Chapter 13- Amir

Amir had learnt the hard way that skipping a shift was easy; avoiding his captain, however, was certainly not. He would of course get in trouble for not showing up to shifts, but he’d figured that getting involved with Logan Seltar would probably have worse consequences.

For the first, at worst he’d be scolded and given a few extra shifts but for the second…well, not thinking about it was better than imagining what could be its cost.

Unlucky for him, he only had his tent; and tents were obviously not made for hide and seek.

A candle burned on his desk; his weapons scattered over his space as he sat on the floor that was covered with fabric. No matter how much he had tried throughout the day, his memory had not been strong enough, he was still blind to what had happened the night before.

It made him want to scream in frustration.

Maybe he’d been sick from too many drinks and the captain had been kind enough to take care of him, but that assumption was ridiculous. If he’d been ill then he would have woken up in the infirmary, not Logan Seltar’s bed.

As Amir sat on the floor with his hands on his knees, he sent a prayer to his saints, maybe they’d help him get out of this situation.

Someone came close to his tent, and Amir saw its shadow before the man stopped right outside. The shadow waited, as if hesitating and then held up the tent’s entrance. Amir released a breath as he saw Jacob coming in. “So, how are you dealing with the hangover?” he asked, and Amir groaned in response. “How do you think?”

He laughed. “Everyone’s more or less the same.”

His situation with the captain was bad enough, but there was also a slight headache that came from drinking more than his limit allowed him to. He’d never drink again, not in a million years.

“Well, I covered for you, saying you had a head injury. If anyone asks, you hit your head last night coming back.” Amir nodded, a look of gratitude on his face. “And the captain was looking for you.” His eyes grew wide, but he did not let Jacob see it as he faced the tent’s end.

Saints… “What did he want?” he carefully asked. “Oh nothing special, just asked if you need something and also said he’ll visit you today. Actually, I came here to warn you about that in particular, he did not seem to be happy about your absence.”

Perfect, amazing in fact!

Another shadow appeared outside the tent. Amir stood up, knowing exactly who it was. The captain came in, a smile on his lips as he proved Jacob’s claims wrong. Amir threw up a brow, so he was not angry, interesting. They bowed as he waved them to be comfortable. He was wearing a white tonic and a brown coat over it. His belt was decorated with a few daggers and his golden handled sword. His cape was also forest green, matching the color of his eyes. The complexion of the outwear made Amir think if there was a celebration coming up.

“Jacob, would you mind giving us a bit of privacy?” He asked. Amir closed his eyes, he had absolutely no idea how to handle this but at least the calm expression on the captain’s face declared that maybe their state of affairs was not as bad as he’d imagined.

Jacob had not even taken a step forward when the yelling started.

Screams from the royal guard were what was heard first, then the sounds of clashes, and then silence. Pure silence fell over. As if whatever had started, had ended on its own.

The captain had a grim look on his face, Amir’s own eyes filled with the horror of what could have happened outside.

Jacob was first to exit the tent, then Amir and lord Seltar. But when Amir pushed aside the entrance of the tent to follow Jacob, in a moment he was holding his lifeless body. Someone was waiting outside, and whoever they were, they had killed Jacob with a slash of their sword.

Amir let go of his dead friend’s body signaling his captain not to exit the tent, leading them both to where his weapons were. Following them, man entered, a wicked grin on his face and a strange seal on his uniform.

He came close, gesturing for the captain to not unleash his own sword, he did not listen as he lunged. The man somehow was faster as he dodged causing the captain to lose balance. The man hit him with his leg as he fell, captain Seltar was down.

Before Amir could reach his daggers, his vision became blurry.

The man had hit his head with the back of his sword.

When he gained his consciousness back, Logan Seltar was gone. Amir looked around, his eyes capturing Jacob’s face as he had a smile on his lips even after death.