In Dirland palace life had been going on much like it was expected to. The King continued to worry about the future of Dirland along with his council members. 

Knolls continued to make light hearted joke and find amusement in everything. 

Nathaniel was still mad at his father.

And Nanette didn't know what to do with her new-found friendship with the Chamberlain.

"I do not understand why he cannot do what I tell him!" Nathaniel heard his father through the door he was about to enter. It wasn't as though he had a choice to come or not, the King had ordered him visit, giving two guards as an escort.

"And I do not see why you do not understand!" Nathaniel remarked as soon as he had entered.

"This doesn't concern you." Allarick said firmly.

"I find that hard to believe, seeing as I have been 'summoned' here." Nathaniel argued indifferently.

"This is what I'm talking about!" The King said to Knolls, motioning towards Nathaniel.

Knolls knew there was nothing he could say that would help, so he nodded his head placently.

"You are talking about how I am not happy with being a puppet? Yes I can see how awful and disappointing that must be." Nathaniel said sarcastically. Though, however he tried to hide it, his father's words hurt him, making him care even less about being Crown Prince.

Allarick sighed in exasperation at his son as Knolls discreetly left the room, giving father and son some time alone.

"You are not a puppet and that has never been my intention!" The King all but bellowed, his patience run out.

"Oh, really?" Nathaniel drawled sarcastically.

"Don't take that tone with me." The King warned, drawing himself up taller to look more threatening.

Nathaniel kept his face neutral, not giving his father any satisfaction in seeing him scared. The King might have looked threatening, but Nathaniel reminded himself of the many scarier villains he had come across in his time as an outlaw.

The Prince watched the King sigh, weariness making an indisputable appearance on his father's face. Nathaniel almost felt sorry, but then remembering everything the King had done, he quickly removed any sympathy he had for his father.

-------------------------

With Nathaniel being so upset with his father, it is only fair that the reasoning behind this hatred must be made known.

There are some bits and pieces that have been mentioned, but let us hear the full story.

King Allarick loved his wife, and still did in his own way. When she was killed in a carriage accident during her travels in Nerica Allarick refused to believe it was a so called 'accident'. Nothing that could affect the throne that much could have been an accident. Furthermore, it was widely known that the King and Queen shared a love like non other.

It was known that they had a son, but there was no mention of him after Queen Marion's death and it didn't take long for everyone to forget he even existed.

The King ignored Nathaniel's grieving when the Prince left to Small Island and focused instead on who was behind his beloved's death. He threatened and oppressed the people of Nerica, raising the tax on the most ridiculous things. Hoping to scare the one responsible out of hiding.

No such thing happened, the people rebelled.

They once believed the King was there to protect them, to fight their battles against other nations for them. But he was not protecting them, he was doing exactly what he was supposed to stop the other nations from doing. The people wouldn't stand for it, they deserved at least some semblance of freedom.  So a rebellion was started, and as that rebellion grew, the war started.

When that happened the King knew he would never learn who designed his love Marion's death. Finally accepting the Queen was gone, Allarick began to mourn truly, sending for his son for comfort in his time of sorrow.

Nathaniel had stayed at Small Island, hearing tales of his father's vengeance and neglect for his son. His anger towards his father grew, and his disappointment. The Prince once looked to his father with awe. But with his mother gone, he found his father was just a man, a man who showed no mercy to the poor people of Nerica.

It was Nathaniel's you imagination that came up with the idea to live in the forest like his ancestor the great Robin Hood had. His men had joined him for their different reasons. Some for adventure, some because of heart brake, some from his life as Prince out of loyalty. And some to find out if he was making a stand against Dirland for taxing the poor in Nerica too much, then staying even though the reason wasn't political. Once you live in the woods and environment of camp, it's hard to leave. As proved Winter and her reluctance to go back to Nerica.

In the way Nathaniel's camp grew, so that by the time Captain Morris came the Prince had no reservations against giving him and his soldiers a lesson.

When the King sent for Nathaniel the Prince refused to come. His opinion of his father had gone from a hero, to a greedy selfish King. He didn't see that his father had suffered losing so much, that his father's heart was broken when he didn't know where to turn. Nathaniel only saw what his father had become by choosing a path of vengeance.

Four years passed, but nothing King Allarick did brought his son home.

When Nathaniel did come back to Dirland, father and son's relationship was so much diminished that is was nonexistent. The only thing they now had in common was lineage and the crown. Nathaniel might not have wanted the crown, but there was no one else to take it and his father and councilmen were set on forcing it upon him.

Maybe there was a reason everyone forgot the King had a son. Maybe his son had wanted to forget he had a father.