Tale Of A Knight 4 Volume 1: Chapter 4- Forced To Serve

"Aw c'mon! I just wanted to eat something, how exactly is this fair?" Bakit, at least this is how he now was called, voiced his displeasure to the middle aged knight, Mekros in front of him. Bakit was a.s.signed by Prince Sala to be an apprentice under Mekros who was one of his personal knights, in a sense it was a way to keep a watch over Bakit so that he wouldn't spill the secret.

Apparently Mekros was not aware of the secret, the maid, Aurelia told Bakit to keep his mouth shut about the Prince Sala or else she would sneak up on him at night and a.s.sa.s.sinate him on the spot. She even added "Or maybe I will just take my time and only cut something off…" Bakit shuddered from imagining it.

"It does not matter, now you are an apprentice under me, so you must do as I tell you!" Mekros was a large man, about two meters in height, very muscular. There was only one thing off with him, the way he limped forward-apparently he received an injury to his right leg so he was forced to use a single crutch to walk forward.

"I get that part, but why does it have to start with cleaning the horse shed?" Bakit was looking at a very stinky place.

"Well, you have to start somewhere don't you? It is the job of the esquire to clean the horse shed."

"Don't give that c.r.a.p! Why am I the only esquire here? Where is everyone else?"

"They are on an expedition; you should feel lucky you are not there fighting against hordes of monsters."

"What exactly do you mean? I never much about that."

"You have got to be kidding me! Ignorant youngsters like you is why we of the older generations have a headache. Listen up, there is a constant threat of monster invasion against our kingdom. Not to mention the werewolves of the north, Demons of the South, and elementals that are practically within the kingdom. And then there are the non-humans, like elves and witches…"

"Is it me, or does this kingdom have a lot of enemies?"

"Unfortunately that is the case, just a decade ago we had a full on Demon Invasion from the Kalkan kingdom" After seeing Bakit's confused expression he exasperatedly said "It's the Demon kingdom in the South, separated from our world only by a portal, but both Tazak kingdom and Kalkan kingdom are part of our world, kingdom of Kizilalem."

"Kizil what now?"

"Kizilalem, it was the name of the great kingdom that was once whole, but because of the vile demons and other non-humans, human beings only have the territory of Tazak kingdom under our rule, the demons have taken over a territory and called it a Kalkan kingdom that is constantly fighting against us. It is a good thing Tazak kingdom and Kalkan kingdom are separated by portals, so the fighting is not continuous, but whenever the portals are open, another war will occur. Of course the portals were made when the demons have stolen our territory and teleported it to another realm, now the only thing linking our kingdoms are just the portals that are rarely open."

"Can't they just close the portals and be done with it?" Bakit said in a matter of factly way.

"Unfortunately not, the portals separates the Kalkan kingdom from the Tazak kingdom, acting like a barrier that prevents anyone from crossing over it, but when the barrier is down then demons can invade our kingdom, with their leader Demon King leading his hordes against us." He added "It has been a centuries long ambition of our kingdom to take back the lands stolen from our ancestors and make Kizilalem whole again, but demons and non-humans shall always be in our way. They went as far as to take half of the ancient kingdom and teleport it to another realm, it is one of the most embarra.s.sing things that happened more than eight hundred years ago. And now, they seek to invade our world in order to add it to their own domain."

"Oh, I see."

"Enough chit chat, get back to cleaning the horse stalls!"

"Ohhhhh…" reluctantly Bakit was cleaning the horse shed, of all the leftover stuff from horses, meaning their excrements from the ground. He was struggling not to throw up.

After he was done, Mekros told him to rake the place and then to toss in some fresh hay into the place for horses. Bakit took his time to do all of the tasks, and by the end of it he was panting from exhaustion.

"Please tell me this is over"

"Over for the day, but it really wasn't too much" Mekros gave Bakir a flask of cool water which Bakit quickly gulped down. "You will have more tasks tomorrow…"

Then a growling sound transmitted itself across the air.

"Right after we eat of course." Apparently, Mekros was also a skilled cook. Because he was now Nekoros's (reluctant) disciple, Bakit now would be living with him. Mekros actually had an extra bedroom, so it wasn't too bad.

"Disciple, there are many things I am going to teach you from now on!" Mekros said after he prepared the meal for the day, fried eggs, salad and some lizard meat.

"Eat up while it's still hot!" Bakit hesitantly took a bit of the strange food, and strangely it tasted rather good, and crispy. "Wow, this is actually good! How did you do that?"

"Right seasoning, temperature control and lots of experience cooking, that's all there is to it. I can teach you one day if you want to."

"That would be nice."

Both of them grew acquainted rather quickly.

Afterwards, both headed to their bedrooms to sleep. Bakit fell unconscious the minute he climbed on the bed. After a hard work, sleeping on a bed felt much nicer, even if it was in a small shack, on a hay bed.

Meanwhile, inside the castle, Prince Sala was staring silently from the balcony towards the far reaches of the kingdom. His maid, Aurelia was concerned, he was not looking like his normal confident self, he obviously was shaken up.

"Aurelia, do you think it was the right call, letting him live…After he saw me like that…."

"You need only say the word, milord, and I will deal with him."

"No. Keeping watch over him is sufficient. Currently he is bound to me by soul contract so he can't do anything against my interest without risking his demise, but still…"

"I understand. I will keep watch over him. Fear not your majesty, I will make sure he is obedient, like a dog."

"Thank you, but call me 'Sala', calling me your majesty, coming from you, my closest friend is rather harsh" Sala said with uncharacteristic feminine voice, so unlike the practiced masculine voice he used for his daily tasks.

"Of course, Prince Sala" Aurelia said with a slight bow.

Sala could only sigh at his childhood friend's stubbornness.