his heart thumps heavily as he shuffles through the large amount of people all crowded around the arena. at first, he decided he would travel to the front, as his height would mean anybody in front of him would block his view, however he gives up halfway through the crowd. the many people packed together means it would be impossible to fight to the front, this position would have to do.
george is sure it wasn't this crowded last week, there seems to be hundreds more today.
initially, george hadn't planned to show up at all, but despite his efforts to get out of this, the prince had forced him here anyway. george had argued with the boy the previous day for hours, as he didn't feel like satisfying the prince with his presence for this event after he had forced him into doing pointless tasks all week. he had made dream's bed at least a thousand times, because each time he did it, he would claim it "wasn't good enough" and he would have to re-do it until it was perfect. eventually, the prince was called for a meeting, and so george made his escape, sweating from the chore. this, of course, wasn't a one-off occasion.
it seemed as though dream enjoyed watching his servant suffer, and each time he'd argue back, the prince would threaten him until he did it.
george can feel the body heat from the crowd surrounding him and it causes him to shift uncomfortably, his shirt clings to his body as he waits for the event to begin. perhaps george is feeling a little claustrophobic, or maybe the crowd is duplicating in numbers, but there is undeniably a bigger group of people here than before and for some reason, this stirs nerves in george's chest.
in front of him is a lady he recognises vaguely, he's probably noticed her wandering through the market at some point. she's chattering to a man on her right, who keeps gesturing toward the empty arena as if something incredible had happened, which it hadn't. behind george are small family, who talk among themselves and usher the children to a spot with a better view. to george's left is a tall man with a boy on his shoulders. he watches as the boy tugs excitedly on his father's hair before giggling. the patches on his dirty trousers are enough to tell george he's a little troublemaker.
his eyes scan the people around him, and he spots somebody who didn't seem to fit in. a hooded figure in some kind of dark cloak stood waiting near the front of the crowd. george finds himself growing curious at the figure, but manages to tear his eyes away. the hushed whispering and the impatient murmuring of the crowd put george on edge- he couldn't imagine how the prince would be feeling, though he figures he's probably used to it.
suddenly, everybody is silenced at the presence of somebody who walks to the centre of the arena before clearing his throat. he recognises the man as somebody who works with the prince, as he's seen him wandering around the castle many times before. he gives the usual announcement, and as he drones on, george can't help wondering if he's memorised some kind of script for this speech. after his announcement, a loud bell chimes to signal the beginning of the event. the man abruptly walks off, and is replaced by another.
a knight.
the prince's first fight starts after noon, until then, it's the knights against anybody who challenges them. the crowd begins to clap, showing their respect and faith in the knight.
he is soon joined by a man george hadn't seen before, and the stranger waves to the crowd before setting up for the first battle of the day. he adjusts his armour, and grabs a few weapons from the side, which the knight had already done. after he's ready, a much quieter bell rings, and the fight begins. the stranger immediately raises his sword, and leaps toward the knight who has clearly experienced this before, as he seems more than prepared to dodge the hit.
the man's sword misses the other, and his sword grazes the floor as the knight weaves around him. he manages to catch the man off guard as he swings his own sword into his torso. the man yells out as it hits him, and he spins to try another attack on the knight which fails once again. the knight knocks the man to the floor, his sword falling from his grasp and landing just out of reach. the knight holds his sword to the other's throat, and he surrenders almost immediately. the crows erupts in cheers for the winner, who rises with his hands up. the stranger stands up after, and seems to try and calm himself down before readying himself for the next round.
two rounds later, the clear winner is the knight who definitely expected this outcome. the next person up is another knight, and another fight commences. there is another victory, and he stands proud of this as the crowd cheers him on yet again.
the knight who wins is to fight the prince next, and he waits on the side, his leg bouncing up and down in anticipation. two minutes go by, and the time is almost noon when the crowd begins to clap. the prince proudly walks onto the arena, a smile playing at his lips as he nods his head to the crowd who seem to get louder before quieting down. the knight from the previous fight comes back into view, shaking dream's hand before readying himself for the battle. he knows this one will be tougher than his last.
time flies by, and already the prince has the lead, winning two of the three rounds, however he decides to do one more.
the prince's hair clings to his forehead, which is surely covered in a layer of sweat. a few scratches sit on his face, barely noticeable except from the one next to his eye, which doesn't seem to faze him. george gulps as he watches the fight, but is eased once again as the prince holds his triumph. the crowd roars, celebrating the prince's final win, and the knight shakes his hand one again.
dream pants as they announce a new fighter would be joining him in the arena- his next challenge, a stranger. the week before, george remembers, the only men who stepped up to try to beat dream were all inexperienced compared to him, and it made the fights look far too easy which the prince grumbled about afterwards, claiming it was boring.
the crowd waits in slight anticipation as the stranger begins his way onto the arena, and george's breath hitches in his throat at the sight of him. a cloaked figure, the same one as earlier, is challenging dream to a fight?
the prince frowns at the man's appearance, but it fades as he joins him. the two shake hands, and dream waits for the other to gear up. he picks up some sort of axe, and nods to signal that he's prepared. the prince nods at him, and the bell chimes. the figure doesn't give dream any time to wait, he goes in swinging, almost knocking the prince down. dream ducks under the stranger's arm, before landing a blow to his legs which resulted in the man falling. that all-too familiar cocky smile finds its way onto dream's face, and he swings down at the figure who dodges the hit at the last second. the crowd holds their breath as the fight goes on.
the figure somehow knocks dream onto his back, their weapons clashing as he fights for survival. the blade of the man's axe is drooping lower and lower, dream's sword not liking the connection. the cold surface of the axe makes contact with the flesh on the prince's throat, and he struggles to push it away. george can feel his heart thumping heavily in fear. just as it begins looking bleak for dream, he lifts his legs to the other's torso and kicks him. this unexpected response causes the figure to fall back, and before dream can get up to finish the fight, the bell chimes a second time.
after this long battle, the announcer comes back on and deems it a draw. the crowd erupts into gasps and words of protest.
"well if the fight had gone on, the prince would have won, easy!" george hears somebody yell before the voices overlap one another until he can no longer make out what anybody's saying.
the prince rises to his feet, watching as the figure does so too.
"finally, a worthy opponent." dream puffs, a small smile on his face. he steps down, and around the crowd. he's met by his father, who has a stern look plastered on his face.
"a draw? you had one job." the king says, glaring at his son. "do you realise how badly this will make us look if you lose? your first loss in a public battle?"
dream refuses to make eye contact. "i won't lose."
his father mutters something along the lines of, "you better not." before walking away and back to his seat which is located above the arena so he can see down.
dream scratches the back of his neck, before running a nervous hand through his hair. his eyes scan through the crowd before they settle on a pair of brown ones. he walks up to george, meeting him with a small smile.
george immediately admits how anxious he feels, his eyebrows drawn into a frown. "i know you're stupid, but not this stupid. what if you die?"
"do you not have faith in me?" dream mockingly gasps.
george raises a brow, "well-"
"i'll only die if you stop believing in me, pretty boy."
the prince winks at george before turning to walk onto the arena for the last round.
george finds himself unable to watch as five minutes go by and dream finds himself in the same position as before, on his back with an axe at his throat. this time, however, the axe's sharp blade slits the skin underneath it as it makes contact with it. dream gasps at the cold edge, but tries not to show too much emotion. blood trickles down his neck, dripping onto the floor below him but he ignores it.
while the figure is occupied trying to deepen the cut, dream is struggling under the pressure but has a plan. he subtly moves his hand to the right, his fingertips gentle pressing against the surface of something just out of reach. dream fights the urge to choke as his fingers curl over the object, before grasping it tightly while moving ever so slowly.
dream lulls his head to the side, his eyes clouding over as he tries to gasp for air. his fathers words are bouncing around inside his skull, hitting every surface but he doesn't appear to care. in his mind, it's too late. he looks physically defeated, which causes the crowd to deflate. their prince is losing!
his lost eyes suddenly make contact with george's, who must have shoved himself to the front of the crowd and his dull pupils begin to liven up. the cloud lifts, and his face seems to brighten as he stares at his servant. seconds go by, and george's heart is ready to leap out of his chest when the figure on top of dream groans.
confusion laces george's features for a moment, before the stranger suddenly goes limp before falling off dream. his eyes linger on george's for a moment before falling onto the figure beside him.
it only clicks when george notices something lodged within the man's stomach. dream's sword.
a dark pool of blood is already beginning to form but dream stares upward, blankly. the announcer soon walks down onto the arena, to announce dream as the winner, and this seems to snap him out of his daze as he rises quickly from the floor. a frustrated sigh escapes dream's lips as he drags his heavy hands over his face. he shouldn't have been that close to losing. he scowls at the body on the floor for a moment, before shaking his head and exiting the arena in a hurry.
by the time the king has come down, dream is nowhere to be seen. george's eyes glance around the crowd, scanning each individual in search of him but only finds more of those cloaked figures. they're all dressed the same, sinister looking, and are scattered throughout the crowd.
this battle is far from over.
george begins wandering to the other side of the crowd, toward the castle however he doesn't get far before colliding with somebody. before george gets to apologise, something is slipped into his hand and by the time he looks up, they're gone. he turns back frantically to see another figure scurrying away. he wonders what their deal is, but continues his way out of the crowd. as soon as he's away, he lifts his hand to find a note.
'meet us tomorrow at midnight. alone. we'll be waiting under the archway.'
wc: 2255
(unsure how i feel about this, i may re-edit another time, but enjoy for now. sorry if this was really sloppy, i haven't written in a while.
as per, lmk if you spot any mistakes!)