Hello, everyone! It's NC! I'm so excited to be back in the fic writing community. I'm even more excited to announce that after one year, my baby is finally ready: Knight Unexpected's official reboot.
Yup, you read right! Knight Unexpected 2.0 is officially in development!
But that's enough of my rambling for now. You can read more about what's gonna happen with this fic and the changes from the first draft in my author's note at the end of this chapter. For now, just sit back and enjoy the beginning of the story I've been carefully cultivating for three years now.
This fic is dedicated to all of the people who have hurt me and all of the people I have hurt.
May we all learn to become better and brighter.
"Weź to serce, wyjdź na drogę.
I nie pytaj się "Dlaczego?""
"Take this heart and go to the road,
And don't ask "Why?""
-Serce, Marek Grechuta
"Have you ever loved enough to destroy your love?"
-We Are Gods! We Are Wolves!, Le Loup
Prologue (Part One).
His foot slips on the rain-slicked ground, and for a moment, he is suspended in air. His arm is outstretched, hand extended gracefully like Natalya's whenever she danced her favorite light, airy ballet. Slowly, he glides forward, propelled by his other foot, and for once… He is at peace. A deep stillness has settled inside him, like sucking in a breath.
He is a bird. He is still. He is floating in the air untouchable, free from all men with sharp iron smiles and veiny white hands.
Here, he just is. He can just be. Away from any worry, any stress, any harm.
The thought comforts him.
He closes his eyes.
Rest, his body murmurs.
Forget.
But then…
Something wet and stinging hits his eyelids.
He opens his eyes.
And up ahead, past the sheets of pinprick rain, he sees his brothers.
In slow motion they turn back to him, their eyes large and white with fear.
"TORIS!"
They launch themselves towards him.
His eyebrows furrow.
What's wrong? He wants to ask. Why are you so afraid? There's nothing to be afraid of here. I'm fine, you two. It's okay. Just keep running. Running and running and running, far, far away from this place. Just keep going, okay? I'll follow after you, don't worry. I'm fine. Just keep running.
Running ...
...
...
...
But.
Why are they running in the first place?
Why are we running in the first place?
And then he feels it.
His ankle.
The bone.
Shredding through muscle, piercing through skin, twisting and mangling his flesh into a bloody pulp that stings in the rain.
He extends his hand forward towards Eduard and Raivis, grasping for air, grasping for them, grasping for the peace he felt just moments before -
He falls.
His face slams onto the gray cobblestone, smearing blood and flesh and bone into the puddles.
The world rings loudly. Bits of light flash before his eyes. A ragged cry of pain escapes his mouth, broken and raw. The stillness he held inside - gone, punched out of his stomach, drowned by a heavy, choking panic. He tries to heave himself up to breathe, to keep moving– but the lights are too bright and his arms are too shaky and so he falls back onto the cobblestone, wheezing, clawing at the stone with bleeding fingers. He tries to move his foot, to find purchase on the ground - but his ankle sends a flood of white, red hot pain through his body, pain so bad it nearly makes him sob.
The hurt – the panic – the need to getthemawaybeforehekillsthemjustgetthemaway –
Toris remembers.
He's following us.
"Toris!"
Eduard and Raivis crouch next to him, one on each side. With trembling hands, they roll him onto his side — Toris bites back a strangled cry, burning — so he's staring at the soles of Eduard's ruined shoes. Toris forces himself to focus on Eduard's face, on his brother's bright, cornflower blue eyes, but there's too much fear in them, too much too much too much, and he almost vomits, almost retches in on himself at the sight of it.
"Toris, get up!" Raivis's shaking voice. "You have to get up! Come on, come on – Ivan Zimavich is behind us!"
A sharp breath just at thatname - Toris nods frantically. "Okay," he gasps, "okay." A deep breath, a steely tense. He tries to stand. But the sudden movement forces bone through flesh, ripping through muscle – and he collapses back to the ground, hissing.
Everything burns. His head, his body, his ankle. He can't breathe from the suffocating pain of it all. All of his body screams in agony.
All of his body is dying.
… Dying.
...
To die is to leave.
To die is to rest.
To die is to abandon this life for another far away, another life where he can float and float like he did before.
To die …
To die would be nice.
He could float forever, float in a land where good mothers never left and bad men never stayed —
But to die would be to leave his brothers.
And to die would be to leave them with that man.
And he can't do that. Not now. Not when they need him.
Not now.
Not ever.
So Toris bites down on his lip and heaves himself off of the pavement.
He heaves himself up again and again. While Eduard whispers words of encouragement and tries to lifts his shoulders, and Raivis yelps that he can hear Ivan Zimavich's footsteps in the distance, Toris tries. He thinks of his memories of them. Of all of them, playing in the wheat fields when they were very young. He hauls his upper body up, brushes his hair out of his eyes, and he thinks of when he carried Eduard on his shoulders so the bright-eyed boy could look closer at the leaves on the trees. He grounds himself with his good foot, and he thinks of Raivis and him running far away, throwing up dirt from their heels, their laughter ringing through the fields. He holds onto Eduard's shoulder. And with every ounce of strength he has in him, with every ounce of love, against the cold rain and the tearing bone and the bubbling hot heat in his leg, he tries.
He tries for them.
But every time he tries to move his legs, his ankle howls in pain and he is forced down, sweating, suppressing a sob.
It isn't enough.
The next time Toris tries, he has barely lifted his chest off the ground before the pain punches him down, slamming his chin against stone. Blood spills from the newly formed gash, and his body trembles. He can't hear his heartbeat over the sound of his ragged gasps for air.
Raivis pokes at his shoulder, and Eduard whispers encouragement under his breath — you can do it, Toris, you can — but Toris scoots away from both of them, biting down on his lip. They don't need to see him like this. They don't need to see him so weak.
He can't walk in this condition. He knows he can't. Even if he could, he would only slow them down. And in this weather, with these circumstances —
To slow down would be death. That man would drag all three of them back to the mansion with his hands around their necks. He would never let them out. They would die while the rest of the world would go on turning, turning, turning – and that man would smile. He would smile, satisfied in the knowledge that he won against them. That he won against Toris Laurinaitis, his darling "knight", the one who forced himself and his two naive brothers into this situation.
That man would smile and pet Toris's hair and runhisfingersdownhisback, and…
And his brothers would huddle in the other room while Toris muffled his sobs, and…
They would be huddled in the other room.
Away from this. Away from everything. They would be protected while he would be the only one who suffered.
They would be protected.
...
And suddenly...
He knows what to do.
With a burst of energy, Toris forces one arm off the ground and yanks Eduard's frayed collar down to him. His brother almost stumbles - but gods bless him, he keeps his composure and grounds himself. Eduard looks at him, his face fraught with worry lines not meant for a boy his age.
His hands reach for Toris's shoulders – but Toris swats them away before they can touch him. Toris looks straight into Eduard's blue eyes, memorizing them, reading them. Remembering them.
"Eduard. Listen to me. Take Raivis and run as fast as you can. Now."
It takes a moment for his words to settle in, but when they do, Eduard's face churns like it's been punched.
"Toris, what are you –"
"GO!" Toris shouts.
He pushes Eduard away, hard. The boy falls onto the street.
Tears pool at the corners of Eduard's eyes - and Toris's, too. But he blinks the tears away and scatters them onto the road with the falling rain. His heart aches – but he has to be strong. He has never been more sure of anything in his entire life.
If he isn't strong for them, they'll never make it out of this hell. They'll never be strong for themselves — and at the end of the day, that's all that matters.
"Toris!" Raivis cries. "H-how could you do that to Eduard? Eddie, are you okay?" Eduard gives a single, stiff nod. "P-please get up!" Raivis stands, and after he pulls Eduard up, he tries to yank Toris up, too, clutching at his closed fists and then his shoulder. "What are you saying? You're coming with us! We're not leaving you! We're not!" He shrieks. "Eduard, help me! Toris is hurt r-really badly – we need to get out of here, now!"
And Toris almost breaks.
He wants so, so badly to gather them into his arms, to press his lips to their foreheads and tell them that everything will be okay, just like he did when they were young children who didn't know any better. But he doesn't have that luxury right now. They don't have that luxury right now. So he braces himself and looks into Raivis's honey brown eyes.
"Raivis – Raivis, listen to me, little one. You have to run. You have to run away from here and never come back, okay? Don't worry about me or about anyone else in this city. Just run – run far, far away. Don't stay still. Don't pause for anyone. Just run, you hear me? Run!" Raivis moves closer to him, shaking his head, lips moving in a silent plea, and as much as it aches – Toris pushes him away so that he stumbles back towards Eduard. Eduard wraps an arm around Raivis, bringing the younger, teary-eyed boy close to his chest. "Run as fast as you can and never come back!"
"NO!" Raivis shrieks. Tears stream down his face. Eduard stands up, but Raivis claws at his brother's chest hard, struggles so violently that he almost falls over, and Eduard— Eduard, Toris's smart, capable younger brother holds Raivis tight, tight, tight, ignores tears of his own to wipe away Raivis's, and Toris— Toris chokes back a sob. "I won't leave you, I won't, I WON'T –"
"Eduard, take him and run as fast as you can – "
But then, out of the alleyway they left behind –
He sees it.
Coming out with a metal pipe and some leather boots and a fanged smile –
A man.
A man with white hair.
No.
No, no.
NonononoNO –
Thatman –
NONONONONO —
Ankle screaming in agony— body, breaking— even so, Toris hauls himself up and stands in front of Raivis and Eduard, stretching his arms to shield them, head going fuzzy, legs screaming – screaming –
Breath – breath - BREATHE -
"YOU TWO, RUN!"
That man smiles. A scrape of knife against flesh.
He raises his pipe. He takes a step forward. He tears open his blood red mouth to speak, and it sounds like organs slipping across metal.
"Don't be so scared, Torenka. It's only me."
The panic eats him alive.
Toris needs to distract thatman – just long enough for them to get away because - because -
God, if they died – if they fell to this man – the man that Toris promised he would protect them from – the man makinghiswaytowardsthem –
He would never forgive himself—
But if he died — if he fell to this man – if he died cold and alone on this empty city street so that his brothers could live happily far, far away?
If he died for them?
…
It wouldn't be the worst way to die.
He raises his fists. He thinks about Eduard and his bright blue eyes — he thinks of Raivis with his rosy cheeks — he thinks of them smiling, laughing, living.
Toris doesn't know what it is. Maybe it's the anxiety, or maybe it's the proximity to death, or maybe it's the realization that nothing, nothing he can do right now will work. But either way - the deep, deep peace he felt before finds its way back to him, settling deep in his heart. He extends his fists again, like Natalya with her dancing, and it's at that moment that he realizes what the peace is: it's acceptance.
He is going to die.
He will die, and his brothers will be alive. They will move on to have good lives — to work, to love, to enjoy themselves. They will do all of the bright and shining things he wanted to do but never did. They will live.
And the thought comforts him.
That man moves to step out of the shadows – Toris squares his shoulders and thinks about where to strike first, where would be the most blinding, where would hurt the most and give his brothers the most time to leave –
When he hears Eduard and Raivis shriek behind him.
He snaps his head around, panicked -
A gold and creamy white carriage led by a great white horse speeds through the wide street, so fast that it is almost just a blur. The carriage driver urges the horse onward, faster, with a strange determination that leaves Toris breathless; the horse whinnies, runs so fast that the sound of its hooves striking against the cobblestone sound like thunderclaps - bell tower tolls. It shakes everything — he almost stumbles.
In the sheets of rain the carriage floats down like a cloud, like something from a dream — and he can't believe it, he can't, no, he can't right now, it can't be a distraction -
Toris turns back to that man -
But he's gone.
Melted into the rain as if he's never been.
Wait, he wants to say, the anxiety burning through his throat because that man never leaves unfinished business, never, wait, where -
He turns again —
And then he sees.
The carriage drawing to an unsteady halt.
Eduard and Raivis, eyes locked on something at the top of the carriage, their bodies shaking. Toris follows their lines of vision -
And this time, he actually stumbles backwards.
Four golden eagles perch on the four corners of the carriage, proud and graceful. They lift their heavy golden heads towards the sky, looking down at the ground below them as if it's nothing. As if it's insignificant. As if they're better than it.
No, he thinks. No, it can't be. Not here. Not now.
But it is.
They're arrogant, haughty gods, perfect for royalty.
The eagles of the Pospolitan royal family pierce his soul.
Toris stands, thunderstruck.
The horse whinnies again; the carriage driver taps his fist against the wood of the carriage. Toris stares. Stares and stares. And he trembles violently, thinking of all the things that these people could want with him. With his life. With his brothers.
He drags himself towards Eduard and Raivis and draws them close to him, holding them so tightly to his chest that Raivis actually whimpers. "Come on," Toris whispers, "come on, we have to leave now—"
But before they can even move—
The carriage door opens gently, like a flower petal blooming at dawn.
A black boot steps out softly, feeling the steps of the carriage before allowing its partner to rest next to it. Then a pair of creamy breeches, smoother than the gods' own — a red velvet cape, voluptuous and decadent as rich chocolate cake. And then, lastly — a porcelain face, carved elegantly by the sharpest, finest knife.
The face is crowned with a glowing head of golden hair, shimmering as if circled by a halo.
An angel.
No, Toris thinks. Not an angel. A human.
A prince.
The crown prince of Pospolita.
Feliks Łukasiewicz.
The crown prince steps out of the carriage, and with sharp emerald eyes, he looks at Toris.
He does not look at Eduard. He does not look at Raivis. He does not look at the rain-slicked streets or the gray buildings or the blood trickling in a puddle beneath the brothers' feet, sharp as sin. No.
The crown prince looks at him.
Lowly, insignificant Toris Laurinaitis.
And suddenly, once again, like sucking in a breath —
Toris feels like he is floating.
The crown prince is looking at him.
Wow wow wow, where do I even begin with this? So much has changed since my first draft of this story and the current version!
Alright. Right now, I'm gonna get into the differences between the two. So! For those of you have not read the first version of Knight Unexpected, and for those of you who read it but forgot what happened, I'll give you a quick recap. Essentially, Toris was a "knight" for Ivan. Ivan assigned Toris to kidnap Feliks, who was the crown prince of Liathea, in order to gather the great amount of ransom money that the king and queen would surely pay for their son's return. After kidnapping Feliks, Toris was supposed to travel with Gilbert down to Ivan's hideout, where they would hold the prince until paying the ransom money. However, Mathias and Sigurd, two royal guards from the Liathean royal family, intercepted them and essentially ruined their chances of making a clean escape. After incapacitating the guards, Toris and Gilbert made the decision to split up to throw the royal guards off their trail. Toris would go north with Feliks, and Gilbert would go south by himself. So Toris set off with just himself and Feliks.
In concept, the story sounded good. I thought it was plenty dramatic and had a lot of room for character development between Toris and Feliks (aka: there would be a lot of fun LietPol action). But in reality… I realized that yes, there would be a lot of room for fun LietPol action. But there would be little else that Toris could do. In reality, Toris would have little room for development because he would only be talking to Feliks and ... himself. The same applied to Feliks. The two were closed off from the diverse array of character interactions that make reading a story and fanfiction in general fun. And I thought that was incredibly boring to both write and read. Because really — it would be wasting all of the great potential that these characters have.
So! For this version, I've decided to change up the plot a lot. I won't give out any spoilers — you'll have to read for yourself if you want to find out what happens to our favorite fantasy Lithuanian knight ;) — but I can assure you that there will be a much wider range of characters and therefore much more development. The world of Knight Unexpected has expanded considerably. I have a whole slew of side characters with different character arcs planned out, and let me tell you … with these guys, things are gonna get pretty interesting!
"But NC!" You say. "How often are you going to update these interesting peoples' lives?!" And that is a very good question.
Right now, I have the first five chapters (counting the prologue) of Knight Unexpected complete. I'm going to post a chapter every week either on early Saturday afternoon CST. After five weeks pass, I'll see how I feel about how the story is going. If the story is going well, I'll continue with the writing and editing a chapter every week schedule. If I need time to think things through, I'll take a month break to write and see where things go from there.
Either way, I intend on seeing this story through to the end. This story has been my brain child for three years, and it deserves to be told.
Before I end this Author's Note, I'd like to take a moment to ask if you would be so kind enough as to leave a comment telling me what you thought about this chapter. Give me your questions, your comments, your concerns — what you liked, what you disliked, what you were neutral on. For those of you who read the prior draft — do you like this version better? Have I improved myself as a writer? :0
Remember — critique is very much encouraged and appreciated is here. ^u^
Anyways, thank you all so much for reading this chapter and this Author's Note! Thank you for all your support, and I'll see you next time~
- NC
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archiveofourown: marcorooniandcheese (I've uploaded Knight Unexpected here, too!)