Tristan

"So, the Southern States of Esseria have sent their response, you say?" Edward asked as he sat with Tristan and Cylia for dinner.

"Yes, they confirmed that they will be ready to send their forces shall the need arise," Tristan said. "That means we could manage to gather twenty thousand men."

"That's great! With such numbers we will surely crush those Northmen and their mercenaries." Edward said.

"I hope it wouldn't come to that," Tristan said. "If Mikal's plan goes as we agreed there will be no need for war in the first place."

"You really trust that fucker!" Cylia scoffed as she reached out for the plump roasted chicken sitting in the middle of the table, tearing out a big chunk.

"I have no reason not to trust him so far," Tristan said, snatching away the juicy piece of chicken from her hand.

"Hey!" Cylia cried out, but it was too late, and Edward snickered as Tristan devoured Cylia's treasured chicken in a moment.

"Asshole!" Cylia backhanded Tristan's shoulder while he and Edward laughed aloud.

But Tristan stopped laughing at once as Alina entered the hall. His heart pounded against his chest as she approached them, a large tray in her hands and a curious look in her round honey eyes. He straightened up and dropped his hands beneath the table, tensing up as she set the tray before him. He held his breath as he sat there watching her, and a long silence fell around him, until she left the hall.

"What the hell was that about?" Edward turned to Tristan with raised eyebrows.

"What are you talking about?" Tristan frowned in an attempt to conceal his nervousness. What the fuck! Why am I even nervous?

"That girl," Edward chuckled in disbelief. "You like her?"

"What girl..." Tristan's frown deepened. "What? No! Of course not!" Tristan scoffed as he realized what Edward was thinking.

"You do. You haven't seen yourself, man you went literally speechless."

"Pathetic," Cylia muttered as she picked up the ale and poured herself a large cup.

"Stop it. It's not what you think." Tristan defended. "I just got lost in some thought. I didn't even notice who the girl was." A straight lie of course. Tristan noticed all too well who the girl was.

"You're a terrible liar, do you know that?" Edward smirked and Tristan only clenched his fists in frustration.

"I don't like her!" Tristan muttered, more likely assuring himself rather than Edward.

Of course he didn't like her. He shouldn't like her. He shouldn't like any woman other than Olivea...

***

It was late in the evening and Tristan found himself still thinking of Alina as he sat alone in his terrace, absently stroking Beast's head. He silently cursed Edward for ever opening up that subject. But yet, even if Edward hadn't brought that up, Tristan knew he would have thought of Alina all the same. It had been almost a whole month already since the banquet and that stupid kissing game, and Tristan still thought of Alina every night... 

Beast suddenly whimpered and nudged Tristan's leg, sensing his unpleasant mood. Tristan sighed and patted the dog's head, before he rose and determinedly left the room, heading off to the castle.

He didn't usually go to the castle that late unless if there were some urgent matter. But needing something to get his mind off that girl, he decided to distract himself with a good game of chess. Well, he had been neglecting his chess lessons for the past few days, and Mikal wasn't an early sleeper, so he probably wouldn't mind Tristan's late visit.

Followed by Jared, Tristan walked through the corridor that led to Mikal's chamber. And he could hear distant yelling and banging sounds.

"What's going on?" Tristan asked, almost to himself.

"Lord Tristan!" One of the guards who stood outside Mikal's room came hurrying towards Tristan. "Thank heavens you're here." The young guard panted.

"What's wrong?"

"The prisoner, he's gone mad! He hasn't stopped yelling and cursing all day, and –" the guard winced as a loud crash banged behind him, apparently something hurled against the metal door, "and he's been asking for you." The guard continued, breathing out in relief.

"Come Jared," Tristan ordered, before he walked determinedly towards Mikal's room. The cries and crashes got louder as they approached.

"You fucking bastards! I am not a fucking prisoner!" Mikal's voice bellowed behind the door. "I am a King! Open this fucking door! Bring me Tristan! Where the fuck is Tristan?"

Tristan had barely opened the door when he found a cup being hurled at his face. He dodged just in time, while Jared who stood behind him seized the cup in his hand. Mikal was silenced at once at the sight of the two men, yet his chest still heaved with rage. His face was red, his fists were clenched, and his eyebrows were furrowed in a dangerous glare. He looked like an untamed beast, standing barefoot in the middle of the room with his wings spread behind him, his short unruly hair all flying wildly around his face, his loose shirt half opened and half untucked.

"Where the fuck have you been?" Mikal hissed, his nostrils flaring as he glowered at Tristan.

"Wow, I didn't realize you would miss me that much," Tristan taunted.

"Shut up!" Mikal growled, turning around to hurl more cups against the floor.

Jared stepped forward, only to be stopped by Tristan.

"It's alright Jared, I can handle that," Tristan said, before he turned around to Mikal with a calm smile.

"You have to understand that I am not a prisoner," Mikal hissed as Tristan approached him, his body trembling with fury. "I demand to go out this instant."

"Go out?" Tristan laughed. "You really think you can ask for something like that?"

"Yes I can," Mikal said. "I am the future King of Nordenvania, and King William's future son in law. I cannot remain trapped in a prison cell for months, speaking to the walls all day. I demand to go out for a walk. Right now!"

"Well I can't blame you. Even dogs need a little walk to keep sane."

"Did you just fucking compare me to a dog?"

"I guess I did." Tristan smirked.

Mikal furious, looked for the nearest object, and hurled it at Tristan. Tristan dodged, barely missing the book that hit the wall behind him.

"Now you're being an aggressive dog." 

"You bastard!" Mikal hissed and raised his fist to punch Tristan, but he backed down right away as Jared stepped in before him.

"There, that's a good pup," Tristan chuckled, and next he held Mikal's shoulders in an attempt to still his shaking. "Listen," he said as he looked deep into his single citrine eye, his tone grown serious now. "I understand how difficult it must be for you, but you know these are the terms we had agreed on. You must remain locked here until we have Grytia back."

Mikal was still panting and shaking, but his face relaxed a little, turning from rage to frustration.

"And I promise you, once our scouts confirm the withdrawal of the Kassarathi forces from Grytia, I will take you out without a second thought. Hell, I'll even throw you the biggest party in town and invite all the beautiful girls in Vausterland. How does that sound?"

Tristan coaxed as he gently pulled Mikal along, attempting to lead him to the chess table, only to find that all the chairs were missing. It took him one look around the room to realize that all the chairs had been smashed, their remains lay scattering across the floor.

"The poor chairs! You really had to throw a tantrum like some spoiled princess?" Tristan shook his head before he looked back towards Jared.

"Jared? Can you ask someone to bring us wine? Plenty of it, please."

***

Without any chairs left in the room, Mikal and Tristan sat facing each other on the large bed, with the chessboard placed in between them. It had taken them ages to find and collect all the scattered pieces from the floor, most of which had settled into hidden nooks or under splinters of furniture. Apparently, Tristan's coaxing efforts along with the abundance of wine helped Mikal calm down. His angry glare had long disappeared, and he now lay back completely relaxed, a satisfied smirk on his flushed face as he was about to defeat Tristan again for the hundredth time.

"You are supposed to teach me, not beat me in every single game," Tristan complained.

"I am teaching you," Mikal said drunkenly as he moved a piece of chess. "You're just too stupid to learn. Check mate!"

Tristan groaned in frustration before he tossed the chess piece he held at Mikal, and Mikal chuckled as he dodged it.

"Just how did you become an army commander and you can't even play a simple game of chess?"

"Perhaps because I am busy with real life battles rather than waste my time in a fake game?" Tristan said as he poured out more wine and gulped down his cup in one shot.

"Is that so?" Mikal chuckled before he leisurely sipped his own wine. "Now seriously, how did you become an army commander? Why did King William choose you?"

"Sometimes I ask myself the same..." Tristan said absently. Indeed, he had often wondered why King William chose him - a human, and a slave - above all the winged lords and wingless humans alike, to become his army commander.

When Tristan had first joined William's slave army, he had only ever dreamed to become one of William's greatest warriors. He had known back then that it would not be possible, at least not before a very long time, but he was ambitious enough, to the extent of greed, to hold such dreams. And eventually, those dreams had come true. He had indeed become William's greatest warrior...

Yet to become William's closest advisor, a leader of his army, and a Lord over one of the richest cities in Engeldom were beyond Tristan's wildest dreams. Such dreams had only been vague absurd fantasies lurking back in the depths of his mind, not to be dwelled upon. But even those had come true. Once a starving homeless boy, now one of the greatest Lords in the West.

"He had always favored me," Tristan continued, almost speaking to himself. "Perhaps because I wasn't sold into the castle as a slave soldier like the other boys. I was found, almost dying in a dark alley. It was King William himself who found me, you know? I was only four. It's almost like he adopted me..."

"Hmm..." Mikal barely responded, and as Tristan looked up at him, he found him leaning back against a large pillow, his eye closed while he still held his empty cup of wine close to his heart, his chest rising and falling steadily.

Tristan chuckled as he realized that Mikal had fallen asleep already. Well, they were both drunk as hell, and it was late past midnight. Even Tristan's eyes failed to remain open, and long forgotten memories started flashing within his mind, mingling with his dreams as sleep defeated him as well.

Dark distant memories of a four year old left freezing and starving behind a heap of litter in some dark and deserted alley...

Tristan still remembered how it felt as clearly as if it were only yesterday. He was a grown man of thirty now, but the pangs of hunger that had bit into the insides of his four year old self, and the searing cold that had drilled through his flesh and bones, were deeply engraved into his memory forever...

***************

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