Three Fates Entwined | Dream Team

Chapter Twelve

Dream gripped the shoulders of the man in front of him tightly, holding on as if his life depended on it. And while it didn't, the life of his ten hundred coins did.

He already knew who he was. The older knight merely said that the guy was also a knight-in-training, but Dream knew better. The way the man shifted uncomfortably on the horse, as if it were his first time riding, and the way that his sword hung loosely at his side, all told Dream that he was embarrassingly inexperienced for a supposed "knight" of his age.

There he was, sitting right behind the person that he was meant to kill.

He had never needed his self restraint so much before in his life.

"What kind of training will we be getting?" Sapnap asked as he reclined, somehow extremely comfortable, behind the older knight.

"Physical training," the knight replied. "How to wield a sword to do the most damage, how to take down an opponent in the least amount of time possible, and how to run away quickly."

Dream frowned. "So no training of the mind? No strategy lessons?"

"What Sir Filens means is that knights are just meant to act as a block of muscle," the prince supplied. "They aren't expected to think."

"That's not true!" Filens protested. He paused, thinking about it, then said, "Well, maybe a bit."

Dream smiled to himself. Knights who couldn't even decide what the best course of action was for themselves. His task was going to be way too easy.

But the old knight, Filens... he seemed more knowledgeable than the rest. Sure, he was too trusting, but most people were anyway. And his way of looking at the world was interesting.

"You will be living in a specified room in the castle," Filens said as they rode on. "The entire west wing of the castle is for knights, so that is where you will be. You will each have your own separate room, but it depends on how many people we get."

"I don't think we'll get enough knights to fill up the entire wing," the prince said with a chuckle. He seemed uneasy.

There's no way that he knows who I am and what I'm here for, Dream thought. No way.

Filens winked at him. "Dream big, my friend."

Dream winced internally at the sound of his name. It always made him uncomfortable when someone said it, even if it was out of context. And since his name was something that commonly came up in conversations, he was always squirming inside.

They were approaching the castle. Dream could see the soldiers stationed at the battlements along the walls, dressed in iron armor, all holding swords. Filens was right when he said that they were low on ranged combat fighters.

"Woah," Sapnap said, gazing up at the castle. "It's bigger than I thought it would be."

Dream nodded in agreement, his eyes sweeping off towards the sides. There weren't any blind spots that he could immediately discern, but he didn't dare look for too long in case Filens or the prince noticed something fishy, as unlikely as that was.

"The walls are built of stone," Dream noted casually. "Doesn't that make it easier for people to climb it?"

"Perhaps," Filens said, "but we position knights at equal intervals to ensure that someone would notice if a bandit was scaling the walls."

"And if the bad person already got through and was operating within the castle walls?"

Filens shook his head. "That wouldn't happen. We are more prepared than you would think, Clay."

"Hey," Sapnap piped up. "Since you guys already know our names, can we get to know the name of Clay's horseback buddy?"

Dream turned to the prince expectantly. He actually didn't know his name, nor the name of the king. He didn't know what the king looked like, either, but he knew that he would recognize him on sight.

"Oh, that," the prince chuckled nervously. "Right, I'm, uh...."

"You can stop pretending," Dream told him. Stop. Don't think about the fact that your target is right in front of you. Don't think about how your knife is right next to your hand. "We know you're the prince."

Sapnap blinked. "Uh, we do?"

"We do," Dream said.

Filens chuckled. "Oh, you two really are smart! I'm impressed. What gave it away?"

Dream shrugged. "Just the little things. Like how he's not used to the stuff that a typical knight, even an undertrained one, should be able to do."

The prince glared at the ground. Dream frowned slightly and took his hands off of his shoulders, resting both in his lap, away from his weapon. It was hard to ride on horseback without holding onto anything, but since his options were either that or holding onto the prince, he decided to just risk falling off.

"Hey," Dream said in a softer voice. "Technically, right now Sapnap and I are both also undertrained knights, you know. Everyone is bad before they become good. You're just still stuck on the 'bad' part."

"Is that your idea of a pep talk? It's horrible," Sapnap said.

"Thanks," the prince mumbled. "I know that I'm bad right now and that I'm improving very slowly, but I'll get better. Hopefully."

Sapnap grinned. "You can train with us! That way, if someone wants to take us out, they'll have to take three people out first."

Dream grinned back. Why are you being so nice to him? he asked himself silently. He's your target. He's going to die at your hands. Don't get attached to your victims.

"I'm George," the prince offered. "I never got to introduce myself, but um, yeah, I'm the prince."

He seemed kind of embarrassed by that. Dream placed his hands on his shoulders again and frowned. "That means you have to be careful, doesn't it? What with all of the assassins around here?"

"Yes, he will have to be careful," Filens spoke up. He had been so quiet that Dream had nearly forgotten about him. "But nevertheless, we will have great knights protecting him as well."