Chapter 15: Home.

Chapter 15: Chapter 15: Home.

He ached.

His arms hurt, his face was throbbing, and there was a twinge in his knee that indicated he might have landed a little funny at some point in the chase. It would be useless to try to climb down again tonight despite how opportune it was for his guards to be exhausted.

Instead, Khobi took a moment to savour a rare moment of calm, and sat at the window watching the stars.

"Hey, Khobi?"

It was Montrel again. He ignored him.

"Khobi. There’s no point in sulking."

Bongo, this time.

"I’m not sulking," he declared flatly before he could stop himself. Montrel let out a tired chuckle.

"Good," Bongo remarked, "Wouldn’t want there to be any hard feelings." He sounded as though he wasn’t speaking specifically to Khobi.

"You tied me up."

"He head-butted me, Captain."

"You know you were making things difficult for us," Bongo pointed out with a heavy sigh, ignoring montrel’s complaint, "I apologised, and if it makes you feel better, the Princess wasn’t happy about the decision."

"Yeah, fuck –"

"Language, Montrel."

" –The nobles would not stop their bitching," Montrel muttered, "I mean, technically I’m a noble, but at least I do something around here.

They were all complaining about not getting any sleep, and just generally being pains in the ass –why do they need sleep? It’s not like they have training to do, or duties to carry out..."

"Montrel." Bongo’s voice was firm this time, and his subordinate actually halted himself.

"I’m just sayin’," he added instead, "It was pretty hard running drills on not a lot of sleep. Imagine being like a blacksmith, or a cook –"

Or a servant, Khobi finished in his mind, without realising.

Oh.

"...What did you want?" he found himself grumbling, despite himself. For a second it seemed like Montrel hadn’t heard him, because he didn’t answer. But just when Khobi thought he’d just been messing with him, he spoke.

"...I gotta ask, kid. What do you want out for so bad?"

For not the first time, Khobi was struck by how empty of malice his guard’s voice was. Sure, they’d punched each other a fair number of times so far, and Montrel especially tended to yell pretty much as much as he did, but he was never cruel.

They joked that their king liked to call Khobi a ’guest’ when he knew himself that he wasn’t, but strangely enough, they didn’t seem to see him as a prisoner.

Or maybe, despite how much he’d hated and refused to trust, after all these years –maybe that was nice. And maybe that was why he answered. Maybe Binny had him rattled. Or maybe he was just tired.

In the end, all he said, was, "Home."

It was more than that, really, but his guards seemed to understand nonetheless.

"Of course," Montrel sighed, shaking his head, "You’re Khnoji’s brat nephew. Of course you’d be like him." He chuckled to himself a little, "A little stupid, a little reckless –"

"Oi, you can’t just talk about –" Khobi began hotly.

" –And loyal to a fault."

Was he imagining it, or did Montrel sound impressed?

"...Did you know him?" he found himself asking, his voice quiet and lacking the aggressiveness that his guards had grown accustomed to. It surprised even himself, a little.

"Nah," Montrel replied casually, "But everyone knows about Khnoji Frost the Iron Heart of Scargga the Humble King –"

"I knew him," Bongo interjected, and Khobi actually found himself turning towards the door in surprise, and wondering what kind of face the stoic guard was wearing at that moment. "He was a good king, and a good fighter, and a good man. Probably too good, which was why Silas hated him, and why he wanted to take everything from him."

"Careful, captain, or I might be tempted to tell Gurdet how much you’re praising another king," Montrel joked, but Bongo didn’t make to scold him for the jest. Instead, he merely replied with something so simple and honest that it maybe sparked an ache and a kind of longing in Khobi’s heart that he hadn’t felt in many years.

A lump rose up into his throat unbidden, and the blurry faces of his smiling aunt and uncle came to mind –his uncle was always smiling,kind enough to warm a kingdom, and strong enough to carry its people on his back alone, even if it broke him.

And for some reason, it made him, just a little, think of Binny, and he thought that maybe he understood, just a little.

"He always tried to protect the people he cared about. I think it’s admirable.".

...

"Fuck you, Albi." "Hand it over, Montrel Fair’s fair." "You’re a dirty cheat, and you know it," Montrel could be heard complaining through the door, but from the sounds of clinking coins that followed, he himself was at least honest enough to pay up when he’d been cheated.

" –How’s it going in there, Khobi?" Jaga inquired casually, his tone accompanied by the sound of a pack of cards being reshuffled. Khobi paused at being addressed, mid-way through what felt like his hundredth set of crunches, and was about to retort with something suitably snarky when he was rudely interrupted by a heavy crackle of thunder from the rumbling storm outside.

His guards all shared a chuckle." –Now, aren’t you glad you aren’t outside right now?" Montrel commented not a little smugly, and sounding a little relieved that the rain currently beating down upon the castle was heavy enough to wash away anyone foolish enough to be out in it.

Khobi huffed at that and went back to using exercise to ignore them. The rain was battering against the shutters that were latched over his window with a chill wind still sneaking in through the cracks, but he would be damned if he was going to give them the satisfaction of just crawling into bed and huddling under the covers.

"You want to be dealt in this round?" Albi inquired through the door. He didn’t say anything for a moment, and let the silence linger expectantly, but Khobi just gritted his teeth and embraced the wicked burning in his core as he rolled over and steeled himself for an endless, mindless set of push-ups."Fine, fine, have it your way."

"Check."" –One game, Bongo, you can’t let me have one game?""It’s not the Captain’s fault you’re bad at chess –ow!" "Hasbar what have I told you...""Yeah, shut the fuck up, Hasbar" "Montrel. You too. And it’s your move.

" There was an overly loud crack as Montrel huffily took his turn and smacked his king away from danger. Bongo sighed to himself as he lifted up his bishop, adding in a dry but pointedly loud tone,"Don’t even try it, Khobii. We can hear you moving towards the window."