Philippe of Morgarath

Chapter Nine

With his fingers, he caressed her side, while he pressed his nose into her hair. She had her eyes closed, and was laying motionless in-between the leaves of the Ninartree. He had been staring at her body for at least ten minutes by now, thinking about the future. They had asked the Gods for permission, and it had been great. But he felt this uncomfortable feeling in his stomach. He had pictured love differently. Much more exciting, and with chemistry. He got up, put his clothes on, and woke her up.

'My love', he said, like he had heard committed people say to each other. 'We must go.'

They galloped back home to the castle, and were being welcomed by almost everyone he knew. The entire castle was decorated, and it smelled like roast and beer wherever he went. People were wearing beautiful, and festive clothing. The party had started without them, he noticed, and the grin did not leave his face. The union was official.

When the night fell, he sneaked away from the festivities. He knew he shouldn't leave, but he was too excited and could not wait another day. He had to go back to the Golden Sabre. He had to find Reagon, and keep him to his promise. He had to leave. Fast.

---

'What a joke... Such a joke!' the man screamed, while slamming his fist on the table of laughter. Philippe did not agree that it was funny, and looked at the man angrily. He saw that the man even started to cry of laughter.

'You really want to go after them?' Reagon continued. He took some long breaks in-between the words, to laugh. After he spit out the last word, he inhaled so intensely to get back to breath, that Philippe felt hope that the man would choke. 'You really want to go face-to-face with a Muerthall?' Philippe did not respond.

After a minute Reagon took a break from laughing, to take a sip from his drink. That's when he finally noticed Phil's angry, yet serious face. 'Wait, you're not kidding?' Reagon sounded sincere. Philippe made the choice to take his confusion for a fact, instead of sarcasm.

'Yes, Reagon. You said it last time we met, if I can do it, you can do it too. Come with me, and let's see if the Muerthalls are genuinely becoming a threat.' Reagon shook his head wildly.

'Of course I made a joke. It was a joke', the scarred man defended himself. He looked around himself, and noticed they were alone in the Golden Sabre. Other than the woman behind the bar, who was trying very hard to pretend that she was not listening to their conversation.

'Reagon, come on', Philippe continued. It had not taken very long for him to find Reagon. This was only the second time that he escaped the castle to go to the Sabre.

'No way in hell, I will come with you, newbie', Reagon said as he raised his eyebrows as high as he could. 'Have you experienced war? How many lives have you taken? What bodies have you maimed? Coming with you, would be considered suicide.'

Philippe got up from his stool. 'Who cares who I am, and what I can do. Did you not tell me last time we met, that you were looking for revenge? For what they did to you?' He pointed at Reagon's scar.

'Of course I want revenge', Reagon instantly replied. 'But not with you!'

It took a mere second for the man to realise that with one fluid movement, Philippe drew his sword. The woman behind the bar screamed with a high voice: 'Take the fight outside', but Philippe's face did not move. 'Beat me, if you dare', Philippe said to the man, with a solemn voice.

Reagon took his drink from the table, smiled, emptied it in one tug and slammed it back on the table. He got up, and walked towards the door. Philippe followed him.

Outside, Reagon pulled his two-handed sword. He made a gesture towards the hammer that was hanging from Philippe's belt, and said with a grudge in his voice: 'Just swords.' Philippe smiled.

'Are you that intimidated by me that you need to set ground-rules?' he asked the man mockingly. Reagon sniffled.

'Alright, use your silly hammer for all I care', the man defended himself. He raised his sword and without a warning he ran towards the boy in front of him. He let the sword fall towards Philippe, who braced himself and caught the blow with ease. He tapped Reagon's big sword with his own, and jumped three steps backwards, hoping Reagon would lose balance. He relaxed his wrist, and let the sword spin three times, to measure his strength of the day. He clicked his neck, and smiled at Reagon playfully.

'Bring it', he said while looking the man into his eyes. Reagon's smile disappeared.

While screaming loudly, Reagon announced his second attack. This time, all Philippe had to do was take two steps to the side and see the man run right by him. Reagon saw what happened and stopped his attack, by turning towards the boy and slamming his weapon towards his legs. Philippe jumped up, and made the sword miss him by just a little bit. He let himself drop backwards, landed on his free hand and back flipped back on his feet. He smiled when he saw Reagon's eyes open a bit wider.

'Stop messing with me', the big man screamed. 'Fight like a man.'

Philippe shrugged and said: 'Okay', after which he ran towards the man with raised sword. Right before he reached Reagon, he bowed down, turned and noticed Reagon's confusion become even more when he got up besides him instead of in front of him. Philippe kicked Reagon in his side, and jumped three steps back again.

He threw his sword in the air, jumped and caught the weapon with his other hand. 'Want to try this hand instead?' he asked, before he slammed it to the man.

Reagon defended himself, and caught the blow with his own sword. Without saying anything, Philippe quickly withdrew the sword and hit a second time. Again the scarred man caught the attack. Philippe once again took a few steps back, after which he ran to the man. He threw the sword in the air one more time, caught it with his good hand and slammed for a third time. Again Reagon caught the blow, but this time Philippe saw that the man was getting confused.

'Who are you', Reagon said, keeping his iron to that of Phil's.

'My name is Philippe of Morgarath, I am the youngest son of the regent of Morgarath and second in line to the regency. Future general of the regent's army, and that of Morwerth.'

Reagon put his sword back in to the scabbard and scoffed. 'Why did you not start with that?' he said, annoyed. 'You could've saved yourself from the embarrassment of this fight.'

This time it was Philippe who laughed. 'If only', he responded to the big man in front of him, before he put his sword back into the scabbard as well. 'So, you're coming with me?' He looked at Reagon with piercing eyes.

'You know where to find me, newbie.'