The Prince's Captain

Chapter Three

Tristan woke well before Theodore did the next morning, feeling the sorrow from the last two days weighing down on his shoulders he walks downstairs to ask the woman some questions.

"Good morning sir!" She says happily and he smiles in response, not wanting to be nasty to the woman.

"I was wondering if you knew somewhere we could buy some supplies? Stuff like fresh clothing, food and all that great stuff." Tristan says and she nods, placing the rag in her hand down and leaning on the counter.

"I've actually got some stuff and fresh clothing in the back, why don't you go grab your friend and come with me?" She replies and Tristan grins at her happily, running back up to pounce on Theo; the blonde groans and pushes the tall Prince off of him.

"Why are you waking me so early?" He mumbles, pulling the blanket over his head.

"Because Theodore, we need to get supplies and it's actually not that early. The sun is well and truly in the sky," the Prince tells him, Theo throwing the blanket off him and getting out of the bed with a frown.

"Why didn't you wake me earlier?"

"You seemed to need the rest so I didn't want to disturb you."

They stare at each other before Theo shrugs and follows the brunet down the stairs and to the woman who tells them to follow her out into the store room. They come to the very back and she begins going through the clothing that has been put to the side, handing the boys two shirts and two pairs of pants each and then grabbing some soap off the shelf and after putting it into a little bag, she hands it to Theo.

"Where can we wash?"

"I don't have anything to help you bathe here, but there's a private swimming hole not far from here towards the next town that you can freshen up at," she speaks softly and they nod, moving to leave before she grabs Theo by the forearm. "Let me give you a map and some food before you leave, I'm sure it'll be a while before you can get more."

He nods, and she grabs the bag back to fill it with bread and dried meats as well as a map. He takes the bag when it's held out to him and nods to the girl again when she ushers them out of the inn, they jump on their horses and begin their journey to the swimming hole.

They were still riding hours later in search of this water hole, Tristan soon getting annoyed with the waste of time.

"Of course you could've charm it out of her exactly where this place is meant to be," Tristan says loudly causing Theo to snort.

"She was pretty but she wouldn't have told us exactly where it is anyway, she probably didn't know herself where it is." Theo muses, running a hand through his hair and looking at his friend with amusement.

"Still, the way she was looking at you made it seem like she wanted to be all over you like a rash," the Prince tells him and Theo laughs, shaking his head.

"If we had the time, I probably would have let her," his laughter cutting short at the sound of flowing water, he kicks into the sides of his horse and spurs him through the thick brush to the right of the trail they were following, coming to a halt on the other side at the sight of a large river. The water was rushing but not too fast or strong that the boys wouldn't be able to wash off the dirt from the last few days.

Theo immediately jumps down from his horse and not even waiting for the Prince before he dives into the water fully clothed, thinking of stripping once he's in the water. He breaks the surface and sees the Prince just diving into the cool water, that's when Theo begins stripping off his clothes; his shirt coming away from his chest like a second skin it was that wet and stuck to him. His pants were much easier to get off, and he moves over to set them on the rocky area near where the Prince had tied the horses. Tristan copies him and pulls his clothes off once he comes up for air and the boys set to washing the dirt away, though Tristan kept getting distracted by his smaller friends body. Trying desperately to make sure Theo didn't notice him looking, he kept his head down but the way the water was dripping down the blonde body was enough to make the brunette's blood boil and race through his veins.