Chapter 3

Life as a guard is going to be tough. For the past two weeks training has been from 10 to 4, a rough 6 hours of my life. But I saw how much it meant to Rapunzel that I finally got myself something to do so I kept going.

It also doesn't help that I have the Captain of the Guard as my instructor.

"Att-ention!" he yelled, as I finished lacing my boots up. I rose to my feet, arms by my side as my looks met his. There were two others with me as part of my training, not many because the royal guard wasn't in such a heavy demand as it once was. One being Frank, a skinny lad who didn't look a day over eighteen. The other, an older man that went by Ian. He was probably in his thirties and didn't even look like he should be here but still is.

"Rider!" The Captain yelled at me, approaching.

"Cap, It's Eugene now." I said to him.

"I'm gonna call you Rider till you prove to me you're a changed man. Is that understood, soldier?" he said, sternly, turning away.

I chuckled, and boy was that a mistake.

"What are you laughing at, son?" he said, turning towards my way once more. The two men beside me stood there, fearfully awaiting what was to happen next.

"Nothing that concerns you."

"Well," he dusted a piece of lint off my left shoulder. "It's of my concern now". I like to say you can always tell how someone is feeling by the look of their eyes, and it was obvious to me what Cap was thinking right about now.

"I chuckled," wiping my left shoulder, "because I haven't done a single thing in two months and you act as if I'm no different."

There, I said it. The elephant in the room. Truthfully, I didn't like the Cap and he didn't like me either. At this point in our lives, we're both adults and don't want to make much out of this, especially him now. There's already been one incident where Rapunzel told him off after she saw him trip me during an exercise.

"Soldier," his voice was low, but rose with each and every word he mustered up. "I know a crook when I see one." He paused, staring me right in the eye. "Old habits don't just die so easily." I saw the seriousness in his eyes and I matched it, none of us blinking for the entirety of those ten seconds.

"Now, you three have a job today." He paced around, looking each of us in the eyes as he did so. "It may sound stupid, but it is of the utmost importance that you get it done swiftly and soundly."

Oh gosh, what was he going to have him do now? Couldn't be worse than that one time he had him…

Clean the horse pen.

Gah, that was awful.

"Your job is to survey the outskirts of the Kingdom. There've been a few recent reports on robberies," I saw him look my way. "And because of the extra preparation for the Flag run tomorrow, we're short on guards."

I saw the two men beside me jump slightly in joy. Just like I was, both of them were seemingly starting to get annoyed with the tedious chores the Captain gave us each day. Horse pen, bathroom, even walkways outside the castle were among the many things we were told to clean. Heck, even thinking about it, we haven't done much guarding at all.

I looked towards him as he grabbed a clipboard from one of the nearby shelves, and began to mark items I assume will be our duties for the time being. I was able to catch a glance of one of the locations, "Old Corona". Somewhere I was not yet familiar with.

"Frank, you are to patrol the Bank," referring to the riverbank outside the kingdom, of course. "Make sure to keep watch on the few townsfolk who live down there and make sure nothing fishy is going on."

Frank nodded. "Sir, yes sir."

"Ian, your station is at the small village near the library. Have a keen eye, believe it or not we've had many cases of thievery down there."

Again, the Cap looked my way. He thinks I ever robbed a bookstore? That brought a slight smile to my face, the ineptitude of this man.

Ian nodded as well in compliance to his command.

"Rider,-"

I coughed, "Eugene."

"Rider." he glared my way, and I held in my smile as hard as I could. He approached me now, "You are to head down to Old Corona, across the forest."

"Fine with me. When we leave?" I pulled my arm up to stretch for a moment.

"At one, right on the spot."

That sounds fine. Couple hours down at Old Corona, hanging with the civilians, maybe kiss a few babies. Shouldn't be that hard of work. Then when I'm done, I have a hot date with a sweet girl back in the castle. Man, life is great.

"I'm going to have to extend each of your hours, though, because of the necessities."

What now?

"Cap, seriously?" I asked. Is he pulling one over me?

"Do I look like I'm joking around, soldier." He turned to me again, as Frank and Ian just helplessly watched on.

"I had plans after this. Can't you understand that when a man sets plans he just can-"

"That is an order, soldier! No ifs ands or buts."

I sighed, knowing nothing that I could do would change his mind.

Cap turned back around and placed his clipboard on the shelf again. "Maximus will be accompanying you to ensure you don't get into any trouble."

The horse? Really? He didn't trust me enough to watch over some little town across the forest for a few hours? I really had to be assigned a babysitter?

Yeah, the thing with Max and I, we didn't get off to the best start. I've encountered the horse many times in my old journeys and stories of thieving and treachery. We've been through a lot together, whether he likes to admit it or not. But even after my change of heart, he still doesn't seem to fully trust me. It'll take time.

"Fine, whatever." I walked over to the Horse's pen but saw no sight of the mighty steed. "Where's the old hoof"

"Oh,-" the Captain let out a chuckle of his own as he began to walk away. "I think you'll enjoy this." Over his head he tossed me an old, worn down bucket and a dirty sponge.

For God's sake, I thought to myself as I turned to the old horse outhouse. This uniform was uncomfortable enough but having to basically dive right into horse manure only made it even worse. My hate grew for the Captain as I saw him walk off cheerfully.

The clock struck one as I had just finished scrubbing the last of the remaining pieces of horse feces off the back of my boot. "Lovely," I grumbled. Ian and Frank had already left for their shifts at this time, so it was just me and the horses.

"What the hell have you been eating, Max?" I asked.

The horse turned his way, neighing in delight. He wagged his tail.

"This job is awful, bud. Man, does it suck." The horse's gaze was locked onto that of mine.

"Not because of you, or anything like that," He rolled his eyes, I could see out of the corner of mine, "Because of that idiot Captain. You know, what'd he ever do to get that job anyway?" I couldn't believe it, I sunk to the point where I was talking to a literal horse. That's how far things have fallen in the world of Eugene Fitzherbert.

He gave me one of those Shut up before it's too late kind of looks I often saw from him back in my thieving days. So I stopped before he tried anything crazy.

"I don't like this either, pal." I said, strapping him up. "It's just something we're going to have to deal with for the time being." I hooked the last lock in place. "Maybe it won't be so bad."

He let out a huff of annoyance as I grabbed onto him and pulled myself up.

"Max, you remember when we-"

Before I could finish my thought, I felt the immediate pressure of wind flying up against my face.