Lunar Flare Book 2: Midnight Eclipse

Chapter 15

Balthasar was pretty sure he had never seen a bigger sook in his entire life.

"It's only for a few days..." Beowulf said to reassure himself for what was at least the third time so far, his voice wavering more each time. They had finally managed to coax the big guy into handing the queen over into Cassian's arms, and now the knight sounded like he was barely keeping it together. Balthasar would bet from the intermittent sobs that tears were streaming down Beowulf's face underneath his helmet. His hands hovered in the air in front of him, as if he was about to reach back out towards Maerwynn again and snatch her back into his arms.

"I know Beowulf!" the queen said to her bodyguard in slight irritation. "I'll be fine!"

"We will take good care of her majesty, don't you worry Beowulf," Cassian reassured jovially for what must have also been the third time.

It seemed the knight was really struggling with this whole separation thing, even if it was just for a few days. It has been hard enough to convince him to take the vacation at all in the first place. He had been fulfilling his duty as the young heiress's bodyguard for half a decade now with barely ever a break, he had earned it for sure. And the property that he had been given with his knighthood had finally been properly set up, a great place to take a little holiday to, out in the quiet countryside.

But Beowulf had not left the queen's side for barely a moment since the assassination attempt, and everyone could tell how concerned he was about leaving her for any length of time. With how wound up he was about it, Balthasar wondered if he would even be able to relax at all during his vacation, or whether he would spend the entire time tying himself up in knots of worry. Both he and Cassian had of course attempted to reassure Beowulf time and time again, with only limited success.

"Come on Beowulf, don't you trust Baz and Cass?" Thedrick asked as he gently tugged on one of Beowulf's arms, trying to get him to put it down.

"Well I... I do but..." Beowulf's sentence was punctuated by a sniffle, "if anything happened to her, I wouldn't know what to do with myself!" He hunched over slightly and brought his armoured hands up to cover his helmet visor as he started sobbing loudly.

"Nothing is going to happen to her Beowulf, snap out of it!" Balthasar barked angrily at the knight, who quickly froze mid sob, falling silent. Then Balthasar could hear more muffled sniffling as Beowulf lowered his hands back to his sides, though his head was still angled downwards, as if he was cowering slightly under the chiding from the chirurgeon.

"Sorry..." Beowulf said in a small voice between sniffles.

"Come on Balthasar, go easy on him, it's his job to be worried for the queen's safety all the time," Cassian pointed out, giving Balthasar an entreating look.

"Yes, but that is now your responsibility for the next few days, and Beowulf should show a little bit of respect for you by putting his trust in you to do his job as well as he has done it," Balthasar retorted, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I thought you were going to help me with it," Cassian said light-heartedly, adjusting the queen's position in his arms. She was almost getting to the age where most people wouldn't be able to easily carry her around as much, unless she was going to stay tiny like her father. Though however big she grew, gigantic Beowulf would probably always be able to carry her if she wanted it.

"Well, I'll do it if it will put Beowulf's mind at ease enough that he and Thedrick can finally be on their way," Balthasar snipped with slight irritation.

"What, that eager to be rid of me Baz?" Thedrick asked, looking up at the chirurgeon with faux hurt in his big shining red eyes.

"Hah, finally some peace and quiet!" Balthasar retorted, not playing into the jester's ploy for sympathy.