His Shield and His Sword (BoyxBoy)

Rat Chase

Sorry about how late this chapter was! I was sick almost all week and then at a con! I'm going to try to get 2-3 chapters out this week so the story is where is was supposed to be before I got sick! Hope you guys enjoy the next couple chapters cause a lot is about to go down ;)))

I sat across a chessboard from Edgar who was watching me through lidded eyes.

"Nicolai I have you in checkmate again." He moved his piece forward and I sighed softly leaning back in my chair.

"You got me your highness. I never seem to be able to stand a chance against you." I saw a hint of a smile creep into Edgar's face at that.

"No one does." He cleared the board and began to set it up once more. "Soon Nicolai, soon everything will be in place. We will come and I will take back everything that's been snatched away from me." Slowly be placed the final pawn down on the board as he looked up to meet my gaze. "The false prince must die."

"Nicky! Nicky wake up!" I jerked awake at the sound of the voice which caused me to slam my head right into Gerner's who had somehow managed to perch over me.

"Ow...Gerner what the fuck..." I mumbled rubbing my forehead. The larger boy laughed.

"Looks like the princess finally awakes. Today's the big day. Do you have all your stuff packed?" I sat up and looked around suddenly realizing everyone else was already dressed and ready to go.

"Shit! I overslept! Why did no one wake me up?"

"Because Gerner tried and you just head butted him," Munny said with a snicker. "Don't worry though, Gani already packed your stuff. Just get dressed and we can leave."

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"As you all know these next two weeks are not only going to be the last of your training but the most important as well." We stood around Orla near the entrance to the town watching her. She had begun speaking to us almost immediately after we had exited the carriages and wouldn't let a single person pass until she had given us all the instructions. She didn't have to do much work to make sure every boy's eye was on her however, everyone had been dying of curiosity to know what this mysterious activity Orla had planned for us was. "There will be some changes after today. The ranking list will no longer be available for you to view." This earned a low gasp from the group. "These are the last two weeks of your training and we will be putting everything you've learned to the test to see how you can test your skills in a real situation. There are currently only 16 of you left. You will have to perform a task today which will be added to your final ranking and in exactly a week and six days from today you will compete in the final tournament." The crowd went completely silent again. We had heard rumors of a final tournament but it had never been officially announced. "You will go up against each other in front of a panel of advisors from the palace, great amounts of points in the final tournament will be awarded to the victor but only the panel of advisors will be able to know who is in the top. Do not concern yourself with the tournament at this moment, let us, for now, concentrate at the task at hand."

"About time." I heard Gerner whisper to Munny behind me. Orla held up something and I had to get up on my tippy toes to get a good look at what it was. What Orla held appeared to be some kind of vial with a green looking substance inside.

"Your number one goal is to protect the prince," Orla said, holding up the strange vial higher. "The number one threat to the prince is assassins." I felt my blood run cold at the words. "There are many ways to assassinate someone. You could stab them...strangle them or," she glanced down to the vial, "...poison them. Today you will have to stop a fake assassination attempt. Three groups of men are currently carrying three vials like these. You are about to be divided into groups of two. Your goal is to get the vial from the men and return it to me by the end of the night."