The Lion Guard: King of Outremer

Chapter 1: The Lion Prince

"Of course, ce ne sera pas facile." Prince Kion sighed as he gazed out along the coast of Brittany alongside three others, all on destriers.

"What are you talking about, Kion? This just means we get the fun part again, Nous sommes des chevaliers après tout!" Bunga laughed.

Before them lay the feisty sea, which crashed against the sand and rocky cliffsides. Kion felt the gentle ocean breeze flow through his shoulder-length golden-red hair and cooled the four young men despite the suits of chainmail, plate pauldrons/greaves, and surcoats over them.

"I wouldn't be so eager, Bunga." The Norman Knight beside him said in a deep and powerful voice.

Sir Bunga de Albon's fair skin contrasted his thick black hair, which hung down from his head even further than Prince Kion's. Despite the young mens' athletic physique, they paled in comparison to the titan beside them.

Sir Beshte de Pithou stood almost seven feet tall with a barrel chest and broad shoulders to match. Kion often wondered if the metal from his armor could've made suits for three knights with his physique so imposing.

Lastly, the smallest of them sat a young man with reddish-blonde hair cut incredibly short. Unlike the others, he had no surcoat over his armor, nor did he carry a sheathed sword. Instead, he wore a metal crucifix around his neck.

"Look at them all."

Ono crossed himself while gazing upon hundreds of Danish boats descending upon the Angevine Empire's northern coast.

"How many do you think there are?" Kion asked Ono, who peered closer at the invading fleet.

"Those are the big ones. Hundred-twenty men per ship, maybe eighty-six. Saint Michael pray for us." Beshte huffed in disbelief.

"Kuburi by the looks of that crocodile banner. No sweat, we've beaten him before." Bunga assured Kion while patting his left shoulder pauldron.

The Prince smiled slightly. Two years earlier,

Kuburi came to attack the northern coast of the Angevine Empire, including its capital of Angers.

At time, King Simba was away on pilgrimage, and Kion's older brother on Crusade in Spain. Kuburi came at the behest of Kion's maternal grandfather Charles.

Mustering the full might of the Angevine Empire in England and France, Kion won a decisive victory against Kuburi and the other mercenaries.

As of late, King Charles of France tried once again to break apart his son in law's French holdings and sent more mercenaries to attack the north. Flemish and French mercenaries attacked from multiple directions alongside the Danes.

Kion expected most of this army would sail east towards Normandy to confront his father or perhaps to England to force Simba to cross the channel. Instead, the hammer would fall upon Brittany, where Kion reined as duke.

"Four-thousand against six-thousand. I suppose worse odds have been faced." Kion said.

"Oh yeah! Now we're talking!!" Bunga cried, drawing his sword and holding it high. Beshte, and Ono, however, looked horrified and crossed themselves. Kion crossed himself and gazed at the sky.

The sunlight glimmered across his red surcoat and the three golden lions of the Plantagenet sigil.

"I will not allow such violence to occur on Christ's people. Till the Angevine Empire ends!!" Kion roared, drawing his sword and filling the hearts of his companions with the fire of courage, and they did the same.

"The Lion Guard will defend!"

The Plantagenet Prince led his Lion Guard away from the cliffside and further inland, taking a deep breath as he did so. However, just before they left, he and Ono looked back and took particular notice of how the warriors disembarked from the ships.