Satsu reached down wildly, not even noticing who it was, or how they knew his name as he fell onto his horse. "Oh Kayin! Hello. Thank you. I was wondering who was following me." His cheeks were tinted a pastel blue as he gathered his sense and sat there. "Now to find my steed."
(sorry, we had a long weekend and tons of snow so I had to shovel all the time and I didn't have a chance to get on)
"Instead of that, hows about I take you to the castle. Then, I will find your horse and bring him back by tomorrow. Free of charge." Kayin nudged Ade and she started forward, trotting in the direction Sastu was originally going.
Satsu sighed as he looked back into the forest. "I don't trust most of the creatures in there. You'd need to be a knight. He'll be dead by tomorrow, I'll bet my heart on it. Poor Phillip…oh well. I'll buy another later, and take the thrashing I'm sure to receive."
"A knight? I somehow doubt that. The forest seems friendly enough. Maybe not to you. You seem timid. Alright, you should hold on," Kayin said, wrapping Ade's reins around his palms and whispering to him to go.
"Maybe during the day, but during the night it's a different beast. Good as gone." He shrieked a bit, and hugged Kayin tightly as the horse shot off like a bullet. He situated himself as he got used to the horses rhythm, arms locking around Kayin. He huffed a bit, but didn't say much, lucky enough to get a warning. As they rode on, the pair got strange looks from the townsfolk, for a prince in an assassins arms was a strange sight to see. When the prince wasn't dead, that is.
"Okay back there?" Kayin asked, a grin spreading across his face at Satsu's yelp. "I'm gonna go faster," He said and dug his heels into Ade's sides, making her speed up substantially.
He gasped and buried his face into Kayin's back. It was obvious he didn't go very fast on his horse, using Phillip more for leisure rides then anything else. He ducked down, as the houses and people flew by. A few kids waved at him as he sped on. He just tried to keep his stomach out of his throat.
Kayin reined Ade in. "Too fast for you?" He looked back at Satsu. "Do you want me to slow down?" Ade cantered to a stop and turned in a tight circle.
(ohhh I'm so sorry I got wrapped up in grades and catching up. I'll get a response to this asap!)
(dw about it! i know how it is. school sucks)
"No no it's fine just…not used to it." He said softly. "Crystal may protect the creatures during the day, but when she sleeps at night. Wolves and terrifying shadowy beasts as tall as the trees, move in too hunt. It's a very different place in the dark. I've been sneaking out of my castle to see Crystal for years. And still the warnings remain ringing in my ears."
"Interesting." Kayin nudged Ade again and she started through the forest once more. "I promise you that I will find your horse. By tomorrow. And if you don't mind my asking, who is Crystal?"
"You don't know her, and you're an assassin?" He sat up slowly, clearly shocked. "I thought everyone knew our cities ex-queen and most powerful healer. You see a long time ago, when she was as young as a sapling. These are her words not mine. Her sister ruled these lands. It's why we have Wallbreaking day. We had strict and high borders, and Lilliana was cruel, and torturous. Anyone said one bad thing about her, then they'd end up killed. Crystal escaped the walls, after being tortured for startign a rebellion, one breath of life left in her lungs. The fae took her in, and healed her. Taught her magic. She became pregnant after falling in love with a fae, and soon after the Collision of Power war happened. Crystal won, but now she's retired. And the family tree has become a large confusion of branches. Her daughter, Marianna, now lives…elsewhere. Crystal has lost track."
Kayin laughed. "I'm not from here, love. I'm an elf. Well, half-elf." He tucked his hair behind his ear, revealing slightly pointed ears. "I was. . . I left my parents at a young age and was trained by an underground assassin. I don't know much about politics or anything like that. I just try to survive. I know a lot, but not about things of that nature."
"Ah. That explains it. A traveler. You're lucky. My parents don't particularly like elves or, anyone. Really." He gulped as they slowly approached the castle gates. He cowered down again, already expecting quite the thrashing from his mother for loosing the horse and arriving with a stranger. At least he had managed to have a few of the items they asked for on him, so it wouldn't be a total loss. (Wasn't your character agender?)
(genderflux, so it changes, mostly between agender and demiboy)
"I don't know about lucky. I suppose it doesn't matter much if they like me or not," Kayin said wryly. "The castle is beautiful," he said softly, then felt Satsu shrink down behind him. "Are you scared?"
"They beat me. I told you this in the bar. It's why you're killing them for me." He said simply, as the gate lowered slowly. "And it does matter. You may not even live till tomorrow. Depending upon how much they care to spend resources to find you. If you're worth their time or not. Probably not." Suddenly the door opened and there stood the king and queen, adorned in jewels and galliant clothes. "SATSU WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS? Where is that weak thing you call a horse? Who is THIS?!?!?!" His mother screeched out, as he slowly got down, and immediately his arm was roughly grabbed and he received a rough slap across the face. "We'll have to wait another 10 years before he can leave the castle again dearest." His father replied simply, as Satsu got dragged in by the ear, him dragging his heels.
"Yikes," Kayin muttered under his breath, following Satsu, not sure if intervening would cause more trouble. "I'm sorry to inconvenience Your Majesties." He pulled the gold button off his cloak and dropped it into his boot. That certainly didn't need to be noticed by the king and queen.
The king looked up and down Kayin after Satsu had disappeared inside. "Hm yes well. What happened to his horse? He was buying important items from in the city we need for his training. I hope he wasn't seeing that stupid old wench Crystal. We can't kill her since she's protected by laws we can't change, no matter how we look at the possibilities…Oh. I seem to have said too much. What does it matter anyways, you're a traveller. Of elven decent, I can tell by the ears. You've come far. Why are you here, I might as well ask. Caroline will wonder." His voice was heavy, every word weight with a cannonball of seriousness. The type of voice you'd imagine smog and dreariness having, it all very flat and tired.
Kayin cleared his throat and touched his ears self-consciously. "The prince has asked me to be his servant," he ad-libbed, pulling his sleeve down to cover the scars on his arms. "If that's alright with Your Majesty, that is. I. . .stole his horse and released it into the woods, and the prince has deemed that the punishment should be becoming his indentured servant for a period of time, as well as give him my horse. He has also asked me to go retrieve his horse from the forest for him."
"You're a bad liar, but a personal free servant for Satsu would be worthy, as no one yet has been able to handle him and his powers like we can. Satsu doesn't have half the guts to do that." The man slicked back his fading black hair, and moved with such grace he nearly floated along in his robes. "Come. You will have housing here, and a small bit of coinage as thank you. Caroline would not be so kind, but she is busy punishing Satsu for I do believe he would've lost that dastardly horse. It has a weak front leg and scares easily. The leg is a birth defect, but he insisted we keep it. Now it's probably being pawned off in the market, or being turned into mincemeat. And if it's in the forest? It won't last long. A weak hearted thing like that, will have it's head ripped off by a troll and turned into dinner. I'll show you to your room. I'll have a servant bring up your bags. Tell me, why are you travelling?"
"Oh, I don't have any bags," Kayin said. "And I travel because I don't have a home. And because there's nothing more interesting to do, sir. Employment as a merchant or a blacksmith doesn't appeal to me. And no one would have me anyway."
"You would have too gain money and such somehow. Your clothes are too refined to be scoundrel as you claim yourself to be." He began to go up a tower, arms folded behind his back as he opened the door. "And a traveller has bags. Or else you would live here. Marilynn!" A girl in a maids outfit with dark brown hair, in a near plaited braid rushed up the stairs and appeared next to him. "Get the bags off of our guests horse, and then take the steed to our stable boy. No peeking into the bags." "Yes sir." And away she rushed to do her Kings bidding.
"Again. I don't have bags. I'm. . . a thief. How would a half-elf such as myself get refined clothes like these, as you say. You will see once you retrieve the horse. There's no reason for me to have any bags, and I swear I'm not lying to you." He shook his foot a bit, the gold button irritating his foot. "It's very kind of you to offer me this room, Your Majesty."
"Thieves have to have somewhere to put their stolen goods. Thieves are common here, and you'll be under careful eye. I suggest you not steal a single thing from this castle. It will not be us, but the crazy old wench at the edge of the forest who will send beasts much scarier then any sleeping dragon after you." Up arrived Marilynn, the whole saddle draped across her shoulders as she nearly fell a few times, before plopping it on the floor. "See? Your saddle is a bag. Little trinkets tucked into it's folds. Alas. I shall go find my wife, and make sure she hasn't killed Satsu. We still have use for him. Make yourself at home. Jeremiah, the butler, will announce dinner soon."
Kayin said nothing to the king, simply watched as he left, then turned to his new room. It seemed to be relatively bare, but he took off his cloak and threw it on the chair in the room, then looked out the window, pushing the heavy curtain aside. "Just relax," he said to himself, and shook out his arms and rolled his shoulders.
(bump)
Echoes of the kings footsteps broke the much shriller bounces of sound of his wife's screeching at Satsu. He was cowering in the fireplace, trying to avoid his mother. She was severely disappointed in him, and was threatening to pour water all over him until he was near death. He was profusely apologizing, and flaming all over. She would've grabbed him if she could. The king walked in and grabbed his wife, and led her away, speaking to her in low solemn, calming tones. She was about to pop a vein she was so mad, but luckily the king saved her and Satsu in the process. He immediately thundered up the stairs, bolted past Kayins room, and he slid into his own, where he began his breathing exercises to calm down.
Kayin opened the door to his room and climbed the stairs, standing outside of Satsu's room for a moment. He knocked three times and said, "Your Majesty," in a soft voice, trying not to aggravate him. "May I come in?"
"Come in." He said softly, as he lay on the cold floor, belly up. He was deep breathing. A large bruise was blooming on his cheek, from where his mother had harshly slapped him.