The Exiled King's Guard

Chapter 4: On Guard

I looked up, surprised that he didn’t call me a lady again, but my military title and even more so because he was concerned about my clothes. I was used to being cold, I had served as a low level spy before rising up the ranks and taking charge of the military end of our spy network. So I just shrugged.

“I will be fine. I will just take the first watch so that I can move about and dry out my clothes. Besides, I am more concerned about how to get to our destination. Thanks to the fake footprints, and our almost encounter, they would be suspicious that we are heading west, which increases the likelihood of being caught if we go straight through.”

“So a detour then?” he sat down and broke a piece of bread, chewing it thoughtfully.” We have a couple of options. We could pass through Riverside and then join the main path near Cursed Rock, it is closer from here. We could still be in Emerteria in a day and a half. Or we could really take a detour and enter from the north, going through Harmedon.”

“Riverside is closer, but I don’t like it, since we will still be approaching Emerteria from the east. Harmedon does add an extra day to our journey, but they have the Zetva festival ongoing, that could give us cover, since all border towns tend to attend, and once in Harmedon we will technically be out of our kingdom and in Irham’s territory. Nobody will expect us to be in the devil’s lair after just escaping from it” I ended, unable to keep my distaste for the monster out of my tone.

We had been having problems ever since Irham ascended the throne at Credora to our north. His lacky, general Charlton, or charlatan as I liked to call him, had been bothering us, sitting right outside our border and causing chaos. At our last meeting on diplomatic considerations, things had really gone south.

**FlashBack**

…So for the last matter for consideration, we have been able to trace back some of the border disruptions and trade blockages to your men, General, would you care to explain why you are interfering in our kingdom?” My father, General Oaken stated flatly, never one to sugarcoat.

“Why do you suspect me so General? We come here in peace, hoping to extend our alliance.” General Charlatan backtracked in a honeyed voice, which fooled no one. His snakelike eyes flitted over to the prince, pausing to take him in, as a predator would to prey.

“So are you suggesting your men are acting of their own accord?” I cut in, forcefully, as always disconcerted and slightly annoyed by his presence.

His eyes shot towards me, calculating, but changed immediately to disdain, “Oh! Little birdie!” he cooed as if he would a child. “Are you sure you should be here? Don’t you have a tea party to attend?”

I fumed internally, he was deliberately being condescending. His message was clear, women had no place in important discussions. But I had to choose my words carefully. I was not going to be the reason this fragile alliance fell to pieces.

Silence hung thick in the air as I was thinking about how to answer him, never breaking eye contact with Charlatan. Misinterpreting my look to be argumentative, Zach tried to diffuse the situation, “You know General….”

“Actually” I said, cutting through loudly and received a warning glare. I gave an imperceptible nod in return and continued, “I did attend one recently, it was very interesting. Albeit our beverages were more, ahem, manly, I should say. But my companions were so much fun. It didn’t take me much persuasion to get a wealth of knowledge. Would you like to hear a play by play, General?” I said in a dangerously sweet voice. If he didn’t get my threat, I was more than willing to tell him exactly what his men had been doing and under whose orders.

I smiled at him, still maintaining eye contact, silently daring him to let me continue. His smile faltered for a second before it came back on. He clearly wasn’t expecting me to play his game and was improvising now.

“ Why dear, you should never believe everything you hear at these parties.” He got up from his chair and started walking towards me slowly. “ But we don’t want to upset such a pretty girl now do we, gentlemen?” He looked around the table, expecting people to agree with him, but all he got was stony silence, even his men afraid to react more than giving small nods, eyes downcast. This room was mine, we were in control of the situation and it showed.

“ Fine, we will launch an investigation. But in return” he was right in front of me, “ we hope you will reduce the taxation on rum imports. Our men, they like their drinks…” he said, leaning forward, his face inappropriately close to mine, and he grazed a bony and blackened finger along my cheek "... and their damsels". It took every fiber of my being to not grab his hand and break it. Instead, I maintained steady eye contact, not moving an inch under his touch, not showing any weakness.

For a fraction of a second, the room was deadly silent. Then, with a roar, General Charlton was whipped away from me and pinned against the wall, my father’s strong hands tightened around his wind pipe.

“ You talk to her again, and you will be dead” he said in a dangerous but calm voice. Loud enough for the entire room to hear. Charlton’s underlings cowered, they had heard of General Oaken’s anger, and had no intention of witnessing its destruction.

“Calm yourself General”, Zach’s usually cheerful voice was strained, it was clear he was not happy with anything that had happened so far. Reluctantly, my father let go of Charlton’s neck, resorting to giving murderous looks instead. Who then proceeded to cough as he tried to breathe.

Once he stopped sputtering, he fixed his eyes on Zach. All pretense dropped, his face displaying the cold hate that had been under the surface all this time. “ Wise choice, Prince” he spat. “But too little, too late. Your hostility today is proof enough that there can be no alliance to be had with Cairintar in good faith. I will send word to my King, all trade contracts stand suspended until the King himself decides on this matter.” He declared pompously and turned to leave, but not before I caught the hint of a smile starting to form. It unsettled me but I pushed the thought aside and looked at Zach guiltily. So much for not losing an alliance because of me.

** End of Flashback**

In hindsight, we should have known that he wanted to officially break the alliance. He was only baiting us into a disagreement. Since we had only just made it back when the battle broke out. It was surprising how many of their people were already inside the border, ready and waiting. We had become complacent in our security, and it had cost us the kingdom.

“ I agree with you. We should be at places where they would least expect us, even if it is a slightly longer route.” Zach concurred with my idea, bringing me out of my thoughts.

“great! That’s settled then. I will take the first watch, you rest” I said.

“ Fine, wake me up when its time, we should leave before dawn to make use of all the light.”

I nodded as I settled myself comfortably. This was going to be a long night.