His Shield and His Sword (BoyxBoy)

His True Nature

Authors note: Here it is folks! The Kingsmen are finally going to be picked. Next chapter is pretty much something I have been dying to write since I started this story, the prince will finally be introduced. By the way! I just wanted to thank everyone who's been commenting on this story! Honestly reading your comments makes my day and I appreciate them so much :) Enjoy the chapter!

The morning of the final tournament I woke up to the sound of someone packing. Thinking I was imagining it I sat up slowly, the room slowly coming into focus. Munny and Gani were standing to the side, a somber look on their face, and there in the middle was Gerner, his bags out. My eyes widened. Gerner stood up when he saw me, a grin on his face.

"We've been rooming together for almost four months now yet it still never ceases to shock me how much you can sleep through Nicky." I rubbed one eyes with the back of my hand.

"What's going on?"

"I'm leaving." Those words immediately jerked away any drowsiness I had left.

"WHAT? Gerner did you get kicked out...what happened?"

"I didn't get kicked out. I decided on my own accord. The final tournament begins today and honestly I don't deserve to be here. I'm no where near as good as most of you and I...I still feel guilty. I put this off as long as I could but in the end I realized that I need to take responsibility for what I've done." He made his way over to Munny now, ruffling the boy's hair.

"Don't look so down kid." He glanced around the room now, his gaze falling to each of us. "Don't think this is the last time I'll be seeing you. I've made arrangements with my father to be moved to the court. You three all better make it to become Kingsmen so I'll see you there." I was at a loss for words, so were the others. Finally Gani nodded slowly.

"We'll be there. All three of us. I promise you that." Gerner grinned at us.

"Good. I'll hold you to that. Trust me, I'll kick your asses if you don't make it. Good luck." Good luck...my stomach felt like it was twisting to knots.

"Goodbye."

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The final 15 of us stood in a line. In front of us was Orla and the panel of judges from the castle. I only recognized one, he was the man who had come to judge us earlier when picking who was to come to the castle to meet the prince. Orla slowly rose now coming before us to speak.

"We said today would be the final tournament. Before I informed you that you would be going up against each other today. This was a lie. The true nature of the final tournament for the King's Men is top secret and can only be discussed with the participants. By being here you two are vowing to secrecy. If you cannot commit please remove yourselves from the room now." There was a hushed whisper among the trainees but no one moved. Orla nodded slowly. "Good. Bring out the chamber." Two guards rolled something out now. It looked like a giant black orb that could fit perhaps one or two people. I could faintly make out some kind of door allowing one to enter. "As I said, this part of your training is top secret. This chamber was claimed thousands of years ago before sorcery and dark magic was banned from the kingdom. I said you will no longer be going up against each other...you will be going up against yourselves. Inside this chamber you must face your worst fears. The faster you get out the better your score. Those who can not make it out in the signature time frame of an hour will automatically be eliminated. I will not say this has never been...casualty free. Thrown out or not hopefully you will still be alive by the time the hour is up. Good luck." She pulled out a small silk bag and pulled out a name. "Aubin you're first." The lanky dark haired young man from the blue team slipped past us and slowly was helped into the chamber. The second the door closed I almost immediately felt the panic hit as did some of the others around me. I made my way over to Gani who looked as shaken as I was.