Chapter 3

Captain Lamar was watching the Levantian guards that came with the princess, trying to guess which of them could cause problems. They might have looked like a ragtag bunch, especially in comparison to the sheer force of the Orrelian army they were surrounded by, but Lamar knew an experienced warrior when he saw one. And he saw several. Especially their captain, Markos as she called him, who kept giving him angry stares, was definitely a battle-hardened veteran. Lamar wouldn't want to cross blades with him. But as he knew king Hayden, there was a big chance he was going to have to. The king of Orrelia wasn't exactly a skilled diplomat. No, the Burning Fury preferred to settle diplomatic rifts by force. The poor girl had no idea who she was dealing with.

Just as he finished that thought, a scream of pain pierced the silence. Muffled by the walls of the building, but still quite distinguishable. Hayden certainly wasted no time. The Levantians jumped up and their captain rushed for the door.

Lamar stepped in his way, fingers twitching and twisting in small gestures as he gave silent orders to his men. "You can't go in there." He tried to sound calm, although it was quite obvious words weren't gonna remedy the situation.

"The fuck are you talking about?" The Levantian stopped, sizing Lamar and the men behind him, hand on the hilt of his blade.

Lamar walked closer to him. The king didn't give him exact orders on what to do with the princess' suite, but he decided to try and keep them alive. They could always kill them later. "Don't be an idiot. If you pull that blade out, you and your people will die. There are seven of you and thousands of us."

The princess cried out again and Marcos drew his sword, pushing Lamar to the side. Quickly waving his soldiers away, Lamar grabbed Levatian's arm, his own sword already in his other hand. Marcos turned at him and their blades clashed with a loud clang. Lamar parried the attack but didn't retaliate, he just kept deflecting and diverting Marcos' strikes, stepping back and leading him away from the house. The Orrelian captain could immediately tell his opponent was an excellent swordsman and there was no way to win the fight without drawing blood. And Lamar didn't want that. Marcos was just trying to defend his princess at all costs, the same thing Lamar would do for his king without hesitation.

The Levantian wasn't stupid and quickly noticed Lamar was trying to draw him away. He shoved him out of the way and turned back to the house. "Now!" Lamar yelled at his men, who were waiting at the side of the path and threw a huge and heavy net over Marcos, immediately jumping at him, trying to tackle him before he could break free. Lamar joined them, grabbing Marcos' wrist. "Drop the sword!" he yelled, putting his knee over Levantian's neck. "Drop the fucking sword or your men will die!"

Marcos grunted, still trying to struggle even with three people holding him down, but he loosened the grip on the hilt and Lamar managed to pry the sword out of his hand. Two more soldiers rushed in with heavy chains. "This is what you assholes call diplomacy?!" Marcos shouted.

Sheathing his blade, Lamar looked over the scene. The rest of the Levantians were already neatly tied up, kneeling on the ground in a short line. Thanks to Lamar's warning, the Orrelians managed to overpower them before they even drew their swords. All things considered, it went quite well.

A few of his men were standing around the carriage, blades in hands. Lamar headed over, curious about what they were doing. "She won't come out, sir," one of them reported upon seeing him.

Lamar glanced under the carriage to see the princess' maid curled up on the ground, hugging her knees, and trembling in fear. "So what, you thought you would stab her?" he sneered at the soldier. "Go away." He crouched and looked at the maid. She found herself a piece of dry land between two muddy puddles but it still couldn't have been very comfortable. "Hey." A smile he tried to put on his face probably made him look even scarier because the girl flinched and sniffled. It was hardly his fault, he wasn't used to dealing with women. "We won't hurt you. Would you like to come out?"

The girl's head shook rapidly. Lamar realized that fear probably wasn't the only reason for her tremble. She was dressed for an indoor diplomatic meeting, not crawling through mud outside, and the temperature started to drop after the sun disappeared behind the horizon. Sighing, Lamar took off his cloak, folded it, and tossed it to the girl. "Take it." Her eyes jumped between him and the small package a few times. Lamar could see she wanted to act brave and refuse it, but the rattling of her teeth changed her mind. She quickly wrapped herself with the thick red and black fabric and Lamar smirked upon seeing her in Orrelian colors.

"Nobody will hurt you if you decide to come out. Or you can stay there, it's really your choice. For now." Probably not a very wise choice of words since the maid frowned and then looked away from him. But it was the truth. He ordered one of his men to just stand aside and keep an eye on the girl and then returned to the Levantian captain.

"Shut the fuck up or I'll gag you." Lamar bent down to Marcos who kept shouting profanities about Orrelians and their king.

A spit landed on Lamar's face. "Come and fight me like a man, worm. I'll rip your guts out and strangle you with it."

"No." Lamar stopped one of his men from striking Marcos and calmly wiped his face. "Listen," he leaned closer to the Levantian and lowered his voice, "I get it. You want to help your princess. But you have to stop acting like an idiot. Yes, Hayden's version of diplomacy is a bit twisted. But he won't kill her. He won't even hurt her, not seriously. And I swear he'll stop when she tells him to stop." At least he always has. So why did the girl keep screaming?

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Marcos' eyes narrowed. "When I get that asshole you call a king into my hands, I'll…" His words were muffled by a piece of cloth Lamar shoved into his mouth. Yes, words certainly weren't going to fix this situation.