I completely and utterly forgot to post this chapter yesterday. I'm so sorry.*fail*

Now we enter into a time period that I personally really like. This period will deal with some of the things that were mentioned in previous chapters.

Enjoy!

The Prince and His Valet

iv. – part 1

"Your Highness! Your Highness, where are you?" Donald shouted as he ran through the hallway. They were under attack. They were under attack. An attack led by traitors, no less. And he hadn't been able to find the Prince anywhere. This was not good. This was not good at all.

He and Horace had been in Henry's private quarters, attending to his cold, when the attack hit. It was led by a guard named Mortimer, and it started with the castle wall. Somehow, the traitors had been able to create a hole in the wall, breaking the palace's strongest defense. The Captain and the guards had attended to the matter immediately, but they had been too late to stop the first wave of attackers from flooding in. Now, the Captain and the guards were keeping the rest of the enemy at bay, which meant the inhabitants of the palace were left to fend for themselves against the leading group of the assault.

To sum up, not good.

Horace, opting to stay with the still under-the-weather King, had told Donald to find the Prince immediately. If Donald's interpretation of the word "immediately" was anything close to its real meaning, the teenage duck knew that he was doing a lousy job.

It also didn't help that all this was frighteningly familiar. He knew this feeling. He knew this fear. And the fear grew tenfold when all he could think about was what was going to happen if they don't stop this, now.

He couldn't let that happen again. Ten years was not long enough for there to be another tragedy like the Duck Massacre. Heck, an eternity wouldn't be enough. What happened to him a decade ago should not happen to anyone else. This was something he had decided the moment he had stopped crying over the incident.

"Your Highness!" He shouted again, using the title that had started out as an insult, but grew to be more of a habit over the years. It was times like this that he wished the palace wasn't so freakishly big.

The sword in his hand weighed heavily against his sprint. He had met and took care of several lackeys by this point. Inwardly, he thanked God for the swordsmanship lessons that Horace had insisted he take and the sparring sessions he had had with the Prince (though he couldn't laugh at the irony that Mortimer was the one that had overlooked their lessons). Now, if only he could make sure he still had a sparring partner.

"Your High-!" His stopped himself mid-shout when he heard a familiar voice cry out. Judging that it came from the dance hall, he quickly made his way to the enormous doors and peeked in.

Bingo. In the dance hall, he could see His Highness, sword in hand, struggling to stand up near to the wall, where at least seven rogue guards were surrounding him. Donald sneaked in and hid behind one of the many pillars in the room, the one closest to the group. He did a quick scan, and was both annoyed and a bit relieved when he didn't see Mortimer among them.

Alright. Here goes nothing. He thought as he used the element of surprise to his advantage. He charged at the nearest target, succeeding in knocking him down, and was able to take out a second one as well before the group realized what had happened. He quickly spun around and leaned back into the Prince's back, half-supporting the teenage mouse and half-steadying himself. Even without looking, he knew there was a smirk on His Highness' face.

"About time you came along. What took you so long?" The Prince asked with a laugh.

"Ah, shut up." He replied with a scowl. "Be glad that I came at all."

The Prince chuckled. "Well then," he said, waving his sword in the air a couple times to get into a stance he was comfortable with, "shall we settle this?" And as they stood back to back, facing the five remaining enemies circling them, Donald couldn't help but smile.

The standoff lasted about two more seconds, and then the guard standing to Donald's left charged at the duck. Donald dodged the oncoming blade, but blocked it before it could hit the Prince. Using the moment the guard stood still to take in the impact of metal against metal, the Prince thrust the butt of the sword into the back of the head of the guard. The guard dropped to the ground with a groan.

This set off the official battle, as the remaining four guards all charged at them. The duo moved quickly, blocking and slashing and turning. They knew each other's moves by heart, having sparred too many times to not to. They played off each other in perfect synchronicity, making up for the other's flaws with fluid motion. There were no openings and no weak points. They were unstoppable.

In no time, all four guards were on the floor, and the two teens stood back to admire their work, both panting a bit. It was the Prince who finally broke the silence, letting out a hearty laugh. "Not too shabby, if I do say so myself."

Donald laughed as well, and opened his bill to reply. But before he could get even one syllable out, something whizzed by him, snagged the Prince's shirt, and pinned him to the wall.

Both boys only had the time to make out the knife holding the Prince in place before more followed, all narrowly missing Donald and restricting the Prince's movements. The Prince struggled against the knives holding him in place, but to no avail. Donald quickly moved to help his prince, but was stopped in his tracks by another small blade.

"Now, now, Donald. Don't want you to spoil all the fun now, do we?" the familiar voice of their swordsmanship mentor said.

"Mortimer!" The teenage duck growled.

To be continued…

For any Mortimer fans out there, I'm terribly sorry that I made him the villain here. I needed a bad guy, but did want to throw in any OCs, so he was the next best choice as Pete is already taken.

I really enjoyed writing the interaction between the Prince and Donald. I hope that I've gotten both of them in character. This is also my first time writing anything remotely resembling a fight scene, so I hope that didn't turn out too bad. Let me know if you see a point I need improving on.

The final boss comes out! What will the Prince and Donald do now?

~ruth~