Friday, November 4, 2011

All or Nothing

All or Nothing
The Prince's search


It was a loud crackle and the flash of light that woke him from his deep slumber. The sound of rain pattering on the concrete stones of the palace in the sky was a sound that had never been heard before to the Kingdom of ArBearl. It was a kingdom above the clouds a fortress of floating solitude and magic. The kingdom was a place where dragoons and dragons alike could live in harmony with one another and not have to worry about the oppression of the outside world.

Lance Eugenio woke startled at first and after the sleep began to fade from his eyes he started to gather himself. "Rain in ArBearl?" he thought to himself at first not even realizing the note on the pillow beside him.

He rubbed his eyes and pushed himself out of bed. He stood and leaned against the wall taking a moment to gather his thoughts once more.

"Rain in Arbearl...," he kept going over in his mind over and over again as if to him it would mean something. After a moment it all came to him in a rush and he turned to see where Makayla had been laying.

His heart sank as he noticed she was not there. "Something happened to her!", he muttered to himself as he bolted to the window peering out.

Lance took note of the clouds dissipating, his eyes calculating and watching he figured she had left or had been taken from the palace about 20 minutes before. The intensity of the storm meant that there was something seriously wrong with her. She was in pain, strong, emotional pain. The Princes' mind raced as he moved back over to the bed. He picked up the note and began to open it when--

Knock Knock! “My lord?!”

One of the members of the court guard was at the door. Grumbling for a moment, Lance knew he had to put the note aside for a moment and answer the door. Upon opening, he took quick note of Trevine and Ilsadith. They had been two brothers who had recently made homeguard and for some strange reason had already acquired a large amount of support from the council.

In the recent months, the king had passed, leaving the sole heir Lance Eugenio with the throne. However according to the customs of the Dragoon people, a prince cannot be crowned King without a spouse that was accepted by the race of Dragoons. Makayla had been in the trials. Even as a proud race, the dragoons gave everyone a chance to become an honorary dragoon. The trials were more of a joke than anything, next to impossible to pass, yet Makayla had been doing well.

The brothers had been her escorts and apparently they were here to pick her up for her next trial assignments. Both of them had rather enjoyed it. They got to watch her struggle and were able to pick and prod her the entire way. Lance couldn’t do anything about it-- according to the law it was a part of the trials. All Lance could do every time they came for the trials was to let them in. He did the same this morning. Yet it would be different this time.

As soon as they passed him, stepping through the door with smug smirks on their faces, they were prepared to do things to Makayla that they felt they could get away with it.

"They drove her away!", Lance had determined as he shut the door behind them. The other two men's expressions changed when they realized Makayla was not there... and Lance had invited them for something else.

Trevine had been the first to fall, feeling something push at the back side of his leg, buckling it. Ilsadith turned to see him fall, catching the heel of a bare foot to the bridge of his nose. A flash of white light blinded Ilsadith as the hit landed and he staggered back. Trevine was the more skilled of the two, so as he fell to the ground he rolled and drew his short sword. The homeguard were the only ones, aside from royalty, that were allowed in the palace to carry weapons. This didn’t help Trevine, however.

Lance had moved swiftly. Taking Ilsadith out, he was already landing on the ground and pouncing on Trevine faster than he could react. As agile as he was and wearing next to nothing, he figured the two homeguards who were fully armored would not be a match for his speed. Lance was correct. The short sword came out and the instant it had cleared the sheath, the blade had hit the floor from Lance's next attack. Trevine had shifted into a bowed defensive stance, but made the mistake of reaching for the sword as it left his fingertips. The prince took advantage of this, jamming his knee into the other mans face, leaving him sprawled on the floor.

Lance had been waiting a good long time for that. Something about it had seemed to calm him and it did something else as well. He had just attacked two members of the royal homeguard. They would strip his title, punish him in another way, even be banished from ArBearl. Either way it would allow him to leave ArBearl and search for Makayla.

The Dragoon Prince stepped up over Trevine's sprawled out body and rolled him over, picking him up just slightly from the floor. He took the short sword in one hand, wrapped his arm around the other mans throat, and held him there lightly. Lance tapped his cheek with the sword till Trevin came to.

“Wha-- why did you--”, Trevin trembled.

“Shut it!” Lance growled, definate anger in his voice. “You two are part of Dansheil's homeguard and you know as well as I do that he would love for me to be out of power.. Correct?!”

For a moment the other man contemplated his response. Lance ran the blade across his cheek and forced an answer. “Y--y-- yes!”

Lance smirked, “Its ok. This is no secret,” he tightened his grip on the mans neck and in response Trevin pushed up from the floor trying to loosen the grip

“Listen and listen good--," Lance grumbled in Trevin's ear. “You're going to tell Dansheil that I attacked you, as I have, and that I was mad with anger and left. You will tell him this, so that he can do what he will and leave me be. I'll even leave him with a parting gift for the two of you.”

With that said, Lance quickly drove the sword hard into the guards' hand, pinning it to the ground. It was Trevin's main sword hand, and it would most likely end his career as a homeguard. Afterwords, Lance let the man go and kicked him across the face. Stepping over the two men, he moved to grab his cloak.

In a swift motion he tossed the jacket over his shoulders, Lance moved casually around the room gathering his traveling garmets, and made his way to the window. He gave a quick whistle, and instantly Fletch was there to greet him. Lance would try to follow Makayla, but the problem would lay in the fact that she had left nearly an hour before him by now, making it next to impossible to track her.

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