naught but concubines clothing. he knows whats underneath that sheepskin." he chuckled again and took bellonas hand giving it a petite kiss. "And how is your conquest coming to gain the kings affections?" he asked with mild interest.

Arcas rode up to the small group of palace dwellers bowing his head as he passed by.

"Not too well. He seems more interested in Samuel than me or even the queen. I have tried to get his attention and sabotage Samuel, but I have failed epically. I decided to give up for now and focus on his other concubine, Morgana. I give you exhibit A." She pointed at Morgana, who of course, was looking at her feet embarassed that she was being talked about. "Welcome home Prince Arcas." Bellana bowed respectfully.

Dorian raised an eyebrow curiously, until the prince came up and he too bowed briskly. Arcas in turn smiled and rode on towards the stables. "Anyway." Dorian continued. "You could just ask to become the Kings Concubine as well, he tends to have more affection than he should for his concubines." Dorian smiled foolishly before opening the door back into the palace. "Come then, its not ladylike to wander around outside without an escort."

Sparrow nodded. "Yes, everything is set sir." she bowed her head angry that he was so demanding

"Thank you. Nathan! Assist Sparrow in her next mission. She must go set the diplomat mansions aflame. I would love if you learned to be competent by watching her. It is horrible when the prince doesn't realize you are a rebel."

----------

"Stone. Accompany these two in this task. I would hate to see them fail again because of Nathaniel's incompetency." Ven ordered.

Stone smiled. "Of course." he said running a hand through his coal colored hair. He pulled a cigarette from his pocket and lit it, he took a few drags before mounting his horse.
"Those things will kill you dumb ass." Sparrow said putting the nose of his horse before climbing onto the back.
"I hope so." he grumbled before speeding off, showing nathaniel the way.

Nathaniel chuckled at the exchange between the two. He didn't understand why Ven had been so cruel and blamed him for his and Sparrow's failure. "So where are these manors? I am unfamiliar with this capitol city. Hell, all of Oscuria is unfamiliar to me. Except the throne room of the palace. General Maureen, I have this suspicion that you can't stand Ven. Why?" Nathan showed his true colors, and was consumed by curiousity.

King Xenite smiled at Samuel. Yet another good session. I must say, that was tops. Same time tomorrow?" the king teased.

Stone laughed. "Oh god, none of that 'General Maureen' crap please." he tossed his lit cigarette to the ground making his horse stomp in out as they ran past. "Stone is fine, and no I do not Hate Lord Venitio." he shook his head, again brushing his bangs from his eyes. "I merely find him lazy and hypocritical." he said to the boy. "He sends other people to do his dirty work, and to destroy his own family. His brother is the king...Venitio is one of them yet he wears the mask of the rebels. He doesn't want change for the poor commoners, he only is interested in what he himself is going to gain from the kings demise." Stone sped up a bit.

Samuel grinned but nodded dutifully. "Yes of course, that is...after the feast. Tomorrow is may day. I'm sure the Queen will request your attendance at the festivities. Hell, I wouldn 't mind participating either." he said while putting his shirt back on.

"Oh. Wait a minute! Ven is the long lost duke?!?" Nathan saw through the lies he had been told when he first met Venitio. "He told me he was just a commoner! The nerve of that man! I am at his mercy and he uses me as if I were toilet paper, wipes his ass with me then throws me away!" Nathan growled without realizing it. "If we acheive our goal here. I say we rebels do what we do best, rebel! Only this time we target Venitio and all those close to him. Even his nephew, Prince Arcas! I find it humorous that he would fall in love with his blood relative, let alone a male relative." He thought for a second as another vision consumed him. In the vision he saw Arcas talking to the king and queen, and addressed them as such. Finally, he knew his father's identity, the strict Oscurian king!

"Ah yes. The feast. Why can't I skip the may day feast and attend a personal feast here in the royal chambers? I hate being king at times. It is such a bother. I can't even spend time with my own concubine. So I suppose I will see you later tonight and after the feast tomorrow afternoon." Xenite sighed wishing there was no feast.

Samuel laughed. "You are so eager my lord." he smiled and patted the king on the back. "I will see you at the festivale." he said smiling dashingly before wandering off down the hall.

Stone grinned. "My thoughts exactly, perhaps we should tell the king of his brothers whereabouts, then he will exterminate him and we shant have to. Then with Venitio vanquished we can focus on the kings death." he plotted in his head a more complex version of his plan but kept it simple for the young boy and sparrow.

King Xenite sighed full of remorse. "Goodbye Samuel. I cannot wait until I can spend more time with you." He sighed again. It is truly hard sometimes when you love a concubine as much as your wife. It isn't proper for men, let alone kings, to fall in love with others. The proper thing is to love a woman of equal or higher status. Unfortunately, I am the only king since the founding of this country to love both his queen and another of a lower status. He and I could never be. Society would reject us. Maybe it is truly worth it. I would love to renounce my throne to be with both of my loves."

"I like the idea. The only problem is that Sparrow is a widely known rebel. She wouldn't be allowed anywhere near the palace. She would have to hide until he is in captivity. Either way. It is a better plan than the Duke's." Nathaniel laughed seeing the thought behind Stone's eyes. He too was formulating a plan. His plan was to enter the castle to meet with the king, and tell him that he was the king's son.

Samuel turned back, feeling that his king was not pleased with his departure. "My lord?" he called from down the hall. "Lets go to your throne, i shall occompany you there and sit at your feet." he smiled pleasantly and put his hand on Xenites shoulder.

Arcas sat on the balcony overlooking the palace entrance, he played with some of his throwing knives, all he could think about was Ven. The guy he'd met earlier while riding out to defeat non existant rebels. He sighed and threw one of his knives far off into the distance, it went as far as the forest edge before sticking visibly into a tree.

"What the!?!?!?" Stone pulled his horses reigns to a stop, sending sparrow almost flying over his head. "You okay?" he asked her. She nodded and tried to compose herself. "It was that!" he shouted pointing arcas' knife sticking from the tree. He got off his horse and walked over to the object, it took alot of pulling but after the fourth tug he was able to pull it free. "It has the royal seal." he smiled and held it up for the others to see. "This is our ticket in, Sparrow go back to camp. Nathaniels right, they will notice you. But my dear sister Silver Maureen works in the palace, nathaniel and i can get in quite easily." he chuckled menacingly.

"Please. Not in public. Let's make sure nobody is in the throne room." Xenite accompanied Samuel to the throne room.

"Really it's that easy for you to get into the castle? Sparrow. How is she gonna get in?" Nathan wondered, not even noticing his half-brother's blade sticking out of the tree he stood next to.

Samuel laughed "I didn't quite mean that." he chuckled again and led his lord down the hall and into the throne room. "Your mind, always in the gutter." he smiled and before they entered the presence of others brushed his hand lovingly across the kings cheek. "Lets go." he finally opened the door.

Stone raised and eyebrow and tossed the knife to nathaniel. "Are you not paying attention at all?" he scowled and mounted his horse again. "Moron, Listen. You have to be witty about this if we're going to pull off this little scheme. We''ll pretend to have found the knife and wanted to return it to the palace, if they deny us i will mention my sister and how long its been since i've seen her." he paused and waited for sparrow to get off the horse, when she did he sped forth knowing that nathaniel, unless he was completely stupid would follow knife in hand.

Xenite chuckled. "I was only kidding. Did you think I was honestly wanting to do that outside the bed chambers?" He laughed with that golden voice of his. "Come let's go eat dinner with the members of the court and my family. No going under the table now...." He chuckled again.

Nathaniel frowned. He was tired of everyone calling him a moron. He just had issues with paying attention. He got bored extremely easily. It wasn't his fault. He was used to multitasking at his numerous jobs and figuring everything out on his own. He was used to a much more miserable existence.

Dorian saw the approaching horses and stopped them momentarily. "And what do you men think you are doing?" he asked crossly, two guards came to stand next to him incase he needed their assistance. "Do not be alarmed." Stone held up the knife. "I believe this has the Royal seal on it, we came to return it as we found it in the woods. It looks to be our dear friends Prince Arcas'." he examined it to find the Princes name scribed in cold on the side.
"Hmmm." Dorian raised an eyebrow tentively. "Give it here, I will be sure he gets it." Dorian responded reaching out for the knife. "Ahh....uhhm, I also am here to see my sister, Silver Maureen.....I haven't seen her since she was so young, I;m sure she misses me." Stone explained trying to make his features sad, when really he was careless about his family. Dorian nodded, wearily. "Alright come on, lets go...leave your horses out here."


Samuel laughed following his master into the throne room, he noticed alot of stares but as always chose to ignore them.
When the king sat down Urik stood up and walked over to him, waving his grey tail. "My King, there seems to be some visitors here to see you." he said nodding towards the door in which the guards were leading Stone and Nathaniel in. "They have something of the Princes?"

"Visitors? Now? Couldn't have better timing could they? Leave it to Arcas to lose something and need some commoner to bring it back. That boy would lose his head if it weren't attached. I'm surprised he came out of his bed chamber. He spends an awful lot of..." Xenite realized he had no room to talk. He glanced at Samuel and blushed furiously. Might I ask who is here to see me?"
Queen Xandrea smiled seeing her husband blush. She turned to Arcas and back to her husband. "Dear, may I speak with you after dinner?"
"I don't see why not." Xenite frowned.

Arcas looked at the visitors, and recoggnized the knife he'd thrown when he was in his room earlier. "Oh." he looked down, not really caring about it to much. His mind was miles away with Ven. "Please Excuse me father, I'm going for a ride."
"Again?" Urik chuckled. "You do an awful lot of riding."
Arcas rose, and hastily retreated from the room, he knew where he was going. Directly to the butchers apartments to see Ven.


Stone smiled. "Here, incase you need it." he handed Arcas the knife before he left. "My dear king." he bowed approaching the throne. "We bring news...Of your brother, he is the leader of a former rebel group i took part in before i pledged my allegiance to the king." he smiled sweetly. "We need your help to dispose of venitio."

Xenite's jaw dropped. "You know Venito's whereabouts! Urik! send soldiers to capture him! I am willing to help." He smiled at Stone.
Nathaniel was surprised how easily the king agreed. "Your highness. I have a question."
"Yes?"
"Did you ever father a child with an Italian woman?"
"Probably. I can never remember. Yes, she was from Venice. I think I recieved a letter from her saying the child's name. What was it? Nick? Nathan? Oh yes! Nathaniel!"
"I am your son. Nathaniel Romanicci. Son of the Venetian woman."
"I see. Prince Nathaniel."

Arcas rose into town and stopped when he reached the Butchers house, he looked up at the apartments above it, no light, no movement. "Hmm, how odd." he mumbled to himself, it was growing dark and people should be settling down for bed soon. Curiousity began to burn in him as he knocked on the butchers door. "Hold on damn it!" a gruff voice came from inside, not but a moment later a fat old man opened the door. "What do you - " he noticed immediately who it was and bowed, his whole demeanor changed. "My lord, to what do I owe this honor?" his eyes shone brightly and kindly now as he looked into Arcas' face. "I am looking for a man that stays in the apartments above your shop?" he question, a light polite smile on his face. The butcher laughed amused. "Those aren't apartments, that is storage. Who told you they lived up there?"
"This man I met today, I know him as Nathaniel, uhm...he's from Venice?" Arcas rose an eyebrow, wondering if the old man was crazy.
"Oh, he was here the other day, you won't find him here.....the boy is a rebel stays on the outskirts of town in the forest of Dhoule. Go west." he pointed down a road.
"A rebel?" Arcas asked confused.
"Yes." the butcher smiled again and bowed. "Good luck my prince, gods speed." he said before lightly closing the door.
"Damn it...." Arcas swore under his breath as he remounted his horse and headed off towards dhoule. On his way he wondered how he would approach Ven, he knew he'd find the man in the encampment. "What should i say to him?" he wondered aloud. He thought about it for quite some time before he reached the rebels camp. It didn't take much to spot Ven. He sort of stood out amoung all the people in tattered clothes that were covered with dirt. "Ven!" he yelled and swung off his horse, he ran across the field to Ven a scowl on his face. "What is this? You lied to me....." a saddened look crossed his face, but wouldn't be to noticeable unless ven had an uncanny ability to read people. "You seemed so innocent, so nice...why the hell would you do such a thing as lie to a prince. I know your a rebel but i find you quite...." he slight blush crept onto his cheeks before he looked to the ground in embarassment. "Sorry, I'm a stupid man i shouldn't have come."

Venitio stared blankly surprised that Arcas had actually found him. "I am sorry, your highness. I could not tell you I lived amongst the rebels. It would break your heart. I could not fathom doing such a thing. Oscurian law would put me to death. I must live. The government must be fixed. The life of our nation depends on it. I am sorry I lied to you." Without thinking he kissed Arcas passionately. Afterward he blushed furiously. "I am truly sorry. I should not have done such an impulsive act. Please do not put me in a dungeon. I could not stand to be away from my one truest of true loves. I simply could not bear it. It would be a fate worse than death. That's why I joined up with the rebels. This way a commoner like me has an excuse to enter the castle to see you. I could not live without you. I cannot keep my mind off of you. Its an impossible task."

Arcas blush increased but he shook his head. Not sure if the guy was lying or not, they had only met that day but Arcas too couldnl't help but think about Ven every second he was away from him. It was if something as fate did exist and they were supposed to be together. "I....." he paused thinking a moment, how would his actions from this moment on effect him? He smield, and realized he didn't care. "I wouldn't putn you in the dungeon...i agree that in our government there are some things that could be fixed, which i planned to do when i took the throne." he took Vens chin in his hand and kissed him lightly before asking. "than what is your real name?"

"My real name? I told you my real name. Venitio Romanicci. I gave you my son's name by mistake. I apologize. I hear that there is a duke whom is at large. Isn't the duke the king's brother? Why on earth would he be at large? I cannot fathom why he would be in so much trouble. Usually the royalty doesn't hunt their own by accusing them of vile crimes such as murder. It disgusts me. If I were king of Oscuria, or Italy, I would make a few significant changes for the better." Ven inquired not realizing that he said more than he probably should have.

"I don't know much of the duke, just that he and the king are fighting and the duke has commited unspeakable crimes." Arcas shook his head. "But I don't care about him, as far as I'm concerned he's done nothing to scorn me. So i have no reason to want ti fight with him." The prince shrugged and looked oddly at Venitio. "Well I wasn't far off with calling you Ven then." he chuckled good heartedly. "What is it you were doing before I came along like a love struck mutt?"

"I was going to visit the castle to see the king, plead for him to change the laws. My son seems to think that he is somehow related to the king. Its quite embarrassing. You live in a place for nearly all your life and you are so delusional you cannot remember. That is my son Nathaniel. Every so often he relapses and goes into a daze for hours. It is quite sad. I have to keep an eye on him nearly every minute of the day. Luckily I got an hour or so to spend alone today. A rebel girl was taking him into town to go shopping. He should enjoy that. He is very odd. Anyway that is what I was doing before we met, your highness." Ven smiled.