Ch. 73 Young Love

Darkness enveloped a lonely moon in the sky as we ran. Steel clanging as our pursuers chased us my heavy armor that doesn't quite fit weighing me down my hand upon the hilt of my new blade. It was just like any other day before it all happened. I woke to at dusk and immediately wore my armor before walking to my post and standing guard right outside the door as the usual maids came and went to wake and dress Anna. Anna is the young noble lady I have been guarding every day since I had joined the knights. My family is noble just like hers however we hold a lower rank so we are expected to serve all our lives hand and feet for them. However like my father and my grandfather and many more generations before we guard faithfully those who serve this nation. Seeing Anna come out of her room I bowed slightly. "Good morning Nathon." With her usual beautiful smile Anna addressed me like every morning. Smiling with her beneath my helmet I nod my head "Morning Miss Ann." Hearing how I addresed her she frowned slightly but as a man in black sleek attire walked up and bowed deeply to Anna holding out a letter she let it go. Recieving the letter Anna nods then opened and read it.

...

With a tire sigh Anna had finished dealing with her family matters. Recently her new step-mom has gotten pregnant and as such it's believed that Anna will be losing her status. Despite how loving her step mother it's unknown what a mother would do to see their child better off. As such it's begun a common topic of concern for Anna as she often goes to her fathers study to argue ideas and recently has begun to avoid him and the rest of her family outright refusing to attend meals with them and always running out of the household to the countryside. As her family is a noble household of a borderland of the empire not much happens here only adventurers and slayers come and go. Always hunting beasts that slip through the border. While the common folk generally distance from themselves from nobles and the same goes for the nobles from them to keep the image of superiority they must remain aloof and mysterious. Sadly the situation is different for the adventurers and slayers. Those mercenaries aren't purely governed by our nation nor any other as they exist to battle monsters and find unknown lands they tend to never stay in one place. So they will be openly hostile to anyone who gets in the way of their work to 'save' the human race from the monsters, as such nobles are nothing but annoyances that prevent them from killing the monsters as many times the nobles will prevent them from 'saving' towns or public places in the goal of preventing mass causality or damage of cities and town infrastructure. Some causes of slayers wiping out whole towns to prevent a plague turning them to zombies or killing young couples to catch a vampire and even blowing up wells causing droughts to catch aquatic monsters inside.

While it is important to keep a guard against the beasts and to keep safe the helpless masses... The slayers tend to be nothing more then blood thirsty marauders with a righteous purpose that allows them to slaughter without regard and anyone who stops or slows them in that goal is an enemy of the race. As such since Anna has started running away and exploring the territory of her family I was hired to guard her from those self righteous bandits and murderers whose goal is genocide. After a whole day of arguing Anna immediately dragged me from the fort leading towards the border on our horses. A few hours of riding our horses later they've grown tired and we've reached our goal. Anna gets off her horse as I tie both of the horses to a nearby tree. Turning around I find Anna has stripped down to her undergarments and is running towards the pool beneath the waterfall. Since I met her this has always been her favorite place. Carefully picking up her abandoned cloths I fold it up and sit it on a nearby rock that looked fairly clean then walked towards the pool stopping with my back to pool as I hear Anna happily splashing about behind me. Every time like clock work she seems to forget that her undergarments are white as such it's been very much a kind or torture to come her with her yet never look.

As the hours past Anna seems to have calmed down as I don't hear as much splashing as before when I hear a loud splash followed by a dripping sound. "Are we headed back Miss Ann?" Hearing the foot steps behind me I looked back keeping my eyes straight forward making sure not to look down. I caught sight of something unexpected... An very angry looking Anna that no longer had a thread on her body as she pushes me onto my back "I told you to stop calling me that. I am Anna not miss Ann... We've known each other for years why do you treat me like a stranger?" still shocked by her naked glistening body I gulp and avert my gaze "I... It's my job to treat you with care and serve as your guard Mi... Anna..." I feel a weight on my waist and look back suddenly to see Anna has climb on top of me and is look down at me from above. "Anna... Please I could get in trouble if you don't put your cloths back on." Thinking of how I might be executed by her father or my own father if they were to see this young lady naked on top of me a shiver breaks out down my spine. "SHUT UP!!! I don't care what my father wants. Just... why won't you admit you love me... We could leave we could run away. We could be happy!" Hearing her words a gentle smile spreads across my face before I shake it off and push her away before immediately getting up and retreating. "Duty." Hearing me from the ground Anna begins to cry as I turn my back and walk to the horses.

Feeding and sitting with the horses took about an hour. However Anna never came out of the clearing. Worrying about her I walked back towards it to find a clanging nose ringing out as I got close. With a frown I immediately rush up drawing my sword. Catching sight of an unconscious Anna who had worn her undergarments again being dragged by large men in leather towards the woods. Charging without a thought I scream "Hey let her..." Before I could finish my thought a sudden burst of pain followed by a dizzy feeling interrupts me as I struggle to keep my eyes open and feet below me the ground slowly getting closer but farther away.

Waking up I find myself in a cage my armor and sword gone. Looking around I'm in a dark room tied to the bars of an old wooden jail cell. A screaming echos in the distance as I hear Anna's voice I immediately remember what happened before I lost consciousness and begin to struggle. Luckily this old wooden cage is rotten so it breaks fairly easily as I escape I notice a rusty old blade sitting on the table next to Anna's dress in the room I quickly grab them and rush towards the door making sure my foot steps are light looking from side to side carefully I spot a man in leather sleeping on a nearby chair in the dark narrow hall way and quietly creep up before immediately slicing his throat. His eyes spread wide in pain as his hand wonders to his bleeding throat in confusion his eyes meet mine as he tries to call out but falls to the ground without a sound as I catch his falling body and drag it into the room I was just in before rushing back out and chasing towards the sound of the screaming. Down the hallway with two large pillars I find a series of wooden doors with metal bars in them as the arguing gets louder. "Why would you do this Uncle?" Anna's voice sounds out from a nearby room as I sneak up and peer through the door I spot Anna chained up naked to a wall trying to cover her chest as three men stand before her staring at her like meat they are about to eat.

"Oh don't worry I won't hold that information from you. You see. My dear brother and his wife were never happy. Mostly because my brother just wanted to replace his dead wife but no one was ever good enough while your step mom never wanted to marry him. Actually she had been in love with me for years but her family forced her. So she like a dotting good little girl went along with it. That weak willed bitch hid her tears as she married the my mopy brother. So I decided I'd do the hard work for her. I'd kill off my brother and make her mine. However you are in the way of that. A successor to the true line of the household. I can't allow that so I need you to die so I can find true love." Turning his back on her he heads towards the door I quickly hide myself as I hear him walking towards me. "Boys you can do whatever you want with my dear niece but make sure she doesn't survive." Hearing that I grit my teeth and quickly hide behind the pillar hoping he'd come towards me so I could kill him. However after the door opened and closed the foot steps went the other way as Anna began to scream at her attackers. Quickly I rush towards the door and open it immediately placing the rusty blade through the back of the throat of the guy standing back as the other one pushes Anna down and climbs on top of her grabbing the blade from the one I stabbed I immediately stab the pig-ish man climbing on Anna through before kicking him aside.

Anna seeing me goes from terrified to smiling happily. "Nathon!!!" Her naked body still soaked in blood Anna tries her best to hug me but is stopped by the chains she looks at them annoyed then her frown fades away to fear. "Nathon you need to run!" Seeing her face I quickly grab the keys from the corpse of one of the main and undo her chains "No leave me!!! Go save my father!" frowning I look her in the eyes confused. "You dad has guards around him already what can your uncle do to him?" Anger taking over her face Anna chimes in "He hired those guards you idiot! He is planning to convince father to go hunting and then kill him off as an 'accident'." Hearing her I nod and continue undoing the chains then grab the dress and hand it to her as I walk over and look outside checking the hallway before rushing over and helping her get the dress on before pulling her up and dragging her along. "No, if he doesn't have me here he'll just have the guards kill him. He has a 'perfect' plan so if one step goes wrong he may freak out." Looking back at her annoyed I scream. "WHO CARES!!! I was hired by your father to protect you. It doesn't matter what happens to him as long as I protect you it's not my job to keep him safe. So shut up and let me protect you before you get us both killed from getting caught!" Anna's face pales completely going white as a sheet after I yelled at her then lowers her head and begins to run along behind me quietly clearly unhappy about being yelled at but unwilling to be responsible for my death. After running down the long corridor we reach a metal gate guarded by a group of four men. Clearly unable to go that way I go into a nearby room and discover some old metal armor quickly putting it on while I continue to move along. I'm stopped by Anna. "Quick this way." Anna grabs my hand and pulls me through another door leading out to another hall way as she leads me down a few turns before we reach another door she opens and walks in before running towards a small metal door as she struggles to open it. Walking up still confused by why she knows this place so well I pull the large metal door aside as Anna leads me in. "Close it." Nodding my head I close the door and as I turn around I feel a pair of lips upon my own. As I see Anna's smiling face as tears stream down along it.

"Not exactly what I meant when I suggested we run away."

That was the last time we managed to speak as we ran eventually they must have discovered our escape as people began to give chase. We never spotted them but shouting and the clanging of metal blades along the wooden trees became louder as we ran. As the night fell over our running figures the beautiful moon slowly gets covered up. The infinite riverbank before us as she stopped... Panic overcame my face as I look back these mist covered shores won't be enough to hide us... Looking around for a place to hide I hear a voice from behind. "Hey what are you doing down there?" Looking up I see a figure on a raggedy boat standing with a hood over her head and a little strange looking lizard on her shoulder.