Captain of the Guard

The chapters have become so very short, but I like to think that it has to do with Elt's state of mind.

Read, Review and Enjoy.

 

They were called to a surprise inspection, only they were ready. Elt wasn’t willing to take the position of captain but he made damned sure that the guards were well in order. Everyone was shaved, cut, polished and turned out. They stood straight and tall, not a hair out of place, not a line creased that should not have been creased.

Leo looked impressed, Niph almost looked impressed, until his eyes drifted to Elt’s left arm, grazing over where the badge was supposed to be. The badge was actually in Elt’s pocket, hidden there until he could give Niph back the badge and decline one final time.

“No captain,” Talten said, pressing his lips tightly together, “no captain, no guard.” The boy turned to Niph, “no fault of mine, that you can’t find an replacement, now is it?”

Elt looked at Niph, who simply stared back at him. The old warrior made no attempt to correct Talten which sent a cold through Elt like none he had ever felt before. An old, old tradition that he had never heard of before but a very real one all the same. Which brought up the question of how Talten had found out about the tradition?

“You can-“ Talten started, turning towards the palace guard.

Elt stepped forward, he let loose just a bit of all that he held back and he watched as the colour drained from the faces of Talten, Leo and even Niph. His presence was across the yard and it was his yard, his way, his existence. He was all they saw even as the commoners amongst the guard, amongst the watchers, looked on passively and then in confusion at the three ranked members who looked like they were about to wet themselves.

“I am captain of the guard.” Elt said, rolling his shoulders back, spreading his feet just slightly and relaxing. Relaxing his muscles, relaxing his control on his magic.

Leo relaxed as well. Whatever Leo saw when they were together, whatever Elt did in those so very private moments, it had prepared Leo for this, for this moment when Elt got angry. There was no fear in Leo’s eyes, as there was in Talten and Niph’s faces, no, there was wary respect.

“You?” Talten asked, finding his voice first, “you aren’t even of age!”

Leo grabbed Talten by the back of the neck and gave the boy a shake, not hard enough to snap bones, as was well within Leo’s abilities, but just hard enough to startle a young boy. Dropping Talten, Leo crossed his arms and growled, a sound that snapped Niph out of his surprise, that made the commoners jump. All but the palace guard, who stood passively and awaited an order.

“I am captain of the guard,” Elt said, asserting his control, his dominance, “and if you’ve a problem with that, you are more than free to leave the palace. The gates are over there. Because I? I am not going anywhere.”

“That’s what the others said,” Talten snapped back at him.

“Think about it, your majesty,” he wasn’t ranked, he had to be polite, he had to be kind. He could still say the words but he had to respect the ranks that were before him, even if they were immature, whining little assholes who messed up everyone else’s lives, “touch me and Leo kills you. Touch Leo and I kill you. I live to protect the warrior who protects the palace. My men serve the warrior who has laid claim to the palace grounds. You want a whore, you bring them in, you want to murder someone, you bring them in but if you harm a single hair on the heads of any of my people, of any of those who serve Raven palace, I will shove my foot so far up your ass that you’ll taste the polish on my fucking boots. If you don’t believe me, go ahead and try, it’ll only take once for you to learn your lesson.”

“And what’s to stop you from claiming everyone I bring in as part of the palace?”

“Oh, come now,” Elt murmured almost soothingly, “you and I both know that your drug addled whore of a mother can even tell who does and does not belong on palace grounds.”

“She is my mother, you will respect her!”

“She is a commoner and beneath me. Mothers hold no position above ranks, they hold no ability to stand above the palace guard, the Queen, the steward or the Queen’s mate,” Elt snapped back, “if there comes a day when someone comes who does belong to the palace, when you bring someone in and carry on however you please, then yes, I will take them from your rooms and yes, I will deliver them to the warrior who holds the palace grounds because that is my duty, that is my right as captain of the palace guard.”

“You’re just like the others.”

“I am nothing. Like the others,” Elt said and he felt the land respond, felt a flicker from the palace. He wasn’t like the others, he realised then, nothing like them. Perhaps he was a muddied rank, so washed out that no one really noticed, maybe that was where his magic came from. He wasn’t like them and that was what would help him survive.

He would live.

But he wasn’t entirely certain that he would survive.

.