Chapter 2

July 25, 1345.

Radnor Forest,

North Walsham,

The Kingdom of Myknos.

Prince Nicolas Alexander Tutton

"Damn it!" Nicolas yelled in frustration.

'How could he have let that wench embarrass him like that?" He thought.

His men were too busy trying to help him to catch the bitch that had attacked him. He growled in frustration then softened his expression because it was not their fault in anyway.

They were already too weary from fighting the men who had ambushed them. He had ordered his men to capture at least one of them to interrogate but the annoying woman had killed them all.

'Damn her! Damn her to hell!' He thought.

"Sir Hunter." He called softly, "Status report."

The young knight was ghostly pale after watching his older brother die. He understood the boys' pain as he had been in the very same position not too long ago.

"Your highness," He said with a bow, "Sir's Henry, Castor and... Chris... Christopher are dead. Then about ten foot soldiers also. Sir Godfrey has a very deep cut on his thigh and Maypole doesn't think he'll make it."

"That will be all for now." He said waving the broken man away.

He saw his best friend and cousin, Prince Hayden, walk towards him smiling. The man never seemed to be serious about anything not even now when he had a deep wound on his arm and a cut on his face.

"My dear cousin." He said sitting on a stump, "I see you're still alive and kicking."

Nicolas could sense the mocking undertone in his voice and growled out a warning. He could never understand how a man two years senior to him at twenty-two could act so immature sometimes.

"Calm down cousin. I don't think I'm the one you should be showing your strength to." Hayden said again laughing. He knew that his cousin had been affected by the black haired beautys' attack, heck even he had not expected her to be so pretty.

"You know what you need right now?" He asked rhetorically, "Some wine and a good whore. Maybe a certain Lady that we will be seeing tonight would suffice. Don't you think?"

"You know I will never bed Lady Lisa. She is much too dumb for me." Nicolas replied shivering with disgust as he thought of the heiress of North Walsham's estate.

"Really? Too dumb? That has never stopped you before." Hayden replied.

"Well its stopping me now." He said.

"Think of her tits mate! They're like huge pillows." Hayden said with a dreamy look.

"I think you're in love brother." He replied with a smirk knowing that his cousin was not the type to fall in love with a woman that let him bed her without any effort on his part.

"You wound me cousin. You really do." Hayden replied with mock sadness, "But if there's anyone who is in love right now I'd say it's you."

"Love isn't for me mate. Women have lost the extra flavour they once had. They are way too easy." He said.

"You're a prince, soon to be king. Get used to it." Hayden replied.

"Sometimes I wish I wasn't."

"Why is that dear cousin? Is it because of a certain raven haired lassie?" Hayden said with a devilish smirk, "Do you wish to marry her and have little black haired babies? Or should I say the red head I hear you've been running around with?"

Nicolas came very close to yelling at his annoying cousin when a voice interrupted their exchange. They looked at the foot soldier that had come talked to them.

"Your highnesses," He said, "Sorry for the interruption but I found something I think would be of interest to you."

He produced a short throwing dagger with very sharp looking edges and a plain black hilt. It felt balanced and light weighted for easy throwing.

"An assassin's blade." He said with finality, "Send a bird to Lord Aegar and make it short."

"What are you gonna do dear cousin?" Hayden asked, humour evident in his tone, "You've been attacked twice today. First by those dim-witted bandits, then by a bonny lass who turned out to be an assassin. If I were you, I'd be halfway to Shiv'ra by now boarding the next boat."

Nicolas rolled his eyes at Prince Hayden's weak attempt at a jibe and stood to check on the rest of his men; he didn't want to camp in the woods and not especially when Oxborough manor was just a half hours' ride away. Call him spoilt but he didn't care. He was a Prince and shouldn't live as less.

He settled on leaving half his men to finish repairs to their fallen wagon while he, Prince Hayden, and the rest of their men rode to the home of the Rzekski's of North Walsham. They would meet in the morning and resume their return to Storm hold.

The Rzekski's of North Walsham were an overly nice family that never failed to seize every opportunity to push their daughter on him. The young Lady Lisa was a petite blonde with an ample bosom but that was all she had to offer; he liked his women smart and she wasn't. The Rzekski's of South Walsham on the other hand were average family with smaller land and less gold to spare on trying to impress their Prince. They even had the bad luck of having only male children.

As soon as he had entered the manor, the Lord and Lady of the house crowded him both trying to shower him with hospitality. The hot bath did him a whole lot of good and he almost fell from the vertigo he experienced when he finally stepped out. He ordered to have his dinner in his room, as he was not in the mood for dressing up or making small talk.

He busied himself with cleaning his wounds and a knock on the door announced the arrival of his dinner. He dropped the cloth and donned a woollen robe and thank God, Lady Lisa stood outside the door with a basket and a few other maids. He allowed them to come in but Lady Lisa asked them to drop their trays and excuse them. Then she proceeded to set the table for both of them and waited for him to seat before joining him on the table. They ate in silence for a while but when he started on the vol-au-vents, she started moving closer to him.

He ignored her and she took that as a sign to continue with her plan. She began to rub her hand on his thigh and he fought the urge to laugh at her attempts to seduce him. He took a deep breath when her hand grabbed him and she stroked.

"Lady Lisa get your hands off of me! NOW!" He said pushing her off him.

"Don't you like me sire. I have been told I'm very good." She said with a pout.

"I'm sure you are but you're much too dumb for me." He said honestly not caring that she was crying.

"You don't love me at all. Not even after...everything I have done to please you! I hate you! I hate you!" She screamed hitting him on the chest.

He held her by the arms and shook her to make her stop crying then he dragged her towards the door. When he opened it, her parents almost fell. They stood spewing apologies but he just ignored them and pushed their daughter on them. He went to their table and packed the plates and left overs in the basket then dropped it outside the door with the Rzekski's still apologizing. He slammed the door and locked it then he poured himself some wine and stood by the window.

Almost all the fires had been put out and only the night guards could be seen walking around the huge manor. He poured himself some more wine and wondered how life would be like if he were not the crown prince but no more than a farm boy was; eating once or twice a day, dressing in tweed coats and itchy woollen tunics and bathing with cold water even in the winter.

'Bullshit!' He thought.

He walked from the window and blew out all the candles in the room leaving the one close to his bed. Then he stripped and crawled under the soft duvet savoring the soft feeling after long days of riding from Imras. Sleep took him quickly and he was grateful for that because he would need his strength for tomorrow's ride.