Your Royal Protector Takes You

Transcript

Your Highness, we must keep moving, but are you alright? Are you unharmed? You're absolutely certain, although I put a stop to it as soon as I could, their treatment of you looked rough to say the least.

G-good. No, I'm fine. Just twisted an ankle.

We have to keep moving. Yes, keep following this path. Ordinarily I would station someone ahead of you as well but now I don't know who to trust.

Forgive me, it will be only me and you for a while. Now I'm afraid to say we must pick up the pace. Yes, it is possible that they have turned the heads even of the men who kept the hunting dogs in which case they could use them to track us.

We need to go deep, I'm sure they will be making chase. I know of a shelter built into the treetops. I do not know who built it, but I'm quite certain I'm the only one who knows of it now.

I use it when hunting these forests myself and have occasionally left a few things there. Never have those things been moved or taken. I believe it is safe and unknown.

You're right, of course. Right now we should trust nothing and nobody, but I believe it is the best chance we have. You are quite right not to trust me after the betrayal we have faced, but forgive me your grace, right now I believe your only other choice is to kill me and face the forest alone.

Do that if you wish, I would not fight you, only be afraid for you. Thank you for trusting me, your highness. I know how hard trust must be to place in a time like this.

How much do you know of the betrayal? Nothing. Well, you know little less than I.

I first heard murmurings of malcontent among the guard merely yesterday. I immediately set my right hand man into action, instructing him to infiltrate the ranks of the average soldier and find out more. Alas, he was the one behind it all.

I should have been more careful, but I thought I could trust him after more than a decade of working together as your protectors. It is regrettable that I had to kill him, not least as he is, was, a highly adept swordsman. Ending his life wasn't only an emotional hardship, it wore me down physically such that performing my duty of protecting you was made more difficult than ever it has been.

I just wish I understood how I missed this all until yesterday. There must have been some sign that I should have picked up on. Surely they were planning all of this for longer than 24 hours.

I feel like a failure. And worst of all, I. ..

No, I'm fine. I just, I tripped and. ..

Forgive me your grace, I have kept something from you. Yes, a real beauty of a wound, isn't it? The trouble with fighting someone one has worked with for a decade and whom one taught to fight is that they become intimately familiar with one's fighting style and the weakest points in one's armour.

Before I bested him, he managed to land one good blow. I fear he hit an artery. I have lost a lot of blood.

Let me try to stand. No, I cannot. The pain is too great and I am weakened.

Your majesty, you must go on your own. Forgive me, I do not believe I can protect you any longer. In your grace, no, I cannot.

If I am to travel with you any further, I will only hinder your progress. Here, please. I have charted the route to the treetop hide.

I think there should be sufficient detail for you to find it yourself. I only hope that you find your way there safely without me. Would you permit me to say that serving as your protector has been the greatest honour of my life? You have been a trust and fair leader of the realm and, if I may say, one of my most trusted and valued friends.

Yes, I regret that although first and foremost you are my ward, I have started to think of you more fondly than that. In fact, I fear it may have affected my thinking somewhat. In this condition, I would have served you best by staying at the entrance to this forest path to head off any usurpers that may have tried to follow us in.

I could have given you the map and I am sure you would have made faster progress without me. But I could not bear the thought of leaving you in such dire times. My emotions got the better of me.

Forgive me. Forgive me. I have been saying forgive me a lot.

I just said it again. This is really getting the better of me now. Please take the map and go.

If I hear anybody coming this way, I will do my best to hold them off. I'll give all I can, that is, if I haven't already expired. I fear, though, that I am reaching my limit.

Why won't you leave? I'm only going to hold you back. Please.

What do you mean you can heal me? Your Majesty, I only wish it were true. But I fear that this wound is beyond the sort of simple first aid one can achieve in the field.

Even if you stem the bleeding, which I do not believe would be possible with the materials we have to hand, I have lost so much already. No, I doubt even the court surgeon, with all of her resources, would be able to help at this stage. I don't mean to doubt you, but what could you possibly do? I do trust you.

I just don't understand how you could heal someone in this condition. But okay, do what you must. You… what did you do? My wound is healed, and I feel my strength returning already as though that lost blood has been replaced.

How is this possible? You're a mage. How have I been How is this possible? You're a mage.

How have I been charged with your safety for so long and not known? How deep does this secret go? Well, even if your powers do only extend to healing, this is miraculous.

I have never met a mage in my life, and even tales of them are few and far between. But of course, I should have expected the ruler of this realm should be blessed with such powers. Oh, I should put my doublet back on.

Right, well, we have much more to talk about. If you're capable of magical healing, then this may change the tactics I use in the course of your protection. But for now, we do still need to move.

I suspect your powers don't extend to the loss of one's head. They… they do? How do you know that? Regardless, we must away.

Come. It's not far now until the treetop hide. In fact, it looks like it should be just ahead.

Ah, yes, here, this tree with this crooked branch. Here, look up. Exactly.

Nothing. It's a hide in the truest sense, completely invisible through the foliage. Do you think you can climb up there without assistance? Ah, good.

You picked a good day to wear such practical clothes. I'll follow you up. Okay.

Okay, I think we should be safe here, at least overnight. Here, I only have the one bed roll. Please make use of it.

I will sleep on my cloak. No, it's really no bother. Ah, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, No, it's really no bother.

I'm used to sleeping rough. Besides, I owe you much more than a good night's sleep. I am supposed to be the one protecting your life, and yet you have just saved mine.

How can I ever repay you? I will be forever in your debt. Well, if you insist I'm not in your debt, know at least that I feel more strongly bonded to you than I ever have.

Even if most of my life has been spent training for or acting in the interests of your protection, now more than ever I feel as though I must dedicate my life to you. Forgive me. No, I'm sorry.

I mean, what am I saying? I don't understand. I should just be quiet and keep watch.

Although this hide can't be seen from the ground, one can just make out movement below through the leaves. It is rather cramped though, isn't it? I hope you don't mind being so close like this.

No, I suppose we do spend a lot of time in close proximity. Most of the time I'm standing at your shoulder, though in a large hall. Now we have no choice but to be close.

Hmm, I don't see any sign that we've been followed. No torchlight through the leaves or howling dogs. I think, I think we may be able to relax a little.

Oh, you wish to check my wound? Of course, I do not know the ways of healing magic, but it feels as though there was never a wound there. I'll have to remove my doublet again.

Good God, it's like it was never there. There isn't even a scar. Incredible, such powerful magic.

What other secrets are you keeping from me? No, I mean, what other secrets are you keeping from me? No, I mean, what other great feats are you capable of that might affect my strategies in your protection?

Hmm, I'm not sure what to think of that. What else could you possibly have been hiding from me that you want to show me now? Okay, I'll put it out of my mind.

I'll put it out of my mind. You, you wish to touch the area where the wound was? Of course, your majesty.

Fine, of course. Go ahead. Does it feel good? Does it feel as though it is fully healed? I mean, I only know rudimentary first aid.

I cannot judge things such as that for myself. And the area around where the wound was also feels healthy, I trust. Your grace, your hand, what are you? What are you? Your highness, I exist for your protection.

I cannot possibly. This will really muddy my thinking. I must keep a clear mind.

Very well. You know, I did wonder if one day I might come to this. All those suitors who you passed by.

You could have anyone, but I always thought the way you looked at me, that there was something there. Hmm. All these years together, how long have you wanted to do this? God, then it occurs to me that we have a lot of wasted time to make up for.

How ironic that it should happen now at such a dire moment. I wasn't sure this would ever happen, but that it is now happening in the forest, in a hunting hide at the top of the trees. God, the worst part is, there is no more comfortable to lie down.

I don't suppose that will bother you. No, me neither. Against the wall, I'll undress you, if it pleases you, your highness.

Good. Hmm. I cannot tell you how hard it has been to avert my gaze or leave the room whenever you were required to undress.

Your body is just as I imagined it, if I may say so. You look divine. And you taste as good as you look.

Hmm. Turn around. Your ass, so firm, yet supple.

I see you've been maintaining the self-defense.