the king and the pawn

king Bradley Manley, is a strong man in character and physically. also he is a man with a strong voice. with which he has made more than few enemies shake, but more than anything he is a caring father. he always thinks about the happiness of his dear daughter. he is right now in a silent war with another three nations.

a war which is risky, because they all are waiting for an physical attack to be able to take over the other nations. assassins, heroes, and politicians had been send to the other nations with the idea of sacrificing a few pawns to take the other kings out.

but the problem is that the four nations are doing the same thing, so every man that they send is killed and every spy they find are killed. this silent war is in a critical stage in which no one is winning. they are desperate to attack the other nations without losing the war.

king Bradley knows about this. he knows that out there are more than two enemies who seem this as an opportunity to commit treason.

he wants to keep his daughter safe, because if he dies at least she will be out there to protect his people and save their nation from the claws of those bastards, those bastards who only want power and richness without seen the wrong that they do to others.

Garrett Mitchell, the king's most loyal guard who is a killing machine trained since a child. he has already received the order to protect the king's daughter and to be at her side, if anything happens to the king.

even if he is a man trained to kill and who knows no more than the arts of the war, he is really polite and he respects his king and is loyal to him like no other.

Garrett Mitchell used to be an orphan who lost all his family on one of the many battles in between nations and he was left alone without hope. it was then when the King took him in and he trained him to be the loyal guard that he is now.

Garrett has always been grateful towards the kind king. he sees the king like a father figure. and there is no fight that he can't fight nor order that he can't follow for his king. the person who took care of him when no one else cared.

king Bradley received a message from an oracle a year and two months ago. this message predicted his death, which is supposed to be soon by the hands of a mysterious assassin from another kingdom. his daughter will depend of the same assassin to die or live.

since that moment he has send people to kill any assassin who is inside of his kingdom or to arrest any suspicious man. many may think that the king has gone completely mad, or that he is so paranoid for no reason, but he knows better than no one else that the oracle has never been wrong.

the king also knows that his nephew has being plotting his death for a long time. he might be seen cruel or evil to the eyes of many, but what they don't know is that he is actually a good king who cares for his people and who is righteous with everyone.

tonight there is going to be a party. in which many will try to kill him. he knows that is the perfect time to be kill, so he has already told Garrett that if anything happens he must take his daughter to safety first.

the king has a whole army ready for the worst and the time isn't any good at all. he at least will give them a fight before his last breathe. to be sure, anything that can be important or of value has been taken out of the castle.

for the last four months he has been secretly sending his treasures to another parts of his kingdom, to secret places that only his most trusted men know about. of course he has been careful to keep everything in secret.

at least he wants to have the last laugh when those traitors get to enter in the palace to find nothing, but a whole army waiting to massacre them. of course it is too soon to know what is going to be the future of this kingdom, but at least he is trying to stand strong and with a huge smile in front of all this chaos.

King Bradley has an spy following Logan's steps, so he will know if something happens. he also knows the identities of all of the assassins working for Logan. which are about twenty and half of them had been capture or kill in the last few months.

there is a final move that Logan doesn't see coming. that is the fact that the assassin working for king Bradley, is actually a former mercenary from his original homeland. when the king brought him with him. he didn't came empty handed, actually he came with guns and explosives from the earth.

so if anything happens, he has the approval of the king to lead his people to a bloody war against his enemies.

King Bradley goes to his room for a moment. he looks at his hand with the ring that proves that he is a king. in this kingdom isn't the crown but an especial ring that gives you the legitimate right to be a king. in other words with no ring no kingdom. he hides the ring inside his pockets.

the king is thinking clearly in to whom he has to give the ring when the time seems right. in the wrong hands the kingdom can be gone.

if he gives the ring to his daughter he will turn her into a target for his enemies, but if he gives the ring to the wrong person that could be atrocious for his people and his kingdom. after a moment he looks at the bright sky.

he thinks in how to do his final move to avoid checkmate and go for a tie in this political game, he has a moment in which he understands how to play his moves.

Garrett is walking around the kingdom thinking about the words of his king when he looks at the princess Alice Manley. he asks her why isn't she in her room. she asks about her older brother who is supposed to come from his long journey.

Garrett can answer by telling her that it isn't right nor safe for a princess to be alone in the castle. he tells her that she must be at all time in her room to avoid the enemies of her father. they can take her as an hostage.

"Gar you have a huge imagination and watch your tongue don't forget with whom you are talking to."

the princess said.

Garrett is so nervous but he can't tell her anything about the oracle. he did promised to his king to keep quiet about it, but now he feels like he doesn't have a choice or the princess whom he has to protect will end up killing him of a heart attack.

while he wanted to find an answer. he hears the strong voice of someone who was walking behind of him. when Garrett turns around, he looks at Cole Cotton.

Cole Cotton is the assassin that signed the contract with the king to cut off the head of his nephew. a man that is violent and unpredictable.

he is a man in whom Garrett doesn't trust, but he has not much of a choice. after all his king told him to be polite towards him. his king completely trust in this man. Garrett tries to talk to Cole, but he pushes him.

"look you little brat, someone wants to kill you and your father. the job of this pussy is to protect you, but if you can't let him do his job. we will be so fuck if something happens to you, so do us a favor and go to your room before I drag you there myself. and don't dare to threat me, after all I had the full support of your daddy dearest."

said Cole looking coldly at her eyes.

Alice goes running to her room crying. Garrett looks at Cole really furious and with the desire to punch him in the face, but he knows that the assassin was right. but he couldn't tolerate his rebel behavior. the worst part is that the assassin has won his king's favor as his right hand.

Cole walks towards Garrett who was still furious.

"you might already have know by now, but if you don't. I am here because he is around this area with at least seven assassins. I had been following them for enough time to know that two of them are the real deal. oh hell, tonight Troy is going to burn. is going to be so bloody. so stay close to the girl. even if she accuses you of been a stalker or annoying. you must secured her way out of the castle tonight."

Cole whispers in Garrett's ear.

"yes I will be there right now. if you need help haunting down the assassins, I can give you a small group of royal knights."

Garrett said nervous.

Cole turns around. he is confuse trying to understand if the royal guard was serious or joking. Cole felt like the royal guard's comment was offensive for a professional like him.

"thanks softy for the offer, but I am a lone wolf. all the haunting is way more fun that way, those man will be of better use by the king's side. now I had heads to cut off."

Garrett goes to the princess room.

Cole goes to a cellar in which he takes a riffle and many bullets, he also took a pistol and some smoke grenades. then he goes to the last place in which he saw one of the assassins. he is smiling with excitement.

.....

Cole enters in a dinning place. he looks at two assassins. he sits in front of them. Cole asks a stupid question trying to see how serious are this two man.

"go away."

"we are on working hours, fucker."

that was the answer of the two assassins.

it seems like they didn't know who was in front of them. Cole smiled thinking about his luck. a man from earth who doesn't recognized a fellow human from the same world, it is funny to him.

"did you came here to kill someone?"

asks Cole with a sinister smile.

the two assassins are quiet. they look at each other with confusion & anger. they touch their weapons waiting for a wrong move to take it out and kill him.

"don't get me wrong boys, I am also in here to kill someone."

said Cole with a cold look on his eyes.

Cole starts talking bullshit about a man who stole from him a horse. like he said 'the horse' or his horse 'Paco.' he starts to talk about how he struggled to recover his favorite horse. he even enters into details which are half bullshit and half truth about events that happen to him on the past.

as Cole continues with the story of 'Paco' and the thief, he abruptly ends the story with 'Paco' dead and him on the middle of nowhere dying. he enters into details of how real he thought his death was going to be this time.

once he finish the story he tells them about how a man saved him. he is now trying to kill someone who is trying to take his new 'Paco' away from him.

"was 'Paco' real? or was it all bullshit?"

asks one of the assassins out of curiosity.

"excuse me, I forgot to explain that I name most of my things 'Paco.' and now I have a 'Paco' for you."

said Cole with a sinister smile.

Cole takes a gun out and he aims at one of the two assassins. the other assassin was about to touch his own weapon. Cole shoots at him multiple times making sure that he is really dead.

Cole raises his other hand holding another gun. he is aiming at the assassin who is still alive. Cole explains to him that it isn't personal. Cole tells him that he has to do, what he has to do in order to keep his income.

"do you know where is Logan?"

asks Cole waiting for an answer.

the assassin answers with silence aware that he was a dead man. it doesn't matter if he answers or if he doesn't. the assassin could feel it, death coming for his soul.

Cole smiles admiring the bravery of the assassin. Cole shoots at him twice on the head. some of the blood falls on Cole's face. he leaves some money on the table as he stands up. Cole leaves after making sure that those two are dead.

.....

meanwhile inside of the Royal Palace; Garrett is in front of the door of the princess' room, he is waiting for further instructions. he asks her if she is hungry and she asks him to leave, but he refuses.

Garrett has to stay in there even if the worst happens. he has to stay in there until the time comes for him to take her out of the castle. nowhere is safe anymore on the castle, but right now he is going to wait.

the princess asks him for a pozole for dinner. there is a chef that made a contract with the king many years ago. King Bradley used to have many of those expedition to other worlds from which all the assassins, heroes and more people came from.

Garrett leaves to tell the chef. Garrett felt glad because he believed that the princess was finally behaving rationally. 'she is going to eat and she will stop complaining' he thought.

Alice is in her room waiting and thinking about escaping to the festival. her father has never been this strict about her safety. she fears that there might be another attempt of a putsch. yes she is arrogant, stubborn and rebellious, but she is intelligent.

princess Alice has study the ways of politics under many great teachers. she has also study about war so she has knowledge about what has been happening in between the strongest kingdoms in the territory of Moralis.

she takes her dress off at the same time that Garrett enters in her room with the pozole. he wants to justify his actions, but he doesn't find the right words to say.

"well do you like what you see? do you know that I can make it possible for you to be castrated tomorrow morning?"

yields Alice with a cruel smile.

Garrett leaves the pozole in the floor. he leaves closing the door. she laughs and she takes the plate from the floor.

"what an animal trying to get himself blind. the worst, he leaves this on the floor. a true animal, I will force him to eat from the floor later."

said Alice with sinister laughter.

she starts to eat her food while thinking about getting out of the palace, at least for some minutes.