The Princess and the Rogue

Chapter 1

Magnus didn't want to do it.

His hand trembled as he held the sword point to the man's throat.

He had to do it, but...the man was just a regular commoner, already on the verge of death.

There were people watching, assessing him, ready to kill him if he didn't do as asked.

But nearby, he heard a horse, no, multiple horses. Only nobles traveled like that. The others must've heard it too, "Later, child." one of them whispered and disappeared to loot them.

"What? Don't leave me here-" Magnus said, he looked around for somewhere to hide and looked up at a particularly tall tree.

He jumped up, his hands reaching toward the lowest branch and pulled himself up, and from there it became easier to climb

But he was too late, Magnus looked down, his feet were easily visible.

The horses stopped before him, and Magnus could only swear in one language.

"What do we have here?" a green-haired person on the lead horse looked up.

Magnus panicked and fell out of the tree, "Stupid training. No good for nothing."

The guards surrounded him quickly.

Why are there so many guards? He wondered, still quite stunned.

Then he noticed the royal emblem, and rethought all of his life decisions,

The lead person, which Magnus thought should be the princess, looked amused, getting off the horse, they said, "You must be new. Not trained properly either. Can you wield that sword of yours well?"

Magnus scowled and made a lunge toward Alex's face.

He easily side-stepped it and watched him topple into the bush, trying not to laugh, "Nice job, rogue."

"I have a name," Magnus growled, shaking leaves and trying not to look embarrassed, wasn't he supposed to be trying to escape or whatever? But it was nice to see someone smile again, even though they're technically your enemy. The other rogues never smiled, it was just 'Magnus this' and 'Magnus that'.

"Then what is your name, sir?" they asked. Magnus wondered why he was so calm, was it the guards, or was he just over-confident?

"Mag-" he couldn't reveal his real name, no way, "-gie."

His brain raged, out of all the things he could've said, he said Maggie.

"Maggie? Well, you're coming with us."

The other guards looked at Alex in confusion, "Your majesty, but wouldn't be easier to just kill him now-"

"But, I want to know where the rogue's hideout is. The puny human," they pointed at me, "can tell us."

Puny human. Magnus thought, annoyed now, I'm no puny human...

Alex seemed to choose their words carefully, they really wanted to annoy him.

"So, I'm Princess Alex, as you well know," they said as if they were speaking to a toddler, "Prince, currently."

Magnus looked irritated, "Please shut up, your voice is starting to annoy me." he mumbled, not knowing what prompted him to say it, especially when 20 sword points dug slightly into his skin and clothes.

Alex's eyes, which were 2 different colours of warm brown, now seemed to dull and turn cold, "Samirah, he's sitting with you." Magnus got shoved by the handle of someone's sword to the head guard. Samirah tied her wrist to Magnus' wrist with a rope and took away his sword and dagger, her eyes widening in surprise when she saw the sword.

"Your majesty," the head guard showed him the intricately carved weapon.

Alex gave him yet another appraising look, "Where did you get this?"

Magnus kept his mouth shut, staring defiantly at the ground, that stopped when Samirah nudged him quite harshly, "You will speak and look at his majesty when he addresses you."

Magnus looked up at the Princess, focusing on his nose so he wouldn't have to look in those soulful eyes, "I found it while I was looking for artifacts."

"Where?" he pressed, trailing his fingers over the carvings and jewels on the hilt and blade.

"Northern Valhalla, in Broen. There's a small cave a kilometer from Vann," he muttered.

"We'll deal with that after we capture at least one more of your Clan, the Gul Banan, I presume?"

Magnus gritted his teeth, How did he know so much?

"Start talking Maggie, start with the location," Samirah's sharp voice slicing into his thoughts.

Magnus felt

her sword point digging into the small of his back, so he pointed north, towards a lusher part of the forest.

"Good boy," Alex's eyes narrowed, but now, he was smirking.

✴

Alex felt his eyes still sting at Maggie's comment from earlier, he came to the forest to escape from his father, but what he heard from the rogue's mouth was in his father's voice.

Alex sighed, and quickly put his neutral face back on, "How much longer, rogue?"

"A minute."

He sounded grumpy. And annoyed.

Well that gave him some satisfaction.

"Samirah, can you and a few other guards scout ahead, we'll wait here," Alex asked.

"Of course, Alex," Samirah nodded to the guards and they left in a small cloud of dust.

Alex picked up Maggie's sword again, it wasn't common.

How did he get the Sword of Summer...?

It was a question for later, for now he tried to decipher the runes carved on it with his limited knowledge.

Alex looked up, he was going to ask the rouge a question about the sword when he saw him waving his hands in odd gestures.

"What are you doing?" Alex frowned, unable to comprehend his fast movements.

"Sign language," Maggie responded, unable to think of a lie in time.

"...who are you signing to?" Alex frowned, his hand going to his sword.

"Nobody," the blonde's eyes widened, "I was bored and needed to re-."

"Scout the area in the trees, come back in 10 minutes," Alex instructed 3 guards.

"You're dwindling your resources," Maggie pointed out, to Alex's surprise.

"Nothing you need to worry about, you're not going anywhere," Alex assured him.

They sat in silence, unknowing of the bloodied guards lying in wait.

A/N: Hello, hello, apparently I didn't hit the publish button yesterday so here you go-

Anygays, I hope you enjoy the story! Thanks for reading~