Currents

Chapter Six

Eneas took a deep breath in, letting out his nerves as he stared up at the castle. He was adorned in his new armor and color, ready to start his first day as a castle guard. He walked up the steps to the first patrol post, seeing the captain assigning different areas and arranging the cycle of each guard rotation. When he spotted Eneas, he looked back down on his scroll.
"Eneas," he said, "You are to patrol the garden."
Eneas nodded, walking off to go find the garden; the only problem though was, he didn't know where the garden was. He was walking down a hallway with a deep pit of anxiety that grew more and more when he couldn't find it.
"Are you lost?"
He jumped at the tiny voice, and turning around and looking down he saw princess Hebe standing there and holding a doll in her arms.
"Princess Hebe," he bowed, "It's an honor to meet you, I apologize for disturbing you."
"That's ok," the little girl said, "I saw you yesterday talking to my father. Where are you going?"
"I am heading to patrol the gardens."
"I can lead the way, just follow me."
Eneas followed the young princess through the hallway, making sure to stay a respectable distance from her. If there was one thing that would lead you to get beheaded on the spot, it was harming princess Hebe, for she was untouchable. If you were standing too close to her, others would think you were going to try something, which is why any guards that were ordered to protect her would be chosen directly by the king. But she was proven to never be spoiled by the riches around her, even when wearing the most expensive of clothing and playing with the most expensive of toys. And she was almost identical to prince Jace.
Sure enough Hebe led Eneas to the garden, where he stared around in amazement at its vast beauty.
"Do you like it?," Hebe asked, "I always liked coming here with mother."
"It is very beautiful," Eneas agreed.
Hebe gave him a smile. A noise made them both tense up, and Eneas went to Hebe's side to protect her.
"Curses!," Jace's voice called out.
Hebe ran past Eneas, Eneas following close behind. Jace attempted to escape over the wall, but slipped and got his ankle caught around vines. He smiled when he saw Hebe, but his face turned red when he saw Eneas behind her.
"Father isn't going to be happy when he finds out you were trying to escape the palace again," Hebe shook her head.
"WHEN father finds out," Jace says confidently, "To which he won't."
"I'm not sure, you're majesty," Eneas held in a snicker, "I can always tell him when needing to call people to help you down."
"Well, why can't you just help me down?"
"On-...On my own-?"
"Yes on your own!"
Eneas looked between him and Hebe, Hebe giving a look of desperation for Eneas to help her brother out. With a sigh he began climbing the wall of vines to cut Jace down. Jace just watched him, crossing his arms in impatience.
"You know, your majesty," Eneas balanced himself, "You wouldn't get into these certain messes if you knew what you were doing."
"Please, I knew exactly what I was doing," Jace rolled his eyes, "This was just a minor set ba-ACK!"
Eneas tore out the vines, and Jace felt himself falling, but grabbed onto Eneas to stop falling, only to drag the soldier down with him. He landed on his back, and he felt a heavy weight on top of him; when his vision cleared up, his face turned red as a tomato. Eneas was hovering over him, his face also red. His knees were on either side of Jace's waist, and his hands on the ground next to either side of his head. Jace felt his heart beating rapidly in his chest as he stared into Eneas's equally shocked and embarrassed face.
"I-I'm so sorry," Eneas quickly got to his feet, but let out a hand.
"It's...Alright," Jace responded, allowing Eneas to help him up, "Thank you, Eneas."
Eneas bowed, walking away from the two royals to continue on to his post. Jace watched after him, gently rubbing the hand Eneas touched; it didn't go unnoticed by Hebe.
"Are you alright brother?," she asked.
"What?," Jace snapped out of his thoughts, "Oh, yes, I'm alright."
He then wandered around until he found Eneas again, hiding behind a statue and spying on him.
"Yeah, usually when that happens I don't bother telling the king either," the guard next to Eneas said, "The princess gives this really sad look that you can't say no to."
"Heh heh, yeah," Eneas agreed, "I just hope the prince doesn't go tell his father."
"About you falling on him? I won't go telling, cause the king is gonna demand how it happened then you gotta tell the king that the prince was trying to get out again. So, I won't go telling."
"Thanks Thad."
"No worries. Also as a guard you get all the ladies."
"Oh yeah."
"Do tell."
Jace watched the two talking, but quickly hid when Eneas looked over his way. His heart raced in his chest as he quickly ran back inside the palace and up to his room. His heart was still beating hard, but he didn't know why.