The prince.

A fever has stricken the prince, the savants gather around him and chant incantations and pour upon his burning body the remedies of times forgotten. His head is lifted from his soaked pillow so he can drink from the chalice of eternal life, his lips will not let it pass.

The kingdom in turmoil, the nation in distress, the line of their king will be erased, their kingship given from times of old will be erased from the pages of history. Their nation will become the prize of generals and tyrants. Their noble prince will let his flame be extinguished. He wills not to live.

The council of the king has gathered, their testimony of the land is heard by the fickle prince. His people´s lamentation is given voice to his deaf ears. He cares not. He does not wish to be their king.
The king is finally summoned, and by his command to the prince, the princes eyes are opened, but he looks not upon his father. He then drifts into consciousness enough to utter from his faint voice one word. The king, old and tired, leans over his sons broken body and place his face close to the princes. Then the servants and savants only see the back of the king slowly rise. When he turns they look upon his eyes for an answer or sign of good fortune, they can focus only on the river of tears flowing from his eyes. His face now twisted and bitter. His once familiar smile, now only a memory in their minds.

The word, they ask, what did the prince say? The king answers not. He turns to return to his chambers, the councilors and administrators follow behind him begrudgingly with documents and words of concern for the nation, hoping for a minute of his time. He slams the massive door of his chamber, stopping their advance.
The prince is then heard screaming. All run to see his condition. Is he with death now entangled? Is his life to be taken this moment?

The first to enter the princes chamber is greeted by the prince now limping to the window, each step a torture for his almost lifeless body. They assume he wishes to take his life. He gathers his strength enough to issue his last command in this world. "leave me be". He takes his arms and opens the window, collapsing upon the stone of its framework. He again takes his arms and pulls himself up enough to stand, outstretches them, and with the voice of a lion says: " I, Prince of these lands, heir to their throne, son of their king, stand before my kingdom as a traitor" "I have sinned against its people and have become the enemy of this land that now poisons my very flesh." , " I cannot drink from its streams, I can not eat the fruit of its abundance" " I have sinned against the land and the trust placed in my blood to be its keeper."

Those assembled were in shock, "what is this the prince is saying" To which the prince turns, almost with the commanding strength of his former days and speaks to them thusly;

"MY country men, I am not your prince anymore than you are my servants. I have offended this land and it curses my very blood. I have become the enemy of mankind. I have become the traitor of man. The great feats to which I once aspired are empty, now for a quick death I yearn. When in strength I roamed these lands, I came across a river, pristine and perfect. I saw next to it a woman and her child playing. I as her prince came to her and asked her where the source of the stream was, from whence it flowed. She responded to me, My prince, the stream is of water pure and powerful that flows from the greatest kingdom to the lesser ones, bringing with it abundance and strength to all the lands it touches. I looked to her in disgust, and said This kingdom in which you now occupy with your bastard son is the greatest land as far as the eyes may see and the foot may traverse. She smiled and said, no my prince, your land is beautiful and great, but it is not without the life that flows into it. Without the flow of life into it from this stream your orchards would go dry and empty. The fields would not yield their abundance. Your kingdom would be dead. It is the life force of your people that feeds this stream. Its source is the noble blood of your people. They are the ones to refresh all the lands you say you rule. In anger I went to strike her down with my sword, instead upon the stone that met my falling foot, I tripped and struck her child instead. In horror I turned to strike her as well, the shame was too great and I wished to silence the witness of my heinous deed. The child was as air before my sword touched his flesh. The woman's body was vanished as well. I then realized I had transgressed against the spirit of the land. The soul of the people I am to rule was to deem me worthy, but I had failed.

I went returning to the palace with my head hanging in shame and my heart greatly troubled. I wished to speak to my king for council, but when I returned I could only find strength to lay and sleep. The days passed and always my strength diminished. I knew full well that my life would follow. I pleaded with the spirit of the stream day and night, but she did not head my call. I returned to where I saw her last but she, the child, and the stream were nowhere to be found. I wretched my cloths and fell to the ground defeated.

When many months had passed and my body was wrought with disease and weakness, I saw her one last time. My spirit almost jumped from my body out of joy, "a chance to make amends" I thought. She then spoke to me and said:
Fear not my prince, I am the maiden of the people. I am the mother of mankind. To your father the king and all those before him I have appeared and told to them the source of their power. I have shown them all, all your ancestors, the source of their lands greatness, and all have failed to contemplate my words. You have even tried to strike me down out of your pride and obstinacy. If you had waited but a moment more I would have uttered to you the name of that stream, which by its mention gives your right to rule, by its spoken form gives your land its kingship. She then revealed to me the name. Terra Hominis. Its meaning is " land of the people". You have never known it and so, the land poisons your flesh so your spirit may not poison the people. You will die. and your blood will be erased and forgotten.

You are the custodian of your lands, the keeper of its people. Their wealth and greatness is the reflection of your success as their king to be. You have taken the road of their turmoil. Their wealth and greatness would not be their own under your crown, and so you would be a failure of a king to this land. Worth forgetting. And so it shall be. "

Ending the story, the prince turned again to the window and pronounced the word, the name he spoke to his father that caused him great pain for he knew the curse that had befallen his son. The prince then threw his body upon the floor beneath him.

In a moment that seemed to pass by as slowly as the measure of the universe itself, the prince thought to himself honestly, and purposefully. His heart beating to the pulse of his life he was now aware of. It was going to end, and so he let himself see it. He became it. Each pulse from his chest in perfect harmony with the vibration of the air passing as he fell. The foolish prince had opened his eyes before he cast his body into oblivion. The moment he understood what that meant, his eyes were open.

When he was still and had found his center, when it was all going to end, He saw her. The lady of the stream. He immediately locked eyes with the smiling face of the lady. His heart was gold, his heart was warm. A second later, the prince was no more.
The prince awoke in grand bed surrounded by orchards and grand meadows. He arose and dressed himself in a soft white garment set out for him. It was loose fitting and as he walked in the warm sun the cool breeze would fill every inch of his skin with the cool caressing of the breath of the land. He filled his lungs and breathed with the wind. The soft grass or the occasional slick mud or clay massaged his bare feet as he walked. The prince wondered for half the day happily before he even wondered where he actually was.

He stopped by a large apple tree and sat underneath its great cathedral like branches.
He sat there looking at the golden sun light breaking through the shade of the leaves and asked himself;
What is life?
I a prince by birth, of flesh made noble by the blood in my veins. What am I here, is this the afterworld?
Here I find not a single stone to trip my step. I do not bleed or strain.

The prince thought and wondered if he was even alive. He wondered how much time had passed. The day had not ended, he could tell that the sun had not set since he awoke in that incredible bed.

He got up and decided to go back to the bed to look for a clue as to where he was or where he might have been brought from. Before he took the first step, he realized that the was standing in the presence of the lady of the stream. The prince looked to her child holding her hand. He looked stronger, older.

She then spoke to him. "Prince, where are you off to? Where do you think you are going?"
I brought you here to give you something. You shouldn't leave.
The prince answered; "I was going back to the bed. I still don't know where I am and I would like to see from where I was brought.
The lady smiled and answered;"And what would be the purpose of knowing that? So you could return from whence you came? Is it better there? Here you have not a single worry. Not even a single rose pedal will wither here. Never will you hurt, hunger, or thirst. Here you will forget pain. Here you will discover true satiation and pleasure.

The prince was worried and in a meek voice said;
I think I am dead and this is the afterlife. I have no worries, but I still wonder of how my life was before it came to an end. Before my heart stopped on the courtyard floor below the window of my palace chamber.

The lady began walking, the prince instinctively followed and took her hand. The boy was holding the other. She explained that he had not yet died. That she had snatched him from time the moment he was about to hit the floor. She "plucked life from death", for a while. She explained all about his new existence in-between worlds.
The prince walked quietly, listening to every word. The whole time he held her hand like an orphan a kind woman's. He dared only to look at her beautiful eyes when his shame by her explaining his failure in life and why they happened. The prince looked up the last time when the lady spoke of his mother. He could not hide the tears that bled from his eyes down his long face.

As soon as he locked eyes with her, he knew that the lady in all her power was aware of every detail of his life. She knew he had let his mother die. The king his father had a first wife. She died giving birth to the prince. The only mother the prince knew was the queen his father took from a vanquished enemy. The queen, the land, and his final victory in seizing all the kingdoms as far as the foot can traverse, or the eye can see.

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The prince´s father took an oath to care for the vanquished kings family. He extinguished his last enemies light and honored the oath there after.

The queen, the princes mother, cared for him and raised him as her own. She was without child. The kingdom spoke of a curse that had made her barren. She was scared for her life at first. The king was a harsh and cold man. The joy of her life in her royal prison was the young prince.
He was the child her loving husband could not give her. He was the face of her greatest enemy. She learned to look into the eyes of her new king. She would look for a trace of the good she saw in the prince. It unnerved the king, who saw anything besides submissive obedience as a threat.

The prince grew into a handsome strong young man. His mind filled with truth and logic. His heart filled with wisdom and love.

He would go on occasion on walks through the castle and the queen would talk about the carvings on the walls of the innermost courtyard. They were of the stories of the former kings of the land. Their triumphs and victories.

One day while walking past a wall telling the story of the former kings. The queen suddenly stopped talking about the stories and began crying. They had reached the unfinished carving her husband, the late king would have occupied.

The pranced begged her to stop crying, if his father saw her he would be furious. He had ordered all images and records of the former king to be destroyed. He wanted to erase the former king existence from history itself.

Sure enough, the commotion brought the curious king to walk out onto his balcony and see the queens demeanor. He ran down and before speaking a word struck the prince hard to the ground.
Turing his attention to the wailing queen, he asked her what the prince had done. She did not answer him, she only looked up at the wall. Her eyes transfixed on the last remnant of the lands former king.

The kingdom had a conqueror king. She was his obligation. She was his guarantee the conquered kingdom would accept his descendants on the throne. Normally he would not take too much notice of her lingering by the massive half finished carving.
It was her tears. She looked into the kings eyes, deep into them. She was looking for that part of the king that was her son the prince. She did it instinctively and sincerely. The king did not show her the love and comfort the prince would. The king became furious and turned to the prince and asked him
"who spoke the name of the fallen king?"
The prince was too scared to admit he had asked her to explain the carvings long ago out of curiosity and that they kept a tradition of walking through the palace mazes deciphering the riddles of their ancients wisdom and teachings.

The prince said that the queen had been speaking of it already instead.

The king drew his sword and struck the noble queen down. The prince was ashamed of his cowardice ever since.

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By the time the prince realized what was happening he was suddenly sinking into rushing water. He was instantly drowning. He did not even have time to fill his lungs. He desperately tried to establish up from down in all the tumbling. Then as quickly as he was swept up, he found himself wading through dark water waist high.

The lady of the stream was standing on a far shore. The prince struggled to get across the ever thickening dark water. It seemed to get blacker and heavier with each step. By the time the prince reached the shore that lady was standing on the water was as pure tar. The prince emerged from it exhausted and gasping for air. The lady sat down next to the panting prince and placed her soft hands upon his red cheeks. As she pulled his head closer to kiss his forehead the prince realized who the lady was.

His mother would do this. The queen. His only real mother. She first did it one day the king had punished the prince very badly for playing with the kings sword.

The prince could barely see through the tears he could let out fast enough. His mother was there before him. she was there the whole time. She was the lady by the stream. The child he saw with her was himself.

The woods around them formed and night fell. They were by the bed the prince awoke from. The stream was there but something was different. The water was not pristine and clear like before.
The water looked like the tar the prince had just walked through. This greatly bothered the prince. He realized as well that he was not holding anyone's hand. He was wondering around all alone. He considered sitting on the bed since it was just sitting there before him in these now dark woods.

Then the lady of the stream, the queen, said to the prince;
Do you wish to sleep ever again? Now that you have seen existence in between worlds can you ever close your eyes?

If your heart is pure, and your mind is treated honestly, you can overcome any darkness.
I will reward you with a choice.
You can stay here in bliss forever with me, or
you can return to your life to reclaim it, for a while.

The prince looked into those now familiar and tender eyes and said;
I will go and make right what once went wrong. I want to live once more. Even if but for a while before I am "plucked from life" .
Then night turned into day. The stream was restored to its former glory. The prince was overjoyed. The lady without speaking a word, directed the prince to lie down upon the bed now completely covered in flowers. The prince laid down and the lady was suddenly sitting by his side kissing his forehead and laying his rest upon the pillow.
He wanted to say something more to her as the excitement of seeing her had not worn off, but alas he was overcome with sleep. He was no more as he closed his eyes. The moment had passed and now he was dreaming. He lost all sense of time and who he was even. The dream was long and deep.

When he awoke he was laying on the ground in the familiar woods behind the castle. He immediately realized where he was. It was the day he first met the lady of the lake! He was overcome with joy. Then his thoughts turned to his father the king.