A Hunter and a Prince

Castor 1

The polished walls of the throne room reflected light directly into my eyes where I had been made to kneel staring up at King Chanterelle. He was wearing a blood stained cloak, although given his reputation it was hard to imagine he was the one to stain it. His father held a blood thirsty reputation and was the reason I was hesitant to follow this commission until I learned he was dead. Specifically the rumors of what he did to people that failed him. Glancing down, more stains soaked the tiles at my knees proving the rumor and made me think the light was reflected here on purpose.

King Chanterelle however? Wasn't much more than an insult to this kingdom's legacy. The only things he shared with his late father was the robes he wore and the red hair covering his face. The guards' expressions supported this theory as they ranged from barely masked contempt to exhausted glares.

"Castor." He said, his voice was deeper than I expected.
"You're majesty." I locked eyes with him.
"I take it you came here to fill my commission?"
"Yes sir."
"Ah good, we can get started then. There are ruins west of here I planned to restore for my kingdom, I sent a few battalions over there to ensure it was empty and only a few soldiers came back alive. There's a dragon in the ruins killing them, you will accompany the next unit and kill the beast since apparently everyone else is incompetent."

Glancing at the scarred and tired troops lining the throne room walls compared to the fat, gold adorned king sat on his ass like a glittery house cat, I couldn't help wondering who was really incompetent.

"Do you understand?" I leaned up to address him directly.
"You're majesty, I appreciate the offer but I have a few requests before I agree." The king looked down annoyed.

"And what would those requests be, Castor?"
"I want to go without any soldiers, and know exactly how much I'm going to be paid."
"Without soldiers? Are you mad, monster hunter?"
"Not as far as I know your majesty. The dragon would be less threatened by a single person, going alone gives me the best chance to kill it without being hurt myself."
"Less threatened? It's a mindless beast, it will kill you regardless of it being threatened or not."
"You believe it will kill me."
"If you are truly idiotic enough to face it by yourself then yes."
"You believed I would be enough to do it despite how many of your soldiers failed before. If you still believe that then I may go alone, unless you wish to work with another hunter?"

Chanterelle's face reddened in anger.
"Fine, you may go alone."
"And my pay."

His face turned an impressively similar shade of red to his robes and I noticed some of the guards trying to hide smiles.

"You get your pay after your job." I cut him off.
"My contract states that you give me half upfront, and tell me how much I'm getting in total. You signed that contract, your majesty."

For a second I wondered if he was angry enough to live up to his fathers image but he gestured to a long haired guard and they left the room.
"You will be getting two thousand gold in total, half now, half after. I believe I wrote that on your contract before it was sent off."

 The guard returned with a crate and knelt to open it beside me. Gold plated coins met my gaze and I picked one up before I responded.
"You did, but it can never hurt to make sure, I'm sure you understand your majesty."
 I dropped the coin to join the rest with a clink. His face darkened even more before he finally dismissed me for the night.

________________________________________________________________________________
Hello anyone who reads this o/
this is one of the first things I've written and i probably wont finish it but i hope you enjoy whatever i end up doing here. it is also almost 1am at the time in typing this so have mercy, i am not excited to correct all this in the morning lol. i hope you liked chapter 1 and Castor because you're gonna be stuck with his pov for a while. goodnight/day :)

edit: ok i dont actually see much to edit other then the last line so the next chapter makes a bit more sense but if you see something tell me to fix it. Also depression is kicking my ass so im only back now.