Captain of the Guard. Legend of the Four Kingdoms. Book 1 bxb ✔️

3. Meeting the enemy

Despite his predicament, Art was still disappointed to only see the ugly faces of the lower palace guards. They ruffed him up pretty bad without asking any questions. When a foul stench filled his nostrils, he realized why.

Randolph Nox, Lieutenant of the Guard, Beta under Wren, was a nasty piece of work. He was feared and hated in the Palace. Rumor has it that his breath could sink ships and while the man slowly approached , Art could concur with these rumors. Charlotte was whining quietly because of the offensive smell.

Forced on his knees by two guards, the Beta stopped before him. Art had an excellent view of the man's boots, because a hand on his head made him bow.

"Who polished your boots? Because they are spotless!", he remarked in mocked admiration, earning himself a knee in the back.

"Shut your mouth, Omega", spat the guard to his left.

A riding crop was placed under his chin and forced his head up. A face that would frighten little children appeared before him.

"Attempting to assassinate the Crown Prince is a hanging offence yet you seem to be unconcerned."

Foul smelling breath tortured his fine senses.

"Breath on me some more and you'll cheat the hangman out of a payday", he replied making gaging noises.

The reward for this sassy remark was a kick in the stomach by one of these perfectly polished boots.

"If I weren't under orders to bring you no harm, I've would have taking pleasure in killing you. Slowly", said Nox with a voice that could freeze lava. "Clean him up!"

Art huffed in disbelieve. Not bring him harm? Well that was a load of bullshit! He was pretty sure his face was a bloody mess and by the feel of it he had broken at least two ribs and three fingers on his right hand.

And who had given the order not to bring him harm? Maybe it came from Wren and was code for; Don't kill him just yet, because I want to finish him off myself.

Nah, that would be ridiculous. Nobody, beside the royal family, knew that he was the son of Aldair Balthazar. In the eyes of everybody that knew him, he was just an Omega nobody. Why would Wren take time out of his busy schedule to dirty his hands on the help?

On the other hand, if it was Alexi who had ordered it, maybe he would live long enough for his mother to beat him to a pulp, because of his stupid actions he was now unable to collect the laundry!

'I just wanted to see Alexi', Charlotte said, silently using all her energy to heal him.

"Me too", he agreed.

He was dragged away and given the roughest scrub down of his life.

Shivering thanks to the ice-cold water that soaked his tattered clothes, trying to walk in shackles while his wounds were nowhere near to being healed, he was forcibly dragged to a large room currently occupied by only four people.

Art felt the presence of the Captain of the Guard before he saw him and straightened his back. He would rather die than show weakness in front of Orlando Wren.

Paying too much attention on keeping himself standing tall, he lost his balance when the guards forced him to his knees saying: "Kneel before your King", and fell flat on his face.

His escort picked him up, revealing his beat-up face.

Art could hear the shocked gasp of Alexi who said: "I gave the order not to bring him any harm, Captain Wren. Clearly it wasn't followed."

"My men take your safety to heart, Your Highness. I cannot blame them for feeling anger towards your would be assassin", a deep and dry voice smoothly answered.

"Like I told you before, Captain, I know this boy and he would never harm me."

Art's head was kept down making him grunt in frustration. He wanted to see what his enemy looked like. To size him up. He also wanted to see Alexi and greet him properly. But the need to see Wren was stronger and to his astonishment Charlotte felt the same.

For a moment his mind went blank. 'What do you mean by this? You love Alexi. Why are you suddenly siding with me?'

'He didn't stop his men from hurting you and that's bad. You know how much I hate bullies", Charlotte growled.

Agreed. But Art felt there was more to her behavior even though this was not the time to dwell on it.

"Release him at once", Alexi ordered.

From the corner of his eye, Art noticed how the shadow head of Wren nodded. Abruptly his escorts stepped back and without their support he lost his balance and fell on his face again.

This time he felt the warm hands of Alexi helping him up. The familiar scent of the Prince brought tears to his eyes. Squinting heavily he forced them back. Now was not the time for a happy reunion.

"Come, Father would like to speak to you", said Alexis supporting him.

The deep respect Art held for King Dimitri showed when he ignored the presence of Wren and looked only at his ruler.

"Remove these shackles."

After a slight nod of Wren a guard stepped forward and removed the restrains.

"It seems you made quite a disturbance today, Arthur", said the King with a warm voice. "Alexi said that Stormrider acted on a auditory signal and pranced, nearly throwing him."

"Sire", Art said getting down on one knee. "I was excited to see the Prince and the horse. I meant to send the signal for halt. All I wanted was to greet the Prince and welcome him home."

"How is it even possible that you know the horse of the Prince?", he heard the hard voice of Wren ask.

Art froze. How could he explain without revealing his identity?

"Arthur was raised om the same farm as my son."

The friendly tone of the King allowed Art to relax a little and sneak a peek of the man on his left.

He had imagined the face of this man ever since he learned of his father's fate.

What he imagined was a Troll like Nox times a hundred. Hell, like a thousand!

What he got made him speechless.