He was beaten awake. When he opened his eyes, dazed and disoriented, he found two legs in front of his face. They were wearing black trousers that glowed in the light of the flames and lace-up boots with reinforced toes were tapping him on the abdomen. Arne wasn't hitting him hard; she just wanted to wake him up, although she really felt tempted to step on his clown face.
"Wake up, you useless prince", she said when he opened his eyes.
Caudata frowned and sat up, still unsure of where he was or of his own name. Around him were Arne, Lope, Jatty and what looked like a wild animal trying to free itself from the ropes that tied it up.
"Good morning", he yawned, stretching out the syllables of each word. He rubbed his eyes and reached for his canteen of water: sleeping with his mouth open made him thirsty. "What?", he asked after taking a big sip and realising that everyone there seemed angry with him. Especially the two women.
Tweenty minutes before, Arne had interrupted her squire's ejecution in the forest.
She did not hesitate to drop the boy under her armpit, and run to help Jatty.
"Arne?" Jatty's voice sounded suprised. Of all places, he did not imagine it would be there where they'd meet.
The 1'90 m girl used her body to protect him, it looked like an unbreakable shield. Her arms were bare and Jatty immediately knew she hadn't even treated her burns with the aloe vera she usually carried on her belt. Surely her legs would be another circus of blisters and wounds not suitable for those with a weak stomach.
Lope had already lowered her sword when she had heard shouts coming from inside the forest, but she threw it away when Arne looked at her defiantly. She could not fight royalty, Green or not, it was rude.
"It is my pleasure to finally meet you, your majesty", Lope bowed.
"Who are you?"
"My name is Lope, your majesty. I am the heir of Alcora's squire. I protect prince Caudata."
Hearing Caudata's name, Arne could not help but show her astonishment. She remembered clearly she had asked that big baby to look after her friend. At no time did they talk about a red-haired gnome slitting the young man's throat in the forest.
"What wrong has my squire done that he should be kneeling before an armed person?"
There was a silence interrupted only by the complaints of the boy tied up on the ground a few feet away from them. He kept spouting profanities, but no one paid the slightest attention to him.
"Jatty Lar is a Green one", Lope spoke. She doubted for a moment about telling the queen or not. It was not a small secret.
"Yeah, I know that." Arne expected a very serious offence from Jatty, perhaps slapping the prince or kicking him in his pearls (she would have understood), but not that. "I do not get it. What has his green blood have to do with anything? Explain yourself."
Admitting that she knew that her squire, the person who must protect her, came from a line of assassins of monarchy made Lope laugh. She was stunned by such a revelation. Besides, she had said it as if it were not unusual for an assassin to serve his victim.
"My duty seeks for the prince's well-being. Having a Green running around jeopardises said safety."
She knew her words were hypocritical; she herself was a Green working side by side with Caudata. However, she had seen what Greens were like, and among their characteristics was that those with royal blood would be more likely to like, love and cherish them. An extremely important point for their work. So when Lope realized Caudata was beginning to take an interest in him, a thousand alarm bells went off in her squire's brain. Whether Jatty was aware of his own charms or not was another matter, though it did not make him any less dangerous.
"He was informed of it before hand", Arne said.
Jatty's neck stretched out for a better hearing. Lope's face was and abstract painting.
"Pardon?" The two of them asked.
Arne nodded and looked around for him. She did not know that Caudata was in the seventh sleep by then and totally oblivious to what was happening.
"Where is him?"
"Sleeping."
"Sleeping? Really?" She did not need an affirmation from them; with a firm step she walked purposefully towards the clearing as if she knew that was where they had stopped to rest. "And bring me that child!" she commanded pointing at the boy who had come with her.
The squires obeyed, leaving their disagreement for later. Lope lifted his hands, Jatty lifted his feet, and when the boy saw them, he stopped complaining for the first time since he had got there.
When they arrived at the camp, Arne was about to whip the sleeping Caudata with a burning stick she had taken from the campfire. One more time, the boy was knocked to the ground and Lope and Jatty rushed to stop the queen.
When Arne was calmer, she accepted to not kick Caudata too hart; she still was harsh in some of them, though.
"Good morning my ass!" Arne's fists turned pale, she really wanted to punch him. "Yo had one job! One!" She knelt down to his level and grabbed the collar of his linen shirt to shake him.
He allowed her to do so while he let out a big yawn and his eyes watered. He didn't remember falling asleep.
The prince surveyed his surroundings.
His squire's arms were crossed, but it was a gesture she used to make a lot when she talked to him, so most of the times he couldn't tell the difference between a happy Lope and an angry Lope.
There was also a boy there whom he had never seen before. His face was red with anger and he kept grumbling; which was not surprising, of course, given that it could not be told what of that lump was rope and what body. Of the four of them, he was the least angry with him.
He then set his eyes on Jatty; it was not easy as Arne refused to let go. He remembered that before he fell asleep he had the squire's little marble face and silky hair on his thighs. That image seemed so idealistic that he firmly thought it had been a dream. Jatty was like Lope, always with his arms crossed when they talked and distant, so he didn't know whether he was happy or furious (and those are two totally opposite emotions!).
After a few minutes, Arne's shakes seemed to water the prince's brain and he came to his senses.
"Arne? What are you doing here?"
"That is exactly my question. Why are you here taking a nap while your squire is trying to kill mine?"
"Huh?"
It was clear that he needed a couple more shakes to assimilate what sounded to him like a bunch of different words that didn't make sense together - that Lope had tried to kill Jatty? Come on!
He laughed, but as he turned to her, he saw that he was the only one.
"I am sorry, your highness"
The"highness" card! The redhead only called him that on three occasions: when she was in front of Caudata's father, when she talked about him to other people, and when she wanted to flatter him. So Lope had indeed tried to kill Jatty. Caudata was a little upset.
"I have never instructed you such action." He got up and walked to her, "Why would you kill our guest?" They were face to face.
"It is your fault, Caudata". He was not "your highness" anymore.
Lope was pure ice, not even a puppy asking for belly rubs would make her act emotional. Never sad or too happy, just a polite smile and kidness to those who were not the prince. There was only one thing she feared, and it was not the strawberry-personality boy in front of her. Although the aura that the young heir gave off at that moment was threatening, it was not as threatening as the presence of two Greens.
"How is it my fault?"
"If you had told me Jatty Lar was a Green from the start, I would had kicked him out as soon as possible", she said with her head high.
Not Lope or Caudata broke eye contact.
"Do you hate the Greens?"
"Do you love them?"
There was a time where the Greens were a the top of the social ranking. A select group of people who had the ability to charm kings, queens, dukes, duchesses, princes, princesses and anyone who had a drop of royal blood running through their veins. That talent or that gene in his DNA was an unsharpened knife. No one knew why, but it became the norm. Every monarch wanted a court full of them and it was only a matter of time before someone took advantage of this.
Someone who would ascend to the throne after turning them into bloodthirsty killers.
"Well, duh, of course I do", the heir responded.
When those words left the tip of his tongue and projected into the air, Caudata had no ulterior motives. He didn't mean that he obviously liked Jatty; he meant that it was logical for a prince to like a Green.
The tension that had charged the atmosphere disappeared after that statement. Biting her tongue and pressing her lips together, Lope tried to hide a laugh, but it came out as a snore anyway. Caudata realised how this could lead to misunderstandings, and out of the corner of his eye he glanced at Jatty to see his reaction.
The long-haired boy was busy admiring Arne and treating the burns on her arms with the medicine on her belt. He couldn't care less about the Alcora conflict, even if he was the cause of the dispute.
It would have been good to talk about it to communicate their views; they did not bring the issue up again. Caudata flatly forbade Lope to hurt Jatty, and Lope agreed. There was no further discussion. As it had begun, the witch-hunt was over. The queen reprimanded the prince some more; she calmed down after a while.
After all the commotion, a new day was around the corner and the four agreed to sleep for a few hours before making any decisions. Huddled near the campfire, they said goodnight to each other as if they were at a summer camp.
...
"Hello?! Let me go!"
"Crap! I had totally forgotten about the kiddo!"