Perilous Jaunt Chapter 14
Chapter 14
Peter
It was great to be staying in an actual bedroom again, especially one that was in a palace. Sure, it wasn't as big as my room back in Lowpive, but it was better than sleeping out in the cold again. In fact, I was so happy about being able to be sleep indoors again that, after pacing around my room for awhile, I quietly opened my door and left to explore the rest of the palace. I wasn't going to try escaping again. No. I had learned my lesson. But what was I supposed to do, stay cooped up in my room until dinner? Fuck that!
As I moved down the hall, I spent a good amount of time looking at the paintings and tapestries that hung on the walls. Now that I had more time to look at the paintings than I did when I first walked into the palace, I noticed more things about each one of them. The ones that showed great battles didn't shy away from showing people being stabbed and having their organs fall out of their chests, or soldiers being decapitated. There was even a painting about one king, a few centuries before, who had two wives instead of just one.
My curiosity grew and I continued to go further down the hall to learn about the rest of the Ulpis' Family history, making many turns and venturing deeper into the palace.
Soon, after a lot of exploring, I made a left turn and came upon an abrupt right turn in an unusually short hallway. I heard hushed voices come from around the corner. I could tell that whoever was talking was right around the corner from me, yet didn't seem to be moving. They were still very close, so I couldn't peek around the wall to see who it was without them noticing me. But, on the wall to my left, there was a mirror that was twice my size, which also faced down the center of the hall from where the whispers were coming from.
I pressed my back against the wall and slid down towards the corner, moving my paws slowly so I would be quiet. I stopped at the very edge of the wall and looked into the mirror. Luckily, I was actually able to see a perfect reflection of the hallway around the corner and was at angle where I couldn't be seen. A few steps down the hallway, which the mirror faced, Lant stood with three men: a gray wolf, a gazelle and a bat eared fox. Lant was the one speaking and the other three were listening in silence.
Then, just as I was about to go back down the way I had come and return to my room, Lant drew three pieces of paper from his trouser pocket, all of which were folded into tiny squares. He gave each of the men a paper and kept whispering something.
_ _ The men had barely put the papers in their own pockets before Lant left them and began walking directly towards where I was hiding.
Shit!
_ _ Instinct took over and I sprinted back around the corner from which I came, trying to move legs as fast as I possibly could. Something told me that I wasn't supposed to see the men talking, so I wasn't going to stick around.
At first, as I ran, I couldn't remember the way back to my room, but I recalled some of the paintings I had looked at and used them to find my way back.
As soon as the door of my room closed behind me, I jumped on my bed and hid under the covers. I began to breathe in the scents of the perfume that the blankets had been washed in, trying to slow down my pounding heart. What did I just see? Was Lant in debt to somebody? Were Capres' men causing more trouble? Fear hit me and made me as cold as a corpse. Does Capres know we're here? Is he threatening Ulpis? Guilt mixed with my fear as I imagined Capres' men breaking into the palace and hurting Lant. He didn't do anything wrong. All he did was try to be a good person.
Nothing ever happened before dinner, though. No knights came barging into my room to kill me and there was no sign of Capres anywhere. I thought, at one point, I heard Lant's voice and the sound of a door closing. But, after I pressed my ear against my own door, I heard nothing, so I forgot about it.
Some time later, a knock came at my door.
"Sir?" a voice called.
I threw my blankets off of me and stared at the door, fearing that maybe it was a trap. "Yes?"
"Dinner is ready," the voice said, which I now guessed belonged to a fifteen-year-old boy. "I'm here to show you to the dinning room, where King Ulpis and his sons are waiting for you,"
"Thank you," I called out to him, as I hopped out of bed. "I'm coming,"
"Yes, sir," he said.
When I answered the door, I found myself staring up at a badger, who was actually probably closer to being seventeen years old than fifteen. "I'll get my friends for you,"
"I can get them for you, sir," the badger replied, fearfully, probably thinking he did something to offend me,
"Oh no," I smiled. "It's all right. And..."
"Yes, sir?" the boy asked.
"Call me Peter," I told him. "I always hate it when people call me 'sir',"
"You've visited other palaces, s-...Peter?"
"Yes," I said, my fur burning as I tried to come up with a good lie. "A cousin of mine needed an escort to a ball up in Leler and I was the only one who could make it,"
The servant boy seemed satisfied by my lie and didn't ask any more questions.
I shut my door. Then, I walked over to Dante's door and knocked. "Dante?"
The gray wolf's voice came from within, sounding a little surprised. "Peter?" He probably took a nap and just woke up.
_ _ "Yeah, it's me. Ulpis is calling us to dinner right now,"
"Hold on. I'm coming," he said. "Don't come in! I'm... I'm not dressed,"
"Oh," I said and took a step back from the door. "Okay,"
A few moments later, Dante emerged from his room and closed the door as soon as he stepped out into the hall. He didn't even open it the whole way and, a second later, I realized why. There was the smallest scent of cum floating in the air and it vanished almost immediately once Dante closed his door. Was he jerking off?
_ _ "I'm ready now," Dante announced, as I couldn't help but noticed that he didn't have any of his weapons.
"Let's get Esme," I said, before walking over to Esme's door and knocking on it.
Was Dante that hard up? He had just slept with a whore. Then again, that had been a week ago and he hadn't slept with anybody or touched himself since then. Still, didn't he realize that we would be able to smell it? Maybe it's because he's a wolf. Can't keep it in his fur.
_ _ Esme came out right after I had knocked and I, thankfully, didn't smell any cum inside her room. Unlike Dante, she was armed and had her knife sheathed at her side. Once I told her we were going to dinner, we were off.
A few moments later, the badger guided us to a grand open doorway, which was guarded by four knights, all dressed in armor. The boy wished us farewell and left. The knights broke their line and let us enter between them.
After passing through the doorway, we found ourselves in a small dining hall. Well, it was only small by palace standards and was actually bigger than most houses. The table outstretched from one side of the room to the other and was decorated with candles and bushels of flowers of all colors. On the opposite side of the incredibly long table from us sat King Ulpis. Meanwhile, Lant and Ivan were seated on the right side of the table. Each of them had a golden plate, a golden bowl, a knife, a fork and a goblet in front of them. On the left side of the table, across from Lant and Ivan, sat three empty seats, which were accompanied by silverware, bowls, plates and goblets.
We quickly took our seats across from the two princes. Esme sat at the end closer to King Ulpis. I then sat down next to her and Dante sat down to my right.
Both of the princes were dressed in white silk tunics that were decorated with golden buttons. They both smelled of perfume, too. Lant, of course, still wore his captain's armband around and his brother was still wearing the silver crown from earlier. King Ulpis, on the other hand, wore his crown now, which was a few inches taller than Ivan's and bore green jewels inside of its gold. The king also wore a different cloak than the one he wore earlier, this one being made out of the pelts of wild arctic foxes.
The king's stone eyes fell upon Dante. "Are you enjoying your stay?" King Ulpis asked, leaning back in his chair and clasping his hands together.
"Very much, Your Grace," Dante answered, politely. "Our rooms are very comfortable,"
"I don't know about these two," Esme blurted out, while pointing at me and Dante with her thumb, "but my bed is bitchin'! Soft as a feather!"
Across the table from us, the princes' eyes grew wide and both of them looked over at their father, as though they were afraid he was going to stab Esme with his fork for being so rude.
King Ulpis didn't share the same shocked expression as his sons. The old king began to cackle and his belly shook as though we were in an earthquake. "Wait until you taste the food, my girl! It's better than fucking a virgin!"
"Hot damn!" Esme shouted, as if she had been starving for the past year.
"Father!" Ivan said. "That's not something our guests want to hear,"
"Oh, please," the king scoffed at his son and looked at Esme. "You don't mind, do you?"
"Hell, no!" Esme said and folded her arms behind her head. "Discretion is overrated,"
Ulpis pointed at Esme with his thumb and looked at Ivan. "You see, Ivan? She doesn't mind,"
"I just don't think that's polite dinner conversation," Ulpis' eldest son said.
"Speaking of dinner," Ulpis groaned, "how long until the food is ready?"
Lant and Ivan both gave each other a look and stared back at their father.
"Lant," King Ulpis said. "Go see what's taking the kitchen so long,"
"But, Father," Lant argued, "these are my guests! It would be rude of me to leave them and-"
"They are your starving guests," Ulpis corrected him. "And it's you responsibility to see that they are fed! So, go to the kitchen and tell the servants to hurry up,"
Lant stared at his father for a moment. A second later, his chair squeaked back from the table and he left the room.
"I apologize for my son," Ulpis said, once Lant was gone. "He's a spineless shit,"
"He's the captain of your knights, Father," Ivan sternly, yet respectfully, reminded Ulpis. "You gave him the position, remember?"
Ulpis leaned forward and folded his arms on the table. "And he was lucky to get it! To think, he wanted to be my General, just because he's my son,"
"He's more than capable!" Ivan said. "Thieves won't dare rob the merchants in our walls and the Talth have been afraid to even step inside the City since he took charge,"
Ulpis' snout grew a sneer and he looked at his son with the judgment of a wrathful god. "What about the men he lost to Capes' raid? Fifteen! Fifteen goddamn men have to be replaced. Think of how long it'll be before those spots are re-filled, what with all the training and forging of new armor. Capres' knights are shit and any decent captain would have only lost seven men at most,"
"There were fifty of them!" Ivan continued to defend his brother. "Lant only had thirty-nine men backing him up. He was outnumbered and still didn't even lose half of his men. That's a miracle!"
"A stupid risk!" Ulpis spat. "He should have taken more men, or at least have let someone else lead the attack,"
"How could he let someone else do his work for him when you keep finding faults with his successes? He drives himself crazy trying to impress you and all you can do is point out his mistakes. Why can't you just give him some support for a change?"
"Haven't I done that already?" Ulpis said, raising his voice. "I paid for a sword master when he was fourteen! I bought him the best armor my smiths could forge when he turned sixteen. I even gave him the opportunity to become my captain, for Christ's sake! Yet, he lost fifteen men when he was dealing with a raid, a mistake he could have easily avoided! Do you think that's the sign of a man who's responsible? To me, that's the sign of an arrogant man who's squandered the gifts his father has given him and takes unnecessary risks! What do you say to that?"
Ivan's eyes hopped over to us as he considered his next words. Then, he sank back in his chair and stared at his plate in defeat. "Nothing,"
"Good," Ulpis said, lowering his voice and shifting in his seat, which creaked under his weight. "And I'll be damned if you let him become your General when I'm six feet under the ground and rotting,"
The prince remained silent and continued to stare down at his plate.
After a brief awkward silence, Lant returned and sat down, which happened at the exact same moment when a swarm of servants, each carrying plates full of food, came marching into the dining hall. In a matter of seconds, the servants spread out around the table and began to lay out the food. Steaming-hot bread, buttered wild pig, crisp salad with sliced tomatoes, apples that were as red as blood, soup that bubbled in golden bowls and flagons filled to the brim with white wine were all spread out before the six of us like an army. The servants filled our jeweled goblets with the sparkling wine from the flagons and placed them back down by our plates. When the table was set and everyone's goblet was full, most of the servants left, while only seven stayed behind. Amongst them were two panthers, a gazelle, a buffalo, a gray wolf, a squirrel and a bat eared fox. All of them stood around the table, waiting to fulfill any needs we may have.
In a matter of moments, all six of us at the table began filling our plates and chewing on our food with delight. Feeling a little adventurous, I cut myself a hunk of boar meat and set it on my plate. Then, I cut a small piece from the slab of meat on my plate and set it in the middle of my mouth, using my fork. The warm soft meat made my mouth fill with saliva and I immediately cut myself a second piece to eat. Then, I gulped that down and took another giant mouthful of the delicious food. It's been so long since I've had something that tasted this good!
_ _ "So," Ulpis said, before taking a sip of wine from his decorated goblet. "I'd like to know exactly how you killed Capres' men. No summary or skipping over details. I want to know the whole thing!"
"Father!" Ivan said, before taking a bite of his salad.
Ulpis cut himself a slice of the boar meat on his plate before cramming it into his mouth with a fork. "What? I'm curious,"
"I think," Lant said, "our guests would prefer to talk about it after we've finished eating. Ivan's right, Father. Why ruin a pleasant meal with stories of death?"
Ulpis scoffed and took a gulp of wine to wash down his food. "Not a stomach between you two,"
Ivan turned his head and began to speak to us. "I apologize for my father's rudeness. We don't have many guests,"
"Don't act as if I'm deaf, Ivan," Ulpis scolded his son. "I'm not that old yet," He then took another mouthful of meat and clinked his fork back down against the table.
"So," Ivan said, trying to ignore his father as best as he could, "where are you all from?"
Dante lowered a spoonful of soup away from his mouth. "Ansil. We were going up to Leler to pay some friends a visit, but, after the trouble with the Talth and Capres, we're going back home,"
"Capres," King Ulpis hissed and took another gulp of wine from his goblet. "The world will be a better place once he's dead,"
"I keep telling you that we should attack him," Lant said. "With him gone, we would have twice as much land, a bigger army and more resources!"
"And then what?" King Ulpis glared at Lant. "Go up to Leler and takeover the Danils? Or, maybe we should go up to the Iron Pass and throw Queen Santel off one of the mountains? Once we start overthrowing kings and queens just for their land, we open the door to becoming greedy. Eventually, we'd try to take over the South, too! And we all now how the first war with them went,"
The old king lifted his cup into the air and looked over his shoulder at the gray wolf standing behind him. "Wine,"
The wolf slowly moved towards the table and picked up the nearest flagon of wine. He then began to pour a cool stream of the bubbly drink into the king's goblet.
"It would be a mistake to overthrow Capres," Ulpis explained, as he watched his cup fill. "Especially if the Southerners' caught wind of it. They would come together and place heavier taxes on our Family, even though they already steal enough of our gold already,"
When the king's cup was full, Ulpis pulled it closer to himself and the wolf set the flagon back down on the table. "Those damn Southerners," Ulpis said. "I hope they all choke on their own blood,"
As the king lifted his goblet and took another sip of wine, the wolf servant revealed a knife that he had hidden in the waistline of his trousers and stabbed King Ulpis in the throat.
"For King Capres!" the wolf screamed, as he pulled the blade from the king's neck, drawing a river of blood and fizzing white wine from the king's open throat.
"Father!" Ivan screamed and jumped from his chair to his father's aid, only to be blocked by the gazelle and to have a curved knife thrust into his chest. His body went limp and blood began to splatter onto the floor below him as the assassin continued to rapidly stab him to death.
Lant stood up from his chair and all of the servants, besides the wolf, gazelle and bat eared fox, ran screaming out of the room. The bat eared fox then sprinted at the prince, moving at full speed with a knife in his hand. Sadly, Lant was weaponless and didn't stand a chance.
In a flash, Esme jumped onto the table, pulling her knife from its sheath with her right hand, and jumped on top of the bat eared fox with her powerful paws. The fox collapsed under her weight and his throat was torn apart by Esme's swift blade. A stream of blood rained out of the fox's open neck and he grew still, lying on his back as red rivers trickled onto the floor beneath his head.
The wolf had just finished stabbing King Ulpis' throat for the tenth time when he roared and ran around the table corner towards Esme, his red blade lifted high in the air with his right hand as if it were a flag.
Esme rose and grabbed the wolf's arm that held the knife with her left hand, only to stab him on the right side of his head with her own blade. He screamed and crumbled to the ground, as the knife drenched in Ulpis' blood clanked against the floor.
The gazelle released Prince Ivan's body, which fell backwards and splashed into a pool of blood. But, before he could charge at Esme as his fellow assassins had, the knights, who had been guarding the door, stormed their way passed Esme and impaled the man with their drawn swords, causing him to scream in agony before falling down alongside Prince Ivan.
"Prince Lant," one of the knights said after the gazelle had fallen. "Are you hurt?"
From where Dante and I sat, frozen in our chairs, Lant hypnotically stared down at his brother's body, not looking up at his knights for even a second. "Yes,"
Gradually, Lant eased over towards Ivan's body, which lay face-up in a pond of blood. Ignoring the red that stained his boots, Lant kneeled down next to Ivan and draped his brother's open eyes closed.
After a moment of thick silence, Lant stood, still staring at his dead brother. "Alert the rest of the guards about this. There may be more assassins here. Ring the bells, too. Let the City know what's happened,"
The knights sheathed their swords and one of them spoke. "Yes, sir... I mean, King Ulpis,"
Lant's ears pricked and he looked at the knight who had spoken. "We can discuss titles later. Just... For now, I'm still your captain,"
"Yes, sir," the knight said, bowing along with his comrades, just before they hurried out of the room to carry out their new orders.
The buck turned and gazed at Dante and I. "I apologize for this, but I must insist that you three return to your rooms. If anything happened to you three as well, I'd...I'd be completely responsible,"
"No need to apologize," Esme said, after cleaning the blood from her knife on the dead wolf's tunic sleeve.
"We understand," Dante said, as he scooted his chair out from under him. "We'll leave you to mourn for them,"
After I slid my chair back and stood up, Lant turned his head to stare at the body of his brother. "Thank you,"
Wordlessly, Esme, Dante and I left the dining hall, leaving the new King of Ophylius to grieve for his loss.
We all stayed in Esme's room that night. We decided that it was probably best to all stay in one room, just in case another attack did happen. Dante, of course, went and got his things from his room before we began to turn in. None of us really cared who slept in the bed, but Esme and Dante both ended up sleeping in it. I took one of the sheets and one of the pillows for myself. I then set my new pillow and blanket on the ground beneath the end of the bed, hoping that I would be able to sleep that night.
Before I could fall asleep, the City bells began to ring, letting the world know of the tragedy that had occurred that night. The ringing made me picture Lant, sitting in the dining hall and crying over Ivan's body. He didn't seem like the kind of guy who cried very often, but I'm sure his brother's death would certainly take a toll on him. But Lant wouldn't cry over his father's death. That much was clear. I sure as hell wouldn't if I were him.
I guessed that the attack shouldn't have caught me by surprise. After all, I had seen Lant give orders to three of his-.
Wait.
_ _ I sat up, letting the blanket fall off of me, and felt as though my stomach had been set on fire.
When I had seen Lant earlier, talking to those men in the hallway, he was speaking to same three assassins that had murdered his brother and father. Yes. There was no mistaking it. A gray wolf, a bat eared fox and a gazelle. Yeah. That was right. But what was the paper he had given them?
No. I shook my head and lay back down. I was so tired that I had began to jump to crazy conclusions. Lant was clearly sad about his brother's death and there were probably many servants and knights that were wolves, gazelles and bat eared foxes. But, then again, what were the chances of the assassins being the same exact species as the same people Lant had spoken with before.
Was I crazy? Could Lant be the kind of guy who would do that? He didn't seem like it. After all, he had invited us to stay in his home and didn't ask for any money or favors in return.
Then, I remembered what he had said when we met him for the first time.
I'm sure you'll be more interesting to drink with than my father or brother.
_ _ And there was something else, too, something else he had said. What was it?
_ My father wouldn't dare risk Ivan's neck to even a fever, it would seem. _
Was there something he didn't like about Ivan? Could he have been envious of his father's favorite son or of how Ivan would be a king one day?
After remembering how King Ulpis criticized Lant in front of us earlier, I feared that Lant did commit the horrible crime.
Dante and Esme were sound asleep when I got up and left the room, carefully closing the door behind me as I stepped into the hall. I decided not to wake them, since they probably wouldn't believe me.
Somehow, despite my blood freezing into ice, my legs managed to move. I hurried back down to the dining hall and towards the monster that hid behind such a convincing mask.
When I arrived at the entrance to the dining hall, no knights were stationed outside, giving me a chance to creep in without being noticed. After I entered the dining hall through the open doorway, I saw Lant, sitting in a chair with his back to me, hunched over and looking down at Ivan's body, which had not been moved. Carefully, I moved closer to Lant and stopped just few steps from his chair.
"Lant," I said, trying to sound assertive, but still came across as afraid.
The deer's head snapped over his shoulder with surprised eyes, which relaxed after he realized that it was me. "What are you doing up? Can't sleep?" He then rose from his chair and stood next to it, facing me with welcoming eyes.
"I know,"
Lant stood still, not blinking, or even breathing. He seemed to be a statue that was crafted by some talented sculptor. And then, after my heart began to ring in my ears, Lant smiled and his eyes became filled with wicked pride. "Aren't you a clever otter?"
I said nothing.
The deer tilted his head down and narrowed his eyes as he stepped closer to me, his menacing smile almost glowing from the candlelight. "What gave it away?"
"I saw you," I said, "in the hallway. I thought they were just messengers or something, but now I know they were your assassins,"
Now, Lant had grown quiet and his smile faded.
"Your father," I said, "I get. He was an asshole. But your brother? He stuck up for you when you left the room! Why would you want to kill him?"
"Because," Lant snarled, "he and my father never had the balls to do what needed to be done. This Kingdom doesn't need a fat old man or an ignorant little boy to rule it. It needs a man who's willing to make tough choices. Neither of them would ever even dream of attacking Capres, which is exactly what I intend to do,"
"So that's what this is about?" I asked. "Taking out Capres? Are you that petty?"
"He's scum!" Lant spat. "My brother and father knew that! Yet, they still refused to take action against him. They didn't seem to care that Capres murdered my mother, or maybe they just forgot. Well, I haven't forgotten her death and I will remind Capres of it, just before I cut off his head! If anybody should understand how much that man needs to die, it should be an otter like you,"
"Do you think you're better than him, or something?" I said. "He slaughters otters, but you've killed your father and brother. Both of you are murderers. And what makes you think everybody will believe that Capres did this? The fact that your assassins screamed his name right before they killed you father? There's no actual proof. Eventually, people will start looking for the real culprit,"
Lant's smile re-appeared and he turned around, just before walking over to the gazelle's body. "You underestimate me,"
He crouched over the body of the dead gazelle and pulled a piece of paper from the gazelle's body, the same paper he had given to each of his assassins, which was still folded in a square.
As he turned around and slowly took a few steps towards me, Lant's smile seemed to be made of an army of freshly sharpened swords. Lant then unfolded the paper and began to read. "'It gives me pride knowing that you shall silence Warren Ulpis forever. He has been a thorn in my side for far too long and I hope to cast him into the mud along with his two sons. I have not forgotten the debt he owes me and I still plan on him repaying it with his own blood. The gold will arrive at the location we discussed and will be ready to be picked up by whoever survives. See to it that Ulpis spends his last moments screaming. William Capres',"
The buck then held up the letter for me to see, showing me a large red "C" stamped on the bottom in wax. Capres' official seal.
"Who could argue with that?" Lant asked, crumpling the paper up and tossing it onto the dining table.
"How did you do it?" I asked, stunned at how genuine the seal appeared to be.
"For one," Lant explained, "you'd be surprised just how many people are starving because of the taxes the Southern Kingdoms put on us. So many men watch their children and wives starve to death. All I had to do was promise these three that their wives and children would be looked after if they did as they were told. The seal, well, people tend to find talents they never knew they had when they starve alongside their families,"
"You took advantage of men whose families are dying in the streets?" I gasped. "You're a monster!"
"I'm the monster?" Lant laughed like some kind of demon. "You're people, Peter, are the ones who pushed us to go to war and stole our gold when we complained!"
My arms began to tremble at my sides. "H-How did you-?"
"A wolf traveling south with an otter is one thing," Lant explained. "But you weren't on the road when I met you and you're disguised with makeup. After I remembered your father's reward of a hundred thousand gold coins, it wasn't very hard to figure out,"
Now feeling vulnerable and naked, I threatened Lant. "I'll tell. I'll make you hang for this!"
"Oh?" Lant said, walking towards me with his horrifying smile and eyes that now filled with evil joy. "Well, if you did tell somebody about this, I'd have to plant some evidence on your friends. How would that look? Hmmm? The very guests that were invited into my home turn out to be assassins. My, my, my. That has classic tavern song written all over it,"
Lant was now closer than ever and I began to move backwards, trying to stay away from him. Then, my back slammed into the wall, just to the side of the exit, and Lant was now so close to me that I became paralyzed with fear.
"Or," the madman went on, "I could just slaughter your friends and send you to Capres. I'm sure he'd love to sink his claws into the son of King Gannish,"
My fear had spread all over my body and even my tongue seemed unable to move.
Lant stopped in front of me. He then quietly reached out his hand and caressed my cheek, jut before sliding his fingers down to my shaking chest. "Why are you afraid? Is it my eyes? Is it what I might do to you and your friends? Or is it because I'm willing to do what others are too afraid to do themselves?"
His fingers found their way onto my cock and began to squeeze it so tightly that I thought it would fall off. As I cried out in pain and tried to pull Lant's muscled arm off of me, he laughed again. "Your cock is almost as nice as your friend's,"
My eyes widened and I looked up at the prince in disbelief.
"Didn't I mention that?" Lant said. "I had the opportunity to fuck him. Best piece of ass I've ever had. But, now that I'm a king, I can get all the ass I want, even ones that are tighter than your friend's,"
I let go Lant's arm with my right hand and slapped him across the muzzle, my hand stinging as it hit him. Yet, I felt delighted about doing it.
Lant twisted his head back to face me, his smile completely gone and his eyes filled with rage. Quickly, he grabbed my head and slammed it against the wall. I then began to see stars while Lant started punching me in the mouth, over and over again. He grunted loudly with each punch and, after the second or third hit, I could already taste blood, as well as feel it drip down my chin.
After delivering his last punch, Lant tossed me down to my left, in front of the doorway, and I landed face-first on the ground.
I balanced myself on my arms and barely lifted my head up to look at Lant from over my shoulder. "He would never fuck a monster like you,"
"Yes," Lant said, grinning again as he dug into his pocket. "He would,"
Gently, Lant pulled a red bottle out from inside his trouser pocket. It was half the size of a goblet and had a small note tied to the top of it by a piece of string. He then lifted the bottle up and read the note. "'Dante, thank you for being my guest. The pleasure has been all mine. Lant',"
He then placed it down onto the ground and slid it over to me with a tap of his boot. "I forgot to give this perfume to him before dinner, like I had promised,"
I grabbed the bottle and looked at the note. I thought that he was lying until I discovered that the note had the exact same words written on it. I stared in horror at the paper and did not speak.
"Did you smell the cum when he came out for dinner?" Lant asked with happiness dripping in his voice.
I did not speak and only stared in shock at the red bottle of perfume.
"You did! And what did you think? That he was playing with himself? Well, let me tell you, your friend is a dirty little faggot, just like me. He loved it when I fucked him, especially when I got him on all fours,"
Lant then walked over and squatted down to stare me directly in the face. "Now, let's have a mutual understanding about what is going to happen here. I'm going to let you go because, if I slit your throat right now and kill your friends, it will look suspicious. Now that I think about it, I don't have time to make more fake documents tonight. So, tomorrow morning, you three will leave the City and be on your way. But, tonight, I'll have eyes watching you and, if you try to tell anybody about what happened tonight, I will have no choice but to kill all three of you. Do you understand?"
I silently glared back at Lant.
"Do you," Lant repeated himself, raising the volume of his voice, "understand?"
"You're a terrible person," I told him. "And you'll be a horrible king,"
Lant said nothing and stood up. He then kicked me square in the cheek, stinging my face with pain and filling my mouth with more blood. "You're just like my brother. Ignorant as a child. The world is a bloody place and has no room for men who think otherwise,"
He then turned and walked across the room, back to his chair. He lowered himself onto the seat and didn't look back at me. "Hurry off to bed, Peter. Remember; don't speak a word of this to anyone. If you do, I'll cut out your tongue and feed it to you,"
Sluggishly, I rose and stumbled out of the dining hall. I began to plan on telling Dante what happened so we could get the hell out of Ophylius, but then I remembered what Lant had said.
_ I'll have eyes watching you._
_ _ Would he? It seemed possible. He now had the power do so, since he was King of Ophylius. Or had he been bluffing? Now that I thought about it, killing us could draw unwanted attention to him, something he probably wanted to avoid at all costs at the moment. But, like Lant had said, he probably would do it if he had to. So, telling Dante the truth and leaving Ophylius suddenly didn't seem like such a good idea.
I reached Esme's room and went to turn the knob when I realized that I still had the perfume bottle in my hand. For a while, I stood there, staring at the beautiful red glass, which was free of scratches and dirt. The liquid inside swished around as I spun the bottle, causing bubbles to rise to the top. Then, for the second time, I read the note that Lant had attached to it. _Dante, thank you for being my guest. The pleasure has been all mine. Lant. _Resisting the urge to smash it onto the floor, I shoved it into my pocket and went inside Esme's room.
Once I was inside and closed the door, I realized that there was still blood on my chin, so I wiped it off with my sleeve. I then crawled under my blanket on the floor and buried my face into my pillow, hoping that sleep would come soon. But, fear kept making me open my eyes and check around the room for assassins that may have been hiding in the dark. That went on for about an hour.
Soon, I gave up on trying to sleep and sat up with my back against the end of the bed. I stared at the door, ready to scream so that Dante and Esme could wake up in case we were attacked. I wasn't going to let them be murdered in their sleep.
Until morning, I stayed right there with my head against the bed, waiting for an attack that, luckily, never came.