Captain of the Guard

Look, I remembered to update in less than two weeks! Go me!

Read, Review and Enjoy.

 

A training accident, that’s what they called it. The two, palace and Talten’s guard, were supposed to use blunted swords during training. It left nasty bruises but little else. Deciding that the others needed an example, the two captains came together to spar with their blunted blades. Talten’s captain was one of those Elt had once called friend.

His blade slipped past the palace guard’s blunted blade and into his gut. There was no denying the edge to the blade but Talten’s captain tried and tried to deny it. The captain of the palace guard died as Elt stepped up and disarmed the other.

They called Niph, they buried the body and it was left to Elt to clean the cottage again. This time the cottage was left empty. Both warriors retreated into their private rooms and Elt was left out. He had to stay in the guardhouse because that was where palace guards belonged, whether they were mated or not. When a month passed and still no sign of Leo, Elt went into the palace and into Leo’s rooms.

He knew that it was wrong to enter a room without permission but still he did. He sat at the well-used table that Leo had claimed as his own and waited. And waited. It was late evening when Leo entered the room. There was something… a sag to the warrior’s shoulders as he entered. The sag turned to edged murder when Leo realised that someone was in his room. As Leo focused on Elt, the edge disappeared and changed to something else instead. Weariness, perhaps, or maybe exhaustion.

“What’s wrong?” Leo asked Elt.

“I haven’t seen you in a month,” Elt responded, standing to set a hand on Leo’s chest, “what’s wrong, Leo?”

“Nothing,” Leo responded, sounding hollowed out, empty inside.

“You’re lying.”

“I don’t.”

“Don’t what, Leo? What has happened that you can’t tell me?”

“I. Niph sent me to blood someone.”

“Alright,” Elt said, nodding, “every warrior needs to before he’s given a sharpened weapon, though you’ve…”

“Been shaving, Niph wanted everyone to think that I had already done it,” Leo murmured, stepping away from Elt as he shook his head, “it had to be done.”

“What had to be done?”

“Retaliation for what they did.”

“Leo, what did they do?”

“They killed one of our pets, Niph said, they had to be shown a lesson.”

“Leo, you’re talking in circles, I can’t understand what you’re saying, who did you kill?”

“Their captain of the guard.”

“Oh, thank goodness, I won’t have to do it myself,” Elt muttered, “training accident my ass. Why are you so upset, I mean, yes, we knew him, he used to be our friend but he did something wrong and had to pay for it. He was a murderer.”

“I’m not upset because he’s dead,” Leo said, sagging into the seat that Elt had sat in, waiting for him, “I’m upset because… I enjoyed it. And. I didn’t stop once he was dead. There was blood everywhere, Elt. And I didn’t stop until it was cooling. There wasn’t even enough to leave to be identified.”

“He wore a badge, didn’t-“ Elt stopped as Leo tossed it onto the table. A mangled piece of metal that Elt only recognised because he knew what he was looking at. Stabbed open, bent in ways Elt didn’t think was possible.

“Had to bring something back for Niph even. What am I supposed to tell him? That I stabbed a man so many times that I couldn’t even move the body because it was nothing but pieces?”

“It happens, Leo.”

“It doesn’t just happen, Elt. If I lose control, do you know what will happen? It won’t just be some enemy, it’ll be you or the little Queen or-“

“Why are you bringing up the little Queen?” Elt asked as a knock came at the door. He went to open the door and found Pyanna standing there as if mentioning her had made her appear, “hullo.”

Dressed in the drab gray that Talten’s mother forced on her ladies in waiting. How long had she been serving that bitch?

“My lady requests your mate’s presence at dinner, royalty only,” she said quickly, curtsying as Leo growled, “what’s wrong with him?”

“Get rid of her,” Leo snapped.

Not knowing how Pyanna felt about everything, Elt swallowed his words and shrugged, “we had a little fight.”

“Ah,” she said, brushing a hand down her skirts, “I thought maybe he was upset for the same reason Niph was upset when I went to deliver the same message to him. He asked me if I had any rags around and had I thought about sleeping with a knife.” The girl shrugged, “no idea what he meant.”

“I don’t know, but as you heard-“

“Get rid of her,” Pyanna responded stoutly, “I’m going.”

Elt closed the door and turned back to Leo, who was standing behind the chair with his eyes closed and gripping it as if it were the only thing keeping him tethered down, “what’s gotten into you? She’s just a child, Leo.”

“She’s not just a child,” Leo spat out, opening his eyes. There was no colour at all in them and his eyes didn’t adjust back, this was no momentary thing for him, “she’s fertile.”

“Fertile… as in…”

“Old enough to bleed, old enough to breed, Talten’s mother says.”

“… she’s nine!”

“Stronger the Queen, earlier it happens. It’s how warriors used to tell, in a group of Queens, who was the strongest. Strongest of a group will go through the changes and it will trigger those around her,” Leo huffed out.

“So, what, the strong Queens of the past would just hit puberty in the womb?” Elt snorted.

“They wouldn’t go through the monthly changes,” Leo huffed out, breathing in through his mouth to taste the air, “Niph warned me that a Queen going through a fertile time would set me on edge but he never mentioned that.”

“Then you need to go to that supper,” Elt said, “and practice the age old tradition of lying your ass off to anyone who might be an enemy. Talten’s mother wants Talten to mate Pyanna and something tells me, given your ability to breed, she’s not willing to wait a few years for them both to come of age.”

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