The Bodyguard

Chapter - 3

"You don't have a stance of a bodyguard." Prince suddenly said as we moved to check the damage done.

Most of his guards were dead, some injured while the area was hauntingly silent. There was no one. The Kings quarters were on the other end of this huge palace-like building.

"I am still under training," I said in a heavier tone.

"But you survived when hundreds of my trained guards died. I am sorry for your brother's loss." He said solemnly.

I remained silent keeping the chances of my being discovered to the minimum. I saw a tear fall from his eyes which he wiped off subtly but I caught that before he could. He might have been close to his previous bodyguard.

Guards were surrounding the King's place on Prince's order and he hurried along to check his father was okay. I followed him closely. Suddenly he stopped and turned to me, "You can take off that covering from your face now."

"Umm, I like to keep it covered," I said in a heavy tone which sounded weird to my ears.

The handsome Prince frowned.

"Why?" He asked.

Nagging people were the kind I hated a lot, don't you? So I just acted like Alisha for a minute.

"because it's my own b****y business." I am pretty sure my crass language didn't make sense but he did get the rude tone and his frown deepened.

"You have to follow my orders, have you not been told that?" He asked not sure I was a sane person.

I bowed slightly to make up for my impulsive mistake,"Everything but this your highness. I have a scar on my face that I don't wish to share." I came with a lie on spot.

He contemplated for a while and then nodded in understanding. Sighing in relief we started moving forward. Other guards looked wary of me since I was still in black assassin outfit. I was carrying the bag I had when I ran away from home. I noticed several female attendants looking at the Prince with a dreamy-eyed look.

Before I could scoff, I saw Prince bow slightly to a figure outside the door. It might be the King but he didn't look like one. He looked more like a man overburdened and too old to live. He had saggy skin , dark circles under his eyes and eyes filled with pain and sadness. But he was holding it together and managed to look intimidating.

"Father, are you alright?" Prince asked in a courteous tone but I detected no worry in it.

"I see you live, so I am fine." The tone of sarcasm in his tone made me realize, they were not on friendly terms.

"This is the fifth time you have been attacked and yet to fail to stand up to some responsibilities." He was scolding him.

How can he do that when his son was just attacked and injured? My eyes trailed to the bleeding sleeve of the Prince but he stood therebowing respectfully.

"Do you really want to take responsibility, father?" There were hate and challenge in his tone.

Suddenly King stepped forward with a sword towards the Prince and I didn't know I was supposed to just ignore that. I played the bodyguard I was supposed to be right now and stepped ahead, unsheathing my own weapon and blocking king's sword. I heard an audible gasp from people around and I winced at my mistake.

It was just like I was attacking the president.

Prince looked surprised but there was a confusion in his eyes as well. King on the other hand looked ....furious. But you know how humans don't accept their fault easy and I am one so I just glared back with my sword blocking king's sword. King lowered his sword after a while and backed up.

"Who is he? I assume you didn't teach your bodyguard well enough." I bit my tongue to stop myself from arguing back to this stupid being.

"I am sorry for this. He is new." Prince didn't sound sorry at all.

"I am not dying that easy." Prince looked at his father with a fierceness which I approved.

"You are not living easy either." King threatened and I was so curious of his behavior towards his son.

King's guard I noticed surrounded us and looked in attack mode. Prince stepped and they moved accordingly as if not letting us go till King said so. Just to make a point that I can't get us past those thugs in few minutes, I slashed the guards to left and right of me surprising everyone and making few jump away.

As if they feared me more than the King right now, they drifted apart leaving us a trail free. Prince walked ahead and I followed him not sure what was happening right now. And it was not like Prince will tell me his whole story. After all, we met like a few hours ago.

***

Did you know bodyguards are not allowed to sleep as long as Prince is awake? Well, I did not. I was tired after all the action in one day and I was sleepy was hell. So when we entered the Prince's chamber and he when to sit on his wooden raised bed thingy I sat down on the floor and leaned on the fall , my eyes heavy as lead.

"What are you doing?" Prince asked and I opened my eyes he was standing right over my head.

"what?" I was not sure was he was asking.

"You are sleeping?"

I nodded to that outrageously stupid question.

"You are not supposed to do that till I fall asleep." He didn't sound offended just amused.

"Well, if you are not tired that doesn't mean I am not tired." Yes, well if you haven't realized it till now, I am impulsive and stupid.

This made him chuckle and he sat down in front of me.

"You know your voice is weird." He commented and in that moment I froze.

"It's not good to make fun of others."

"And now that I notice you have really long lashes." He was observing me very carefully so I defended myself.

"Why is your father like that? Such an a*s-hole?" There goes my stupid mouth.

"Such a what?" Prince asked and I realized he doesn't know a*s hole yet.

"Such a mean person." I clarified and thankfully he looked away from me.

"Well, he is not my real father first of all. And secondly I call him father because my mother married him and he now wants his son to be the king but I am the eldest so naturally, I take the throne . And he has tried many indirect ways to kill me." Well, it was a simple theory yet kind of sad.

"So the closest person to you in the palace is?" I asked suddenly curious.

"How come you talk that much? No, actually where did you get the courage to contradict the King?"

"Well, I am your bodyguard so my first instinct was to protect you." That made him smile.

"Okay, now I am going to sleep but you have to watch over." He said and I nodded dryly like really I will not stay awake after you are asleep.

And then he turned back to me and said, "Will you sleep with face cover on?"

"Yes." This is going to be suffocating.

He nodded and went to lie down.

"Why do bodyguard's don't get a different room?" I asked a little agitated.

"Because sleep is the most vulnerable time, you need to guard me the best right now." That made sense but I didn't agree and tried to sleep.

I tried hard not to over think about how I am stuck in the past because right now my mind and body was too tired to do so.

***

A kick in my leg woke me up the next morning and I hoped that I was back in my time now. But apparently yesterday was not a dream and I was still stuck in history.

"What?" I kind of said in an agitated tone.

"What kind of bodyguard are you?" Prince sounded displeased.

"One that saves your life," I answered with sarcasm but that only earned me a glare.

"We have to go out now." He said like it meant business.

"Where?"

"You don't question, you just follow."

"Apparently I am not good at that." I countered and he looked surprised.

He started walking and I decided to sit and see what he will do. He looked back and clearly, was exasperated with me. He came back and forcefully pulled me up grabbing my wrist. I was startled with the sudden contact and my heart leaped.

"Come along, we are going for some investigation."

And then with no choice, I followed him. This time we were taking a different path, a hidden path in his library that opened directly in the forest area around the palace. There was a freaking waterfall in front of me and I felt like diving in and taking a bath.

He started walking in opposite direction to the waterfall and I followed.

"Assassins from other day, mercenaries?" I asked who he was going to investigate.

"I hope you are not tired from tomorrow or injured, we might be walking in danger zone." He asked and I shook my head in no.

Surprisingly I was not tired after last night's sleep.

"What about you?" I asked informally and it was too late to correct myself.

He looked surprised again at my words, "Interesting." He muttered , I think.

"I am fine, slight injuries here and there."

"Liar, your arm was bleeding," I muttered but maybe too loudly.

"Did you just call me a liar?" He looked clearly amused.

I thought it was best to keep quiet today since I was making too many mistakes. He decided to let it go and we kept walking for a while. At the end of the forest was a road that led to a market, not the good kind but the one with illegal stuff and bad men. I have seen markets like these enough but I didn't expect that there will be one in this century.

We entered a place where there were gambling and hand fight going on. And I was a tiny bit scared, the only woman in the place was the one dancing on the middle stage. But she was still covered more than our actresses today if that makes any sense.

I tried to move along with confidence which was dwindling with drunken men around. Prince seemed braver than me right then as he placed a bunch of coins on the table with force making the dealer look up.

"He is not here right now." The dealer said but placed a green cloth on Prince's hand.

Prince in turn, gave me half of the green cloth. We moved to the back of the fighting arena into a darkened room with dim tea lights around. We were at once surrounded and before I could react Prince gestured to me to stay calm.

"For how long will you do that? Can't you think of some counter attack?" A man walked out from behind the curtains.

He was tall, well built with long hair and lot of beard. His eyes were really a dark shade of brown almost black and from his movement style, I can feel he carried weapons on him. He was in his mid-thirties but he looked like he could kill.

"Attacking my only brother is not fun and killing my father will do no good," Prince answered in a grave tone.

"Don't think that your brother is innocent in all this, silence is equal to a crime." The man sat down across us and gestured for the Prince to sit.

But when I was about to sit he stopped me and an unintentional hiss escaped my mouth. He looked at me with those dark eyes that were supposed to be threatening but little did he knew that I was a gangster daughter and dealt with harsher men.

I stared back with as much hate I could put in.

Prince's cough made me realize that I should stop it but I was not backing down. I was not called a rebel for nothing.

And then the freak smirked and turned to look at the Prince, "Well this time for exchange of information I don't need gold, I need your bodyguard. He looks like a wolf that needs taming."

I saw Prince's face harden, "He is a royal guard, it will be against the law."

"Do you want to walk out of this place alive? I will give you evidence against some of your father's men and help you cut his support system slowly but you need to be adjusting as well." He was good with words.

Prince was deciding and judging by the fact that I have known him for not even two days , he might just leave me here. Also, he had no clue that I was a girl after all.

Since I had no plans of dying in the past time I did what my mind told me to do. I just pulled out the sword and killed the ones behind us. With the element of surprise, few died before they could attack. A surprised Prince also picked up a longer dagger on the table and started helping me. Seven in the room were dead leaving the leader alive.

He didn't look scared or anything, just really angry.

"You don't think, you will fight and leave alive from here?" He challenged.

Before he could create a mess I just snatched the dagger from Prince and threw it at a tall man. He reacted a bit too late and blade hit right in the middle of his Adam's apple. He fell down with a thud.

"What have you done?" Prince said and I felt déjà vu.

Every time I did something like this back home my dad would say the same thing.

"Getting us out of here alive, thank you very much," I said with sass.

"He was the only source of evidence on my father's ministers." He looked angry.

"And I was not going to be his slave for you." I retorted.

Remember guys if you happen to stuck in time don't do that, you are not supposed to act like this way to a prince.

He looked astonished at my words.

"I was not going to leave you behind."

"Yeah, sure. That had no soul in it , your highness." I said with bitterness in my tone.

He inhaled sharply and I just stood there.

"Are we going to just stand here now?" He asked.

"What would you command?" I asked seriously but this time he thought I was sassing him.

"Like you listen, but for now let's run." He said and I acknowledged with a nod.

But as we ran outside, there were already some people waiting to attack. I got a cut on my waist due to surprise and I winced in pain. Due to severe practices, I had many cuts before but they were not as deep because I was not being attacked my person with intent to kill.

Tears clouded my eyes as I started fighting with the injury on my waist but I surprised myself my killing anyone who was coming my way. I couldn't pay attention to what the Prince was doing but somehow I was keeping him guarded.

Adrenaline kicked in as I saw the open door was not far and we fought our way out. But the attacks were coming.

"Who did I kill?" I yelled over the attacks.

"The assassin's lord second in command." His information just made me realize my father was right, I was very childish when it came to making an important decision.

"What will happen now?" I yelled as we clashes with more men and I saw the Prince bleeding from various injuries.

Will they put me to death for not protecting the Prince?

"Now we use the smoke bomb?" He smirked amidst all the chaos and injuries which was kind of amazing.

And then he threw something on the ground creating a lot of smoke, black and thankfully my nose was covered so I grabbed the injured Prince and we ran like hell.