The Exiled King's Guard

Chapter 12: Angry Arnold

“What are you doing here, b***h!” he spat, eyes full of venom. I weighed my options as I held his gaze. I wanted a horse, but I had to decide which experience would be more humiliating, sharing a horse with Zach, or convincing Angry Arnold to do business with me.

I sighed, “I guess we started off on the wrong foot last night. I..”

“GET. OUT. I don’t want you or that sleazy husband of yours anywhere in this town.”

“ Actually, this is about that slimy bastard,” I said. Maybe there was a third option. Zach wasn’t here, I could bad mouth him as much as I wanted. The situation was suddenly looking up.

“ Do you have a wife, Arnold, sir?” I added an extra courtesy for effect.

“Yes”. He looked wary, as I would have in his place.

“ Well sir, has she ever cheated on you?”

“ What!? How dare you even suggest that, you b***h! She is a precious woman. A handful, as you lot tend to get, at her age. But never! If you weren’t a woman I would have slapped you and thrown you out for saying that!!” he said fuming, his slightly lowered guard up again all the way.

“ So you understand how it would feel” I said, managing to sound more emotional than I wanted.

“ After last night’s contest, I got so sick, I couldn’t manage that much alcohol” I continued, trying to look innocent and pitiful.

“I only did it for him, because he didn’t want to pay. He always complains about how I cause so many expenses”. I added a strategic wobble to my voice, which came all too easily. But I wanted to convince him I was a wronged wife, mistreated and cheated on. And it seemed to be working, his eyes were softer than I had seen when he entered. Taking this as a cue to go on, I dropped the clincher.

“ So last night, when I got sick, he was so disgusted and he said....he said, that I was of no use to him tonight and he would go find another woman to satisfy him. And he did not return till this morning” I said, continuing to sob, managing to let out tears which were just below the surface anyway.

While it was commonplace for men, if my pretense as a naïve, foolish woman worked, I might just get myself an extra horse. After a long uncomfortable silence where I decided to stop sobbing, Arnold spoke up.

“ umm, I understand miss. And I feel sorry for your situation. But what is it you want me to do?”

I debated whether to ask him to rough Zach up as my own personal mini-revenge, since I knew Zach wouldn’t risk fighting back and blowing his cover. But that might be pushing my story too much, so I settled for my original plan.

“ If you could sell me a horse, I will run away from him tonight. I can't take his, he had a mage bind the horse to his ownership, he won't go with me”, I blabbered on, making up elements to round out my story.

When I looked up after making a show of dabbing my eyes dry, he had a skeptical look on his face. s**t did I overdo it? Well, too late to back down. I stood quiet, looking at him expectantly, throwing in a sniffle every now and then for good measure.

“ Alright, you got me miss. I keep picturing my Lisbeth and how devastated she would be if her husband did that. Here” he walked to one of the stalls and untied a horse, bringing her out.

I reached forward to touch the horse and gently patted her, moving my arm in soothing gestures. She immediately responded and leaned towards me, making soft, content noises.

“ You seem like a good woman, miss, and seeing as Bean likes you so much, I would give her to you for free. She is a strong willed one, and doesn’t like most people. Mind you, I won't take her back.” He warned, letting me know that he wanted to get rid of Bean as much as he wanted to get rid of me. It worked perfectly for me though. Sunshine had been a willful horse too. I had some experience taming these beasts.

“ Why thank you so much Sir!” I half squealed in what I hoped was innocent and oblivious excitement. “I will get going then! I will never forget your help dear sir, I hope the Gods bestow great prosperity on you.” I gushed as I started making my way out with Thunder and Bean, hoping to be rid of the two men quickly. Glad that he hadn’t asked why I needed the horse now instead of at night or any other questions which would make my lie fall apart in an instant.

I found a frowning Zach looking at me when I reached the tavern entrance. Looking at his dazzling green eyes, it was hard to keep my emotions from spilling out. I wanted to scream and shout at him, hit him, challenge him to duel till death and much more. I decided to avoid looking at his face and chose my words carefully before he had time to say anything disapproving.

“ I thought two would be faster.”

He grunted in response and thrust a basket towards me before swiftly moving to mount Thunder. I looked inside the basket and saw far more food than we would need for our day-long journey. There was an assortment of cheeses, bread and fruit with a canteen of beer to wash it down. She was clearly trying to impress him. What had Zach promised her? That she would get to go on adventures with him? Or that she would have his undying love? Or something much simpler, like a good time in bed? Did he even have to offer her anything? Or did he just have to hint an interest, like he did with me? I was tempted to ask him but stopped myself with great difficulty. He wanted a protector? He would get one.

Ignoring his questioning gaze, I got on Bean. She neighed impatiently and moved about, clearly not liking having a rider. I tried the same calming gestures from before, reminded of my old horse again. We rode in silence for a while, leaving Harmedon behind and entering the western forests. They were denser, lush green, smaller animals darted in and out, unfazed by our presence, almost as if they knew us. The entire forest felt very weirdly safe, like it was a home, a safehouse. I was wondering why that would be. The forests outside of Cairintar felt like forests and nothing else, not like this. I was snapped out of my thoughts by Zach’s voice, loud and harsh against the comfortable background of forest sounds.

“Alright, that’s enough. Will you tell me what’s wrong?”

What’s wrong!!? He wanted to know what was WRONG? I could think of so many things to ask him instead. What had possessed him to use me like that? Why on earth would he take advantage of someone’s feelings for him? Why did he have to be so harsh and unfeeling? What in the Gods name was I to him? And most importantly, why was he a complete ASSHOLE!!?

I tried to retain my composure as I got my rage under control and did not answer right away.

“Ashley, I am talking to you” he stretched out the last word, clearly impatient.

“ What do you mean what’s wrong?” I asked, feigning nonchalance as best I could.

“Oh come on, you really want me to believe your silent treatment is not some sort of punishment for something.”

“Silent treatment? I don’t understand what you are saying?” I continued acting aloof, but he had just given away what he was thinking. He knew what he did was wrong, something warranting a punishment, and he wanted to talk about it, assuage his guilt. Since he had asked for his protector, I was going to give him full battle-hardened soldier. Strategically, there were two ways to play this, I could play along, placate him as he relieved himself of his guilt. Or I could give him nothing, not invite this conversation, steer away from it even, without letting him know how casual or serious I thought last night was, and let him feel the weight of his actions. And I knew which one I would choose. For the first time, I was going to choose myself over him.