There were levels to Fayan's anger which consisted mostly of the human and inhumane levels. The human level was not extreme, it was quiet but calculating, it was the kind of anger that would let a person misbehave and then strike when they least expected it. The inhumane level, on the other hand, was bloodthirsty and wicked, it was the kind of anger that had one end product, death. Gage knew that he had seen it happen so many times in the past three years that he could tell when the Prince was on his human level of anger or his inhumane level of anger.
But Gage watched his master's jaw tick in the way it usually did when he was on his human level, and the small veins in his forehead pop in and out in a soft rhythm like it did when he was on his inhumane level, he couldn't help but feel a little scared for his life.
The prince had not said a word, his eyes were shut and his right arm was folded under his left arm, while his left hand settled on his nose, taking in controlled breaths. His body was stiff like a dead tree frozen in place as he thought of a fitting punishment for Gage.
"In my defense," Gage started to say, but the icy glare the Prince shot him was enough to shut his mouth for a while.
"How did you miss him?" The Prince asked, the corner of his lips ticking. Gage had one task, to find the raven and bring him to the Prince, but he had lost him, after almost six months of looking for him. The prince sighed and shook his head, knowing the amount of work it would take to find the Raven again.
"In my defense," Gage tried again, his arms up in surrender.
"You were not paying attention to him too," Gage finished. The Prince's mind had been someplace else, somewhere he thought had a castle and a certain princess in it.
Fayan sucked in a breath, his left eyebrow rose in unasked question, his glare digging into Gage's forehead. Gage had been wrong, but he had a smart mouth, a smart mouth that always kept him level-headed whenever he was about to make rash decisions or spiral out of control.
"If I was going to pay attention to him, I would not need you!" Fayan spoke as a matter of factly, annoyance dripping from each word.
"While I accept that might be true, I will have you know that this is my first mistake in three years," Gage smiled, hoping his words would lighten the Prince's heart. He wasn't sure it did because the prince shook his head and circled his palm around the hilt of his sword on his waist, daring Gage to say another word.
"If I forgive you this time, you might make a mistake like this again, and who knows what that would cost us?" The Prince pulled out the sword, pointing it in Gage's direction.
"You know, you do not pay me enough for the number of times you have threatened to kill me," Gage expressed, his lips curving into a small smile.
"I will find him and bring him to you soon, my Prince," Gage added with a bow. Fayan rolled his eyes and nodded then shoved his sword back into his sheath.
"The sun is about to set, let us go to the King's men before Henley's spy suspects we have gone on our private mission," Fayan commanded, his anger subsiding. The king had sent some of his best men on the new mission he sent Fayan on, and Fayan knowing it was an opportunity to catch the Raven, an apprentice to the witch that cursed Fayan, sent the King's men to a different location to buy enough time for his mission. Though the men were answerable to the king, Henley had planted a spy, who was to report any slight change in the Prince's behavior.
Gage rolled his eyes. The Prince had found the spy a few days before he sent them out, he had talked to the spy and even made the spy the leader of the small army before the Prince would arrive, but he didn't do anything to him, which Gage didn't understand. Normally, whenever the prince found a spy, he killed them off instantly without fear or question, but this one he was patient with and it didn't sit well with Gage.
"Why can't we just kill him and say it was an accident?" Gage asked.
"I'm good with accidents, you know that," Gage added, which was true. Gage had faked an accident for the prince the first time they met three years ago in Marus. The prince had been on a mission that didn't go as planned because he ended up killing more than a hundred men he didn't bargain for when he only had to kill two, a duke's children. Gage was sure he was going to die by Fayan's sword that night, but the moment Fayan got to him, his legs gave out and he knelt before Gage, his sword giving him balance.
"Get me out of here, I will pay you finely," the prince had said and, though he looked tired, Gage was still scared of him, for he had never seen a living human with glowing red eyes before. Gage had dragged the prince to a pile of dead bodies and ran away before a new batch of soldiers came, recognized him, and tagged him a traitor. When the small batch of army returned, after searching for the prince and not finding him, Gage dug the prince out of the pile of dead bodies and decided to follow the prince back to Oswind.
"We cannot kill him yet, because then Henley would suspect that his spy was killed on purpose and that we have something to hide," Fayan spoke slowly like he was speaking to a child, which in one way or two, Gage was.
"Then let us bribe him," Gage paused, smiling widely like was the smartest person in the world. Fayan dusted off the cloak, his hand shifting comfortably on the hilt of his sword as he continued walking, leaving Gage behind.
"Do I pay you enough to bribe people now?" The Prince asked, still walking away from Gage, who scoffed and ran after the Prince, catching up to him.
"You do not even pay me at all. You are a prince, we will bribe him with your money." Fayan said nothing, he just kept walking.
"I say this because we need more time to catch the Raven. We cannot leave here without him," Gage dragged. The prince was quiet. He was doing that thing he did when we thought Gage was becoming too noisy. He was tuning Gage out.
"I think the King sent us here on purpose, it is almost like he is giving us the chance to find the Raven," Gage said. It made sense to Gage that the King was trying to help them out since he only ordered them to spy on the King of Zeta. Gage and the Prince had been talking about a trip to Zeta to find the Raven, but it had been hushed discussions between them.
"I do not need help from the King," Gage rolled his eyes. The prince said that with a strong resolve, but when the King told them about Zeta, the Prince had been so excited that he prepared the journey thoroughly.
"There is no way the King would know what we are up to unless you are working as a spy for him," Fayan drew out his sword, pointing it at Gage in a split second.
"I desperately need to start charging you every time to pull your sword at me," Gage backed away, shaking his head.
"You do not give the King enough credit. He is the one King that does not have people controlling him, he has everyone grounded, and he stands his ground," Gage started. Gage looked up to the King of Oswind as a role model.
"He is also your father, which means you think like him. Believe me or not, the King knows what we are up to, and he is letting us do it," Gage added. Fayan didn't need Gage singing his father's praises, especially when Gage didn't know half of what the king had made him go through. The king was tough now, but it was at the expense of losing a son, his first son to a curse that was partly his fault.
Fayan sighed.
"Whether or not the King knows what we're up to and he's letting us do it, you still lost the Raven we have to find," Fayan shoved his sword back into his sheath, his fingers resting on the hilt.
"We don't have all day, Gage. Keep walking." he called Gage, who had stopped walking again to pass his point across.