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Prince
Local Time: 21:08
Local Date: November 1, 2010
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain
Posts: 393
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A Family Affair...
Prince Martin Avalon, second in line to the throne after his older brother, Peter, winked at a group of girls in the crowd who were staring at him, giggling.
A few years ago, when he was a shy sports-mad 18 year old he would have blushed at their attention, but war had hardened him.
He had joined the Armed Forces, following in the footsteps of every male in his family, and had quickly risen in the ranks due to in exceptional leadership and combat skills.
Last month, the Germans, one of the five nations that bordered the coastal city-state of New Avalon had invaded to take the gold mines just outside the west side of the city.
The gold mines were one of the many ways in which New Avalon had grown rich, and he had been there inspecting the security, with his company of the Prince's Guard, the Royal unit that was commanded by his father, the ruling First Prince.
The invasion had taken the defences by surprise, and the regular regiment assigned to the defence of the area was soon pushed back to the mines themselves. But Martin had rushed away from the fighting, back towards the city, leaving most of the unit there thinking he had run away and abandoned them.
In actual fact, he had got away simply to stop his unit being herded into the mines like the regulars had.
He had led the Prince's Guard company behind the Germans forces, which were concentrating solely for now on taking the mines, and without them knowing had sealed the border once more.
Finally, he had headed back to the mines, and attacked the Germans from the rear, just as the regulars were about to surrender.
The Germans, split between so many tunnels and caves, fighting on two sides, had crumpled, and Martin had won a total victory for New Avalon.
Now the twenty year old had just received the Order of New Avalon, for showing exceptional leadership abilities in difficult circumstances, and his father was giving the final speech to the celebrations.
He looked away from the crowd back to the stand the Avalon family were on. His father was on the podium of course, still giving his speech, his wife sitting near him, and Martin stood near them, while the rest of his brothers and sisters stood in a line behind.
He looked at the line, which was sorted by succession. The first was Peter, the heir to the throne, who looked very irritated by all the attention that his brother was receiving.
Typical, Martin thought. Unless he's the one getting attention, he's bored.
Then came where he should be in that line. Martin knew that his popularity was soaring over Peter's, and many were calling him for to be made heir over Peter, which probably explained his brother's recent hostility. But Martin couldn't help who he was - he was the successful young soldier who treated people with respect while Peter was the gambling, womanising drunk who only ever really used his military uniform to impress his "upper-class" friends.
Then came the quiet brother, Timothy. Tim was nice to everyone, and was quite popular for his charity work. He was seventeen, three years younger than Martin and five years younger than Peter, but he was mentally more mature than either of them, and Martin knew that he hated war. Tim always respected him for fighting for what he believed in, but always reminded him of the horrors of war.
Like I need any reminder, Martin shivered slightly.
He knew Tim would refuse to join the armed forces in a years time when he would be told to follow in the footsteps of every male Avalon, who whatever they did in life always served in the military for at least three years, from 18 to 21, and most served for life.
That would cause his father, First Prince Andrew Avalon, to probably fly into one of his famous rages, but Martin knew how to calm their dad down, and he was sure he would be able to sort it out when the time came.
Then came the last boy in the line, who still because of the rules of succession came before any of the girls. He was the 15 year old Prince Ryan, who had a reputation already as a rebel, and had been caught out drinking with his friends, the cause of yet another temper tantrum from the First Prince.
Finally, came the three girls. The 21 year old Katherine, who was the dream girl of nearly every guy in New Avalon - a Princess and looks to match.
Then came the eighteen year old twins, Sarah and Samantha, who everyone called Sam. They were very similar in appearance, except of course their hair colour - Sam was dark haired, whereas Sarah was blonde. Both were outgoing and happy, and often joined their brother Tim in his charity work.
Martin scolded himself for not listening to his father's speech, and began to listen as his eyes turned once more to the group of giggling girls.
He saw the pretty one in the middle of them, and smiled at her once more. She wasn't giggling with the rest now, but trying to look composed, and she smiled back.
Then the shots rang out.
Martin felt the adrenaline surge as soon as he heard the unmistakable sounds.
They were coming from a Zulu man in the crowd, who was baring a machine gun from under his ceremonial dress.
The bullets tore into Andrew, and the First Prince fell from the podium, as his son was the first to draw his pistol and end the assassin's life.
Martin rushed to see how his father was, knowing that whatever happened to the First Prince, the damage that had been done to the crowd was much worse.
New Avalon had so many immigrants from the five nations surrounding it - Germany, Zululand, China, France and Aztecs, that they outnumbered the native New Avalonians. The immigrants numbered about the same from each nation, and the natives numbered about three times one of those.
Recently there had been tension between the many immigrants as the five nations raged at war, and all wanted New Avalon to side with their country. Also, each group wanted more power in the city, through the gangs that ruled the streets each sector despite the Avalon family's best efforts.
And this assassination attempt by a Zulu immigrant had already ingited the spark in the crowd, he could see...
* * * * * * *
Only a teaser to get you into the story lol!
More to come soon!
Comments appreciated.
Thanks for reading,
Chris AKA Nemesis
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Quote:"He who has not learned to obey cannot be a great leader."
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