My Brother my King

My characters Anyara and Miles from my story Elementary (wow, finally found a proper name for it! Might still get changed though)

Edit: The name of the book did change. Ironically to the title of this artwork: My Brother My King =^_^=
A more recent and polished draft of the story:

My Brother My King - First Chapters

“It was a dark and stormy evening. Three little kittens were waiting at home in their little cave deep in the forest. It was far from the sea so their parents had to leave them for two days to go fish. They were safe during the day when kiris watched over them. The magical foxes would heal any scratch and even their sorrow, but they always left before dusk. The little kittens didn't like being alone at night. They huddled together in a big ball of blue fur and hoped no monsters would see them in the dark of night. But in the dark a shadow glommed. The scent of fire and brimstone was in the air. An evil monster came lurking through the forest. Closer and closer, breathing fire and shaking stone.” 

“When do I come in?” Miles was watching his mother eagerly. 

“Lets see... The little kittens huddled together. Then suddenly they heard a whoosh! Landing just in front of their cave entrance they saw Mighty-Miles!” While s

Miles is the crown prince of their people, even though Anyara is much older. Since he was born she knew he would be her king one day. But it's hard to look at that little child as a king.


Drawn on A3 paper and colored with acrylic paint.

Close up of a better composition than the actual full image (In my opinion)
Full Image: [link]



*Early draft from Elementary* (some parts very unfinished)

"1. Their path before me.
I was never good at politics. Courteous ways to behave and rules on how to act. When would I be allowed to be myself? Was it too much to ask? Luckily for me it was my brother Miles who would inherit the kingdom, not I. As the first born I still had a big responsibility though, as my father kept reminding me. Some rules I liked less than others, and this was by far the rule I liked the least.
“Ethan is my best warrior, a great man.” You could almost see a spark his eye while he spoke of his nephew. “And as my brother Kito’s son he will be a great regent. Your brother is still much too young to rule the kingdom. Should anything happen to me the responsibility will befall your husband until Miles comes of age. I have talked to Ethan, he agreed to take your hand in marriage.” King Yago was standing before me in his royal robe. The blue robe looked nice to his dark blue fur had black stripes. The white chest and paws looked very bright to his dark fur. My fur was as good as identical to his in pattern, but mine was much lighter. Almost pastel coloured. He didn’t look at me as a father, he was looking at me as a servant who should follow his orders blindly. “You are 19 litters old. Next spring should be your first litter year.” He said it as if he was talking of cleaning a room.
“No, father. Ethan is a great man, but I do not love him. He is more like a brother to me.” I was shaking with anger. Chousing a husband is a very personal thing. He can’t just pick one for me, let alone my cousin.
“Always this ridiculous obsession with love! You will marry and when you do you will learn to love him.” You could practically see steam fuming from his head.
“He can hold the position as regent even if we aren’t married. You are the king! You can change the rules to your desire.” It felt as if talking to a wall. My father wouldn’t even look at me. It was more like he was looking through me. His ears was standing pointed and his tail was flicking with anger. The topic was obviously not up for discussion.
“Unless you can find a suitable male of your liking, the ceremony will be held this fall” he said with so much pessimism it sounded more like a challenge. “These are troubled times. The enemy attack more ruthlessly than they have in long. We can’t take anything for granted.” War and politics, my two most favourite subjects... Neither made sense to me. The war had been raging all my life, and according to my teacher, for as long as any could remember. Try as they may, I never understood it much. The enemy was our complete opposite. While we were blue and lived in harmony with the nature and water, they were red and burned anything in their path. These monsters of fire had always hunted my dreams. I had dreams where I was deep in the forest, and I could hear a big deep growl. Often I found myself surrounded by them with nowhere to run. And to make it all worse my little brother was with me and I couldn’t protect him. Out of the thickets a big red sunling would come. It’s eyes black and empty. I would always wake up just as it threw a deadly fire ball at us.

My father’s request wouldn’t be so bad If I actually had any male friends, but my father is slightly paranoid. He never let us walk anywhere without our guard, nor make friends with our peers. My baby brother was my best friend, my only friend unless you counted the guards and our teacher. When I was younger I used to watch children play. I could see them from my window, playing together and laughing. I smiled while looking as their happiness was fun to watch. There were no other children in the castle before my brother was born. Some of the grown ups didn’t mind joking around a little, but they all had work to do. I did have my teacher Moriel to keep me busy most of the day. He taught me anything from history to writing. He always made these glasses out of ice to see better. He once got me this beautiful crystal he had found deep in the ocean. It was blue and rough, but he used his water with high pressure to make beautiful facet sides on it, making it sparkle when light hits it. He made a ball on the top so I could tie it on a string. I’ve tried to mimic his high pressured water, but I always end up braking the stone instead. I wish to learn to use my abilities properly, but only boys get real training. I didn’t have more time to dawdle. My “fiancé” was waiting on the training ground. It was a normal day. In the morning we had history with Moriel and in the evening we had battle training with the trio. When I came to the battle ground Miles was already running around with Patcha, the fastest of the three. Gideon was throwing balls of water at them, which they had to dodge. It looked almost cruel, my brother has yet to reach the growth spurt so he still looks so small. All kittens looked almost the same until they reached that growth spurt around 10 litters, and currently he was only 9. His hat doesn’t help either. He always wears this cottongrass hat, which has a face on it and long straps on the side. It’s in a baby blue too. It has holes for his ears, it’s only meant for keeping the head warm. Ethan was sitting on the side watching. I walked over to him.




__________________________________________


Ethan was waiting for me outside. “I... might have a problem...” He looked very nervus. His ears was lying flat and there was no sign of amusement on his face. “Have you miss placed Miles again?” I asked with compassion in my voice. He looked a bit worried at me with a shy half smile that confirmed my suspicion. I doubted there were anything to worry about but Ethan took his duty very seriously. My brother was still a cub, but he knew not to go outside the castle so he wouldn’t be in any danger. If Ethan was worried it only meant Miles had found a new hiding spot. There was only one thing that would make him hide too, and before I could ask Ethan about it Kowai, the daughter of a rich noble, came running over to us. She looked at me with a huge grin while moving as elegantly as she could. Her electric blue eyes were sparkling with joy. They looked nice and vivid to her sky blue fur. She had white spots shaped like hearts several places on her body, and we all knew they were tempered with to look that way. She was in love with the idea of marrying the prince, my brother. He, on the other hand, was not. He had a tendency to hide when she came around, and magically reappear after she was gone. She wasn’t exactly betrothed to him, but father indulged her, since her father was a respectful man. She came and went as she pleased, even in the castle.
“Anyara! Have you seen my precious Milsey?! I have this cute hat I want to try on him. He will look so adorable!” She didn’t like my brother’s favourite hat, a powder blue plush hat with a mussel and eyes. She always insisted on replacing it. I though it was cute on him.
“I haven’t seen him since training” I told her with a smile while hoping she would decide to ask someone else.
“Please, help me find him?!” she asked in a shrill voice. She had such a high pitched voice most cringed when she spoke.
“We better find him before dad finds out.” I said in a soft voice to Ethan. Though I didn’t see any harm in it, dad did.
“I’ve already checked the usual places. He is getting better at hiding.” Ethan looked worried, we always found him easily.
“We’ll find him. There is nothing to be scared about. You know he has never gone outside the walls so he should be safe” I said encouragingly. Ethan looked away towards the city wall.
“One time must be the first. He is getting older now and have already started showing signs of rebellion. Most boys go through a face around his age and with all the pressure he has he is bound to do something.” He had a sternness in his voice. He was obviously certain it would happen, and worried it would be bad when it did. I knew there was truth in it too, though I preferred to see him as that little toddler I used to play with. He was still very small, but the growth spurt was right around the corner.
“Common, common, common! Lets go!” Kowai said with great impatience. I wanted to find Miles too, but I wanted to ditch her first. He did not want to see her. Grandpa Daikan had a good way with her. I decided to go to him and hope she would be distracted enough to be left behind.
“He might be in the study” I said a bit playful while giving Ethan a look I hope he would understand. He probably checked there already. He smiled understandingly. We did find Daikan there along with our teacher Moriel. “Hi Grandpa. Have you seen Miles?” Daikan had his playful smile on. Though he was 59 litters old he was still very young at heart. His teal fur had started fading toward a dark gray and it looked more ruffled than when he was younger.
“Is he hiding again? I wonder where he might be” he said with a playful voice. Kowai looked expectantly, believing he actually knew. My plan was working. I tried to walk out of the room while she was distracted. My teacher Moriel seemed a bit troubled.
“Anyara.” He was usually very cherry, but now he sounded almost a bit gloomy. “I just spoke with your father. Seems like he wish to repeat some of the older lectures.” He didn’t sound very happy about the king interfering with his schooling, especially to tell him he hadn’t done a proper job. Moriel was a very good teacher and had never been ordered to repeat anything before. I guess my dad wasn’t impressed with my statement earlier and tried to blame it on poor teaching rather than accepting it. I could hear Kowai’s shrilling voice in the background. Daikan was entertaining her. He always was good with children and used to play with me all the time when I was young. I always loved my grandpa and hoped he would live long still. I planed to ditch her there, but before I could do so her nanny came in to the room. “Sweetie, it’s getting late. We must return home.” Kowai looked pouty. “No! We can’t go home now! I haven’t seen my Milsey yet!” Luckily her nanny was a strict lady. She just gave Kowai a strict look. You could see the stubborn pout turn to defeat. She followed behind her without another word. “Lets go find my brother. I think I know where he is.” Ethan followed hopeful. I went to the kitchen and opened the empty cupboard. Miles was looking at me a bit annoyed. “Traitor!” His eyes went from mad to a bit sad. “I don’t wanna play with Kowai. She is so.. so... hyper! She doesn’t care about me, she only cares about my title. I’m not her Prince Charming!” His eyes was teary with anger. He had no interest in humouring this girl. Though he was quite the gentleman, hyper fan girls was to much for him to handle. “Don’t worry, I didn’t tell her. She just got picked up by her nanny.” His face lit up. “It’s getting late anyway, we have early class tomorrow so I think it’s time for you to go to bed.” Ethan looked very relaxed now that the prince was found. Yago would have his head if something were to happen to Miles under his watch. On the way to the bedroom we met Gideon and Patcha. “Ah, you found him! Where was he this time?” Patcha was almost jumping up and down, not that you would notice a difference since he could never sit still. They were thrilled to see Miles, as they too had been looking for him. Coming around the corner we saw mum sitting and waiting for us. “Good evening Queen Tenkou” Ethan bowed his head in respect. “Oh Ethan. Why so formal? You know you can call me Aunt.” Mum smiled kindly toward her nephews. “It’s getting late my sweets. Time for bed.” Miles went over to hug her and she gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Good night honey.” She said to me with kindness in her eyes before walking off. The trio sat down in front of the door. “Your not planing to sit here all night, are you?” I looked at the doubtfully. “Oh, I’m not moving from this spot! Patcha can run and get our pillows.” “See you in a flash!” He started running right away. “Grab the cards!” Ethan yelled after him. They often played Elementary, a card game based around the four elements of Felida and creatures of this world. Though it is mostly a game of chance, Patcha always seemed to loose. “Can we stay and watch?” Miles looked at me hopefully. “It’s an early start tomorrow. I’ll tell you a story instead.” He enjoyed my simple stories, so he was happy to accept that. He went to his bed without any fuss. The stories I told was very much the same. I grabbed three small moonling figurines and put then in a dent in the duvet.