The Exiled King's Guard

Chapter 9: Spying

Unknown POV

I see her sneaking around, trying to look inconspicuous as she walks by. Credorian soldiers are not really paying attention to this village thanks to the festival and their recent victory in Cairintar, but I recognize that uniform. It remains to be seen if the coward prince is here too, or if she is just a runaway soldier. Credorians have become barbaric under King Irham, what they would do to a lone, presumably unmarried female soldier is beyond my imagination.

I keep my distance as she enters the house nearby. Waiting and watching. It seems odd that she is sneaking into a house. I chat up some men nearby, asking trivial questions so that I don’t have to hide somewhere, this way I can enjoy some degree of freedom. I don’t have to wait long as I see a figure emerging from the house. I wouldn’t have recognized her if I hadn’t seen her go in some time ago. I forget to breathe for a second. The dirt on her face has disappeared, showing a sharp nose and full, albeit pale lips. Her intelligent blue eyes have dark circles around them, she is definitely on the run. The dull green of the dress clashes with her eyes but complements her blonde hair so well.

I was still admiring her when I realized she was moving away from me, more like limping away from me. Why hadn’t I noticed before? Hastily taking my leave from the men I was talking to, I start following her. I can tell she is military trained and extremely smart, if I keep following her I am bound to be caught. As I am contemplating what to do I bump into someone.

“Hey! Watch it mister. Don’t you try to steal my wallet, I know how you thieves work.” I hear a young girl’s voice and I turn around to look who is talking to me this way. I was looking scary and dangerous I would imagine, with my beard and unkempt hair.

A very sharp looking young girl, no, young lady, is looking at me the way you would look at a child caught trying to steal candy. I raise up my hands, “not stealing anything miss, see?” I try to be as non-threatening as I can be.

“Oh good then, why are you headed the opposite way? The festival is over there.” She said pointing towards the village. Inquisitive. This girl was trouble. “ See, my brother and I are headed in there too, is it your first time, it is ours.” She pointed to her brother, who was staring at the mystery lady from Cairintar, as he waited for his crazy sister. A slight prick of jealousy hit me when I realized I wasn’t the only one noticing her. Pushing that aside quickly, I decided to take advantage of the situation.

“Say my man, how would you like to keep that lady company this evening?” the brother’s head snapped in my direction while the sister looked at me suspiciously.

“Just who are you, mister creepy stalker?” she responded, clearly not trusting me.

“ Oh you know, I hoped to marry her once, but now she wont even talk to me. There is twenty gold in it for you both if you keep her company tonight and let me know how she is doing later?” I hastily tried to cover up.

“ we need to be paid in advance, we don’t want to waste our time at the festival.” The girl said jutting up her chin in defiance. Well, atleast she bought my story.

“ Oh no, she is stumbling, Jeff go help her, I am right behind you once I am done with this moron” the girl spoke urgently as she turned around to look at mystery lady. Really? What made me a moron in this situation?

“ Ten now, ten later. But you take the lead, I doubt your brother will be able to talk to her without passing out.” I said, handing her a ten and leaving no room for negotiation. Okay I was paying them to dupe a probably innocent soldier, maybe I was a moron.

She nodded, obviously aware of her brother's nature. “How will I find you for the rest?”

“Don’t worry, I will find you”

She hmphed in response and sped away without another word. That was fine with me. I didn’t need her to trust me, just give me information.

I saw them talk and then start walking together. I decided to follow them, not fully trusting my new recruits. As the forest started becoming denser, the mystery lady suddenly looked up, quickly I receded to the thicket of the forest, she zeroed in on where I had just been standing. s**t. I could not be discovered. Specially when I didn’t have intel on them. When I thought she was about to come look, there was another voice, “Ashley, you are back. Who are your friends?”

As I looked at the speaker, I immediately knew. Dirty blonde hair, piercing green eyes, body oozing arrogance and authority. I was looking at the runaway prince. I would recognize this man anywhere, even ten years ago he had been the same. The way he spoke to the three of them, like he was above them, was nauseating. Had I been the same way back then? I couldn’t help but wonder.

Wait, did he call her Ashley? She couldn’t possibly be the same Ashley, right? She looked so different. That scrawny girl, she couldn’t be this beautiful lady now, or could she? She had the same resolute eyes, but she looked stronger, more confident. If she was with the prince, was she..?

No, no woman has ever been the royal protector. But it would be odd for the prince to run away with a lover. Thinking of those two as lovers did not sit well with me. No, she had to be his protector. Wow, I thought, she really came into her own.

As they all started walking again. I decided to get back to my original task.

I made my way into the village, entering the tavern where people were eating, chatting, drinking and being merry. I ordered myself a drink and settled on the bar. Now the only task was to wait. Fortunately I did not have to wait too long. Commander Marlon walked down from his room like a celebrity. Everyone rushed around him to seat and dine him. The son of a b***h was taking advantage of military influence even when he was supposed to be off duty. Tamping down my anger, I quickly paid for my drink and pretended to leave, slipping back inside with an incoming group. Stealthily, I made my way to his room, the floor was pretty much deserted making it easy to pick his lock and slip inside. The lock was embedded in the door, to my relief, which meant I wouldn’t have to break it and could relock when leaving and avoid raising any suspicion of a break-in. Once inside, I started immediately, looking for something, anything which could give me proof of dark magic. Trying not to disturb his things too much, I looked through everything, twice. The sisterhood had told me there would be specific objects a dark magic practitioner would always have. Things that tethered him to those energies, but I couldn’t find anything.

Frustrated, I left the tavern, looking for Marlon. I needed to check if he could be carrying these objects on his person. I scoffed when I saw him seated like a king, watching the ongoing festivities. He was wearing the usual fitted riding pants and shirt with a fitted overcoat, in Credora’s new flag colors, lilac and grey. What kind of a flag choice was that? I mean, they were great colors if you want your flag to represent mud. Looking closely, I could see he wouldn’t be able to hide anything in his clothes. I looked at his men scattered about him. They were dancing and drinking merrily, looking far too relaxed to have been entrusted with something important.

Dejected, I started looking for a spot in the shadows, where I could watch everything without being noticed. That’s when I saw her again, laughing and talking with her prince and my recruits. She could have fooled anyone into thinking she was relaxed and carefree, when in fact her beautiful eyes were incredibly alert. She abruptly started looking around again. Damn this woman had a sixth sense. I hid further behind some men, then I looked back and saw the prince holding her close, whispering something to her. I saw her turn red. She was blushing and looking at him with an expression in her eyes that deeply disturbed me. This is an inappropriate reaction Lucas, you barely know anything about them. I tried to calm myself down, to no avail. My mood was completely ruined and I wanted to hurl all the beer that was being placed in front of the contestants on the prince.

I decided to leave immediately, I didn’t care about the siblings’ money or their report. I hated that stupid Marlon, and I hated that piece of s**t who was putting the moves on the girl I shouldn't care about. Grumbling under my breath, I reached my hiding place, got on to Moonbeam, who seemed displeased at being woken up but was willing to move when I nudged him. So I took off, having horribly failed my mission, back to the sisterhood.