DragonHeart | Minsung

II

Over a month after Jisung's parents left to lead their army into battle, Jisung and the rest of the kingdom were still awaiting an the status of their journey.

It would take approximately two weeks for them to travel to the rival kingdom's land because of the size of the group and their supplies. A single battle would typically last one or two days.

The kingdom's optimistic approach of celebrating in hopes of victory had now faded. Now everyone seemed to be walking on eggshells as they awaited news, the realisation that their lives could be destroyed having had really set in.

Jisung was sitting at the window alcove that was in his bedroom. He could see beyond the kingdom walls from the behind the glass. He watched the land he could see, imagining that he could see the knights and his parents retuning from the battle triumphant.

His daydreaming was soon interrupted by a pounding on the door.

"It's open!" He called to whoever was on the other side of the door.

The door creaked open to reveal one of the royal family's courtiers. He respectfully bowed before speaking. "It's time for your training, sir."

"Oh, right..I'll be down in a minute, thanks." He said and watched the man leave and close the door behind him.

Jisung's father had hired one of his best knights to train him in combat. He'd been training with him almost every day for the past four months.

He did not want to go, still dwelling on the current state of everything else. However, he knew that this was a time where he couldn't afford to start slacking off in the fighting department.

He may need it.

Jisung had still been dressed in his night clothes, so he took a few minutes to change into something more appropriate before leaving his bedroom.

The boy went down the stairs to the great hall, where his trainer would be waiting for him.

"Hey Changbin, sorry I took a while." He said as he walked towards a short, muscular man that had been leaning against the wall while waiting.

Changbin turned to face Jisung with a smile on his face. He had been holding two swords and tossed one to Jisung. He stumbled a bit, but caught it. "All right, let's go."

The two made their way outside to the castle gardens. They would often practice in the open spaces of grass that were there.

Once they got to their usual spot, Changbin teased Jisung with a swing of his sword before taking a defense position.

Jisung rolled his eyes, but took the sparring invitation and readied his sword as well.

Jisung had been training with Changbin for a while, so he wasn't a horrible fighter. However, he was nowhere near good enough to actually fight. With Changbin being older and more experienced than him, he could tell that he was always going easy on him.

They exchanged a few hits with each other, their swords shrieking as they collided. Jisung tried to stand his ground, but he was eventually knocked on his back by the other's foot.

"Hmm, your defense is still weak...we should probably work on that today." Changbin said and reached down to help him get up. "Your strikes are getting better though."

"Yeah, okay..." Jisung groaned and took his hand, using it to pull himself up.

Changbin took a second to squeeze Jisung's arms, feeling his muscles. "Your muscles aren't looking very good either, have you been doing the exercises I showed you?"

Jisung shook his head. "I don't know, it's hard to remember to do that with everything going on right now."

"I know, I get that...I can start coming to your room to remind you if you want. We can start working out every day together."

In exchange for being his son's trainer, the King had offered Changbin a room in the castle. He was more than willing to offer more of his time if Jisung wanted it. Plus, the two had become quite close after starting to train together, so he actually considered Jisung a good friend.

"It's okay, I'll work on it."

"Hmm, okay...but feel free to ask if you need it."

Changbin took some time to demonstrate proper forms of defensive actions to counter attacks. Afterwards he asked Jisung to try to replicate the actions that he had just showed him.

They walked him through the offensive and defensive techniques step-by-step so Jisung could further understand.

The training session continued for about two hours. They ending with Changbin walking him though the exercises they spoke about before, along with some stretches.

Changbin walked with Jisung back to his bedroom. He normally would have gone to eat dinner, but he wanted to just have his food sent to his room instead.

"Next time we'll refresh on strategies when facing dragons in combat. We haven't worked on that much, and that's becoming a real threat now." Changbin said.

"Okay..." Jisung replied.

Changbin pat his shoulder. "Alright, see you later. Just let me know if you need anything."

He nodded, giving the elder boy a smile. "Yeah, thanks."

He watched Changbin walk back down the hallway, turning back to open his door once he was out of sight.

He closed and locked the door behind him once he was inside the room. By then, the sun had begun to set and he was tired after practice, so he decided that he'd just prepare to sleep.

He pulled the blue shirt that he wore off of his head, standing shirtless in front of the mirror, examining his body.

A scar was present in the middle of his chest, about eight inches long.

He hated it.

His mother had told him that it was from a procedure that he needed when he had fallen ill as a child.

Jisung had been given creams to apply to it that were supposed to help the scar disappear, but they never worked.

He sighed and turned back around so he could no longer see it, and continued preparing for bed.

He normally slept in his underwear, with a long, soft tunic over the top. However, it was quite cold that night so he decided to actually wear pants as well.

He changed his clothes and then situated himself in bed. It took him a while to settle down, shifting around to try to find a comfortable position. Eventually he got tired enough, and let sleep consume him.

————

While Jisung and the rest of the kingdom slept, the guards that stood watch at the outside of the kindom's walls were alerted.

They spotted a three lights coming towards them at exceptional speed. As they got closer, it was clear that they were people on horseback.

They prepared themselves to have to fight, and one of them was ready to ring the alarm bells. However, they realised that wouldn't be needed once they recognised the armor the men wore.

They were their kingdom's people.

A sense of panic soon arose in them again when they realised they were part of the group that had been sent into battle weeks before.

One of the men was carrying another person, slumped over and struggling to stay on the horse.

The King.