Thy Gay Prince

Chapter 4

We walked back to Noah's house. By then all the kids were asleep. Chester and Mrs. Anderson were talking near the fire place. So Noah and I pulled some blankets and lied out on their makeshift balcony. It wasn't too hot or cold tonight so it was perfect weather for staying the night outside.

"Noah."

"Yes Cade?"

"You don't seem to like Chester much, is there a reason for that?" I look at him.

"Well kind of. For the longest time I haven't had a father figure, in fact I've never had one. So then this man just wanders into my mothers heart and she marries him. I have to say that it's nothing personal, it's just that we were doing fine without him."

"I see, I might not understand but I see how you could be mad." I tell Noah. "But Noah you also have to understand that nowadays your mother can't do as much as she used to. And since you're working at the castle she's gonna need all the help she can get."

"Yes but Anthony never helps Mom even when she's in real trouble. I think that instead of marrying some loser off the streets that she teaches her kids how to help her other than to rely on me to do everything."

"Noah, maybe she's in love."

"What do you mean?"

"Maybe he's not some bozo off the street and your mother haas fallen in love with him."

"I suppose, I guess I could try to meet him. But he doesn't talk much either unless it's to Mom."

"Well you can't help that but at least try Noah." I urge.

"Okay."

"Good."

As we lay there the stars peek out of their hiding spots and we can see all of the constellations. We talk about the myths behind the stars and slowly we fall asleep.

"Hey wake up sleepy head!" Noah nudges me in the ribs.

"What?" I say with fatigue clearly heard.

"Wake up!" Noah nudge me again but this time I grab his foot and he falls down on his butt.

"Hope that didn't hurt too much." We both laughs and help each other up.

Noah's mother whose name is Deanne must've bought some eggs and goat cheese and some good bread from the market because thats what was on the table this morning. It all tastes delicious which either meant that Noah had a hand in making it or Chester is secretly a good cook. Either way I ate my plate clean.

Noah and I sneak out the back again and start walking. We get to town square after a couple of minutes. It was way too early in the morning because no one was out here.

"Breakfast was good today."

"Yes, I asked Chester to help me cook most of it. Turns out he's a pretty good chef."

"That's good. Glad you 2 bonded a little more with the art of cooking." Noah blushes a little and he gets that twinkle in his eye.

"Cade?"

"Yes?"

"Are you going to be okay going home?"

"I'll have to be."

"Can I walk with you?"

"Sure."

Then we started walking towards the castle. We crossed the stone bridge to get to the big castle wooden doors. It was a long time before more conversation was brought up.

"Okay we better be going our separate ways." I tell Noah."

"As much as I hate to agree with you, we must. You're a Prince and I'm a kitchen boy." He laughs a little at his own joke.

I couldn't bring myself to laugh with him though because my dad was standing right in front of us, glaring. I look to Noah and start to push him.

"Go Noah!" I yell.

"Guards! Catch the kitchen boy!" My father says.

Noah went on for awhile but speed was not one of his great qualities. Soon the guards caught him and tied his arms in front of him.

"Father don't hurt him. He didn't do anything wrong." I plead.

"I told him to stay away from you and you away from him and you know where I catch you? Walking him to the kitchen! Cade, I deliberately told you not to!" Then my father points to a stump with 2 hooks sticking out either side. "Hang him up!"

"Father no!" I scream.

The 2 guards from yesterday start to hang him up with his back to us. I knew instantly what was happening. Noah was not going to recover quickly as the bruise on his cheek. This was going to take months to heal back to full health, and there's a chance the he might never get back.

"Guard! Get me my whip!" One of the guards grabs my fathers leather whip.

Now a normal whip would hurt don't get me wrong, but this is no normal whip. At the end there is a gold arrow head to cut through skin. It's usually used for lives stock but not today.

As my father pulls but his arm I push myself in front of Noah. The whip hit me right on the left cheek making to bleed. One of the guards grabbed me and pulled me out of the way.

"Son, this boy deserves 20 good whips so stand back."
My father pulls his hand back again and whips Noah on the right shoulder blade. His scream was horrendous. It's was blood curdling and he still had 19 more slashes to go. I tried to run to him but every time I did the guard would hold me back.

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Every single one had a horrible scream, after every one my blood would tremble. After the first few I had to turn my head because I couldn't watch anymore. But then my father would yell at the guard and tell him to move my face to see Noah's back.

The last swing was the worst because then the extra guards lifted Noah and dropped him on the ground like a practice dummy. Then I felt the guard loosen his grip and I took off for Noah. His back looked really bad. A couple more swings and you would've seen some bones in his back.

"It's okay Noah." I start to cry. "You can let go now. Go to the light."

"I don't want to go to the light. Take me to the infirmary." I laughed a little and grabbed him.

He screamed the whole way there but he got to lay on the soft bed while I doctored him back to health. He passed out after a couple of minutes which was fine by me.

Left me time to think about my father and his cruelty. Left me time to think about Noah.