Cinder-knight (bxb)

the witch boy

"lt's a witch!" the red haired knight griped at the prince and jumped into the shallow crater, mud splashed, arms moved, while the squelching sounds of loose debris roared over the earthy ground. The knight was rolling around in the mud, his clothes drenching in an ungodly odor, as his feet struggled furiously.

Prince Henry gawked at the ruckus while leaning against his horse, "How entertaining," he smiled and watched the knight and his mare spurt mud onto themselves, while the gelding also wheezed.

The thick mist snuck among trees, its reign conquering over the calm forest as the once clear canopy started blurring. The clouds feasted on their own sheddings, in the end, making the small rain stop once and for all.

Avianthan neighed, and Eric let out an 'oh' when he felt the tiny animal slip through his fingers before falling back into the mud, with a loud squeak. But he managed to catch it again, and this time, he was bold enough to keep it pinned over the ground, squeezing it so hard to the point where he was sure it would die in a mere second.

Out came a screech of a mammal, as the frog burned in a flashy light, the only thing that replaced it being a snarky old dark black cat. Once Avianthan unconsciously stepped on its tail though, it too flashed out in a flame that was as bright as the all mighty sun, which made Eric shuffle away with a gasp.

And now in front of him, laid a boy in a dark hood, with green moist skin and small moles over his face. He was hugging a bag close to his chest as he waved a stick (or perhaps, was it a wand?) at the Knight who backed off immediately.

"Do not c-come close!! Or I'll curse you for eternity!"

The prince stumbled towards the knight, who was frozen to his place while the mare flashed the mage a look of anger. "It is a witch!" voiced out Henry, as if it wasn't obvious already.

"I'm not a witch!" the green boy said, "I'm- I'm a wizard- wait, stay back! Or I'll kill y-you!"

For a second, it was oddly quiet as Prince Charming stepped into the mud, his white boots that were embroidered with miniature cherubs of gold and lines of a dwindling red, getting smeared by the dark goey liquid. He squat down in front of the shaking mage, but his knight who quickly snapped out of the daze he was in, grabbed the prince's shoulder and pulled him back.

"Stay behind, my prince," Eric uttered and pointed his sword at the boy's head, "He's dangerous."

The Prince looked at the knight for a bit and looked back at the wizard, whose silver colored wand blazed with a torrent of dull sparks. But it was quick to light off and go passive again, as Henry shook his head.

"He's still a child," he whispered, and the Knight huffed in response, "I'm pretty certain he won't do anything bad. Right fella?"

"I'm going to kill you."

"See? He's harmless." the prince smiled with his snow white teeth on display for the knight to see, and the said knight almost felt his walls breaking, but no, he couldn't budge. He shouldn't budge.

He turned to look at the wizard who stared back at him with giant watery eyes. Huh, as if looking at him like that would make Eric change his mind! Utter bullshit.

The prince's safety was in his hands, and there was just no way in hell he would let a scary faced kid manipulate his highness and him with those innocent doe eyes of-

He gulped and looked away from those eyes.

'Keep your s**t together, Eric.'

"Who knows, he might be a pawn of that witch who abducted our princess!" the red head inquired, perking his sword more towards the mage's neck, "Plus, look at how hideous he is!"

"Okay, now that was kinda rude."

Eric shot greeny a glare, "I don't intend to be nice either, don't worry."

The wizard pouted.

"So as I was saying, my Prince," Eric turned to the blond, his expression dwelling with anxiety, "We'll kill this little witch, and then continue our journey towards the nearest mountain. I'm sure we might find the witch's hideout.. Somehow."

He could see the way Prince Charming looked at him with his bottom lip darted out slightly. His white shoes, pants and the cuffs of his shirt had stains of mud spattered over, yet the Prince was still just as beautiful as day one, to the knight.

"How about we ask this little wizard for some help and continue the rest of the plan from here? I'm sure it'll save a lot of time." the prince suggested, one of his eyebrows raised up and his lips pressing together as he patiently waited for the knight to answer. But Eric wasn't ready to agree, he wasn't going to let the prince prepare his own death-bed.

"I'm not going to let this freak live," the knight grumbled out. He wasn't sure if the wizard heard it, but he knew if he did, it would've stabbed right into his ugly green heart. Yet the prince didn't say anything on it and walked a bit closer to his knight.

"Can I tell you something?" Charming asked, making Eric murmur out a, "What?"

He saw the prince sighing apathetically, "Before you tell a royal what to do, or what they should not do, try to think back and remember what your place is. Just because you have lent me some help and I owe you for making you bleed a few days before, doesn't mean you've somehow become anything more than a knight, Enrique."

Eric shook his head, "Of course not! I've never thought like that, my prince-" he tried to tell, but the prince cut him off.

"Look, how about we give the kid a chance and if he tries to do something fishy, we'll kill him?"

"Yes, my prince." he whispered, looking down while hearing Charming respond with a, "Good."

After that, Eric didn't try to stop the prince from trudging up to the wizard on the ground. He watched as his prince gave the boy a hand and helped him raise himself up from the ground, with eyes focused. As the two greeted each other and the Prince apologised for the knight's foul behaviour, making the wizard utter out an 'it's okay.', Eric lowered his sword, letting them interact the way they wanted.

For a second, he felt out of place. But then Avianthan treaded beside him and kept her head on the curve between his shoulder and neck, making the knight smile a little.

Cute.