Eiríkur stumbled and fell forward on the rug. Panting, he looked up at his father's golden throne as the throne room's doors behind him slammed.
"I'm sorry." He heard his father say behind him, "I didn't mean to throw you like that." The apology was quick, but it was sincere. Eiríkur could understand the haste that his father was taking. Afterall, they were currently under attack.
Perhaps what Eiríkur didn't understand was why they were under attack. His father was a fair and gentle ruler, as far as he knew, the citizens were happy. But, just as his teacher said in his lessons, you can never please everyone.
"Come on," His father said, breaking his thoughts, "Get up." After being helped to his feet, his father grabbed him by the shoulders and scanned him with his eyes, "Are you hurt?"
Never in his thirteen-year-old life had Eiríkur been scared speechless.
"Eiríkur, answer me!"
He shook his head, "No," He said quickly, "Where are Aleksander and Mother?"
His father closed his eyes briefly, "I don't-"
Before his father could finish his sentence, the doors flew open. His father drew his sword and spun around, protecting him. But, instead of attacking, he relaxed, "Arthur."
Arthur was the royal bodyguard, the youngest one in history aging only twenty-one, just two years older than Aleksander. Eiríkur was relieved to see him, and not only for protection. He had known the bodyguard his whole life. His earliest memory was when they were kids, when he, his brother, and Arthur would play pretend… Arthur was like a second brother, and considered family by the King and Queen.
"Please tell me you have news of my wife and other son." Eiríkur's father continued.
Excalibur, Arthur's raven, flew in just before Arthur closed the doors with a grunt. He leaned against the door for a short moment before limping over, "I do not have news or her Majesty or Heir Aleksander," Excalibur perched herself on Arthur's shoulder as the young man stopped a few feet away from Eiríkur's father, "But, I do have good news."
His father shook his head as he lowered his sword, "If it isn't about my family, then I don't really care."
"The Runners are here." Arthur said, giving the news anyway.
Eiríkur felt even more relieved. The Runners established themselves to protect the throne from treason, weather it was taking out threats to the kingdom's leader, or assassinating tyrants, like they had done to Eiríkur's grandfather. But, since his father was such a just king, this was great news. But his father didn't seem to share Eiríkur's feelings.
"Well, it's about time!" His father practically yelled, "I thought their job was to prevent all this!"
"Sir-"
The king interrupted, "You know, I would like to speak to Francis after this! My wife and son may be dead and where was he?"
"Excuse me," Arthur began to retort, "May I remind you of your power? You are not allowed to speak directly to The Runners, I am the only Royal Representative that can do that." Arthur's voice raised as he went on, his anger and stress growing "And second, this is not his, or his men's fault. Some things are out of everyone's control. Francis is one of the greatest leaders of The Runners in history, right next to his own mother, don't you think that if he saw this coming, he would have tried to stop it before it got to the bloody castle?"
"You're my bodyguard, not my advisor!" His father snapped. Arthur looked like he was going to argue more, but they were both interrupted by yelling outside the room. His father took out a dagger and turned to Eiríkur, "Hide, son." He said, handing it to him.
Eiríkur took the dagger, but he didn't hide, "I have been taught how to fight, Father."
His father didn't exactly argue, but he didn't listen to him either, "Do as I say right now."
The anxious, almost scared tone in his father's voice frightened Eiríkur even more. Not only were they in danger, but the biggest, strongest, most indestructible man that Eiríkur knew was scared. It made Eiríkur feel childish to be scared when his parent was, but it seemed like the most natural response.
His father must have seen him shaking, because after a short pause, he sighed, bent his head down and kissed him on the top of the head, "I am so proud of you and your brother. I love you both so much."
Although, meant to be comforting, it didn't help. What his father said sounded like his last words.
Eiríkur didn't have time to ponder it. With the yelling getting louder on the other side of the door, his father pushed him towards the corner of the room. There sat a solid stone table with a long, floor-length table cloth. He ran over to it, and hid under it. He didn't even have time the breathe before the door burst open.
He peeked out from under the table cloth just in time to see Excalibur fly up in the air, into the shadows of the rafters. Arthur had already drawn his sword in one hand and a dagger in the other, slicing through enemies as they came. The bodyguard dodged, ducked, and spun out of the way of attacks, using his agility to his advantage. His father, on the other hand, wasn't a good dodger, but was a good blocker. Using a heavier sword than Arthur and most of the attackers, his father blocked every attack until there was an opening to hack into them. They were a good team, and even though they didn't seem to need the help, Excalibur flew down and attacked someone's face, plucking their eyes out.
Eiríkur had never seen so much blood in his life, but he couldn't stop watching.
That's when Arthur got his attention. The young man was now facing a speed fighter, a skilled one at that. The other man had Arthur backing up, blocking, and dodging more than attacking, which wasn't good. From across the room, Eiríkur could hear Arthur begin to pant, and the leg that was causing his lip seemed to be bothering him even more. Eiríkur had learned about different fighting strategies, and each had their strengths and weaknesses. Agility fighters, like Arthur, are hard to keep up with and aren't easily defeated because they change direction so much, but they have poor endurance, and tire out quickly. They have to keep the fight short.
Get a hold of him, Eiríkur thought, Speed fighters are hard to block, but if you get a hold of him, he can't defend himself.
Arthur's agility got the advantage. It seemed like the bodyguard was at the perfect angle, and in a quick turn of his wrist, he disarmed the enemy, who went to run. Arthur reached out and grabbed the man by the back of his collar. But, before Arthur could thrust his sword into his back, the man took the Royal Staff off of the wall next to him, spun around, and hit him in the head.
Eiríkur's jaw dropped when he heard the loud thud that came from the collision. Arthur's body fell to the ground motionless.
Get up, Eiríkur almost yelled out loud, Please, Arthur, get up.
He didn't, but that didn't mean that his father would be fighting alone, not if Eiríkur had anything to say about it. But, before Eiríkur could get out from under the table, he heard a pain-filled cry. He looked over to see a man pull a sword out of his father's chest and his father fall. Eiríkur covered his mouth to prevent himself from screaming as tears rolled down his cheeks.
"NO!"
At that time, three men ran into the room. The first, a long blond, jumped forward, thrusted his knees into the man's stomach, landed on top of him, and slit his throat with a thin sword. He got up and immediately began fighting the other enemies, using speed tactics. The second man had brown hair. He came in with a knife in each hand and began using agility, much as Arthur did. The third was an albino with a heavy sword that he wielded with both hands, and proved to be strong enough to hack halfway through someone's head. The three fought perfectly with each other, each of them knew exactly where the other two were, and for the longest time, they went through men like they didn't even pose a threat… But all good things come to an end.
Because, much like agility fighters, speed fighters are also prone to running low on energy, and, even if it took some time, the long blonde eventually became slower, and started to back up. It wasn't long until an enemy sliced through the long blonde's rib cage. The long blonde dropped his sword, gripped his side and fell to the floor. But, before the man could strike the last blow, the albino turned around and hacked into the crook of the man's neck, nearly decapitating him.
Then, it was over.
The albino and brown-haired man stood there panting before sheathing their weapons. At their feet, many dead enemies, the long blonde whining in pain, Arthur, who now had a small pool of blood collecting by his head, Excalibur on her owner's chest, and Eiríkur's father, who was visibly dead.
The albino went over to the long blonde, but was waved off, "Check the king." The long blonde turned to the brunette, "Arthur."
The two other men went over to Eiríkur's father and Arthur without a word until the albino spoke softly, "The… The king's dead."
There was a long silence between the three of them, and Eiríkur could feel his heart shatter as more tears streamed down his face. Finally, the long blonde broke the silence, his voice thick with pain, disappointment, and stress, "What about the Royal Bodyguard?"
The brunette paused, "Far from well, but he's alive."
The long blonde coughed, "Oh… God… Dammit…"
The albino walked over to him, "Francis,"
Eiríkur's eyes widened when he realized who the long blonde was. Francis, the leader of The Runners, and he was horribly wounded…
How could this get any worse? Eiríkur thought to himself.
The albino continued, "We need to get you out of here and back to the hideout. You need medical attention as soon as possible."
"Gil-"
"Gilbert's right." The brunette interrupted, "The kingdom just lost its king, and possibly the rest of the Royal Family, it can't lose you."
Francis sighed, "Alright. Gilbert, help me… An… Antonio… Look for the rest of the Royal Family."
Doing as they were told, Gilbert picked Francis up and carried him out, and Antonio stayed. After a long moment, he took a deep breath and began heading towards the door. That's when Eiríkur came out of his shocked state. He climbed out from under the table, accidentally dropping his dagger onto the floor.
Antonio whirled around, taking his knives off of his belt and getting ready for a fight before his face lit up with recognition, "Prince Eiríkur!" He sheathed his weapons, ran over and kneeled, "I am so glad to have found you! You are not hurt, are you?"
Eiríkur had never met someone from The Runners before, but Antonio acted just as Eiríkur was taught in his lessons. Antonio showed respect by getting down on one knee, but, unlike any other citizen, he held Eiríkur's gaze, telling him that in Antonio's view, they were equal.
Eiríkur snapped himself out of his thoughts, "Oh… No, no, I…" He glanced over to his father, "...I'm fine."
Antonio stood and put a hand on Eiríkur's shoulder, "I am very relieved to hear that, Prince Eiríkur. I hate to be rude, but we must get out of here. Do you by chance know where your mother and brother are?"
Eiríkur sighed, "No. We got separated from them."
Antonio nodded and smiled, "No worries, we will find them. I need you to stay close to me."
"Wait. I know my father is… Is dead." Eiríkur said, knowing that he could run from that fact, "But, what about Arthur?"
"I have known Arthur for a long time," Antonio began, "He is a very strong man, I'm sure he will be fine."
Eiríkur glanced at the bodyguard, he hadn't moved a muscle in what felt like forever, "Shouldn't we take him with us? He isn't safe here." Looking closer, Eiríkur noticed that Arthur wasn't breathing evenly anymore.
Antonio's cheerful expression turned sorrowful, "I am sorry, but we can't, getting you to safety is my first priority. I can't do that with him on my back."
Eiríkur wanted to argue, but he felt too numb. Without a word, he nodded and followed Antonio.
Author's Note:
I know there's a lot of side info about The Runners and Arthur, but more will be explained in later chapters.
I really hope this turned out well because I have never written a fight scene like that before. I hope there were enough details.
Arthur and his pet/friend/attack raven, Excalibur, will become important characters. I am looking forward to writing Excalibur so much, but I can not give myself credit for the idea, I got inspiration for it after seeing fan-art of England with a couple of ravens at The London Towers.
For this fic, I had to do some research on ravens, and they are very interesting birds! They are extremely smart, their intelligence ranking up with dolphins and elephants! They can even learn to speak clearer than most parrots. They mate for life, are protective of friends, are empathetic, will comfort wounded friends, and show grief when they lose a friend or partner. To top it all, they are also very playful!
Anyway, I fully intend on writing a full story from this. It is going to be a Nordic 5 fic. There are also going to be some important information from Arthur, Francis, The Runners, Ivan, and even Toris (Lithuania) and Feliks (Poland) along the way as well. Needless to say I have a lot planned for this story!
So read and review, and enjoy!