Chapter 2- Amir

Noticing little things, was never Amir's specialty. Instead, what the young guard was expectedly good at was fighting. Although how he had become a good fighter without noticing details was a mystery to all, himself included. Many claimed a great warrior was one who could see both the general aspects and details that no one saw. But then again Amir Ongonba was not a great warrior, he was simply good, never more than that.

Maybe that was why the sparring session he'd had with his captain earlier in the morning had been a failure. Because captain Logan Seltar was indeed great, and Amir was not. How unexpected that a son of noble man had been better than him who had learnt his ways through the streets of the southern empire.

Everyone had congratulated the young captain as if he had done something extraordinary. Fine, maybe Amir's strength was hard to beat, but in battle it was not strength that held power, it was the right strategy and the knowledge of knowing how to use it. Clearly Lord Seltar's training in court assured him of victory against a southern bastard.

A bastard that would have been a slave if he had not been lucky.

Amir knew well enough what would become of him if he took one wrong step, it was rather obvious that half of the court eyed him as danger, and that the other half liked to have him as their personal servant.

Why? Because Amir Ongonba was a southerner, and he had no protection from his empire in a foreign kingdom. Sometimes he liked to consider what it would be like if he had not come to Elwaira. His imaginations never turned out to his liking.

He was cleaning his daggers when the captain entered his tent. The young boy closed his distance with Amir and put a hand on his shoulder before he could turn and bow in greeting. "No need for that Amir. We both know you and I can be closer than that." He said.

"Can we?" replied Amir, slowly eyeing the hand on his shoulder. He knew what the young captain wanted, it was a night in a tavern with girls on their laps and drinks in their hands. Just like how a captain and his crew should have been, just like the rest of the guards were. But Amir had always refused to go to those gatherings. He had closed himself off from his mates and decided this was not how he wanted to spend his time. Most of those girls were slaves anyways, it pained him to see them.

Apparently, his lack of absence had been noticed and the young lord was not happy about it.

"You and I both know I can force you into this. But I don't want to Amir. A team has to get close without force or orders, or else how can we expect to be a team?" he was right, and Amir knew it. Guards and soldiers needed to be close so that they could do their duty better. If they had chosen to spend their time in any other way, maybe he would have attended. But a brothel house or tavern was never to his taste when he'd been in the southern empire, and his time in Elwaira had not changed that about him.

When the captain saw that he was not going to respond, he let out a sigh and Amir heard him leave the tent, leaving him to his own company.

The tent was large, larger than a usual soldier's should have been. His bed was better made than the ones the others had, and the food delivered to him daily was better cooked. Even the servants delivering the meals were good looking and always tried to seduce him with fragile innocent smiles. But it was all because the captain favored him despite his stubborn attitude. Why and how he was favored by someone that he hated was beyond him, but it had made his life more comfortable, and he had learnt to accept it. That was the reason he had not been strictly ordered to attend gatherings or the reason he had been treated like an Elwairian man so far.

Maybe it was all a show to state Logan Seltar as a caring man, someone who was willing to treat a foreigner with kindness, and maybe it was not. Maybe Seltar really did want to help Amir, maybe he truly knew what it felt like to be left alone with no one to protect you.

But it did not matter. As long as Amir was benefiting from it without selling his body, soul or faith, it did not matter.

He placed his dagger on his table after cleaning it and went straight outside of the tent. The weather was still the same as the morning. A chill breeze gave away the arrival of fall after an unbearable summer and a few clouds filled the sky. If only it would rain, they had not experienced a shred of it since spring.

Soldiers and guards were in each other's tents and some were drinking outside. None eyed Amir, they never did. Even though he was favored by the captain and had a high status as a royal guard, that did not mean others coming from high or low noble households also cared for him. At times he was welcomed by mere soldiers, but never by the royal guards. They were too proud to let a man of his skin color enter their inner circle, and of course too jealous that he had managed this far without a noble house backing him directly.

Narcissist bastards.

"Tired?" asked a man near him, and Amir recognized the voice before he saw the face. Jacob, a simple man of low rank in the army. And someone he could at times consider a friend. He came close and handed Amir a mug of drink and a piece of bread. "You bet." He was tired indeed, the morning match had taken more strength than what he liked to admit, and he had lost anyway.

"I heard that there was another fight in the council today." The man stated and it got Amir's attention although he did not show it. "A fight? Between who?" he asked, trying not to sound too eager. It was not his place to care for court matters, yet it had been weeks and every day arguments took place in the meetings held by the king. At times like this, things went wrong, very wrong. "the usual" Jacob shrugged.

That meant Lord Black, the king's righthand and general Dormer, the man who controlled the armies of western borders. Two powerful men fighting over some trivial matter, or maybe over gaining even more than they had.

"if it was them then it wasn't anything strange. They always argue, nothing ever comes of it." Amir stated with boredom, he was not fond of gossip, but he could tolerate it. In fact, he had to if he liked to survive in this land. Elwaira was a kingdom of rumors and court gossip. "I thought the same until I heard what Black accused Dormer of." He stopped for a moment and Amir was trying not to encourage him to say more when he spoke again, "direct treason, or so I've heard."

A chill went through Amir's spine. He had spent enough time in Elwaira to know how badly they punished their traitors. Black had accused Dormer of many crimes, yet none had been conformed. If he had evidence backing up his claims this time, the house Dormer would be cleared off from the kingdom.

Amir did not like any of the noble houses, yet he did not wish destruction upon any of them. He certainly did not want to witness the consequences, he only hoped this was also another one of their games.

And no matter how much he hated Elwairians for what they had done to him, no matter how bad of a man general Dormer was, Amir knew in his bones that his family did not deserve to suffer because of his actions, certainly not like Amir's had.