A Warrior's Heart

Chapter 45; The information he wants

With a harsh pull of his arm the man yanked the chair up, placing it back on its four legs. The young emperor winced and his head starting hurting from suddenly being upright again, his back finally relaxing from being in an arch. He had been lying on the floor of the room for maybe a couple hours, just looking at the ceiling and thinking to himself. Thinking about all sorts of things, not just one thing in particular.

"So, my little boy,"  The man started.  "Let's have a little chat, shall we?"

Beomgyu blinked his eyes and looked at the man in front of him. It was a different one than before, with blue eyes, dark brown hair, a little stubble and a cut on his cheek. Why did all the soldiers here had at least one cut in their face?

"I'd like for you to tell me what you were working on, dear." He continued, making the boy frown.  "Working on what?"  He retorted, eyebrows pulling into a frown. The man stepped closer and looked down at him.  "You know what. Just tell me, I won't hurt you, you can tell me."

Beomgyu knew that that was a lie. Everyone here had done nothing but hurt him so far, so what would make this guy different? And what did he mean? What he was working on? He wasn't working on anything, so what was he supposed to tell the man?  "I don't know what you're talking about."  He said, looking up at the older. The man's face changed, the fake, sicking smile making place for a frown, mimicking the boy's expression.

"How about I make you remind, mh?"  He said, and before Beomgyu had the time to respond, the man pulled his arm back and slapped him. His head whipped to the side, tears already brimming in his eyes. His neck was starting to hurt from his head snapping to the side so much lately, and he hated it. Why were they doing this to him?

"Do you remember now, huh?"  The man asked, shaking his hand a little and bending down to his eye level.  "That paperwork with all the information on it. Tell me about that."

Beomgyu thought for a short minute, not wanting to keep the man waiting for too long, afraid of being hit again. He forced himself to think of possibilities about what the man wanted to know, he thought about every single piece of paper he had held for his job as emperor, and suddenly it clicked.

The enscripted writing of his ambassadors. The lines he had written between the words already there.

"So you finally remembered."  The man snickered, having noticed his eyes widen slightly.  "So now you know again, let's voice it out, yeah?"  He growled out through clenched teeth. The man reached his hand up and gripped his hair tightly, yanking his head back.  "Tell me about it, and don't leave anything out."

"I.. I can't."

"What do you mean you can't? You can talk so you can tell me!" The man spat, gripping his hair tighter in his fist. Beomgyu whimpered and closed his eyes, tears threatening to escape. "I can't, you can't know." He croaked out, throat hurting from being bend like this. "It's a secret, no one can know besides me and the warriors."

The soldier's face morphed into one of anger, blue eyes now boring into his brown ones. The grip on his hair made his head hurt, and a couple tears fell from his eyes, sliding over his cheeks and wetting his skin. "Cut the bullshit!" The man growled. "Would you rather have us poison a warrior and make him suffer until he tells us? Is that what you want? Having one of your men suffer from pain and agony until he tells us what we want to know? Huh?!"

Beomgyu shook his head as much as he could in the vice grip of the man's fist, making him pull on the strands more. He didnt want that at all. He made the rules, he was the one agreeing to the enscripted writing, he was the one who changed it a bit and he was the one who made the ruled. So why should his warriors be the ones to suffer?

"D-Don't do that, please-" He choked out, another couple of tears leaving his eyes, making his lashes stick together. "They don't deserve that."

"If you don't want that then I suggest you to start talking!" The man yelled at him, finally releasing the grip on his hair. Beomgyu whimpered again, his scalp burning with a lingering pain. He moved his head down, not wanting to look at the man's face any longer and he could hear the man sighing.

"I'm not gonna talk. You can forget that. I won't risk the possibility of my people suffering. If I told you they'd all be in danger." He said, remembering the few papers of the enscripted writing that contained the plans of his father.

He remembered reading over it briefly, learning all about the plans that his father had come up with. It was about all the information he needed as an emperor, like he had known that the day he'd die was near. It was his way of taking care for the boy. And it hadn't been in vain, the information had been useful to get the young emperor started. He knew about his father's plans for a defensive stance against a possible enemy, the rules he had for his people, the training routines of the warriors, and a lot more. And he wasn't going to just give it to the man in front of him. Wasn't going to let his father's work go to waste.

"Forget it," He spat, lifting his head and glaring at the man. "I'm not going to tell you."

The man's face turned impossibly more angry, and he pulled his arm back again. The blonde knew he had this coming when he went against the soldier's words, but this time, he didn't mind. He knew he was doing good by protecting his people this way.

His head snapped to the side when the soldier's fist made contact with his cheek. The pain was worse this time, like the man had out all of his effort into that one punch.

"You better tell me, little boy. We have to know what is in that enscripted writing." The soldier said, clearly not giving up on his goal to get him to talk. The young emperor moved his head back and shook it, hair falling in front of his eyes and he glared up at the older through the tears beading in his eyes. "I wouldn't be a good emperor if I did." He said, getting confidence from the fact that he was protecting his people. He hadn't been this sure of himself in front of a soldier in.. probably forever, but somehow the thought of them hurting his warriors lit a fire inside of him. The warriors were there to protect him, it was only natural to protect them too.

The seconds after he had finished his sentence the soldier pulled his arm back again and punched him in his face again. The blonde shrieked at the pain and the taste of a bitter substance filled his mouth. He spat on the ground - something he'd never do, considering he was royalty - and his eyes widened as he saw saliva mixed with blood falling on the ground. He quickly felt around with his tongue, and found out he luckily still had all his teeth.

"Hit me all you want," He panted, keeping his head of the side and spitting another wave of blood to the ground. "I'll never tell you and bring my people in danger." He said, something in his voice scared him. He didn't know he could sound so.. intimidating.

The man balled his hands to fists and set his jaw, eyes dark and glaring down at him. Then he spoke.  "I'll be back. Hopefully you'll want to speak then."  He said and turned to walk away, but stopped in the doorway.  "I hope so, for the sake of your life."  He finished and walked away, leaving the boy to spit out rests of blood and feel the tears dry on his cheeks.