This exert is from the book, the
The Prince Royal stood and surveyed the sweep of his father’s lands, behind him at some distance the marshlands began, they ran into the horizon and eventually became the Glassing sea. To the front and sides of his palace there was a rich green plain that stretched away into the distance toward a low mountain range, which marked the border of the kingdom.
Beyond the mountain range was a huge sprawling city that had grown over the years and was now consuming the land around it.
Eastward it stretched as far as the eye could see, and it was only the mountain range that stopped its westward growth into the kingdom lands.
Even though the city was at the edge of his kingdom no one ever entered the kings land from there, because although the mountains were relatively low the face that was open toward the city was a sheer drop and formed a smooth natural wall, the only way around was 60 miles in each direction.
When he was young the Prince would silently creep away from his daily duties and stand on the top of the cliff and look toward the city. From this altitude he could hear the music and the bustle of the bazaars and sometimes he would catch the smell of the kitchens and the spice that the merchants sold. Then night would come and the city below looked like a sea of dancing lights, he often wondered what it would be like to live there.
It was on one of these nights as he stared out into the city that something caught his eye. Far below on the rock face something was moving, and as his eyes begun to focus he realised that there were hundreds of black shapes climbing the vertical wall to his father’s kingdom.
Instinctively the young prince crouched down to prevent his silhouette standing out against the night sky. He watched intently as the black shapes clawed their way up the smooth cliff wall, and then in horror as each one faltered and fell back into the darkness. All night this continued and only once did one of the shapes get close enough for the young prince to see a glimpse of a young face, a woman he thought as she gasped then fell.
That morning the prince took hold of his courage and asked his Father what were those shapes, and why were they climbing the cliff. His Father turned to his son with a strange look in his eye and quietly said, “ My son those are the lost ones that can no longer bear to remain in captivity, and they would sooner die than stay imprisoned”.
The young prince was confused, “but father, I have seen the city it looks so exciting, I saw no guards or chains, surely it’s not a prison”
The king put his arm around his son and gently said, “ Captivity needs no walls and bars, it only requires that our choice’s are hidden or denied. They are captive because they believe they have no choice, so in desperation they try and climb the cliffs to escape from their poverty and die in the process.”
The prince said “ but what is their choice? How can they escape? “
Taking his son by the hand the king ordered horses to be brought, and together they rode to the mountain range.
As they approached the foothills of the range the king instead of taking the well-known path, took a turn into an overgrown lane that after some time lead to a ravine in the mountain wall. This ravine was hidden from all sides, but at its end was a solid gate sturdy but narrow in construction. The king and the prince dismounted, and walking their horses approached the gate.
The prince expecting the gate to be securely bolted and locked took a step backward in surprise as his father gently pushed the gate, which swung open.
Through the gate the ravine widened and the prince could just see the foot of the cliff on the city side. His Father moved aside to let the prince through, who quickly ran into the ravine and out into the daylight at the foot of the cliff.
The sight that met the prince’s eyes caught the breath in his throat, and choking he stumbled backwards then fell back through the gate and into his father’s arms.
Father and son were silent on their journey back to the palace, and it wasn’t until evening that the prince quietly knocked on his father’s door.
The king’s chambers had a large window that opened out toward the mountains, and it was here that the prince found his father sitting staring out, tears cascading down his face. The prince had never seen his father cry, he was always strong and positive so he found himself greatly moved by this majestic display.
The young prince wanted to in some way comfort his father, but could find no words big enough, so instead he sat at his side on the huge velvet couch and grasped his father’s hand.
With a sigh the king asked.” What was it you saw”? “ I saw bodies father, as far as I could see they were piled high at the bottom of the cliffs. There were old people, many young people and even children their. The ones on the top looked normal except they were all twisted and broken, and those below them had begun to decay. But not all of them were dead father, some of them were crying and groaning some were still trying to climb the cliff although there bodies were broken. Can’t we go and help them? Can’t we tell them that there is a way for them to escape? Can’t we set them free father.
His father looked as if he was going to say something else, but instead the tears began to fall again, then he simply said, “ I cannot”, and looked away out of the window to the mountains once again.
Time passed and the young prince grew in statue, but he no longer visited the mountains, in fact he wanted to stay as far away as he could and forget what he had seen. His sleep was broken with dreams of the young girls face, and many nights he woke in a sweat having dreamt that he reached out to her but she looked right through him as if he wasn’t there.
It seemed that since that day that he and his father had visited the mountains a sadness had settled over the palace and it was if the entire kingdom had some how lost it’s joy. Sometimes the Prince not wanting to dream forced himself to stay awake by wandering through the palace halls, and it was here in the quite hours of the night that he first heard the sound of weeping coming from the lit chamber of his Father the King.
Many times the prince blocked his ears to try and deafen himself to his father’s pain, and it was on one of these nights that bearing it no longer he knocked on the door of his father’s chamber and went in. As he went in the scene was as before, with his father sitting on the couch by the window, then it struck him, and he remembered the words that he had spoken in what seemed an eternity ago now. “ I cannot”.
The young prince sitting down next to the king as he had before, said “ Let me go father, let me tell them, let me set them free” I know I will have to go dressed as a man and have to leave all this behind but I have to go.
So it was that, the prince of the kingdom chose to go, and heal the broken heart of his father by showing the lost there was a way home and that they had a choice.
On the day of his leaving, every subject of the land gathered as one covering the plain in front of the mountain, there were banners and trumpets and there was a deafening song of praise for what the prince was going to do.
As he entered the hidden ravine, the multitude became silent and one by one every subject of the kingdom fell to their knees in reverence, it seemed that the entire kingdom was holding it’s breath and became hushed.
At the narrow gate his father stood, and fell to one knee as his son approached.
Slowly the prince removed his royal robes, and neatly folding them placed them on a ledge by the door, the last item he removed was the ring around his fourth finger with the royal crest of the lion on it. Embracing his father one last time the Prince walked naked through the gate and into the world of men.