Her Majesty's Knight

Chapter 25 - Levi

Song inspired for this chapter: Kiss the Girl by Sebastien the Crab. You'll soon see why...

My heart jumps as the queen sprints forward on that jet-black horse.

I kick my own horse's flanks, falling into position behind her. "Historia!"

I know that it's only my squad up there, but I'm still not taking any risks. She shouldn't go running off blindly into an unknown situation like that. The idiot.

She gallops the rest of the way up the road, and soon she vanishes into the woods where I can no longer see her.

"Tch..." I gripe, following in after her.

The shadows consume us at last. Every so often I catch glimpses of her blonde head as the sun reflects her shimmering hair, and I release an exasperated breath.

I told her to keep her hood up. Granted, a large number of the population possesses blond hair, but nowhere as outstanding as Historia's.

She's too conspicuous with those sweet angel locks.

Soon we arrive at a sunlit clearing, and now she dazzles me from all around with her golden hair. I squint, shutting my eyes, but then I pick up on that thick scent of smoke.

My senses are extra sharp today. It happens quite often when my body's pumped with adrenaline, but never to such extremes. In fact, ever since I took up my position as Historia's personal knight, my senses have heightened.

I can hear Four Eyes cackling somewhere like a mad scientist as her Ackerman-Reiss hypothesis just may be true after all.

Not that I'll give her the pleasure of finding out, of course.

I open my eyes again, trying to make out the shapes of Historia and my squad.

They stand around a campfire, embracing each other like old times. I told my squad to light the fire to signal their position. Sure, we may be advertising our location to potential threats, but who cares... let them come.

I'm drawing the rats in this time...

I guess our only problem would be if any MPs found us since we're supposed to be doing this in secret, but I'm sure I can handle myself against the likes of Nile Dok.

This time... I'll be prepared. I will find who is responsible for these recent attempts on the queen's life. That way I can reunite Historia with the children.

I made a promise to those little brats after all, and I never break promises.

I watch as Blouse and Springer hold on to the queen. Sasha chomps a piece of bread, and I roll my eyes. 

I see she's already depleted half of our rations.

Yet I can't help but smile a little as I tend to the horses. At least I could reunite her with her friends.

Kirstein and Arlert join the queen's side, but I remain hidden in the shadows, tying Silver's reins to a nearby branch. I already did the honour of securing Historia's stallion for her, but there are other horses around too.

Six in total.

I see my whole squad have arrived then...

"Historia, are you all right?" Arlert cries. "The captain told us about the recent attack. I'm so sorry... If only we had stayed a while longer..."