Checkmate

Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

 

Acute irritation pricks up the back of my neck at the arrogant Prince’s expression of flat-out disdain.  He does not shake Gay’s offered hand, but instead levels the gleaming sword to a threatening position above Gay’s vulnerable heart.  Only the man's thin shirt separates the sword from his flesh.  The coolness in Nathiel's voice does not match the friendly grin of Gay, greatly contradicting the mood my friend had carefully constructed.  

The son of the Emperor has power.  He is mighty and strong as an ox.  Undermining his authority has taxing consequences, and he carries himself in a manner which shows not only his comfort in his role but also with his higher position in society.  

“Who are you?” the Prince demands accostingly, voice low and slow.  His mask shields his face, glinting in the moonlight.  With the darkness of the night, the twirling spires truly do appear to be devilish horns rather than a regal crown.  

Gay’s smile falters.  He holds his hands up in a gesture of surrender, pursing his lips and staring at the Prince indignantly.  “Who am I – who are you, to be asking me those questions?” he wonders, tone still light as a diaphanous feather, smile just as beatific as before.  “Because I just saved your ass, sir.”  The last word sounds like a jeer, a taunt. 

Alarm rattles in my chest with the same rhythm as my thundering heart.  My glance at him is abasing.  

The anger rolling off of Nathiel’s figure is treacherous.  The regal heat of his fury sends me into a pathetic case of cowering.  With a frame such as his, the Prince can most assuredly throw a punch, and I am far too aware of Gay's ability to fell a man.  Even if Gay manages to pull off royal murder, he'll be hunted down like a Genetic.  This will only end in gore if allowed to continue.  

Hurriedly, I thrust myself between the two men.  Using the bare tips of my fingers, I gingerly nudge the Prince’s icy sword away from Gay’s unprotected chest.  My back to Gay, I stand in a defensive position of both warriors.  An arbitrator.  As the buffer between the two men, the heat of both of their flammable irritation leaves me particularly vulnerable.  Both of these men are powerful in separate ways, and neither of them is happy about the other.  The lion and the fox are both feared predators, and yet, not once do you seem them getting along.

“Nathiel, this is a dear friend of mine, Gay,” I introduce, keeping careful eye contact with his blazing pupils.  I have no doubt that, given the opportunity, he’d slit Gay’s throat like a common swine.  Not turning my back on Nathiel for an instant, I beckon Gay forth to my side.  He complies without complaint, standing at my shoulder in a gesture of brotherly protection.  I can smell the scent of smoke hugging his threadbare clothing with the proximity.  “Gay, this is Nathiel, Prince of the Aurum Empire.  I highly advise you treat him with more respect.”

Luckily, Gay’s intelligent enough to translate that as a deadly warning; this is my chance we’ve been discussing for months, and if he screws it up, then there will be hell to pay.  Thankfully, he first stiffens rigidly and then relaxes by my side.  The air swirls with his infectious warmth.  

“Oh, ah, sorry, Your Majesty.”  Gay’s benign tone is drenched with unnoticeable sarcasm; it had taken me months to notice that this gloriously reverent cadence of his is actually a hidden mock.  The Prince, though he may be more socially diverse than I, will never mistake it as an insincere voice.  “I had no clue.  Forgive me, sir.”

The upturned corners of Nathiel’s lips put a rather outraging notion into my head along the lines of the Prince’s amusement.  In his eyes, this is undoubtedly how his servants should be: submissive, apologetic, and pathetic.  But what can you expect from a savage with no concept of trickery or deceit?  What can you expect from one born into a life of lounging atop the woes of others on a throne of lies?  What can you expect from one who dare not venture into the real world out of fear of what it may be?