>>5608418 You do not flinch, simply taking a step back and resting a hand on your blade. Your stance remains relaxed, and you make no motion to draw it.
“I am sskilled in my craft, Princcce Alexxosss. I don’t mean to criticcize you Northmen, but I’m not ssure anyone in thiss ccity could take my head even if they wished to.”
“Such arrogance,” the Prince sniffs, watching you carefully,, but with renewed interest. “I see you and Heinrich have ONE thing in common, at least.”
Irinnile suppresses a snort of laughter, and mumbles: “If you only knew…”
You arch an eyebrow at the comment, but keep your focus on the prince.
“I have heard the Paladinsss are an esspecially fearsome fighting forcce, though,” you admit. “And I have LONG wondered how I would fare againssst ssuch an enemy. Isss it true that they trained you, Princcce Alexxoss?”
“I am heir to the Paladin King’s throne,” Alexos says cooly. “Of course I was schooled in their faith and fighting style.”
“Among my people, it isss cussstomary to tessst the mettle of a new ally with a friendly ssparring match,” you lie.
The Prince immediately understand the implications, rolling a shoulder as he sizes you up. He is older than you—middle-aged by the standards of his short-lived species, you wager—but he has the build of a fighter, and moves with the confidence and grace of a warrior who has stayed physically and mentally sharp. So you do, though—he must recognize that, and your greater size, strength, and agility.
And yet…
“Ha,” he says, smirking for a moment. “Fine. My sister and Sir Yosef have put too many ideas in your head, Mister Long. If you desire that I should deliver a few blows to dislodge them, I will oblige you.”
“P-Prince Alexos!” one of the guards protests, the first words either of the men ahs uttered.
“Silence,” the Prince replies, without raising his voice, and both fall back.
To you, he says: “Meet me in the courtyard on the opposite side of the ground from the garden where I found you with Princess Ekaterine. You will be supplied a practice word, as shall I—dulled blades, you understand. We aren’t fools or… BARBARIANS… In this place.”
You grin, and bow.
You take a moment to collect yourself and to plan your strategy as you traverse the palace. You feel… Strangely exhilarated. Is this the bloodlust which Irinnile awoke in you, resurgent in light of your earlier-stifled appetite? Or is it that you, the ‘Dragonborn Antipaladin’, are finally fulfilling the purpose for which you were given that title? You are about to fight a Paladin of Hawksong—the Paladin king’s own heir-apparent!