The Tail of the Sword and Shield #Wattys2020

Chapter 6: Clash of Lances

The job was supposed to be simple, he said. Just detain the Prince and the bard and you'll be a general, an adviser with the war council, he said. He didn't include this! Volsair thought with a growl, now he was trying to haul a hitting and kicking Cordelia onto his horse. 

He would have had better luck trying to hold a fish  tail with his teeth. Good thing he was wearing long sleeves, leather bracers, and a vest, she had already sunk her teeth into him twice.

"Listen up!" Volsair growled, his arm gripping Cordelia around her waist. "You are coming back to the palace with me. You are a fugitive from justice, facing charges of sedition and hiding a fugitive."

Cordelia glared at Volsair, her long hair mussed up from the struggle. "Go kiss a fire Fae." She snapped as she grabbed his forearm and threw herself off the horse, taking Volsair with her. They landed in a heap, on the hard packed earth and as luck would have it, Volsair landed on her. His face inches from hers, a short curl fell, framing his temple, Volsair ignored it, then lowered his voice. "You're not going to make this any easier on yourself now are you?"

"Bite me." She retorted, his arm was still under her if she could somehow distract him to get away and find the Prince. Then they would go find the mountain The Oracle had foresaw.

"And you aren't going to make this easier. Of course." Volsair said.

***

Cordelia could feel his breath on her neck. Before this quest, Cordelia wouldn't have minded it, but with him in league with the Prince's uncle, he was gonna get it! 

"Oh really now?" Cordelia asked, kneeing Volsair in the gut before he could respond, he fell to the side, holding his abdomen, in pain. Cordelia sprang to her feet and bolted for the tree line, it didn't matter where she ran, all that mattered was-FWUMP! The next thing she knew she was face down on the ground, she couldn't move her arms no matter how much she tried.

"Let's try this again," Volsair said, his hand was on the corner of Cordelia's scarf. "You're going to tell me where The Prince is, and then I'm bringing the two of you back to the palace."

Cordelia twisted her head so she could see him out the corner of her eye. "I'm doing this to protect the throne, not someone who stole power from his dying brother."

Volsair had crawled up beside Cordelia, his hand gently resting on her arm. "What did you say?" he asked quizzically rising an eyebrow.

"I'm shouldering these charges of sedition, to protect the throne of Eldoria." She said, unsure how to break it down simpler than that.

"I'm the Captain of the Guard. I protect the king!" Volsair said.

"There's a difference between protecting the king and the throne. The captain of the guard should know this."

"How? How is there a difference?"

"If you untangle my arms, I'll tell you."

"Alright, but no funny business."

"I won't." Cordelia promised "Too tired from falling off the horse."

***

Volsair let go of Cordelia's scarf, allowing her to untangle her arms from it.

Volsair sat down on the ground with a sigh. Honestly, if we had just talked in the beginning. We could have avoided that unnecessary tussle.  he thought, examining an almost perfect bite impression she had left in the leather bracer. If he hadn't gotten her off of him like he did, she would have punctured the leather. Oh, wow. Volsair thought noting the four teeth marks that looked significantly sharper than the others. I know she's a Siren, but still, you wouldn't want those fangs connecting with your throat. He cleared his throat and asked, "You were saying how you're protecting the throne?"