In Pieces

Chapter 7: Blue-eyed puppy shows his fangs.

Aidan didn't want to have any fun. He wanted to drink. Preferably alone.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to push you so hard, Your Highness" he said, hoping to leave as soon as possible.

"You made me vomit blood just because I touched your shoulder. I wonder what would happen to me, if I dared to touch you somewhere else," the Prince smirked.

Aidan didn't respond to that. He had almost forgotten how much he hated being touched. To be fair, it had been ages since anybody put their hands on him. Through the years Aidan got really good at avoiding close interactions as much as possible. The key was to avoid company when not sober.

"I have to admit, I'm curious, whether you can take me in a fight. Or if I can take you...," said the blonde guy with a smirk.

"Well, not to be disrespectful but the answer seems to be obvious, Your Highness," said Aidan, vaguely pointing at the blood on Prince's chin. He was pretty confident in Adnan Minn's abilities.

"You caught me off guard," a pair of blue eyes almost pierced through Aidan. "I've seen you in action – I know, you're good. But I'm willing to bet that I'm better."

"That's not what you said to your uncle, Your Highness," Aidan sighed. Young men and their desire to turn everything into a damn competition! Was the little Prince threatened by him?

"Your future emperor is requesting a fight. Do you dare to deny me?" he enunciated with a frown.

"Of course, not, Your Highness. As you wish," said Aidan, using all his mental strength not to roll his eyes.

The Prince led him to the palace battlegrounds which seemed to be pretty impressive. But, to be fair, it was Aidan's first time seeing real battlegrounds, so he was easy to please. In any case, it was so large one could practice longbow shooting and even spear-throwing there.

They walked towards the place designated for sword practice which was marked by red sand.

"Rather than swords, how about we do hand-to-hand combat?" asked the Prince. "Unless you mind close contact, of course."

Aidan minded that a lot. But Adnan, luckily, was an excellent fighter who dealt his blows so efficiently that most of the time the enemy had no chance to touch him at all.

"As you wish," he repeated with a shrug.

"Careful with that phrase," the Prince raised his eyebrow. "I might get ideas."

"Are you ready, Your Highness?" Aidan asked, ignoring his remarks. The sooner he was done with this, the sooner he could sit on his hard coffin-bed drinking himself into sweet oblivion. He remembered how once during his one and only AA meeting he had said: "Reality is poison and alcohol is an effective antidote." He still hadn't encountered anything that would change his mind.

Without further ado, Aidan made his first move, kicking the Prince in the knees. Adnan Minn's body felt like this was the best way to put the opponent at a disadvantage without causing too much damage. Aidan wasn't going to argue with years of practice and military expertise, so he did whatever his body told him to.

To his surprise, the Prince managed to avoid the kick. Thus began the game of dodge and pursuit – instead of meeting the fight head on, the Emperor-in-Waiting was dodging all and every move that Adnan would throw his way. At some point Aidan realized that they were not even fighting, rather dancing. The Prince was very quick and agile, moving like quicksilver with one arm behind his back and leaving Adnan very little openings to subdue him and end the fight. Series of movements flowed smoothly - funnily enough, General Minn's body seemed to enjoy the challenge while Aidan was getting more annoyed by the minute.