The King and the Bastard

Chapter 6

He hated the dull banging inside his head. He rolled the ball of his wrists against his temple, as if it would work to ease the pain. Clearly not.

Namjoon inhaled deep, letting the smoke build in his lungs before slowly exhaling. The after taste at the back of his tongue was not exactly pleasant but who the fuck smoked for its taste? He took another drag and let the smoke roll out of his nostrils, slowly letting its calming effect take place. And like a miracle, bye-bye headache. For now.

He could not care less about the long-lasting effects of the smoke in his lungs. The grim idea of death would be upon him sooner or later, and with these events rolling out before them one by one, he figured it would be the former.

Sensing someone approaching him in the dark, he turned to look behind him and found a tall hooded figure stepping forward and stopping just a few feet from him. The hooded figure was smart enough to have kept his distance; any step closer and Namjoon would have blood on his hands.

"I would prefer you put that out." A stern voice demanded from the hooded man.

"There is no one here but us."

"Yes. But I hate the smell of it." The man simply said and Namjoon simply scoffed. Him having said that reminded Namjoon of only one person and suddenly the banging in his head returned. Looking hard at the man, although it was hard to make out a face under the shadows, scoffed.

Are you kidding me? Namjoon wanted to spit back. This guy had no right to make orders like that.

"Take off your hood. I need to know who I have to kill if this ends up in twisted fate of betrayal." And Namjoon was serious. This is the farthest they have been with their plans. If this person was who he really claimed to be, an insider; then things could really get moving along smoothly.

The man didn't hesitate. Either too desperate and stupid seeing as he was standing in front of dangerous killer or he was just really fucking confident with himself. When he raised his hand to remove the hood over his head, he finally revealed himself. Jaws sharp-edged with a hard face and piercing dark eyes, Namjoon could not help but want to laugh out loud. These turn of events just could not present themselves any better, could they?

"Why if it isn't the Royal Chamberlain himself, Kim Seokjin." Namjoon, threw his roll onto the dirt and stomped on it. Bemused at the revelation. "What is this? Have you finally decided the royal life was not how you expected it? What are you now? A traitor?"

The man just stood there and stared back at him. Namjoon glared right back; he was not amused anymore as bad memories started flashing at the back of his mind.

"Once a traitor, always a traitor."

"Do not dare go there." A low growl came from the man in front of him. Seokjin was usually a calm and logical person, but Namjoon knew all the right triggers. And he intended to use everything he had to hurt the motherfucker.

"You are the reason shes DEAD!"

Before he knew it, he was held back against the brick wall behind him. Seokjin  had his forearm up against Namjoon's throat holding him in place. They were both of equal strength but Seokjin had no means of easing up, which indeed got Namjoon really excited. Two could play at that game.

Namjoon twisted his body and jabbed Seokjin's sternum with force it blew the  breath out of him. The man stumbled back from the blow but was quick enough to block a front kick that would have sent his chin flying. Namjoon did not attack further but kept his fighting stance ready.

Seokjin stepped back and glowered back at him. Equally ready to block any other blow from him.

"I sought you out for help, Namjoon. I am not here to fight."

"Oh I know. You might not want to fight but I do." He said as he charged towards Seokjin. Namjoon was well known for his iron fists but Seokjin had always been, and was the only one able to block and deflect every single one of them. But that was all Seokjin did.

"Fight me you coward!" Namjoon challenged as he turned his body and swung the back of his legs at Seokjin at where he would least expect them to be. Once again, blocked. But this time, Seokjin grabbed hold and twisted them around and in a blink of an eye Namjoon's back was hard against the ground and Seokjin was right above him, holding him down.

Namjoon stared up at the man above him, slowly realising that they were both out of breath from the sparring. Slowly, Seokjin got up and stepped back,  waiting for him to get back up on his feet.

"Like I said, I do not want to fight. We have a bigger problem in our hands."

Namjoon got up to his feet. There was dirt on his clothes but not like it  ever bothered him.

"The extraction in exchange for alms?" He repeated the deal they had made before, "I don't feel like thats enough for our purpose."

"Firearm." Seokjin said. "Enough firearm for your leader and your army." And surely that got his attention. It wasn't much of an army but they had fighters. Each and every one of them determined to have the Kings head rolling off his shoulders.

"Who is this person we are extracting? We should be able to kill anyone in that god forsaken palace. Every single one of them." Namjoon said through gritted teeth.

"No. It is important that this person is kept safe." Seokjin stared him hard.

Letting out sigh, Namjoon shrugged and reached inside his pocket. "Fine. Lay out the details." He pulls out another roll and lights it up between his lips.

"You know, she would have hated to find out that her favourite baby brother was smoking opium." This time, Seokjins face softened. Who would have ever thought that they would both end up like this.

Namjoon stared blankly at his older brother as he shoved the matches back into his pocket. Taking in a long and slow drag. A big fuck you to the Mr. Perfect he once loved and admired.