#writingcanbehard

Ryan gave a small wave to the bartender who nodded while trying to avoid his eyes, he opened the backdoor and closed it behind him with a gentle click, he peeled his hood off then fixed his hair. The mask he wore was of simple design- a half mask with a curved section made to look like horns, Ryan doesn’t know who made them or how many were made, it seemed like Edgar always had a few to spare when Ryan would lose them or have to leave them behind. Five years in and Ryan always wondered if the mask maker was regretting making them, murderers of Edgars clan made them, he doesn’t know the official name for the group, it was different everywhere. The devils, horns, cows, the hole, Ryan liked the last one because whoever was targeted ended up in the hole. Grabbing the latch he opened up the cellar and headed down, various bodies were scattered but he never dared to find out if they were living or not, just get the new assignment and get out. Ryan made his way to a room labeled Edgar, he knocked then waited, a small trembling figure opened the door, he ignored the few desperate looks the boy made him as he entered,

  “Ryan, I’m glad you could make it” said Edgar, a similar but different mask covered his bosses face. Although it had horns the mask covered everywhere but his eyes and two small holes for him to breathe from, obviously he only wore this around his “employees”.

“Well if I hadn’t of showed you would have killed me, so not many options there” Ryan sarcastically replied.

“Pleasure to have you here” sneered Edgar, although their conversations were mixed with sarcasm and spite it was Edgar who had picked him up off the street and given him a home, money, clothes, given him a reason.

“My next target?” asked Ryan,

“Details are in there, ask around town for some information, I believe there is an event coming up, quite a big one, use that, get close and we’ll proceed.” replied Edgar handing him an envelope,

“Of course, starter money?” questioned Ryan,

“See the attendant, three hundred should be fine.” said Edgar scrawling on some paper before handing it to Ryan, he nodded and headed towards the door. The small boy opened it,

“Oh and another thing, don’t let me have to finish this one off, we will not have a repeat of Georgia.” drawled Edgar with a sigh, just because he was his boss, doesn’t mean he isn’t an ass.

“Yes sir.” gritted Ryan through his teeth, he stalked off towards the money attendant and handed over the piece of paper, three bags of gold were given, he placed them in his satchel and pulled on his hood. Making his way up the stairs then out the back room, he nodded towards the bartender who ignored him, asshole…

Ryan wakes up early the next day and begins his walk, the air is cool and he shivers with every step. The sun hasn't rose over the mountains yet making the sky a soft blue colour, the creek is to his right babbling away. His now brown instead of maroon hood and cape is draped over him, he wears a white button up shirt and black pants, he wants to wear his kilt but it was too cold for that.

The galloping of horses startles him out of his thoughts, he takes a few steps towards the river and off the path, he is glad he did because a man riding a brown horse goes speeding past. He cries out in joy telling the horse to go faster, Ryan is about to step out when he hears another horse galloping towards him. This one black with a white patch on its face? Or maybe it didn't, the man cried out telling the other to slow down. He gets back onto the path and continues on his way, it isn't long before slow but steady horse clops towards them. Bales of hay sit on the back, a burly ginger man sits on the cart.

"Hello." says the man, Ryan nods awkwardly, he considers asking if he could ride on the back but some farmers are greedy and ask for too much. He needs enough to get him a room to stay, and food.

"Sir would I be able to ride of the back, for a reasonable fee of course." asked Ryan walking fast beside the cart to keep up.

"Sir? Just for that you can ride for free." replies the man.

"Really?" asks Ryan.

"Sure, why not, should be room in the back if you want to rest." replies the bearded man with a friendly grin.

"That would be amazing, thank you so much." says Ryan climbing on and into the back.

"I'm Jack Pattillo." introduced the man.

"J- Ryan Haywood." says Ryan.

"Heading to Valdeen?" asked Jack.

"Yes, I was hoping to see the city before I leave." said Ryan.

"Where after here?" asked the ginger, he closed his eyes but continued with the conversation.

"I need to get out of the country for a bit, Valdeen is close to the sea so it works out well." replied Ryan.

"And what do you do?" asked Jack.

"I don't know." replied Ryan honestly. There was a slight awkward pause where neither of them said anything. After an hour or so the sound horses moving against the earth changed to the clip clop of the stone road, he lifted his head and watched all of the houses go by.

"Can I ask a few questions about this place?" asked Ryan hesitantly.

"Sure!" replied Jack enthusiastically.

"Who owns these lands?" asked Ryan.

"Well we have a bit of a strange king at the moment, but he's trying to look out for his people, the last king was corrupted and ruined a lot of, well, everything." explained Jack.

"What's his name?" asked Ryan.

"Geoff Ramsey." responded Jack.

"Is he fair king?" questioned Ryan.

"Most of the time, just don't try and take his drinks away." joked Jack.

"Who's the next in line?" asked Ryan frowning at the laughing children running around on the streets for half a second.

"A young lad, from a neighboring country brought here when he was young, peace treaty sort of deal." responded Jack, the climb up the hill was drawing to an end. The castle looked magnificent, the white mixed in with the gold reflected off the sunlight making it glow.

"You sure know a lot about this place for a person that delivers hay." said Ryan.

"Well, that and I'm the King's right hand." confessed the bearded man, Ryan froze in his spot. Jack clicked his tongue making the cart come to a stop, as if on command two men appeared beside the cart ready to take it away. Jack grabbed his satchel and smiled at the two guards who gave a confused look to Ryan.

"He's fine." said Jack waiting for him to step off the cart.

"How much for the ride up here?" asked Ryan fumbling to grab his money.

"Don't trouble yourself, this place is expensive anyway." replied Jack with a wink, a black haired man and red-head came through the entrance doors clearly arguing about something.

"Evening Michael, Ray." said Jack.

"Hi Jack." replied the two sourly.

"What's the problem?" asked Jack.

"Gavin can't come out to the village today because apparently he's on castle arrest till the festival, Geoff thinks he's going to run off." replied Ray.

"Why would he do that?" asked Jack.

"He has to make a speech." responded Ray.

"Oh god." said the bearded man in slight horror.

"Yeah, and I told the king that if he keeps him kept up here that's only going to make him worse." said Michael.

"Did you say this in front of everyone or one on one?" asked Jack.

"Everyone." muttered Michael, wait was he Michael or the other one?

"There's your problem, he hates hearing stuff like that, people talk Michael, imagine if some said that you were going to betray the kingdom." replied Jack, nope that was him.

"I'd cut out their tongues." threatened Michael.

"That's gonna make it worse." said Ryan, he almost cursed himself to over three hundred gods that he didn't have time to name individually.

"Who're you?" asked Michael.

"I... Uhhh..." stuttered Ryan, better to play the stuttering fool than a know it all, wait was he a know it all?

"Don't rip his head off, this is Ryan, comes from.. Where abouts again?" said Jack patting Ryan on the back.

"Georgia originally, bit of a vagabond." replied Ryan.

"Right, well me and Ray are off, got people in the village a bit west of here complaining about creepers." said Michael taking a few steps away.

"I can see why you would have wanted Gavin to come with you, good luck!" responded Jack.

"Keep his mind active yeah? Riddles or something." suggested Ray.

"He's not eight Ray." replied the bearded man shaking his head.

"Could have fooled me." said Ray following Michael away.

"Want to earn a free nights stay?" asked Jack.

"Yes." replied Ryan.

"Go with them, help 'em out." said Jack.

"I can do that." responded Ryan enthusiastically, this version of himself was going to kill him.

"Take my horse, it's name is Bacon, it's the light brown one, you'll see it." explained Jack.

"Light brown one, got it." replied Ryan.

"Ray!" shouted his new friend, the shorter man turned to see Jack point above his head and give him the thumbs up, Ray replied with two thumbs up. Was that a good thing? Did he just join a cult? He ran to catch up with the two men. Ray was dressed in a white shirt covered by a black vest, his pants were black, the only notable thing about him was his glasses and a red rose that was pinned against his vest. Michael wore a furry bear hat, brown hoodie with a blue backpack, his yellow pants were what made him stand out.

"Do you actually have an weapons?" asked Michael drawing him out of his thoughts, the both of them were putting mounting their horses.

"Weapons, oh uhh yes, I have a few blades." replied Ryan pulling out a blade from his belt. It was mainly for general blade use, well envelope cutting mostly and cutting people.

"Blades are not going to help you with creepers, ever encountered one?" asked Michael, only a few hundred...

"Once or twice." said Ryan, Ray rolled his eyes and set off ahead of them.

"Ask Ray for a sword, I think he'd be okay with working with one." said Michael, he nodded spotting a oddly coloured horse, it almost looked green under the light.

"Thanks, just uh, whose is that horse?" asked Ryan, Michael looked over and smirked.

"Thats Grisham, Ga- the prince’s horse" replied Michael correcting his speech after almost saying the princes name.

"Do you know the prince well?" questioned Ryan.

"Yes, I've been friends with him since he we were young, nevermind that now, we have to catch up to Ray." replied Michael waiting for him to get onto Jack’s horse.

"Race?" joked Ryan.

"Ha, really? Haven't been here long then, alright" replied Michael grinning, they both set off in fast haste, he hadn't accounted for two things. How fast Michael’s horse was, and how slow Jack’s was, maybe he should have ridden his horse into town, too many people would recognise it though. The small village outside of town seemed like a setback to anyone else doing the job, but the more friendlier he was to anyone who knew the prince the faster he would be able to complete his mission. Some of the buildings had been exploded by the suicidal tendencies of the creepers. Ray was already there and fighting off one, he moved quickly while attacking the creatures, the two blades merely acted as an extension of his arm.

They placed the horses at a safe distance and approached with caution. Michael moved in first with Ryan trailing close behind him, he was used to stalking someone but not have his hidden blades out made him uncomfortable, or at least some form of weapon would be handy. Michaels broad sword that he carried on his back was unsheathed and swung hard at one of the creepers that had halted them, it's head fell off with a thump, the auburn haired man used a flint and steel to light the dead creature.

"If you don't light them after you kill them, then scavengers come along and take their powder." said Michael, that was almost true, Ryan had seen these scavengers in action and it was a one in four chance that they could take the powder, the other times the creeper would explode on contact. One of the reasons was to keep children from playing with them, he had been frightened to many times from one of his-

"Hey Ray, Ryan needs to borrow one of your arms!" shouted Michael, oh good he wasn't the only one who saw it as an arm.

"Be careful with it, I've only got the hilt to spare if you break it." said Ray handing it to him, he flipped the sword over the back of his hand then into his grip once again.

"I'll be gentle." said Ryan with a grin.

"Creepy." said the both of them at the same time, they split off with Michael staying a bit away from him to keep watch. A flint and steel was given so he could light them up immediately, it was going well until two creeper approached him while he was lighting another one. The first one exploded a metre away from him sending him flying back onto the ground, he crawled back sword still in hand.

"Ryan!" shouted Ray. Someone pulled him up and threw smoke in between the creeper and him, magic crackled in the air for a split second then he was flung back with an arm around his waist. They had gone backwards four metres but it was enough for the stranger with a flash of green armor to leapt back into the smoke and attack the creeper,

"Always when I'm bloody not around." said the voice, he could hear the Britain accent clear as day, even though it was cloudy, why was he staring at the sky?

"Hey, sorry for picking you up so roughly." said the armoured man coming towards him, the man had wild hair that stood up in every direction, green sleeveless armour with a hood hanging down, yellow goggles sat on his head and complicated five buckles on each shoe. His skinny figure made him confused on how he had managed to be picked up by him, maybe he was a Mage.

"That's, uh fine, thanks for the help." said Ryan.

"Same to you, live around here? I've never seen you before." asked the wild haired man.

"Gavin!" shouted Michael.

"Bollocks." muttered who he assumed was Gavin, this was his target? The wild haired man with barely any meat on his bones was the prince that someone hired Edgar's assassins to kill... Nope, no way.

"What the fuck are you doing out here?" asked Michael, the Brit slowly turned but made an oomph noise when the auburn haired man pulled into a hug.

"Haven't seen you in days." said Michael ignoring Ryan, in the distance Ray killed another creeper then put away his sword.

"Thought'd you'd be angry." said Gavin, Michael pulled back and punched him on his arm.

"I am dipshit, ain't you supposed to be at the castle?" asked Michael.

"Ow, come on, I heard you said Geoff was being too hard on me." complained Gavin.

"Doesn't mean you should sneak out, what if Geoff thinks you've been taken?" questioned Michael.

"Nah, I left a note." replied Gavin.

"You left a note." repeated Michael.

"Yeah." said Gavin.

"What did this note say?" asked Michael.

"Be back soon, sorry about the mess" replied the prince, Christ it really was him.

"The mess?" asked Ray walking up.

"I spilt some red wine to make it look like my blood and poured it through the door so when someone saw it they thought I was in trouble and unlock the door, I wish I could have seen his face as he came through the door." explained Gavin.

"Nice one Vav." said Ray holding up his hand.

"Thanks X-ray!" replied Gavin highfiving his friend, the auburn haired man was less pleased with this.

"Ray, not helping." said Michael.

"You get to kill many?" asked Gavin changing the subject.

"I got a few, Michael got a lot and even Jacks friend got some." replied Ray.

"Oh right, bloody hell forgot you were there." said Gavin.

"Gavin this is a creepy guy that Jack met on the roads." introduced Michael sighing.

"Creepy guy?" asked Gavin eying up Ryan.

"You make one murderous threat with a sword in hand and suddenly you're the creepy guy." said Ryan with a shrug.

"What?" asked Gavin confused.

"I'm kidding, this is... Uh." replied Michael forgetting his name.

"Ryan Haywood." said Ryan holding out his hands to shake Gavin's, prince or not he was a human.

"Most people bow." said Gavin, he looked over at Ray and Michael to see him rolling their eyes.

"Most princes don't need to be locked in their rooms to keep them from running away." he replied sarcastically and there was a pause where Ryan thought that a royal guard was going to appear behind him and cut his head clean off before Michael and Ray burst out laughing at the shocked expression on Gavin's face.

“Fucking got ‘em.” said Ray.

"Get fucking wrecked Gavin." said Michael, he relaxed as both of the Knights began to walk away, the prince was staring at him playfully. Gavin tried to give him a shove but Ryan turned at the last moment, his target fell with a grace he obviously didn't have while walking, it would be so easy to slit his throat right now. Disappear into the village, Ray and Michael weren't watching, take a horse.

Ryan grabbed Gavin's hand and pulled him back up, the prince squawked and fell against Ryan's chest, Gavin glanced up at him then blushed.

"Hey lovers, we're heading to the river you coming?" shouted Michael, they separated quickly and followed the other two who were mounting their horses, the weather had gotten considerably hotter during the day, maybe he could wear his kilt tomorrow.

"Won't the river be busy in this weather?" asked Ryan climbing onto Jack’s horse, it looked from its grass eating and decided to go along with who ever was on him.

"Nah, we know a spot." replied Gavin with a grin, so far Ryan could see why Gavin would have a horse like that, the horse ride turned into another race that Ryan was a bit unsure to compete in after seeing how fast Michael’s horse was, on the plus side Gavin's horse matched the same amount of speed as Bacon somehow. He kept a small tally of how many times Gavin's horse freaked out over who was riding him and tried to buck off the prince. It was four times, not as much as a incredibly insane horse hell bent on bucking someone off but it was still a good effort, maybe the horse would trample his target and then it'd be over and down with.

"Where you from Ryan?" asked Gavin, bringing him out of his thoughts.

"Bit of a vagabond." replied Ryan.

"A what?" asked Gavin.

"It means he travels lots." said Ray,

"Oh." said Gavin, the river came into view and this time Ryan had to hold onto the reins so he wouldn't fall off. The river was wide, sparkling a light blue that he didn't know existed, it ran fast but not enough to sweep someone, Gavin, off their feet.

"Woah, how is there no one about?" asked Ryan.

"It's considered trespassing on the royal land." replied Michael.

"Then would I..." began Ryan.

"Relax, you're with me!" replied Gavin with a grin, he couldn't help but return the smile as they got off their horses, one moment the prince was staring at him while getting down the next he had gotten caught in the saddle and fallen down. Michael and Ray were obviously used to shit like this from Gavin, they just sighed then began to strip down to swim.

"Feeling extra clumsy today Gav?" asked Michael, Gavin stripped down into his undergarments to swim with them.

"Got your eyes on someone other than Michael." said Ray joining in.

"Shut up." said Gavin, Ryan took off his boots and found the water was just right, Ray and Michael had jumped in with Gavin close behind.

"Coming in Ry?" asked Michael.

"It's Ryan." replied Ryan not moving to the water.

"Ry." said Michael.

"Ry-bread!" said Ray.

"Ry the creepy guy." said Michael.

"Ry-bread the prince banger guy!” shouted Ray.

"Oi!" said Gavin splashing Ray.

"Oh you're so gonna get it now." replied the knight grabbing the skinny prince and dragging him underwater.

"It's like a squid orgy." laughed Michael, Ryan chuckled and decided to join them in the water, he turned away while he stripped down to his undergarments.

"Hey Gav, you're missing a good show here!" said Michael, Ryan rolled his eyes and made his way into the river, he sighed at how nice the water felt. He watched his hands for a bit letting the water run through his fingers, he noticed the water had calmed a bit.

"You know what we need?" asked Michael laying on his back.

"Food." said Ray.

"Some alcohol." said Michael ignoring his friend.

"Yes Michael." said Gavin happily.

"Nah." said Ray.

"Fucking crazy, hey Ry you know Ray doesn't drink alcohol?" said Michael.

"Insane, still Ryan by the way." corrected Ryan.

"Don't like the nicknames?" asked Gavin.

"Had too many once, wasn't good, couldn't keep up." replied Ryan, some of this way true, he had many names among Edgars employees.

"Like what?" asked Ray.

"Hey you behind the bushes." responded Ryan with a grin, the three lads howled with laughter at the joke, he chuckled but said no more. He could feel Gavin staring at him intently, he stared back and waited for either of them to speak.

"What are you doing here Ryan?" asked Gavin.

"What am I doing here? What do you mean?" questioned Ryan.

"Yeah, Michael is here to be the best knight in these lands." responded the prince with a shrug.

"All of the lands, the whole world." corrected Michael.

"Whatever, and Ray is here to make his family proud," said Gavin.

"Really?" asked Ryan surprised.

"Yeah." replied Ray with a shrug.

"Are you?" asked Ryan,

"I hope so." said Ray.

"So what are you doing here in the land of the free?" asked Gavin.

"Not so free up north, riots over basic human rights." said Ryan.

"We can't get out to those lands, we've tried, mockers of the crown are hurting people up there." the prince tried to explain.

"Send armies down there then." replied Ryan.

"We can't just do that." said Gavin.

"Why?" asked Ryan.

"Why? Because, we... We just can't." tried Gavin, the other two gave him a look like they wanted to say something but kept their mouth shut.

"Then whats the point of the kingdom?" asked Ryan, this made Michael and Ray give him a suspicious look but Gavin only had a thoughtful gaze.

"People need someone... To believe in." said Gavin slowly, Ryan took a moment to think before sinking further into the water.

"Did you live in the north Ryan?" asked Gavin.

"Yeah, for a bit." replied Ryan.

"Can you tell me more about it?" asked Gavin.

"Why?" asked Ryan.

"I'm going to be king someday, need to know bit about everything to help." said Gavin, king some day... Sure.

"Okay." replied Ryan.

"Tomorrow though, you'll have plenty of time while you're on house arrest." said Michael making his way towards the shore.

"What? Oh bugger." asked Gavin spotting two men standing on the riverside.

"My liege please exit the water and come back to the castle with us!" exclaimed the sandy haired man.

"Piss off!" shouted Gavin back, Ray sighed and followed Michael out of the water.

"The evening meal approaches, we must be back in time for it!" the man tried to explain.

"Stop talking like that, you sound like plebs." replied Gavin,

"Says you." said Ryan.

"Hey, I talk English normally good... Wait." tried Gavin but failed awfully.

"Wow." said Ryan pulling him to shore, the prince whined but said nothing as they made it to Ray and Michael.

"Hello traveler. Michael, is this fellow with you?" asked the boy, he was most likely older than he looked but he looked like a teenager. The black haired man next to the exuberant talking boy seemed annoyed with every word that seemed to come out of his mouth,

"Caleb, please stop, we get it, it's the evening, men are fellows, things approach, shut up" said the less exciting one.

"Kdin you being a frost troll or are you being serious?" asked Ray, everyone but the two new guys were drying off from the water.

"I think he's trolling, no way we are actually siding with him." joked Michael.

"Not helping, who's this?" asked Kdin.

"Jack found him on the side of the road and adopted him, his name’s Ryan." said Michael.

"Hi Ryan." said Kdin, he gave a small wave back to the stranger. Everyone but Gavin had changed back into their day clothes, Ryan if he were to kill the prince would need to get some more clothes to escape in, some that will be less covered in blood.

"We should hurry back, Geoff was already pissed you spoke against him in the chamber." said Caleb.

"It needed saying." gritted Michael through his teeth.

"None the less with Gavin flying off he's annoyed." said Kdin, the ride back was short with Caleb riding in the front and Kdin in the back making sure nobody strayed away, everyone seemed to recognise the prince as they went through the town, over the bridge then up the long road to the stables. The horse keeper seemed to be able to identify who everyone's horses were without any names, probably been working here since birth. Does anyone pay attention to works around here? Michael and Ray didn't, and the other two looked distracted or annoyed.

"Hey Chris!" said Gavin with a grin, dammit.

"Hello m'lor- Gavin." began Chris but corrected himself to the less proper way of speaking. They entered through the main entrance and it was like being bombarded with people, nobles and lords, Knights, ladies, Ryan felt out of place among everyone else.

"You are in so much trouble." said a female voice, a lady or noble lady, maybe it was just a woman... Was standing in between Ryan and Gavin, a forced smile on her face as they weaved through the crowd.

"Hey Barbs, Ryan this is Barbara." introduced Gavin, Ryan gave an awkward smile but it was ignored.

"Introduce me later, get cleaned up and ready for dinner." said Barbara leaving in a hurry.

"She's usually chatty, she just needs not to be... Uhhh..." Gavin tried to explain.

"Near Gavin when he messes with the king’s plans." said Michael.

"Like that time you tried to console that lady last year." replied Ray.

"Just stop being sad." mimicked Michael.

"God, you were such a prick" said Ray shaking his head.

"Not much has changed." responded Michael snickering with Ray.

"Alright I get it,  I'm leaving, see you at dinner." said Gavin.

"But wait, what-" began Ryan.

"Go find Jack, I'm sure he'll look after you." said Gavin moving into the crowd, he did a three sixty around and found no one he knew in sight, getting away from a crowd isn't that hard, grab someone use them as a hostage then when it's clear enough get rid of them. He could have done then, so why didn't he... Why was he stalling?

A hand on his shoulder makes him jump, the gesture makes his blade click out and it took all of his will to rethink where he was and not to get lost in his thoughts.

"Hey ever been to a kingdom dinner?" asked Jack, he turned with his hands behind his back.

"Legally? No." replied Ryan fixing the hidden blade back into place, Jack just laughed and gestured him towards where everyone was heading. Some were in groups standing near the magnificent table, a few of the ladies sat down and some stayed up to gossip. He passed a group of lords and ladies discussing about the prince, a few blushed, some rolled their eyes and others laughed. Ryan could tell who the king and queen was, they had the most extravagant chairs at the end of the table, and why were they moving closer towards them, oh god. Ryan's heart began to beat faster, there was only a few things that could make his heart do that, fear, frustration, and love. But he hadn’t experienced the last one in a long time.

"My king, I'd like you to meet someone I met today, his name is Ryan, he's a traveller." introduced Jack to the king.

"Because I haven't met a million of them, sorry, hi I'm- please don't bow." began Geoff, he caught himself mid bow and straighten back up again.

"S-Sorry my king." apologised Ryan, the king stared at him for a moment or two before deciding something.

"I'll be back in a moment, I have to grab Caiti." said Jack leaving them.

"Have a seat." said Geoff, the queen shared a look with her husband before standing and leaving. Everyone seemed to gravitate away from them, Ryan sat down quickly.

"So what brings you to this Valdeen?" asked Geoff.

"It's a stop before the ocean, I wanted to see the kingdom." replied Ryan.

"Where are you heading after this?" asked Geoff taking a drink.

"Not sure yet, grab a boat, sail till the next land." replied Ryan.

"Might as well go on the boat as turn back around." joked Geoff.

"Seen too much of this country, I need a new one." responded Ryan staring into his own drink.

"Did you know I've talked to over a hundred people today, the same with my wife, because all of the people here are staying the night and I have to talk to them?" said Geoff, Ryan didn't know how to respond to this. "Only us two can meet the people, it gets annoying yes, it's just I can't trust Jack, my own right hand man to talk to them."

"Why are you telling me this?" asked Ryan.

"Because Jack only sees the good in people, it's why he is my right hand man, he sees the good when I can only see the bad. Ask me what I see in you." said Geoff placing his drink to the side.

"What do you see in me?" asked Ryan.

"I see a bad past, I see you saw a chance to escape and took it, I just hope that past doesn't follow you, can you promise me it won't?" asked the king.

"Yes." said Ryan.

"Go ahead then." replied Geoff.

"I promise my past will not follow me." said Ryan.

"Lovely, did you want something to drink?" asked Geoff, his composure changing from a serious one to a friendly one, in the next few moments the queen returned from what she was doing, Jack brought back a lady to the table and Michael appeared at the table with Ray.

"Hey Ryan." said Michael with a grin.

"Hi." replied Ryan confused at what had just happened.

"Geoff give you the scary dad talk?" asked Ray.

"Oh, I'm not that scary!" replied Geoff.

"I'm the king and I could have your head cut off if your hand comes any closer to my drink, yeah that's not scary." mocked Ray.

"It was till I learned you didn't drink." replied Geoff.

"It's a perk with the job, I can stay sober enough to protect anyone." replied Ray.

"Very funny, also Michael I need to speak with you briefly after dinner." said Geoff.

"Okay I know I was an asshole during your whole Gavin needs to be kept locked away like a princess speech, I'm sorry it won't happen again." apologised Michael.

"Scratch that then, still, watch your mouth." said Geoff.

"Got it." replied Michael. The grand hall became silent as the doors opened to reveal a very wild haired prince, he almost looked scared of the people around him as he walked towards his spot to the right of Griffon, any whispers echoed through the hall stopped when the prince walked by. The King's eyes were like daggers piercing through Gavin as he stood behind his chair.

"I know what you're going to say, I'm an asshole for disappearing and making you worry." said Gavin.

"Sit." commanded Geoff, everyone around who was standing and talking took a seat at the same time as the prince, Ryan glanced at Jack but said nothing, the bearded man didn’t seem worried with what was happening. Everyone was silent before the king finally muttered.

“God you're a prick." said the king shaking his head with a grin.

Gavin grinned and there seemed to be a weight lifted off everyone's shoulders, food came in moments later, all of the people seemed to hesitate but Geoff waved his hands not caring if they ate now. The evening moved so quick, everyone ate, drank, drank a lot, stories were shared around the table. Some of dangers, horrors, tales of woe, then romance. Gavin kept staring at him during the night, he wondered if he knew what was going to happen, if he would have any regrets, what would be the last thing he ever says to any of them…

He cursed himself mentally for getting too involved in what was happening, he easily could have hung back until the event, simple stolen bow and arrow, knife, poison, anything.

It wasn’t long before everyone started to leave, Jack’s wife, Caiti left with Griffon chatting as they left. Geoff and Michael left whispering and hanging off each other after consuming ridiculous amounts of alcohol, Ray hadn’t touched any of it, Jack had a few glasses. It was obvious that the small group was heading to bed, Ray took Michael and dragged him off to their bedrooms or bedroom. He wasn’t really sure, Jack tried to leave him behind without knowing where he was going at one point, a slightly tipsy Gavin offered to show him to Ryan’s room. It was more Gavin kept tripping over thin air so Ryan held him up while Gavin gave directions of where to go, after three wrong turns they arrived at an empty room.

“See, I got it.” said Gavin with a grin.

“Are you going to be okay getting to your room?” asked Ryan, nobody in sight, do it now.

“Yeah, mine’s down this hall.” replied the prince, later then, sneak into his room during the night.

“Where you just trying to take me to your room Gavin?” flirted Ryan, the wild haired boy just giggled.

“Come to the festival with me.” said Gavin.

“The festival?” asked Ryan.

“Yeah, it’s tomorrow, I think unless today is tomorrow then I guess it would be today” rambled Gavin.

“I was going to leave tomorrow.” said Ryan.

“Oh.” replied Gavin, shoulders slumping in disappointment.