A Warrior's Heart

Chapter 37; The warriors

The warrior looked out over the group of men he had to train with a cold expression. Ever since the black haired was promoted he was assigned to train the warriors, being the only one who had achieved as much as he did. He was dressed in simple black silk jeans with golden lines decorating the sides and the armour pieces he had clasped around his wrists had red sapphires decorating the edges.

He had the other men lined up in four rows, each row being three warriors long. They were all standing perfectly still and looked straight ahead of them, no emotion in their eyes and their hands were resting at their sides, clasped to fists. They were dressed in normal sweats but they had no shirt on, their chest standing proud and the veins in their lower arms protruding just a little.

"So you all probably heard about what I did, huh?" Yoongi asked the men in front of him. He didn't wait for an answer and began speaking again right away. "Well, depending on what you've heard from me you either think I'm weak or I'm devoted to the kingdom. Now I don't know about the first thing but I can assure you the second part is true. I did help rescue the emperor and yes, I almost got killed a couple times. But the scary part isn't almost getting killed. It's the thought of not having worked hard enough." He said, quoting a member of the five warriors that had been killed.

He lifted his arm and pushed some of the strands away from his face. His hair was getting long and he knew he'd have to cut it soon. "Because if you had worked hard, you wouldn't be in the position of almost getting killed." He continued and gestured to the few dolls being set up on the training field. "I want you guys to leap onto those, turn and then try to slash the throat of the dolls, but not too deep so the head stays on. Got it?" He asked and raised a brow as he looked at the warriors.

They all nodded and made a sound of confirmation before they pulled their swords out of their hefts and walked towards the dolls on the field.

"Oh, and one more thing," Yoongi said, lips curling into a smirk at the thought of what he wanted to say next. "I want you guys to use your left hand." He told them, knowing they would struggle as most of them were right-handed. It was on purpose though, he had this planned out since yesterday and he couldn't wait to see them work. As a warrior and guard of the palace you had to be able to use both your hands in battle, to maximize your chances against the opponent. Besides, it was also great to tell people you were ambidextrous and see their impressed faces.

Yoongi leant back against the fence surrounding the training grounds and crossed his arms. He watched as the warriors did what they were told, and grinned as he saw them all doing their best, meaning his words had an impact on them.

The veins in their arms stood out the more they worked and a layer of swear started to form on their skin, glistening against the setting sun. It was evening, the preferred time of the day for training and Yoongi sighed deeply as he watched the men work.

He then saw something from the corner of his eyes, and he turned his head to see what it was. The first thing he saw was the platinum blonde color of the hair from the person walking on the path, and then his eyes fell on his face and he frowned. What was the emperor doing outside when it was getting dark? He knew the boy could do what he wanted but still.. it seemed odd to him because the younger had never wandered off this late before.

"Kihyun, can you come here for a second?" He called out to one of the warriors, the man immediately turning and walking up to him after he swung his sword towards one of the dolls, only missing its throat by a couple inches. "Yes, Yoongi?" He breathed once he stood in front of the black haired male, panting as he planted his sword down in the sand beneath his feet and brushed a hand through his blonde hair.

"Can you watch the guys for a second, I gotta do something." The older asked him, to which the man nodded and turned to watch the other's, glad to get a short break for the time being. Yoongi patted his shoulder a few times as a silent thanks and walked away, bending down to pick up his sword laying next to the fence and then he was heading in the same direction the blonde boy was going.

He wasn't planning to do anything with the sword but he wanted to carry it with him just in case he'd need it. The blonde walked rather fast for it to be just an evening stroll and Yoongi figured he had something on his mind - that something not being a good thing. He stayed behind the younger a good distance, not wanting to disturb him and just wanting to look over the boy while he was out in the open. The walls around the palace were thick and the warrior knew there were guards standing scattered around the place but he still followed the emperor just to be sure.

Yoongi clasped his hands tighter around the heft of his sword as he walked down the path, following in the tracks of the boy he was keeping his eyes set on. Then he frowned. "What does he need there..?" The warrior asked himself when he saw him approaching the cottage of the wizard. He hadn't been there for almost a whole week - not that the emperor had been outside in general - but why now, late at night?

Lowering his sword, he stopped in his tracks, frowning and cocking his head to the side as he watched the blonde knock at the door of the cottage before he was entering. Should he go and see what as going on or should he just walk back to the training grounds to continue train the warriors?

Yoongi really wanted to do the first thing but he knew he had duties to follow. He exhaled deeply and turned on his heels, walking back to the training fields to give them another exercise.