A Kingdom of Untold Truths || Dreamnotfound

8

Clay's POV

Clay knew he was talking about his scar. He looked down and twirled the grass strand once more, thinking about Sapnap.

"Just a sword accident. It happens," Clay lied.

"I don't believe you."

Clay looked up, surprised. "Why not?"

The Prince shrugged. "I just don't. You don't have to talk about it."

Clay nodded, relieved.

"Let's talk about other things then." The Prince said. "How old are you?"

"Twenty-two."

Prince George looked surprised. "Only twenty-two? You seem older. Or maybe it's your scar."

"Why? How old are you?" Clay asked.

"I'm twenty-five."

"Huh. You seem younger." Clay joked.

The Prince pretended to look offended. "Surely you don't mean that. I mean, as my Royal Guard you are supposed to tell me things I want to hear."

"And as my Prince, you are supposed to give me instructions as to what to say." Clay chuckled.

The Prince sighed dramatically and flopped on his back. He stared up at the tree leaves. Clay laid down beside him. They stayed like that for a while, just listening to the breeze and birds. There was an honest and open feeling in the air. It made Clay want to talk, he felt like he could trust the Prince. He sighed and decided to tell the Prince about his scar.

"When I first joined the guard I was alone." Clay started.

The Prince turned his head to look at him in surprise, but Clay didn't look back. From this angle, Prince George had a good enough look at his scar.

"I met a boy my age... his name was Sapnap." Clay continued, "We did everything together. We ate together, trained together, and laughed together. We even pranked our commander together. I knew he was going to be my closest friend from the moment I met him. He was the only true friend I ever made that year, aside from Bad. But I met Bad later on."

Clay let out a breathy laugh. "It became clear to our commander—and to Wilbur— that we were no ordinary guards. We passed all our training with flying colors. We moved up the ranks quicker than anyone before us and soon we were commanding a unit. Since we were so young, we commanded and trained our unit together. Almost everyone loved us."

Clay paused. "Wilbur had us take extra training to allow us more options in the Royal Guard. We took those in secret and our schedules were crazy... but we were together."

Clay paused for a longer moment and stared at the swaying tree leaves. The Prince waited patiently.

"One night our unit was chosen to set up camp near the edge of Emberfall. There were bandits stealing from the houses on the edge of town and we were ordered to catch them and bring them in alive.

"We set up a fire and had our men sit around it. Our unit was about twenty-five men in total. Sapnap and I could sense their nerves, so we told them stories to lighten the mood.

"Sapnap and I— we were so, so young. Everyone in our unit was older than us, but we told our most entertaining stories to keep them awake and unafraid. Every man was eventually laughing or telling their own stories."

Clay's voice cracked. "The bandits— they came out of nowhere. The first attack was an arrow through one of our men's necks. Several came flying in after. Sapnap and I gave the order to get down. We lost seven men in the rally of arrows. I should've been on guard. I-I should've known."

Clay felt a hand gently grab his own. Clay refused to meet the Prince's gaze and continued staring up at the tree branches.

He took a shaky breath. "The bandits, about ten in all, stormed our camp seconds later. Sapnap and I took three out right away, but they were good— too good."

Clay squeezed his eyes shut, reliving the memory, and a tear trailed down his cheek. "The remaining seven bandits slaughtered all but two of our men by the time we finished off our three. So it was Sapnap and I and two others against seven bandits. We both killed another two each."

Clay's voice cracked. "I was fighting two of them— when I heard Sapnap scream. I looked over at him and he- he was holding his hand to his stomach, his guts hanging out. I shouted something to him, I don't remember what, and he fell to his knees.

"I killed the two bandits in front of me instantly and then I killed the one Sapnap was fighting. I knew we were supposed to bring them in alive, but there was no way to do it with two men."

Clay opened his eyes. Tears were flowing freely down his face now. "I scrambled over the bodies towards Sapnap. I pushed my hands on his stomach to stop the bleeding— there was so much blood."

Clay closed his eyes and pictured the scene again. "I screamed and screamed at him to stay with me. He-he just grabbed my wrist tightly and I looked at him clearly for the first time through my tears. He had a frantic expression and pointed behind me. 'Behind you!' Sapnap had screamed. I turned around and fell backwards as a blade swung at my face."

Clay lifted a hand towards his scar. "I recovered quickly, but it was impossible to see through all the blood. I didn't have my sword— it was still next to Sapnap. He grabbed my sword and tripped the bandit that we missed in our count. The man fell forward onto Sapnap's blade and died quickly.

"I couldn't get the blood out of my eyes, so I crawled to Sapnap— he was dead when I reached him."

Clay's voice cracked. "He saved my life and the lives of the two other men in our unit and then he just died. He died— and I didn't get to say goodbye."

Clay inhaled deeply. "I eventually passed out from exhaustion. Wilbur says they found me lying on top of Sapnap. They cleaned my eyes so I could see. The first thing I wanted to see was Sapnap and they let me. I watched them bury him next to all the other fallen soldiers. I didn't cry at all that day, I made myself shut it out. I became cold to everyone.

"The two other men in our group— one killed himself the next day and the older one went into early retirement. I-I just left and never went back. I found a house for sale in the woods and made a life there. I knew that Wilbur knew where I was and that I would be called back to serve eventually, but I never went into Emberfall. I found a stray cat and took her in. Patches is one of the best things to ever happen to me."

Clay opened his eyes. He still didn't want to look at the Prince's face. Clay was afraid of what he'd see. The hand that was holding his rubbed a soothing finger over Clay's knuckles.

Clay let out a slow breath. He turned to look at Prince George. The Prince had tears falling slowly down his face. They stared into each other's eyes.

"I'm so sorry. I had no idea." The Prince whispered.

"How could you have known?" Clay whispered back.

He turned back towards the tree tops and looked at the swaying branches.

Clay's eyes drooped closed, the Prince's hand still in his.