The Bodyguard

| chapter - 8 |

"And I am human as well." I retorted and noticed the amused look on Elias' face.

"You are not from this time," Kirk said shocking me yet again.

"What the hell does that mean?" Elias asked before I could.

But Kirk just smiled and challenged me with his eyes.

"Fine old man," I muttered to myself and charged with the sword.

My muscles were sore from all the mountain climbing but I handled best in my opinion. Kirk was the hardest opponent I have ever face and that includes the assassin dude I killed a few days ago. He was quick himself and anticipated my moves way before even I thought them. He was not even breaking a sweat after almost an hour into the session.

While we both fought with bamboo sticks, I had few injuries but there was not a single time he got hit. So I decided to finally mix and attack. I tried picking up some stones while I dodged his attacks and threw at him to distract him even a little bit.

My stone throwing surprised him finally and he looked at me. I threw few stones and he dodged but then in all the hitting and throwing my bamboo stick finally hit his arm. I moved back as he looked pleasantly surprised at my hit. I looked at Elias and he seems proud.

"Can I breathe now?" I said sitting down right there on the floor.

I was sweating and all I wanted to do was take off the bloody cover from my face and breathe.

"He is trained in a weird fashion, impressive but not noble." The old man said making me a little angry.

"Do you have a problem with that?" I asked in a frosty tone.

"I think it's kind of ingenious for a bodyguard to know such tricks." My shoulder slumped as my anger deflated and I asked the Prince for water.

"Interesting." He commented as I gulped water from the flask.

"Can we talk for a minute?" He asked me and after a moment of thinking, I nodded.

I stood up with weak legs and followed Kirk leaving the Prince behind for a moment.

After we were far enough from the hut, Kirk stopped facing the beautiful view of valleys in front of us.

"You can remove the cover and breathe now." He said in a sober tone.

"I am fine." I snapped at him.

"No, you are not. A woman needs some fresh air for a beautiful skin."

Before I could argue or deny , he said, "I can read auras dear. I know you are a girl even if you wear that mask or use a gruffer tone."

As soon as he said that, I took a step back my hand resting on the sword.

"I am just surprised how good you are with the weapons." I noticed that he looked calm about the whole thing.

So I finally removed the cover and inhaled sharply. It felt great as the wind caressed my face right then.

"Now what will you do? Tell Elias about this?" I asked the main question in my head.

"No, he is fine with you around. I only worry if he is in danger. But why are you in this time?" He asked as if he knew everything.

"And don't deny telling me that you are not from this time. Is Agnes involved?" He knew Mel's doppelganger.

"I think so."I mumbled to myself.

"I see you don't trust me enough to tell me anything." He didn't sound offended or anything.

"I met you few hours ago, how can I?"

"Fair point lady. Okay then answer this for me." He looked at me now, "Do you have feelings for Elias?"

I was about to say no but I stopped for a moment realizing I could not somehow confidently say no to this.

"Thank you for the sincerity." He said at my silence.

***

I was back to being Arthur but bless Kirk, he got me separate room, fresh clothes and even agreed to a whistle signal like he had for kids to let me know if Prince was to come to my room.

After a long time, I got a good night sleep, a satisfactory bath and some relaxing time. But days were hard work. Kirk seemed really impressed with my performance and he said that he has never seen a better fighter than me.

I even learned to use the spear and aiming accurately with daggers, arrows and other small weapons. But most of his time was dedicated in making the Prince better. Elias was really hard working, I will give him that. He practiced early morning with Kirk and then in evening with me. And then he worked out whenever he could manage.

And it was obvious to say that he had a very appealing physique. Sometimes I was foolishly staring at him and old man Kirk caught me most of the time.

"How do you know Agnes?" I asked them one day as we both worked on my martial art skills.

"She is my wife." He said simply and a little shocked I got a kicked on my leg.

"Why would she do something like messing with time?" I asked since he already knew I was not from here and he seemed fine.

"When it can do some good, she does that." He said calmly like his wife did this for hobby.

"What good is coming from this?" I asked mostly to myself but I saw Kirk smile.

"You will see as the days unfold. Maybe without you, Prince would have died in one of the attacks. I have heard you saved him many times." He looked at me as if his words meant something.

"Few times." I agreed.

"Even as a princess." Oh, so that's what the look was for.

"It was an emergency."

"You will be caught once the tournament starts." He waited for my response.

"What should I do then?" I asked since he was kind of the expert old advisor here.

"He asked the kingdoms to take part in the tournament. Norgivia has a princess and has no one to represent them in the tournament. Everyone will want their daughter in the race for being Elias' bride. So represent Norvigia." He said and it took me a moment to realize what he meant.

"You want me to participate in the tournament?" I asked shocked at this incredulous idea.

How can I be next to Prince and be in the tournament?

"But he will realize the person he met in the dance was not the real princess."

This made Kirk chuckle, "That will not matter dear, he is not interested in the title of the princess. He is interested in the girl who saved his ass that day."

He just said something a person from this time wouldn't know, kick his ass?

"You are also not from this time, are you Kirk?"

He just shrugged and said, "It's time you let the world see what a girl soldier can do sweetheart."

..........................................

Of course, as you guys predicted, the secret is still safe.

But for how long? She is going to be a warrior in tournament now?

VOTE guys :)

Cast Update:  Katherine McNamara as Alisha

                              Sam Clafin as Prince Elias

                              Robert Sheehan as Norman

Let me know what you guys think?