Chapter 1 – Hero

The first time Blaine saw Him was when he was walking back home from a field where he and Sam had been working the whole day. It was a warm and beautiful spring evening and they both felt really tired. Blaine's hands hurt so much and he could barely feel his legs. All he could think about at that moment was going to his poor shack and just sleeping. But here He was. A man. Right in front of his eyes. Tall, lean and strong dressed in a perfectly clean white riding suit. His horse was standing calmly a little further and nibbling grass. It was a peaceful view, almost like a picture. He reminded Blaine that the spring actually came already. A guy seemed so light, so happy. The picture made Blaine smile.

"Look, nobleman's son…" Sam whispered to Blaine silently and hiding behind a tree a little. "He probably just got lost in the woods or something."

Blaine looked at the man one more time. He looked so young and so pure. Blaine suddenly felt so dirty and ugly compared to the man which he already adored so much even if he saw him for the first time in his life. Noblemen weren't keen on going to where their serfs lived. They mostly stayed in their estates and gardens and lived their delicate, perfect life there trying to avoid all the dirtyness and poverty that their people were experiencing every day of their life. So it was really unusual to see a highborn here.

"He doesn't look lost." Blaine said to his friend, because the guy really didn't seem scared or confused. He kept walking next to a river and smiling and touching grass softly and humming some melody Blaine didn't recognize. He looked like he was enjoying himself quite a lot.

"Come on, Blaine. Let's go home." Sam whined behind him, but Blaine didn't listen. He was young and adventurous and playing a trick on a nobleman was always in his dreams. Now he had a perfect chance to show to one of them that he was also human and can make him dirty. This idea came to his head and he chuckled silently moving closer. Blaine didn't know what dragged him towards the young nobleman so much, but it just did and he couldn't stop himself from staring.

Meanwhile, the white dressed man went on the footbridge and took a stick. He didn't look disgusted by the wild nature nor did he care that his shoes were getting wet. He bent down and started churning the water. The smile appeared on his face and the nobleman didn't seem to notice two guys moving closer to him. Blaine almost stopped when he saw how beautiful the man's face was. It took his breath away. So white and clear and happy.

"I'm telling you let's go…" Sam was getting frustrated and dragged him back.

"Shhh…" Blaine just pushed his friend away and moved forward waiting for a right time.

The man leaned dangerously close to the river. That was certainly a right time and Blaine didn't wait anymore. He started fake coughing as loud as he could and laughing together with Sam. The nobleman lost his balance and fell straight into the river. Blaine and Sam couldn't stop laughing. The guy screamed in a loud high-pitched voice and started smashing his hands loudly in the water obviously trying to get closer to the bank.

Suddenly a realization hit Blaine. This was a nobleman. What if he doesn't know how to swim? What if the guy drowns because of him? The young serf didn't know what got into him, but it seemed that the beautiful man needed help. Blaine jumped of the ground and jumped straight into the river. He didn't know what to do considering that he didn't know how to swim himself and was horribly afraid of the water. But how it sometimes happens when you're young, his head reminded him about it a little too late. He fell down and his whole body froze with fear.

Sam jumped after him. He was cursing Blaine in his mind so bad that he could never dare to curse like that out load. Blaine was always like that. Fast, spontaneous and even stupid sometimes. Like a child playing tricks on everybody. Sam couldn't believe that he let him do that. He honestly thought that they would get away with just a small joke, but now they were both clearly going to have so much trouble. How could Blaine do that? Messing around with noblemen was the worst thing they could do, but messing around with a heritor was probably even worse.

Sam was about to drag both guys to the bank when he saw that the nobleman's son, named Kurt, which Sam's mother told him a while ago, was swimming perfectly on his own, clearly pissed off and spitting water, but fine and healthy. He even turned around and came to Sam helping him to get Blaine out of the water. Sam could only look at him with wide eyes filled with amazement and shock, at the same time waiting for a punishment or screaming to come. But nothing like that came.

"What's his name?" Kurt asked when they were all finally on the land, dripping water and cheeks flushed.

"Blaine, sir…" Sam whispered pumping his friend's chest.

"Blaine! " A young man shouted sarcastically. "Does Blaine even know how to swim?"

"No, never goes in the water, sir. Hasn't since he was a little child, you know…" Sam answered trying not to look the guy in the eyes.

"So why did he jump?" Kurt asked trying to catch his breath a little and brushing his wet hair, a little less sarcasm in his voice. He sat down next to Blaine who was lying on the ground and leaned in to hear if the serf was still breathing.

"To rescue you, I guess…" Sam answered biting his lip and pumping Blaine's chest harder.

"Oh great." Kurt laughed musically. "A hero…"

They kept pushing Blaine and trying to bring back his conscious. Sam stole a few glances at Kurt. The guy was totally concerned. He didn't seem distant or narcissistic like other noblemen he saw before. No nobleman should be so concerned about his serf, that's what Sam's mom taught him. But Kurt looked genuinely worried and kept leaning closer to Blaine's face to check his breathing.

"Is he breathing?" Sam dared to ask.

Kurt didn't have time to answer. Blaine was already breathing steadily and laughing silently. Kurt's eyes widened. He was about to lean back and to say something when Blaine just held his head up and kissed him on the cheek. Sam gasped. He couldn't believe his eyes or his brain which was not tricking him. Blaine just kissed their nobleman. Not only Kurt was a man, which was weird itself that Blaine kissed him, but he was also their lord and they weren't suppose to touch him in any inappropriate way.

"You immature…" Kurt shouted clearly shocked and slapped Blaine slightly on the face. What surprised Sam was that he didn't look too angry and the slap seemed playful.

Without another word Kurt stood up and went back to his horse. Blaine kept chuckling and sat up looking at the nobleman curiously, but when he got a disapproving look from Sam, he stopped laughing. Kurt prepared his horse and quickly jumped on it. Before turning his horse back he took another look of two serfs sitting on the ground. He didn't look angry; maybe a little annoyed, but not very much and that amazed two friends. Kurt just smiled and shook his head playfully letting his eyes linger on Blaine a bit longer. Then he turned his horse and disappeared in the woods.

"Your highness, Lieutenant Smythe is here."

"Ok, leave me alone with him."

A big and luxurious room with a few velvet chairs in it and a table. A big and frightening man sat in one of them smoking a cigar. He looked peaceful, but dangerous. His serious face didn't seem to promise any good news. A young Lieutenant stood in front of him with a calm and serious face. Smyth didn't seem frightened of the lord at all.

"Lieutenant Smythe…" A man said sighting somehow dramatically. "Sebastian Smythe, right?"

"Precisely, your highness." Sebastian answered calmly. His face didn't move at all. Interesting, but he seemed kind of bored of this whole encounter even if he was meeting his lord for the first time. It didn't impress this young soldier at all.

"So you've made yourself a lot of enemies here, Lieutenant. Such a hero!" The lord said laughing loudly. He strictly judged Sebastian with a grin and breathed his cigar deeply.

"My enemies are my business, sir. I can deal with them." The lieutenant answered, but it was obvious that he was not happy about the topic. Sebastian was one of those people who didn't like to be asked questions, because usually the answers were too long or emotional for other people to understand. Being an orphan made you seem weak in the army at first glace and Sebastian was anything but weak. Or at least he seemed to be.

"What a smart ass." The lord nodded his head chuckling a little. For Sebastian's annoyance, he seemed to be enjoying this conversation dearly. "That's why I like you."

Tension was almost audible in the room. It was dark times when people couldn't trust each other and sometimes you couldn't decipher between your friends or your enemies. That's why people fought so much, that's why functioning strong armies were needed in every country. People couldn't deal with problems and rebellions peacefully. People fought for everything. Especially for their place in this world.

"What, are you all like that over there in the Northwest?" The lord asked studying Sebastian from head to toes. "You're from there, aren't you?"

"I'm a local here, your highness. I haven't been there since my father died when I was only 5 years old." The soldier answered clenching his jaw. He really didn't like where this conversation was taking them.

"Well, you will have a chance to visit your motherland, boy." The man said scanning some papers on the table one more time. He put down a cigar and smiled at the youngster in front of him. "Some might want to have you shot. But I have different plans."

"But… I don't quite understand what you're saying here, you highness." Sebastian crossed his hands on his chest and sighed, his face confused.

"Listen very carefully, Lieutenant Smythe. As you probably know other countries around us decided to give the land to serfs and release them from their duties. I, for one, don't want to do that." The lord started explaining. "Of course, the manifesto is out there already, but it's only formal… So you, my boy, take as many soldiers as you need and go there to suppress the rebellion."

Sebastian looked at the man with huge eyes. He didn't know what to think. He's never got such freedom and trust from his lord before, so it had to be a really serious case if he was letting him do that and sending him to his homeland. He didn't want to go back, but also felt quite impressed.

"But as far as I know, there is no rebellion there…" He said then furrowing his eyebrows in confusion.

"There will be… There will be… And you will be the one who takes care of it. Only everything has to look genuine." The lord laughed dryly. "You see, a serf without a land is nobody. We can give them freedom, no problem. But I'm not going to give them a land. And what will the serfs do without a land? What will they eat? And here we have a rebellion for you."

Sebastian shrugged. Now he understood. Now he knew what he had to do. Only everything has to look genuine, just like his lord said. And it was clear now why his highness chose him out of all the soldiers. Because he was born there and knew the land. Because people are probably going to trust him more because of that. Sebastian nodded one more time and left the room ready to come back to where he was born. He knew some people he wanted to visit. Along with his main duty, Sebastian had his own questions to answer and battles to fight.

"Kurt!"

Burt was running around the estate looking for his son for good half an hour. Kurt used to always hide in the darkest corners when he was a child chuckling wildly and making his daddy look for him for hours. He wasn't a child anymore, Burt knew that, but he still knew his son and his weird habits to sometimes just disappear. However, even knowing it didn't make Burt any less annoyed than he already was.

"Kurt!"

"Kurt, for Christ sake! Kurt!"

His Kurt though wasn't hiding anywhere this time. He was lucky enough to come back from the woods the moment his farther was about to really lose his patience. The boy heard his dad's voice right away when he and his horse reached the estate. Kurt jumped right off the horse handling the lace over to the serf who kindly informed him that the lord was looking for him the whole evening. Kurt thanked him and hurried to meet and calm his dad inside.

"Well that's about time!" Burt buried his eyes to Kurt right the minute he saw him and scanned his wet and dirty posture. "Where the hell have you been, Kurt? What's with your clothes?" He asked.

"It's nothing, dad, I just slipped, okay? I slipped and fell into a river. It's fine." Kurt brushed his wet hair and clothes a little feeling sticky and dirty, but waited politely while his farther began to lecture him for running away or give him permission to get cleaned.

"Look, Kurt, I'm way too tired to baby you and talk about how dangerous it is for you to go to the woods or by the river… You know it already and I can't wrap my head around why you're not listening to me. But we have more important things to discuss now." Burt sighed and sat down in his luxurious chair while the household serf poured him a glass of whiskey. He gave her a quick smile and took the glass. "I just received a letter from our long lost friend. Do you remember Sebastian?"

"Not really." Kurt shrugged, really uncomfortable in his wet clothes. "Is that the boy I didn't like playing with when I was little? The one who got sent to the army?"

"That same one." Burt smiled and took a sip. "He's coming here to visit. He writes that he wants to come see how his motherland changed, to relax a bit after a difficult time there in the capital suppressing some ugly rebellions, to hunt and enjoy…" Kurt didn't seem very impressed with Burt's words, so the man just decided to continue. "He's coming tomorrow night. We'll have a huge ball to celebrate his arrival and the spring. I expect you to be present by my side." He laughed then lightly said, "Decently dressed of course."

"Of course…" Kurt sighed.