Love Conquers All

Chapter Eleven

Philip's POV

He woke up way to happy. Why is he so happy? He smiled , made breakfast, and got me a clean pair of clothes.  Of course I took them, but I was suspicious.

And now I know why.

"Why is there one horse?" I cock an eyebrow and look at where George's horse was yesterday.

"What?" He calls from the cave, he's packing up the last of the things.

"Why is there one horse?!" I shout back and motion wildly at the tree wuth no horse. Aarow looks at me and gives a bored look." Where's your friend man?'

"What do you mean, where's the other....?" He comes out and stops dead in his tracks. " Where the hell is my horse?"

"Well, who ever took her seemed to be nice enough to leave our stuff here." I sigh and pick up the bags.

"Asshole." He mutters. We pick out what we can from the bags and load them onto Aarow. " Is he going to be able to hold both of us?"

"He's a pure breed from the plains in the west." I shrug and climb onto Aarow's back, I scoot to the front of the saddle and pat a spot behind me for him." He could carry ten of us."

"Alright. " He sighs and pulls himself up to sit behind me. His breath tickles the back of my neck and arms wrap around my waist for dear life. I shiver  when his nose brushes against the soft skin behind my ear.

"Are we going to go or what?" He whispers and I nudge Aarow forward into a gallop. He doesn't seem to mind the extra weight.

"Where's the nearest town?" I ask. He jumps like he forgot I was here.

He's been like that all morning. He'll bury himself in work and forget I'm here, I'll say something and he'll get spooked like a horse.  Sometimes I just don't say anything, I study and watch him. He gets this sad look on his face. His eyebrows srew up together and his smile from a joke or thought melts. It pulls at the skin around his eyes and makes him look ages older, his shoulders sag like he's carrying the weight of the world.

From the way he talks it sounds like that's what everyone expects from him. Like he'll solve everyones problems and pull poverty from the streets and keep the rich from being to powerful. His back arches forward and sometimes he flinches or grimaces, I swear sometimes I can make out scar marks from under his shirt.

But his eyes, god his eyes, they tell the story. They dont hold the spark and fire that they usally have. They go a deep brown, almost black like the fire inside of him was put out. They gloss over with a foggy film and seem to scream with pain silently.

"What was the question?" He asks softly. He perks up slightly, but his eyes aren't glowing like they usually do.

"How much further till the nearest town?' I ask softly. His eyes train off to the distance and he drifts off again. I put my hand on his and rub  soft circles over his knuckles. I speak after a few minutes. " George..."

" An hour or two?" He shrugs and focuses on the ground.

"Hey, what's the matter?" I move my hand up his arm and he jumps.

"Nothing, nothing." He shakes his head. "Just a rough night last night." He sighs and glances at the sun.

"What happened?" I cock my head . He sets his jaw,yet his eyes stay soft.

"I just had a bad dream." I can't tell if he's lying or not.

"Do you want to talk about it? " I turn in the saddle so I'm facing him. My legs wrap around his hips and hands go to his shoulders to steady myself.

"I... yeah." He sighs and his eyes meet mine. "It starts off with two people.  A prince and his gaurd. The prince snuck out of the house one night to prove his parents wrong, that he can take on the two monsters that have been terrorizing their kingdom."

"The prince seeks for help in the nearst town in a diffrent world, full of things he had never heard of or seen.  Filled with strange people and mundane animals.  He finds a gaurd of the city in his parents kingdom, they fight and argue, but eventually they both learn that in order to accomplish what they need to do they need eachothers help."

"The gaurd helps the prince to take out the evil monsters, and the prince doesn't tell anyone that the gaurd has been illegally sneaking out and partying till  the east is turning purple. They're a shakey team at first but slowly trust eachother. They slowly fall in love. The prince gives his life to the Gaurd, trusting that with each night tjat he falls asleep, he'll wake up the next morning. "  He takes a shakey sigh and glances at the trees before looking back at me.

"Little does the prince know, the gaurd isnt as good of a person as what he seems. He's lied to everyone he knows about who he is and where he came from to try and get closer to the royal family. "

"As the journey goes on one of the monsters meets with the gaurd on a nightly occurrence to check in and keep his pawn in its line. And the gaurd can't object or ignore what the monster says. He was born to serve others, he is the last of his kind. The gaurd was born from nothing but the night, the eldest of the monsters found him when his first prize had faild him. As they worked together they soon found that the child of the stars held no special powers other then to bend to the wills of others, to shift to what was needed from him. And so, the teo monsters started to form a plan. A terrible evil plan."

"The gaurd leads the prince to the monsters home, a tall castle. No one ever smiles or laughs there. The air is filled with screams and pleas. For what if there to smile for when there's misery all around you? The gaurd is killed as soon as they reach the throne room, after all. He's served his purpose, he delivered the prince." He tries to fight back tears, his voice is choked up and hands shaking. "What more use is he?"

"The prince tries to fight back, but the monsters quickly over power him. They take the prince to the prince's fathers and force the kings to beg on their hands and knees to save their sons life. Theu make a deal, the prince for the kingdom. The kings quickly accept, and as soon as the deal is done...." He eyes meet mine. They're painfilled ." They kill the prince  and take the land. The kings grive for weeks and find who to blame. They blame the gaurd, the man made out of nothing. The man responsible for the murder of his own lover, his prince,and his friend. They drew the conclusion that their son only made the deal out of pity."

"After all, who could love someone as evil as he?"