WHAT WAS HE?

"Mother?" called a chubby boy as he lightly tapped the back of the chair his mother was sitting on.

His mother hummed to urge him to speak his mind but he remained silent for a minute or two. The boy moved from behind the chair and went to his mother's side. He stared at her as she combed her hair. His deep blue eyes were fixed on her lovely and youthful face. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever had the chance to see in his short life. He wondered why his father called her a witch all the time. After all, weren't witches ugly.

"You wanted to say something my boy?" she broke the silence.

Her son still didn't say anything and he sighed loudly. He run his hand through her hair and looked at her reflection in the mirror she was sitting in front of. She looked at him and smiled because she knew what was bothering him.

"Ceaser, what's on your mind?" she asked even though she knew what it was.

"Father is blind, isn't he? He can't see treasure when it's in front of him, can he?" Ceaser said pouting as he took the brush from his mother.

She laughed for the tenth time at that question and patted his back.

"I don't know?" she answered smiling, "Why don't you ask Genevia?"

The old woman who had been standing quietly in the corner of the room looked up at Ceaser's mother and smiled shyly. Why was she being asked that question again? She would just give the same answer again.

"I don't think I know better, Queen Terra." she said.

Genevia was Ceaser's nanny and probably the only other woman he liked apart from his mother. He looked at her over his mother's shoulder as she was on the other side of the room. She stood up from the chair she had been sitting in and smiled at the boy who was staring at her. She had but a few fine wrinkles on her face and lively green eyes. She must have been beautiful in her younger years but time hadn't faded her lovely contenance.

A knock was heard at the door and all their heads turned in that direction. Ceaser went to the door and opened it slightly before he shut it again. If that man was here again it only meant one thing.

"It's Sir Xerxes." he informed his mother.

"Let him in." Terra replied.

Ceaser opened the door and Sir Xerxes bowed to him and then walked in. He bowed again to the queen and nodded to Genevia who was a fellow servant.

"Greetings to you my queen." he said respectfully.

"Greetings, Sir Xerxes." she greeted him back, "To what do I owe this visit?"

"His Majesty, King Solemn, has summoned you to the Great Hall." he said and bowed again after relaying the message.

Terra got up from her chair and smiled at Ceaser before she left. Genevia looked at the young Prince and walked to him silently, not wanting to disturb his line of thought. She knelt down next to him and whispered in his ear. His eyes brightened immediately and he smiled.

"Let's go then!" he said excitedly forgetting his previous annoyance.

" If you make too much noise we'll be caught, Sire." she hushed him," And then we won't go."

" I'll be quiet, I promise." he assured her.

The dual left the room and walked sneakily through the hallway even though they could clearly be seen. The guards looked at them and smiled because Prince Ceaser was looking cheerful after a fortnight of gloom.

Genevia led Ceaser to the old courtroom where his grandfather's sword was kept. But they walked past it and this surprised him. They went towards the end of the room and behind the Kings' statues, then Genevia pushed a brick in the wall and a door opened just beneath his grandfather's statue.

"Where does...?"

"Shhhh..."

They walked a few steps as Ceaser looked all round him. Where were they going? She had told him they where going to see his grandfather's sword but they had walked passed it. The statue moved back in place slowly and noisily.

"What is this place?" he asked as he felt a chill ran down his spine.

It was eerily cold down there and he walked closer to Genevia. He heard a eerie sound from behind him and he turned quickly to look but there was nothing there. Ahead of him he could see a sword that you illuminated a faint red glow.

"That is your grandfather's real sword. It is too dangerous to be left in the open. He always wanted it to be destroyed but it's the only thing keeping Crow at bay."

"What was he?" he said in a whisper,"Crow, that is."