Hi Friends!

No excuses - just sorry for the wait.

This chapter is short...I know...another sorry for that...but I felt the need to put something out there before the month of February completely passed me by.

Thanks for all your continued support, follows, and reviews!

Please forgive any mistakes.

Enjoy!

Derek's heart was pounding as he and his knights smoothly dodged around the guards that were positioned all throughout the tiltyard on their way to the rendezvous point. He knew the Charles's men weren't on alert for them yet but they would be soon. The young king and his men needed to stay low in order to keep them off their trail when the alarm was sounded.

As they ducked around the corner of the stables Derek started telling himself over and over in his brain that this whole thing was almost over; in a matter of minutes he was going to be wrapping his arms around Spencer and spiriting him away from this vile place.

After a few more minutes of sneaking around the castle grounds the team finally halted next to a hole in the castle wall that had been made by years of ill-care and decay. They were the first to arrive.

Derek took off his helmet and swore, "Damnit. They were supposed to be here already!"

Aaron and Sam followed suit and removed their headgear; the former started to look around the immediate area while the latter slipped through the narrow hole and called back, "They're not out here."

The king turned toward his most trusted friend, "You don't think Tobias double-crossed us, do you?"

Sir Hotchner's eyes darkened at the suggestion, "The prince is in love with King Spencer. It is possible he betrayed us in order to keep him around."

Devastation painted Derek's eyes, "I was so sure he was really going to help us –"

"I'm trying to but my father is making it quite difficult," Tobias stated, cutting off the visiting king as he pushed through a nearby break in the hedges. The flustered prince walked up to Derek and gave him a frustrated look, as if to say he was disappointed that the visiting king would even consider the notion that he would deceive him.

Derek immediately turned toward the sound of the prince's sallow voice. "Tobias?" Derek asked, after searching the bushes the young man just came through for any sign of his beloved. "Where is Spencer? A-and Penelope?

The young man brushed a few stray branches off of his clothes and looked up grimly, "Last night – you were right – your instincts were right. The joust is…uh…was all a set-up. My father knows everything - and I mean everything. H-He knows who Reed really is and he knows that you're only here to rescue him. He told me so after he had Penelope arrested and dragged down to the dungeon. He-uh-he planned on having my uncle kill you today during the joust and he was going to make Reed watch."

"Shit," Derek cursed as his face paled with the news that his plans had been thwarted. He brought his hands up to his shaved head and rubbed them back and forth in distress.

What was he supposed to do now?

He dropped to his knees as the weight of the world seemed to crash down on his shoulders. He braced his hands against his thighs and started to heave large quantities of air in and out of his lungs. Derek could feel his chest constricting as the oxygen did nothing to alleviate the panic he could feel setting in at the thought that he had failed.

He could feel his resolve start to break when an armored hand fell on his shoulder and squeezed his joint tightly. "All is not lost yet, Sire," Aaron said softly, his words imbued with hope.

"How can you say that?" Derek muttered despondently. "I just sent Lord Rossi to his death bed, Penelope has been taken prisoner and Spe-," Derek stopped and furrowed his brow. He looked back up at Tobias and said, "Wait – where is Spencer?"

Tobias swallowed, "I-I already told you. My f-father wanted him to watch you die. So, he's still with him at the joust."

"Damn – "

The blare of a trumpet's sound interrupted Derek's next words, causing the young king's eyes to go as they connected with Tobias's. "Lord Rossi?" he asked, hoping against hope that his mentor was still alive.

"He's probably already dead," Tobias said solemnly. "That was my father's call to battle."

Luckily, just as Derek's mind started whirring with the implications of Tobias's statement, Sir Hotchner stepped in, "My lord, we can't stay here. You need to go! Get off Georgian soil and back to our camp where the rest of our men can protect you. Sir Kassmeyer and I will try to rescue King Spencer and Penelope."

Derek's eyes flared at the man's suggestions, "What? No! There is no way I'm abandoning Spencer now! I will see this through to the end."

"I can't allow that, Your Highness. Our whole plan has unraveled and Quantico can't afford to lose both of you. You must see reason! Let us do our job while you preserve our country," Aaron said sternly.

"You damn well know that I'm not going anywhere," he argued with a fire as hot as the surface of the sun shining in his eyes.

The knight wisely knew when to quit and silently nodded his acquiescence.

"Good," Derek said. "Now, listen closely because if we get this wrong then we're all dead."

Spencer felt his mentor's heart cease its beat after his haunting last words.

Son?

Lord Rossi really had loved him like a son.

The agony of losing another father figure in his life cut him to the core but now was not the time to mourn.

"Oh stop your sniveling!" snarled Charles as he yanked harshly on the chain that attached to Spencer's collar. "His blood will not be the last shed today."

Raphael, who was holding Rossi's helmet in the crook of his arm, turned toward his brother. "What do you want to do now, Your Grace?"

"Now we finish what we started over a year ago," the tyrannical king sneered as he locked eyes with his captive, "We kill Derek and paint the land with his blood."

The formidable knight grinned as he dropped the helmet to the ground and unsheathed his sword. He turned to one of his lackeys and ordered, "Sound the alarm and spread the word, King Derek and his men are to be arrested upon sight. Scour the grounds and double the guard at every gate."

Charles waited until his brother had finished issuing instructions before he threw the chain in his hands at the knight.

The armor clad man barely managed to catch the leash in his free gauntleted hand. "What –"

"Pick the kid up and follow me," Charles commanded.

"But I've got to lead the search party," Raphael said, refuting the order.

The king snorted, "Your men can handle it. Besides, if I'm right, we're probably going to find Derek before the dogs can even catch his scent."

"Really?" the man asked, skeptically. "Where?"

"Think, you dolt! Where else would he go but to the one person that's been helping him all along; he'll be with my son."

Spencer grunted as he was tossed over Raphael's shoulder like a sack of flour. He wiggled in discomfort but the knight in question cared nothing for his state of being.

"What do you want me to do the kid when we get there?" Raphael asked as his feet quickly ate up the gravel road in between the tiltyard and the castle.

"As long as he can see me as I lop off his husband's head, I don't give a shit."

The captive king kicked out his legs at Charles's callous comment, trying in vain to dislodge himself from Raphael's grip.

The knight just laughed at the slave's gesture. "A newborn foal kicks harder than you, boy," the man taunted as he tightened his hold around the young man's knees.

Undeterred, Spencer continued to fight against the man's hold by squirming back and forth and jabbing his toes into Raphael's plate covered thighs. He had just gotten in a really good blow when he felt the flat of the knight's blade smack him on his backside. "Knock it off!"

"Trouble's, brother?" Charles asked wryly from his position in front of the two.

"Nothing I can't handle," Raphael retorted swiftly before he whispered, "Watch it, whore, or else I'll shove the pointy end of my sword up your lover's hole before my brother chops off his head."

Spencer immediately ceased his actions.

"That's what I thought," the man muttered beneath him smugly, striking the boy one more time just for fun. After that the rest of the trip back to the castle was made in relative silence among the three men.

In contrast, the grounds around them were buzzing with movement. Some soldiers ran all over the place inspecting every nook and cranny while others were rounding up all the courtiers and townspeople to double-check their identities.

It was just as Charles's boot clad foot touched the first stone step leading up to the main entrance that shouts of "Your Highness" stopped him in his tracks. The king turned heel and saw a young knight running up to him.

"What is it?" he demanded brusquely.

"Y-your Grace, I-I have news!" the youth said breathlessly.

Impatient as always, Charles just spat, "Out with it!"

"King Derek's m-men were spotted going around the back of the castle."

The king's eyes narrowed, "How many men?"

"Just those two knights that are always with him."

"I bet they're one their way down to the dungeons to free their friend," Raphael interjected.

Charles glanced at his brother and nodded, "Without their king…which means…"

"They're splitting up which makes them more vulnerable to attack," Raphael supplied.

"Of course! Fool!" Charles chided. "But more importantly, it means that Derek is alone now."

A slow smile parted Raphael's lips when he realized what his brother way saying, "He's a sitting duck."

"Exactly," Charles said with a grin that matched the knight. "Now give me the boy. I have an idea."

Tobias was gazing out of his bedroom window trying to slow his breathing back to normal after his mad dash back to the castle. Down below he watched as his father's men scurried about the grounds on a mission to kill.

"This is it," he whispered to himself. It was all coming to a head today. Before the sun even reached its zenith in the sky the fate of the man who held his heart and all of his new friends would be decided.

The prince didn't even flinch when he heard the doors to his receiving chambers slam open, heralding his father's arrival. He just kept his eyes trained on the tree lined forest resting beyond the stone wall and prepared himself for the confrontation to come.

"Tobias," Charles hollered as he pushed open the set of doors that led into his son's room.

The gangly young man turned away from the window slowly and bowed at the waist. "Your Majesty," he said somberly, trying to put on a brave face in front of the man that intimidated like no other. After he had acknowledged his father's presence, he stood up from his bent position he allowed his eyes to take in his father's formidable form.

What he saw took him by surprise. The normally cool and composed kings stood in front of him red-faced and disheveled with his slave slung over his left shoulder.

"How can I be of service, father?" the prince asked stoically, struggling to keep his cool-headed mask in place while his father's piercing eyes roved around the room.

"Where is he?" Charles barked out after he failed to locate the man he was looking for.

"Where is who?" Tobias tried to ask innocently, his reserve breaking slightly due to his father's menacing tone.

The king, seeing right through his son's act, dumped his burden on the floor without a second glance and stalked over to his son. He reached out his hand and grasped his offspring around his narrow neck, "You know exactly who I'm talking about!"

Tobias sputtered out a few nonsensical syllables but couldn't manage to form them into words due to the constriction on his throat.

"Where are you hiding King Derek?" Charles demanded again, backing his son into the wall before he loosened his grip.

"I-I have no idea. I came here straightaway. S-shouldn't he be down at the joust?"

"Don't toy with me, boy," the monarch snarled, his eyes narrowing in fury. "You may be my son, but I'm not opposed to trying out some of my more painful methods of torture in order to loosen your tongue."

"That won't be necessary, Charles. I'm right here," Derek called out from behind his rival. His voice pealed like a bell throughout the room, announcing his presence to all of its occupants.

Charles turned and smirked with triumph sparkling in his eyes, "Just like we knew you would be."

"We?" Derek asked, quirking up an eyebrow.

Charles just jerked his head in response, signaling for Derek to turn around. The valiant king spun on his heel and was greeted with Raphael's signature black blade.

"I'm here too," the knight said right before he lunged forward, thrusting the tip of his black sword straight toward Derek's heart.

It will all come to an end in the next chapter. I cannot promise a date but know that I am working on it. The outline is done and not it just needs to be executed. I promise it will be worth the wait.