Chapter 33

"Orion! Are you alright?" I dropped to my knees to be with him at his level. He let out a cough, spewing blood out with it. He slowly nodded. Words were incapable of coming out.

I rose back to my feet to deal with his abusers.

"What the FUCK do you think you were doing? Why did you hurt him?"

"We heard who he is, your majesty. He's the Vendov's boy, good for nothing scum."

"He's an ally. He's here to help us." I defended.

"That's a god damn lie and you know it. He's going to get us all killed. He's obviously working for his father!"

"He's going to betray us!" Said another man.

"Listen to me very carefully, I am not going to say it twice. Orion has come to help us as an ally. I believe him, as does my wife. By attacking an ally, you aren't only attacking him, but the crown of Lafayette AND Belmonte. Do not be an enemy of us, especially while you are in our home. Do you understand?" I shouted at them.

They fearfully nodded.

"Your majesty, we were just trying to help."

"Do not hurt anyone like this again without my permission. And if you attack Orion like this again, I will treat you like an enemy. Enemies of Lafayette DO NOT get to keep their heads. Understand?"

They nodded once more.

"Now go. Get out of my sight."

They scurried off to the castle like a small heard of scared rats.

I squatted down to Orion.

"I'm sorry that they did this to you." I gently touched his face. He winced in pain and was barley conscious. I scooped him in my arms and carried him back to the castle.

I took him to the tub in my chambers. His clothes were filthy, covered in blood and dirt.

"I'll have someone begin to boil water for a hot bath. I have clean clothes for you." I told him.

I took a cloth and began to gently wiped the blood off his face. He flinched as the cloth grazed his bruised face.

One of the few servants began to fill the tub with hot water.

"Is anything broken?" I asked him.

"Just my nose, I think." He wheezed his words out.

I helped him peel his dirty clothes off and prepared him for the tub.

"You don't have to help me. I'm fine." He wheezed once more.

"It's nothing I haven't seen before, remember?" I said to him as I removed his dirty shirt.

I helped him in the tub. The light, soapy water quickly darkened with dirt and blood. I began to rinse the blood off him. He moaned in pain with every sharp movement.

"I will not let this happen again. You have my word." I told him as I gently stroked his arm with a wet cloth. His scars ran down his entire body.

"I understand why they did it." He said with his head down.

"What?"

"My father did horrible things to them. I would want revenge too."

"You aren't like your father. You've more than proven that you're here to help. Let me know immediately if anything like this happens again. It will be stopped. We cannot have violence within ourselves before we've started the war."

"Let them take their anger out on me. It's deserved."

I gently put my fingers on his chin and pulled his eyes up to mine. His dark eyes shined in the candle lit room.

"No. It's not. Do not say that again. I will not let anyone hurt you like that again."

"If the son of your enemy was at your door, wouldn't you hurt him?"

"He's right in front of me, and hurting him is the absolute last thing that's on my mind."

He let out a light nod.

"Let's finish cleaning you up and get you ready for bed. Hopefully we can get a doctor on our side soon."   Hold this to your nose. I gave him a cold cloth to hold over his broken nose as he dressed in his sleepwear."

We did as we planned. Orion was off in bed in no time. I helped him lay down in it.

"Do you want ale? It'll help with the pain." I offered him.

"No, I think I'll be okay. I've made it through worse." He said. I looked at his scars on his words. I could only imagine the torturous things his angry father did to him.

"Goodnight, Orion. I'll check on you in the morning." I told him, leaving him alone in the darkness.

I found Daniel patrolling the halls.

"Daniel. We need to speak about some of the loyalists. They beat the shit out of Orion." I explained.

"Orion is a skilled fighter, he couldn't fight off a couple untrained loyalists?"

"If four big guys jumped you unexpectedly while you were weaponless, how would that pan out?" I defended.

"I guess you're right. I'll keep watch on them. Alert you at any sign of violence." He said.

"Good. Thank you."

I kept my word and checked on Orion the next morning. He was sound asleep. I knew it was best not to wake him and allow him to heal.

The rest of us prepared for training. Johnny had left the morning after. I was in charge of training. The loyalists gathered in position. All eyes were on me.

"Ahem. Good morning, everyone. I will be training with you today. Johnny is not here."

I heard several sighs of relief through the crowd.

"I want everyone to break out into groups and show me your fighting techniques. Decide who is the attacker and who is defense. I'll come around and help in any areas I can."

I didn't need to repeat myself to be obeyed. The loyalists broke off into pairs spread throughout the front courtyard. I went through and critiqued them in any helpful way.

"Don't tuck your thumb into your fist."

"Tuck your head down when blocking."

"Stand with your dominant side forward."

The loyalists were by no means experts, but they all had the desire to learn fast.

I was standing with a group of men, reminding them the essentials of blocking.

"Arms up. Protect your face." I demonstrated to them. They copied.

When I pulled my arms down I saw Orion looking over to me. He was fully dressed and cleaned. The sun peered down on his beaten face.

"Keep practicing." I told the group of men. I left them to approach Orion.

"You should be in bed resting." I told him, looking at his bruised face.

"I'm fine now. I can train." He said.

"I'm teaching beginner stuff, surely you don't need this."

"Perhaps I need a refreshment course." He said.

"I think you would be better off in bed today."

"Your majesty, I said I'm fine. I have been through much worse, trust me."

I didn't doubt him. He was resilient, which was something I respected. But I still wanted him to return to his full health before attempting to train with anyone.

"We're just practicing weaponless combat."

"Great. Let's fight." He rolled up his sleeves of his shirt.

"That doesn't seem like a fair fight." I crossed my arms, peering at his bruised face.

"Fine, I'll let you get the first hit in." He said.

"No! Because you're injured! It wouldn't be fair to you."

"Try me." He smiled. His lip was in the early stages of healing.

I had no desire to kick a man while he was already down. I wanted to go easy on him. I took a small sideways swing at him and missed.

"Pardon me, but seriously, your majesty? I know you can do better than that." He let out a laugh.

"I can't hit you, your blocking is terrible."

"What do you mean?" He said.

"Your arms are too low. May I?"

He nodded. I stepped closer towards him. I put my hands around his strong arms and gently lifted them up higher.

"They have to be higher. And closer together." I softly pushed his raised arms into each other.

"Thank you, your majesty." He pulled down his arms and released them to his sides. Our eyes met. There was a fire in him I could see in his ember eyes. A drive to keep going. To keep fighting.

"You don't have to call me your majesty. You are royal as well as a friend. It's just Zander." I told him. Our eyes didn't part.

"If you insist."

"Your majesty." A voice approached behind me, causing our contact to break.

It was Daniel.

"Your majesty." Daniel bowed.

"Yes, Daniel?"

"Your wife, the queen, wants to have a word with you as soon as she can. Not a moment to waste."