The Exiled King's Guard

Chapter 14: Emerteria

As we waited in the queue, I had nowhere to focus except on our last conversation. The more I thought about it, the more uncomfortable I felt. Had I done the right thing? Had I handled it gracefully like I had intended to? With a cold distance. Sure, when I was able to shut him up it felt like a victory, but did it have the desired effect? Or maybe I had just made a complete fool of myself, indirectly admitted to my feelings and weakened my position. I was tempted to turn to him and apologize for my outburst. But I knew I shouldn’t do it, whatever the outcome of the conversation, I had not said anything that wasn’t true. And any woman was allowed that reaction in the face of deception and betrayal. But I wasn’t the average woman, I was supposed to be stronger, not emotional and weak. Moreover, I wasn't the one who had done the shouting, that credit went solely to Zach.

“Identification!?” A loud and stern voice jolted me out of my spiraling thoughts. I looked at the source and saw a stocky, bearded man in a guards uniform. He had fixed both of us with a stern unflinching gaze, clearly meant to intimidate. I turned to Zach as he started to speak, suddenly looking every bit the fearless and aristocratic prince he was supposed to be. My breath caught involuntarily in my throat as I took in his handsome face with eyes shining like emeralds in the fading sun.

“I am Prince Zachary Warwick of Cairintar. This here is my royal protector, Commander Ashley Oaken, and we request an immediate audience with the King”

“ Sure, and I am the King of Emerteria” the guard mocked Zach. “ It still doesn’t preclude the requirement of identification, Your Majesty”, he emphasized the last words to insult Zach further.

Zach’s arrogant aura suddenly turned dangerous. I could see this was going to end badly. I decided it was time to interrupt.

“ Your Majesty” I said politely, forcing Zach to focus on me, not that it was going to abate his anger, he was angry with me too after all. “I believe the King gave you some sort of token to present to King Reston, that could perhaps help?” I suggested. Zach’s anger seemed to recede a little as he understood my words and nodded, moving to take out the King’s ring.

“ That isn’t going to help you, missy. How do I know you didn’t just steal it from somewhere?”

Though I could see the logic of this, that didn’t stop it from annoying me. I let some of my annoyance seep into my voice as I said, “ Well, why don’t you show it to someone who recognizes what this ring means, instead of guessing its validity. You can take us with you in custody if you so wish. Or are you that afraid of letting in two people asking for shelter for fear of attack? Are your forces that weak?”

The guard’s eyes narrowed, it looked like I had managed to get under his skin. Good. He turned around, giving me the same look and motioned for his colleagues to join him.

“ Follow me.” He said without any sort of preamble as his friend took his place at the gates.

As we went after him, he nodded to a few more guards lounging near the gates who joined us almost immediately, flanking me and Zach on both sides, with one person at the back. It was two to one if we tried attacking. The message was clear, we were an inconvenience to be disposed of at the first sign of trouble. We reached the border patrol commander’s office and were stopped outside. Only the first guard went in, the other three standing around us, waiting for any unexpected moves. There was another guard outside the door who seemed equally wary of us. Zach and I were determinedly looking everywhere but at each other. I wasn’t sure if it was the awkwardness that had permeated us since the “fight” or just the unwillingness to give the guards any reason to suspect conspiracy. I settled for the latter explanation because the consequences of anything other than trust between a future king and his aide were too worrying to think about.

After what seemed like eternity but was probably only 5 minutes, the border guard reappeared and ushered us inside unceremoniously, still with our three-man escort. The space was small and cramped, dominated by a desk behind which sat, what looked like an owl in man’s clothing.

On a closer look, it was indeed a man, he had eyes rather big for his face, with rings under his eyes suggesting a lack of sleep. His face was broad and pale, strain and exhaustion evident. He fixed us both with his tired but sharp gaze, sizing us up. His gaze lingered on me a fraction of a second longer, but it was cold and calculative. That unsettled me a little. lecherous I could take, underestimated I loved to be. But this was the look of a man sizing up his opponent. I had never been considered an equal opponent before, even in actual fights, friendly or otherwise. I was immediately curious of this man, even feeling a little bit of respect, this was a true commander, not letting his biases get in the way of his judgement. No, I internally shook my head, I had no clue about this man in front of me, I needed more data before I went about forming opinions. With what I assumed was a stoic face, I looked straight at him, waiting for him to say something.

Out of the corner of my eye I could see Zach was doing the same, adding a little bit of his aristocratic aura into the mix.

“ I am hearing interesting things about you two.” He finally said. “My man here tells me you claim to be the crown prince of Cairintar, the one who fled at the first sight of attack, hiding behind women’s skirts.”

“ How dare you!!” I roared, angered by his blatant disrespect. “I should slice your head off for saying that. My prince is no coward!! He..” I stopped midway, noting a victorious smile on his face. Confused, I looked at Zach who was barely keeping himself in control, and after seeing this i***t commander smile, he seemed to have directed his venom at me.

“Ah, still fighting your precious prince’s battles for him” Sir i***t smirked at me. Shit

I opened my mouth to retort, then closed it, not sure if I could say anything that wouldn’t make the situation any more humiliating than it already was. I was still contemplating if this silence was a good thing or not when Zach stepped forward. It was a calculative step, bringing him close enough that only the desk stood between him and Commander i***t. If he had been aristocratic before, now he was downright menacing. I could see our “escort” starting to shuffle uncomfortably, the room was filling up with the raw power of fury. It was a thing of note that the commander had not flinched under Zach’s cold stare, but was matching it with his own seemingly unaffected one. There was a flicker of fear under it though, I could see it, I was extremely familiar with it. It was the look of a man who knew he had lost, but was gambling to win.

“ This token is my identification as the crown prince of Ciarintar and you will get us an audience with His Majesty immediately.” Zach said in a deadly calm voice, not breaking eye contact. “Otherwise, it will not end well for you, all of you” he added with barely a glance to the other guards.

The commander scoffed, I had to admire his foolish bravery in the face of certain defeat. “ You wont even get an audience with the court jester if I am dead. It would be straight to the dungeons for you”

“Oh maybe so.” Zach replied with the utmost confidence, bordering on nonchalance. “ But when his Majesty learns his nephew was wrongfully imprisoned, what do you think is going to happen to all of your border patrol?”

“ And we took measures, before you say anything. HIs Majesty will hear about it if I don’t see the King soon” he lied smoothly. I maintained what I hoped was a neutral face as I digested this bluff. Watching the commander closely as he decided whether or not to believe Zach. I desperately clung to the fact that even the possibility of this being true was enough to scare this commander.

After a tense silence, he sighed. We had won, for now. Pointedly looking away and towards the guards, he said, “Fine, let’s take these two to the King. But we want more escorts, if they so much as breathe suspiciously, kill them without remorse.”

I held back a snort of laughter, between Zach’s strength and my strategies, they would have a hard time pinning us down. Together, we were extremely hard to kill.