Throne of Blood

Hopchill

After the rolls and plums went missing I had no choice but to fess up. I lied of course and claimed I'd ate them myself and took my punishment. I was to sleep in the shed for a month and work at the pub at nights to make the money back. It was better than the lashing I would have gotten if Father had found out I'd been alone with a soldier unchaperoned.

I particularly preferred the first bit. Sharing a room with Peter was uncomfortable to say the least. However, the second half I came to dread. Soldiers had been pouring into the town again, however this time they stayed longer. I started my shift earlier today so I could leave before sundown.

"There's a rowdy crowd already out there." Tully another waitress warned me. She handled them all well even when they got handsy with her she didn't flinch.

I kept a dagger against my outer thigh in case anyone got out of control. If father really cared for my modesty he'd 've considered that the tavern doesn't just serve the locals. I filled my tray with beer chugs and made my way over to the crowded corner table. Ignoring the lust filled eyes directed at our not so modest blouses and ruffle skirts I quickly placed the jugs on the table and quickly turned away. Or at least I intended to turn away until a rough hand gripped my wrist yanking me down in a clearly drunken soldiers lap.

"You've three seconds to let me go before you join your fallen friends in the underworld." I said reaching for the dagger.

"This ones got a smart mouth." He said testing my patience.

"She'll feel better once you put something in it." The slimy one next to him licked his lips.

I ripped the dagger from my thigh and slammed it down into the hand gripping mines. The drunkard let out a roar of anguish back handing me into a nearby tables. I blacked for a second before he buried his uninjured hand in my hair yanking me from the floor.

"I'll make you pay for this. You'll be begging me to kill you when I'm done with you, you little bitch." He spat.

"You'll release her if you value your life." Someone spoke through the crowd making the pub go silent.

The room turned as the man made his way through the crowd and even I was speechless when I saw Cassius appear in front of me. The man released me instantly almost dropping to his knees but Cassius shot him a look. The man dropped his head against the floor in fear as Cassius moved toward him.

"This is not how I imagined us meeting again." He said his eyes turning in my direction.

My head was throbbing too much to respond but had I, I would have responded "Neither did I." He kneeled beside me gaining a gasp from the crowd of soldiers all their eyes cast downward.

"You're bleeding." He said touching my head gently his fingers coming away red. Suddenly he swept me up from the floor into his arms, and finally, aware I was safe my head fell back and darkness rushed my vision.

******
Tully's POV
I watched hopefully as Resa delivered the chugs to the table of rowdy soldiers. She ignored their stares, and just as she was about to walk away a drunk bastard pulled her into his lap.

I could see her patience thinning. I willed the customer ordering to hurry up so I could help her but it was to late, the soldier next to her with sunken eyes said something and I saw the flash of the dagger, the scream. Before I could get to her the entire pub crowded around them, blocking me out.

I could only hear the soldier threatening her while the bar egged him on. The soldiers had always been rowdy after a break but they usually just got wasted. After the new King took the thrown they'd been coming into the town more. Resa was so obviously new they picked on her more often, but she was also a hot head. I'd stopped her one too many time from pulling that dagger on sleezebags who were too handsy or had dirty mouths. Tonight I was too late, I thought she could handle it after awhile on her own. But now I'd only have a minute to get her father down the hill before that drunkard defiled her in front of the whole pub. I turned and slammed into the most infamous General in Turan. Before I could curtsy he stopped me, pushing through the crowd, who began to part in awe.

I could finally see where Resa was,her head bleeding where she'd been thrown against the table, her lip busted and nose bloodied,her hair a mess. The other soldiers cowered in fear and before the drunkard could reveal his identity, the general silence him with a look and knelt beside Resa. How lucky could she be to be acquainted with a Turan. He gently examined her before effortlessly lifting her from the floor. When she blacked out for good, he turned his eyes on the group surrounding him.
"This man," he pointed to the drunkard who Resa had stabbed. "will not receive any aid for his hand. He is to return to the front lines along with his company." He said eying the sunken eyed soldier and their table mates. "The rest of you will leave this pub and immediately prepare to set out for the Territory. It appears your training, chivalry, and oath to protect the women and children of Turan has been forgotten." He said and the despair in the room amplified. The front lines was a walk in the park compared to the territory. It was gruesome,freezing climate and mountain terrains that during the summer dried out to a dry heat. I could only wonder who Resa was to him to warrant this response. What made the Bloody King  look at her so gentle.
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Resa POV

I painstakenly pulled my eyes open, with a pounding headache, and I instantly realized I wasn't in the shed. Instead I was in a proper bed. I looked down at myself and found my servers blouse and skirt replaced with a large white linen shirt. I turned over coming face to face with those startling pale blue eyes and a head full of blonde curls no longer that false brown. He watched me calmly, unlike the panic in my chest.

"My father's going to kill me." I said aware of the first of the morning sun starting to fill into the room.I wanted to cry.

"Relax, no one will lay a finger on you."he stated surely.
"Then you've yet to meet my father have you."
" I don't fear any man."
"You lied to me Cassius, you are indeed quite vain." I finally smiled.
"Only after I met you."he said and I fell deliriously back into whatever slumber had held me before.