Scales and Swords ✓

58: Time's Tricks

Cyr blinked and the bewilderment melted away. "Oh excuse me, I thought you were a friend of mine." When I didn't take his hand, he scratched his head and looked away. As if only just realizing where we were his gaze snapped back to me. "Where are we?"

Cyr wasn't himself just as much as Philip was. They were an age before they became the people I knew.

"Uh, um..." Philip laid unconscious beside me looking almost like he was asleep. "He isn't...?"

"He'll be fine. Just knocked out for the night, Miss uh..." He winced. "My apologies, uh, what is your name?"

I hesitated. "December." When he didn't seem to recognize me I asked, "what's your name?"

"Sergeant Rosedove." He saluted. When my indifferent reaction wasn't what he was expecting, he tittered and crouched to meet my eye. "Cyr, my name is Cyr."

"You're a knight?"

He nodded and sat across from me. "Yep."

"Whose army?"

That question caught him off guard. "King Daniel's of course." His brows furrowed. "Do you know where we are and what we're doing here?"

"We're in the forest that borders Kreatier and Ogalsia."

At that his eyes expanded. "You're not..."

Realization didn't hit until a moment later, but when it did I was startled by the reality of a possibility that I might have been a threat. "I'm Kreatian, I'm from Kreatier."

He heaved a sigh. "That's a relief. But, are you not familiar with the royal family? Where are you from?"

"The outskirts of Redmond." And that wasn't a lie.

"That's quite far from the capital. I suppose the outskirts aren't well informed."

"No not well." An idea struck me in that moment. I asked out of sheer curiousity. "You've travelled in your time as a high ranking knight, won't you tell me about the royal family?"

"Well," he hesitated, "you're as much of a subject of his majesty as I, so I don't see why not. King Daniel is married to Queen Celeste. They have two sons, Prince Arthur and Prince Damien. Arthur—oh excuse me, Prince Arthur is next in line for the throne."

I held onto his slip up. "Have you met them, the princes?"

"We get along alright, as knights. They're good men. Arthur will make a fine king." He said this with a big smile and twinkling eyes.

Arthur, a fine king, I didn't think I'd ever hear Cyr utter those words. "What makes you say that?"

"Royals are seen as pompous and proud but Prince Arthur is anything but. He is humble and kind. And, he values all people regardless. His reign alongside his wife will be a blessing to Kreatier."

"He's married?"

"Yes." He winced. "But his marriage wasn't well received by his parents. He married young and to a commoner no less."

No wonder there was so little to be known about the queen. Especially when there was no prominent family to mourn her absence.

"It must have been difficult for them."

He frowned. "Yes, it was. But Arthur loved her and she loved Arthur. And nothing could stop them not even his parents. He even went so far as threatening to forsake the throne. Well, it wasn't much of a threat, the circumstances of their union were forbidden within the royal family."

"You mean, because she was a peasent?"

His gaze snapped to mine, as confusion clouded his countenance for the very first time. "Because," he muttered. He shook his head as if to clear his thoughts. "You said we are in the forest between Kreatier and Ogalsia?"