I pushed his limp body off to the side and stood up, brushing the dust off myself. I stared at him for a few moments as my group came up behind me and followed my gaze onto the boy.
"Is this boy the General? He looks kind of young." Jason asked.
"19 to be exact," I said bending down and hauling him onto my shoulder.
Wow he's lighter than I expected, I thought to myself.
"I hope I didn't hurt him too bad," I said jokingly.
The group gave out a slight laugh along with me. I gestured for one of them to get my horse and they all ended up running back to the tents and I was left alone to walk. I noticed something under his shirt as I was walking and I stopped. I fished out a pair of headphones from under his shirt. I shrugged and slid them around my neck.
When I finally got back to camp, my horse stood strong waiting for me to climb onto its back. I shoved him onto the horse and jumped up, placing him on my lap before he fell off. Adjusting my shades, I nudged the horse and It ran through the battlefield towards the enemy's wing. I guided my horse to the top of the rock and held the boy out. Everyone stopped and stared at me and went silent.
"Retreat or he dies. Make your choice!" I shouted to the crowd.
The Commander broke the silence by shouting to retreat. The few hundred that were still alive doubled back and followed the Commander.
"Return to the castle for a feast, recruits." I shouted happily and they laughed and hollered in response.
The Commander stood still looking directly into my eyes. He looked sad and confused. I raised an eyebrow towards him and rode in the direction of the town while dragging him back onto my lap. God forbid the horse jumps.
As we galloped through the streets of the town, the people cheered and threw flowers in our path. "It's good to be home," I said to my strategy crew. They smiled in agreement. The noise died down as I neared the castle walls. The gates opened and my horse trudged in. I jumped off the horse and pulled the passed out General off. Servants walked to me and lead my horse to the stables. A few stayed behind to help me with the boy. They picked him up and waited for my command.
"Take him to the questioning room and wake him up please," I said on my way inside. They nodded and took him away. I pulled off the headphones that they boy had and looked at them. Very interesting, I thought. Why would he need headphones? I put them around my neck again and proceeded to make my way to the questioning room.
When I made it, I sat down and watched them tie him to the chair. They pulled out smelling salts and waved them under his nose and he woke up with a gasp. He looked around then locked his eyes onto mine with a deadly glare. The servants left the room silently. I stood up and walked around the room with one hand on my chin and the other in my pocket. He let his gaze drift to the floor in realization of what was happening, the frustration leaving his face.
"Are you the Dead Army's General?" I asked looking him up and down thoughtfully. He nodded.
"What's your name?" I said stopping to look at his face. He didn't make eye contact with me.
"Deadlox…" he whispered angrily. I pulled his ID out of his armor pocket and looked it over.
"Seems like that's just a codename, isn't it 'Ty'?" I smirked as I read it out loud. He didn't respond.
"You are my prisoner you know. And sorry to get rid of any hope of leaving, but nobody is coming for you, Ty," I mentioned with a fake sad face.
He returned a glaring and ticked off face.
"Someone will come for me! Just let me go already!" he screamed at me as he struggled with the ropes bounding his hands.
"Shh. No need for shouting, Ty." I whispered and put my hands on his shoulders to stable him.
His shoulders dropped and he seemed to be broken like a puppet with no strings.
"Now I can treat you like the prince you are or like a slave. It all depends on your actions. I can forgive you for killing my recruits and attempting to steal my kingdom's riches, but you have to earn it first. Since it's your first night in my castle, I'll let you pick a room to sleep in. You can pick my room or the guest room. If you pick the guest room, I hope the spiders don't bite you," I said in an advising tone.
"Your room…" he said quietly yet humiliated. I actually laughed on the inside because of how sad he sounded.
The servants entered the room again and untied Ty. I gestured for the servants to bring him with me and they did so. When we got there the servants pushed him in and shut the door before he could run out. Ty almost got out but stopped when the door closed. He just dropped his head to the door and sighed.
"What are you going to do now? Kill me?" he asked, not moving at all.
"I was about to ask you the same question," I said stepping towards him. He just stayed quiet though.
"Come on. Nobody likes a murderer. Give me your weapons and armor before I have to pat you down which I really don't want to do," I said glancing at him. He turned around and threw down all of his hidden weapons and his armor, staring at me angrily the whole time. He was left with a white tee, dark wash jeans, and black converse. I finally noticed that he was looking at his headphones around my neck.
"Oh sorry about that," I held them out and he snatched them away, slipping them on his head, and bumped past me to walk around the room to get away from me.
"My name is Sky by the way…" I said slightly agitated. "You look tired, Ty. Do you need to sleep?"
He stopped walking and turned towards me.
"What?" he asked sounding confused.
"I said, do you need to sleep, Ty?" I repeated.
"Um… sure…"
He walked over to me with his arms crossed. I called for one of the maids to bring up a cot. As the sun faded once again I walked over to my bed and Ty went to his cot. His bed was placed at the end of mine so I could make sure he didn't escape. Not that it would matter anyway since there's guards everywhere.
"Goodnight Ty," I said softly.
"Night," he said after a few moments of silence.
After about an hour or so I finally slipped off my shades and took off my shirt and shoes. I had waited to make sure Ty was asleep. I sat my shades down on the table next to me and drifted to sleep.
