Chapter 7: Ironic Conspiracy

Sairek groaned out when he felt himself being dragged over a bit of rock on the ground. He hadn’t really tried to struggle out much from Samuel’s hold, there wasn’t much point. He’d rather preserve his energy at this point. Struggling right now wouldn’t help him, this he knew. So instead, he pretended to be out of it a bit more than he was letting on, biding his time, recovering and very slowly over the course of fifteen minutes, building up ethereal nice and slowly so even Samuel wouldn’t be able to detect it, though that rock he got dragged over almost ruined everything.

As they walked and he was dragged, Sairek could hear the two men forcing him and Nayleen back to the castle chatter casually to each other like they were just out on a stroll or something.

“Is that girl being any trouble?” Samuel asked.

“Not anymore. Nothing a sleeper hold to knock her out couldn’t fix. Hate having to do that, but she wouldn’t stop struggling.” The knight replied.

“Can’t be helped. Sometimes getting physical is the only thing children can understand. They may push the limits of their boundaries otherwise.”

“You say that while hitting the Prince in the face with a giant rock.”

“It was more force than anything. I held back. He wasn’t bleeding or anything, right? I'll be surprised if he even ends up with a bruise.”

“Well, it’s not my call either way. I would assume you know best on how to handle him.”

“Hardly. Though His Majesty did say quite clearly to use as much force as deemed necessary. It’s fortunate he exhausted himself from all of that running I guess. I would have had to possibly really hurt him to get him to give up. Such a stubborn boy.”

“I don’t know much about him, but he does seem genuine in how he feels. It’s not our call though, I suppose. Regardless, the kid would probably get killed out there if he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“Exactly. If he’s scared of facing me, he’s going to be even more afraid of someone who’s really trying to do something horrible to him.”

Sairek clenched his teeth. He wasn’t afraid, he was fed up. Also he was fed up with this conversation. He would show Samuel just how ‘stubborn’ he truly was. First, he needed to get free...

Sairek slowly turned his head to look ahead of them in the direction he was being dragged, then quietly muttered “Ethirul...” under his breath. He heard Samuel release a surprised grunt and stumble forwards when Sairek sank the ground into a small pit just where Samuel was about to take a step, causing him to stumble and twist his ankle.

“What the Flaming Lands–?” Samuel cursed. Sairek felt himself tugged harshly forwards and managed to stop himself from letting out a choked sound as the cape tugged hard against his neck, but then he felt himself be released a second later. That’s when he pushed himself up and spun around into a crouched position, pointing his staff at Samuel and shouting “ETHIRUL!!” with as much effort he could muster this time.

Both the man and Samuel turned around, but the conjuring of a large boulder had been quick and easy thanks to Sairek carefully honing most of the energy in the past few minutes. A boulder about four feet in diameter formed around Sairek’s staff, the force of its release causing him to yelp quietly as it bounced his upper half to flop right onto his back onto the ground once more.

“Wuifuy!” He heard Samuel chant quickly with a clap of his hands. Sairek looked down the length of his torso from the ground to look, sensing strong energy around Samuel’s hands in an instant as he held them out and 'pushed' them against Sairek’s boulder that had been about to slam into him. Samuel used the wind from his spell as an extra bit of force to halt the boulder and help him push it away, though him doing this caused him to be unable to move immediately.

Sairek managed to push himself back up, now onto his feet and glanced to his left slightly at the knight, who quickly placed Nayleen on the ground and stepped over her towards him. However as soon as he did that, Nayleen bounced right back up onto her feet, moving behind the man and jumped onto his back, unsheathing one of her daggers and pushed it near his throat. The knife was slightly curved, with the tip pointing at his neck. “Sit, slowly.” She hissed in warning.

“Wh-What–? You should be out cold!”

“I faked being knocked out. Duh. Now please sit down. I wouldn’t actually kill you, but… this knife is pretty sharp and I’d hate to have to use it if you don’t surrender.”

The man growled, but moved to slowly sit down, which Nayleen released her hold on him with her legs, opting to kneel slightly with her legs and feet on the ground instead, rather than remaining on his back. “Good. Just sit and watch, after all, I believe Sairek and the fancy guy have some unfinished business to take care of from the sounds of it.”

“Fancy guy…?” Samuel scoffed and grunted with a final shove, pushing the boulder out of the way and causing it to crumble into a pile of rubble against the ground. “So I guess it’s a duel after all, isn’t it Prince?”

“I guess it is.” Sairek growled. "After all, I wouldn't want to be seen as being afraid of you."

“Hmm. But really, relying on such a cheap shot?” Samuel frowned, looking down at his ankle. With him twisting it as he did, he wouldn’t be moving very much.

“I’m already exhausted, you tossed a boulder in my face out of nowhere and punched me right in the gut already. Don’t complain about cheap shots. I'll probably lose, but Laure told me it's bad to bottle my emotions in and right now I have a lot of frustration that needs letting out–!”

Samuel genuinely cracked up in amusement at that. “Right, I suppose that does make it a bit more even. Then to make it even more fair, I will do the same thing as last time and say 'whenever you decide to make the next move', Prince.”

Sairek clenched his teeth. Samuel’s confidence was worrying, but he assumed the man had every right to be. After all, the situation despite how much Nayleen and Sairek had turned everything around so far, it was still unfavorable to them. Sairek knew if Samuel wanted, he could render him helpless by releasing his true potential in just a couple moments. He doubted Nayleen would be able to respond; especially since she seemed pretty ignorant on magic as a whole. She wouldn’t be able to defend herself against him in any way. Also of course, right now, she was making sure the knight wouldn't interfere. More to the point, if this was indeed to be a duel, nobody would be able to interfere anyway, or it would render the outcome for Sairek moot, even if he did manage to win.

There was one advantage he had he supposed. Though Samuel’s ankle probably wasn’t completely unusable, it was certainly crippled at the moment and that small advantage was something he needed to press for in such a way that Samuel wouldn't be able to predict it or counter him instantly. The question was… how?
Sairek thought carefully. There was no way that Samuel would want to actually kill him. Sairek of course didn’t either; in fact, as much as he hated the man, he didn’t even want to hurt him but if his hands were going to be tied like this, then he could allow himself to be rougher on Samuel than Samuel could be back to him. Samuel had to hold himself back. Sairek didn’t.

Sairek smirked faintly as an idea formed in his head. His expression caused Samuel to slowly cock his head to the side slightly in an inquisitive manner. Sairek slowly shifted his stance as if he was about to cast a spell, Ethirul to be exact, he began gathering the ethereal for it—
Then he sprinted off directly at Samuel, yelling with his charge, raising his staff overhead with both of his hands and swung it down overhead with all of his might, even jumping up right before he swung to get the best angle on Samuel’s head as much as possible due to their differences in height.

Samuel’s eyes widened slightly from the Prince’s fairly brash charge towards him, though for him, stopping the staff was as simple as raising both of his hands up to catch it, which he did. Sairek growled however, using as much strength as he could muster with his arms to keep the force of the staff down against Samuel, causing him to wince as he was having to put more weight on his twisted ankle than was comfortable.

“Really? You’re a magic apprentice and that is what you decided to start with?” Samuel sighed.

Sairek didn’t shoot a quip back at him, instead he raised his right foot and dug his boot hard into Samuel's stomach in a stomping kick, which caused him to grunt from the force of the impact and stumble back slightly. Sairek pulled his foot back and kicked him again even harder as anger and frustrations he had bottled inside of himself for weeks at this point fueled the strength of his aggression. Samuel grunted again and this time stumbled back hard enough that he tripped on the uneven sink hole he had been standing in and collapsed on his back, with Sairek falling over on top of him. Sairek quickly positioned himself in such a way that it would be difficult for Samuel to use his legs for leverage and kick out from underneath him. He wrenched his staff back from Samuel’s grip, turning the weapon around overhead so the bottom end was pointed forwards and down, then moved to thrust it downwards towards the man’s chest. Samuel again managed to catch it as if he was stopping a sword from being stabbed into him. Sairek and Samuel struggled back and forth as Sairek tried to push the staff forwards, while Samuel struggled to push it back off of him.

“This is barbaric and unsightly for a Prince…” Samuel growled through effort.

“Barbaric…?” Sairek repeated through a growl, his emerald eyes gleaming with an icy glare back into Samuel’s own eyes. “Keeping my freedom from me—my right to life away from me, punishing me for my own individualism... THAT is what is barbaric–!!” Sairek countered. He poured the rest of the energy he needed for his spell into his staff while he continued to try and push the weapon back down onto Samuel. A boulder was growing and forming above them quickly. Samuel gritted his own teeth as Sairek shouted “Ethirul!!” and the rock nearly the size of himself in diameter launched straight up into the air above them.

Samuel knew what was about to happen in a few seconds and tried to wiggle out from underneath the Prince, but with Sairek keeping his staff on him, trying to force him down and keeping his weight on top, there was little Samuel could do in time. Sairek glanced up as his conjured rock began to fall back down and at the last second, relinquished the grip of his staff and dove off of Samuel who yelled out before his shout was silenced when the boulder crashed down and exploded in small chunks of rubble on top of him in a pile.

Sairek pushed himself up off the ground from his stomach, panting hard from the physical exertion of the struggle he had just done, having used every ounce of strength and most of his already drained stamina to keep Samuel at bay. All that while concentrating on energy for a spell and casting it in such a manner took enough mental toll on him that his head was pounding.
He looked behind him as he pushed himself to one knee. Samuel pulled himself out from under the rubble with a wheezy cough, spitting some dirt out of his mouth and was quickly interrupted as Sairek furiously yelled and dived at him again, tackling him while he was still on the ground like a viscous animal pouncing on top of prey.

Samuel rose Sairek’s own staff as a brace to prevent the Prince from overwhelming him, where the two of them soon wrestled for it, trying to gain the upper hand over one another. Samuel managed to roll Sairek to be pinned against him and the ground and Sairek in response raised his right fist, slamming it into Samuel’s left cheek, temporarily stunning him where he used the opportunity to roll back on top once again and grabbed one of Samuel’s hands as the man released the staff and tried to clap them together as he usually did for his magic. Samuel gripped Sairek’s hand with his other, trying to wrench it free as the Prince’s staff tumbled off to the side during their frantic wriggling and struggling.

Sairek’s strength and stamina was draining too much and despite putting all of his effort that he could, Samuel managed to pry the Prince’s grip free and reached up to grab Sairek by the throat, clutching at it as he tried to push back. Sairek made a gurgling choked sound. Instinctively he tried to reach for his staff, but it was a bit out of reach. He could back away to get free from the grip easily, but that would have given up his position and given Samuel the leverage he needed to counterattack more effectively. Gripping Samuel’s arm with his right hand, he reached his left up towards his royal jewel and managed to rasp out “W...Waert…!”

Samuel made a sound that sounded like “blublbllblbppfft” or something to that effect. Sairek couldn’t be sure, the powerful blast of water that released from his jewel directly into Samuel’s face muted any protests the man had. Sairek coughed twice as Samuel released his grip on Sairek’s throat in a vain attempt to use both of his hands to try and shield himself from the powerful jet of water blasting right onto his face.

After Sairek took a couple precious lungfuls of air, he reached back for his staff again, channelling ethereal into that as well while water continued to blast Samuel’s face for a few more seconds longer. After the stream of water finished, Sairek moved so the head of his staff was pressed up against Samuel’s throat and he leaned in close with his body, holding it like it was a blade pressed against Samuel’s throat. Sairek allowed the flammable energy within the staff to leak through a little raw, heating the head of his staff like it was hot iron. Samuel hissed in pain, the man’s neck, wet from the water, began to dry and heat uncomfortably with a small smoke of steam rising as it became hot when Sairek pressed down slightly further into him.

“Surrender.” Sairek ordered in a cold tone. A tone that expressed that he would release the magic within his staff with no regrets if the man showed any more resistance other than uttering his admission of defeat. Samuel stared up at Sairek’s glare, unblinking. The Prince's breath was held in; holding a lungful of air, prepared to mutter a single word in utterance for the spell as soon as he needed it.

Barbaric.

Viscous.

...Yet excellent… in his own way.

Samuel grinned and began to laugh quietly, a reaction Sairek wasn’t expecting. He stifled Samuel’s laugh as he pressed the staff down harder. “Surrender.” He ordered again, with harsher conviction.

“I surrender.” Samuel admitted. “You win.”

Sairek hesitated at the words. He didn’t believe the man would actually say them. He stayed still, staff still pressed against Samuel’s throat for a good five seconds, replaying the words in his mind before he fizzled the energy in his staff slowly and pulled back away from him.

He actually won?

What?

Sairek slowly turned his gaze to look at Nayleen and the knight. Nayleen was beaming at him like she was proud and gave him a big thumbs up. He couldn’t help but huff a small laugh and crack a smile at that. However, he was still concerned about Samuel and turned back to face the man.

“...Are you not going to get off of me?” Samuel asked.

Sairek bit his bottom lip in thought for a moment, then slowly reached his left hand to his jewel and conjured the contract his father had written, which appeared in the air and Sairek quickly scrambled to snatch it before it blew away from the wind. He turned it around so Samuel could see it. “Sign it.”

“...With what? Do you have a writing utensil for me?” Samuel asked him.

Sairek hesitated at that. He didn’t.

“Here!” Nayleen shouted and they both looked over at Nayleen as she reached and tugged at her sash, undoing one of her knives from it, then tossed it over to Sairek, who dropped his staff in alarm and managed to catch it with a bit of fumbling.

“Geez! Be careful with that thing!” Sairek growled at her in warning. “What am I going to do with a knife anyway?”

“Poke his finger with it and have him press it to the paper. If he can’t sign it with his signature, let him sign it with his blood and fingerprint.” Nayleen said.

Sairek arched an eyebrow as he pulled the knife out of the sheathe and examined the small blade. It was certainly sharp, curved in such a way that it was clearly designed to cut through flesh and even tough hide with relative ease. Definitely not some knife for cooking. He looked at Samuel, who had a… quite displeased expression on his face.

“Glove off.” Sairek ordered.

Samuel rolled his eyes and sighed, reaching his hand out, and Sairek carefully pulled the man’s glove off, setting the contract in his lap as he steadied the man’s hand and poked the tip of the dagger into Samuel’s right index finger, just enough to make it bleed a faint trickle of blood. Then Sairek sheathed the blade again setting that in his lap in place of the paper and held the contract up, steadying it. Samuel pressed his finger into the paper as steady as he could, smearing it, before pulling his hand away again. “Is that satisfactory for you, Prince?”

Sairek looked down at the contract. He wasn’t sure the fingerprint was clear enough to identify the man but the blood itself would be enough he supposed. Sairek grunted in agreement and held the jewel again, causing the contract to disappear into the royal jewel once more. He then reached for his staff, grabbed Nayleen’s knife and wordlessly pushed himself up from Samuel, walking back towards Nayleen where he handed her the knife back.

She was still holding the knight who, for his part, looked more bored than threatened by now and his eyes glanced up at Sairek with an incredulous look. Sairek glanced back down at him, then at Nayleen. “Okay, you can let him go now. Let’s go back to the castle.”

“...Weren’t you trying to escape from there?” Nayleen asked him.

“I mean, that wasn’t exactly my intention. I just wanted to have the right to my freedom.” Sairek answered, moving his left hand to tap the white jewel. “With me fulfilling my father’s little ‘condition’, he has no excuses now. It’s written and signed with his handwriting and signature, with indisputable proof from Samuel that I have acknowledged the ends of this contract. He’ll have no choice now." Sairek explained, dropping his left hand back down to grip his staff with both hands, staring at it and slowly turning it in his hands.
"If he still resists, which he might because this was definitely not in his plans, then I will contest it, of course. It would just be delaying the inevitable. If he still doesn’t follow through after that though, then that will be seen as him trying to weasel out of the contract. That will look very badly on him, and I can and will make that fact public. Not only did he refuse to fulfil a contract, but it would be with his own son at that.”

“Blackmail, eh? You’re more ruthless than I gave you credit for.” Nayleen answered, abruptly letting go of the man’s neck and relinquishing her knife from him. The man stood up, massaging his throat with a hand and clearing it with a slight cough.

Samuel by now stood up, massaging his ankle as he stood and balanced on one foot. The man looked like a mess. His fancy looking robes dirtied with rock and mud, still dripping wet, his hair completely out of place and disheveled and he was looking none-too-pleased. Which of course, made Sairek pleased himself. He looked a bit longer than he needed to, just drinking the sight in, satisfied with himself. There was no audience this time, but the justified karma the man received was no less delicious to him.

The knight looked at Samuel, then the two children. “We’re both going to get fired for this.” He stated. “I can’t believe we both just got dominated by a couple of kids.”

Samuel shrugged. “Probably, but I guess that just goes to show they can take care of themselves. In that way, we did our jobs, even if His Majesty is going to be very unhappy on the result of it.”

Sairek frowned sympathetically at that. “If you’re a knight, then I assume your part of the guild in Lamen, right? What’s your name?”

“That’s right, and it’s Kline.”

“Don’t worry then, Kline. If my father does something, then I will make it right again.” Sairek reassured him with a smirk. “For now, let us return to the castle with you guys escorting us. That was your task, yes? Let us make sure you are compensated properly for doing just that.”

Kline gave him a cautious look, but nodded.

* * *

Sairek inhaled slowly and deeply as the evening sun shone on the front gates of the castle. The doors opened for them on the inside as they approached. The castle looked like it was on alert or something, with multiple people stationed at the walls and inside the courtyard as the group of four made their way through. Samuel rested his left hand on Sairek’s right shoulder, while Kline guided Nayleen forward with a hand on her back. Sairek noticed many were staring at them and he averted his gaze towards the ground to avoid their looks.

As they made their way through the courtyard and went through the doors to enter the main hall, Sairek looked back up from the floor and could see his father already approaching them from the end of the hall where the stairs were, probably having heard word of their return and had immediately made his way back from the throne room or his own room. The four of them stopped after a dozen or so paces.

“You were later than expected.” Aayron said, examining them. “...And look pretty rough.” He noted, his gaze falling upon Sairek who averted his gaze again, this time to the side.

“You could say that.” Samuel agreed. “He didn’t make bringing the both of them back easy at all. At least the water has vanished by now from my clothes.”

“Thank you for bringing him back both of you.” Aayron said, then glanced at Nayleen, who just stared neutrally ahead. “And whoever this little girl is… I will have to interrogate her I suppose and figure out what to do with her, but for now, here.” He said, rummaging into his royal robes and pulled out a pouch for each of them, which jingled with the sound of coins. Both of them held out their hands to receive their share.

“Thank you, sir." Kline answered.

“Of course. You both deserve it.” Aayron nodded in agreement.

“Hmm. So this is your old man, huh?” Nayleen finally asked out loud, looking towards Sairek.

“Be silent.” Aayron growled, glaring at her. “We are going to discuss this, but we’re not going to do it here.” He said, looking at the other people watching them.

Nayleen fully turned towards Sairek now. “Say, how angry did you say he gets again when things don’t go his way and we ignore him?” Nayleen asked him again.

Sairek was trying to keep his face straight, but he was close to breaking out into a chuckle. “I don’t see what’s wrong with doing this here, father.” He said, louder than he needed to.

“I said we will be discussing this elsewhere. Sairek, you are in no position to be acting like this right now. If you were complaining about your precious ‘freedom’ before, then—”

Sairek reached his left hand up to his jewel and snatched the paper in the air when it appeared coolly in a smooth motion with his left hand, spinning the paper around so his father could read the contract and see the fingerprint of blood that was on the paper. “I did as you asked and as per the contract, you no longer hold any weight over me anymore.” Sairek said in a viscous tone, keeping his voice loud and clear. “I can come and leave the castle as I wish.”

Aayron glanced at the paper over, snatching it from Sairek. “What is this?”

“Samuel’s fingerprint in his own blood.” Sairek answered and smirked. “I would think that’s a better signature than just him writing his name down in his handwriting, don’t you think?”

“This could be anyone’s—”

“We can have an expert test it if you wish to dispute it, but I assure you, it will come positive with Samuel’s blood.” Sairek answered, glaring at his father’s own heated gaze. “I wouldn’t recommend going back on a contract you signed. I shouldn’t need to remind you of how big of a ‘no-no’ that is, do I?”

Aayron looked back to Samuel and Kline, glaring at them now.

“It is true.” Samuel admitted with an absent shrug. “He was reluctant at first, but eventually was desperate enough to challenge me one on one in a duel, just as the contract states and he bested me.” Samuel looked down at Sairek in front of him. “With all due respect, Your Highness, I believe he and the girl can take care of themselves. They’re more dangerous and viscious than they look.”

Kline also nodded in agreement. “...Much more dangerous.” He added.

“You both—” Aayron began, his muscles seizing for a moment as anger inside of him boiled over. “You didn’t do your jobs at all–!!”

Samuel looked at him with a confused look. “Again, with all due respect, the job was that we would find them and bring them back here. That’s what we did. Defeating the Prince in a duel was something you laid on me afterwards, but it had nothing to do with a job. In fact, you made that contract without my permission. I accepted it afterwards, so that is all fine and good, but the contract had nothing to do with the job you assigned to me.” Samuel countered. “It wasn’t in writing like that contract there, but there were a number of witnesses as we watched the Prince run away when you offered me the job. I’m sure they would be more than happy to confirm the wording you used when offering Kline and I the job.”

Aayron clenched his teeth, his hands shaking with the paper rattling in his hands. Sairek didn’t let how he was feeling be expressed on his face, but his father, finally, feeling just a fraction of the same powerlessness that he had felt for years, was more liberating and filled him with more glee than anything he had felt before. For once, his father not getting his own way would hopefully teach him some humility and though he doubted it, Sairek hoped this would push him back to having some humanity again.
Maybe it wouldn’t happen right away, his father after all would be grieving from this. Denial and anger had already shown themselves and he was sure before he left, would be bargaining with him to stay. After he left would be the depression, but he hoped it was eventual acceptance that he hoped his father would learn and begin to change for the better.

There was an uncomfortable, heated silence, where other people watched intently in the main hall. Finally, Aayron’s quivering anger seemed to subside, the rattling of the paper held still, until he suddenly scrunched the paper up into a tight ball, causing Sairek to flinch in reaction.

“When…?” Aayron growled, glaring Sairek down.

Sairek inhaled and exhaled deeply and slowly. He had thought about 'when' the entire walk back. “The day after tomorrow, in the morning.” He answered calmly.

“And her…?” He growled, his gaze moved to Nayleen, though like Sairek, she was unaffected by his intimidating glance.

“Of course she’s coming with.” Sairek answered. "And while she is here, she is to be a welcomed guest inside of the castle."

“You don’t even know who she is…!” Aayron protested.

“Nah.” Nayleen interrupted and moved to place a hand on Sairek’s left shoulder and grinned. “I’m nobody important, but if you really want to know who I am, then the answer is that I'm just a friend of his." She answered with a confident smirk, and gave an icy glare of her own with her light brown eyes. "Understand?"

Sairek glanced at her with a hint of surprise on his face, but smiled and nodded towards his father. “She's right.”

Aayron grunted in disapproval, and gently tossed the crumpled ball of paper back at Sairek, who raised his left hand and caught it. “Fine,” was the only thing his father answered with, turning back around and beginning to walk off back up the stairs, his white furred and purple cape flowing behind him as he moved aggressively as if he was forcing himself past the air like it was in his way. Sairek guessed he was going to retire to his room to stew. They watched in silence until Aayron was out of sight.

“I hate to say it but I think he’s going to fire you guys.” Nayleen muttered, her tone dry to the two adults behind her.

“Thanks. We figured that out ourselves, though.” Kline responded with sarcasm.

“I promise I’ll make it right if that happens.” Sairek replied, glancing behind his shoulder at the man.

Samuel shrugged. “It’s okay for me, you don’t have to do anything. I’ll get a pay cut probably but I’m too valuable for him to throw away and he knows it.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.” Kline said, glaring at him slightly.

Samuel frowned. “I didn’t mean to say you were expendable—”

“Totally did.” Nayleen cut in before looking at Sairek. “So! Can I go see your room?”

“Sure. I want to find my maid. We all need to clean up from this anyway, and there's lots of things I need to do to prepare... and I really, really need to sleep...” Sairek nodded in agreement, then turned back to the other two. “We’ll be taking our leave now.”

“Then I suppose we should be taking ours as well.” Samuel nodded as well. He turned to Sairek one last time and placed a hand on his right shoulder and gave it a firm but gentle squeeze. “Take care, Prince. Stay safe.”

Sairek looked a bit sheepish and turned his head away. “Th-Thanks…” He muttered.