Knight in Shining Armor [Junshua]

Chapter 3

Jun patted his own shoulder, proud of himself for being able to get through the window by building a sharp weapon of stones he found near a small river. Now all he had to do was to fight the guards

Only that there weren’t any.

The place was empty and quiet. All he saw was a wooden, moldy, spiral staircase. Jun held his stone weapon up in front of him in case of a sudden attack as he went up the stairs. The stairs crunched so every single one of his steps was audible.

Around five minutes later he came to a stop in front of a big wooden door. He still wondered why this tower lacked security. Who locked up a princess without keeping her secured? He would have expected at least fifty guards or a dragon.

Come to think of it, a dragon probably wouldn’t have been the best opponent for him.

He rattled at the door but of course it was locked. There was a rusty lock that looked like it hadn’t been used in years. Jun decided to stop with the rattling and use his newly built weapon. He repeatedly hit the lock with it.

It didn’t really work so Jun gave up quickly. Time for plan B. Jun decided to try breaking the door open with a solid kick. He had opened doors like this before but he wasn’t sure if it would work with this door as well.

Jun took a run-up towards the door and placed a kick...nothing. The door still didn’t budge but something fell to the floor from the top of the door frame. The blonde leaned down to pick it up. It was a key. Jun raised his eyebrow as he looked at the quite heavy, black key in his hands.

He decided to stop worrying about everything going just a bit too smoothly as he tried to fit the key into the lock. One turn later the solid door opened and a small room was revealed. It wasn’t really cozy but it also didn’t look like a cell.

A lot of books lay around on the floor and in the middle of the room there was a huge King-Size bed. A person seemed to lay underneath the blankets so Jun carefully approached the bed in order not to scare the princess. He lowkey asked himself how she couldn’t have heard his tries to break in.

“Excuse me?” Jun asked carefully. There was no answer. Was she perhaps sleeping? He nudged her carefully, not quite sure how to handle the situation. He hadn’t expected his princess to be asleep when he came to her rescue. She finally moved and eventually sat up to look at him...

Only that she wasn’t a she.

“You’re a GUY?” Jun asked in disbelief. The ‘princess’ rubbed his eyes and blinked in confusion. “Who are you?” he asked. His voice was soft, like honey. Jun found himself liking that voice. He also liked the guy’s peach colored hair.

“My name is Jun. I came to rescue the princess”, he said. The peach-haired guy got up. He wore sweatpants and a baggy sweatshirt both of which were way too big on him.

“You’re getting me out of here? How did you fight the guards?” he asked. Jun shrugged. “There weren’t any guards when I got here...now, can we get back to the whole ‘princess’ thing? You’re obviously not a princess.”

“That’s right...I’m not a princess but that’s a secret that has been kept from society since I was born. My name is Joshua...Prince Joshua, actually but...I don’t really like the title...”, the guy informed Jun. “Well...I guess I’ll still save you, even though you’re not quite what I expected”, Jun said, shrugging again. He figured that nobody deserved to be locked in a tower for god knows how long.

Joshua followed him down the stairs and outside. “Sunlight”, he mumbled and spread his arms. Jun looked up to where the prince's room was. There was only a small window with bars in front of it. Definitely enough to let oxygen and a bit of light in but not very much else. The guy must have missed the sun...

“How long exactly has it been since I was locked here?” he questioned, looking at Jun. “I believe it’s been a little over a year. Do you know who did this to you?” Joshua shook his head at the question and looked to the ground. He crouched down and touched the grass. 

“Come on, we have a long way to go”, Jun said. He wanted to get the prince back home as soon as possible. Maybe he wouldn’t get his wife but the reward might still be in it for him. Joshua got up and followed Jun.

~

“Your highness. Our troop reached the tower this evening...”, the leader told the king. He was scared of the king’s reaction when he opened his mouth to go on. “We...uh...we found it empty. The thief must have-“ “EMPTY??? HOW COULD YOU LET THAT HAPPEN?” the monarch yelled. The troop-leader shrunk back in fear. “We-we h-had some problems with wolves...which i-is why we got held up...-" "ENOUGH! YOU'RE GOOD FOR NOTHING!”

The troop-leader didn’t dare to say a word. The king made a hand movement and two guards stepped next to him. “I told you I’d have you replaced! Take this guy away from me and then you”, he pointed at one of the guards, “are going to be the new leader. I hope for you that you’re going to do a better job than him.”