The Sorcerer's Bride 25 A Knight's Devotion

He moved a bit down the hall and was startled by a girlish voice.

"Sir Asrar, right?" It was a serving maid, she looked slightly familiar. He a.s.sumed it was the one who had been leading his princess earlier as she knew his name. Honestly, he hadn't really been paying attention to her. He had been focusing solely on his princess.

"Yes. Didst thou need something?" He made sure his tone was polite as he didn't want to cause Hazel any trouble.

"No, but I thought you might," She giggled a little, despite the fact that nothing funny had happened. Asrar would never understand females, nor did he particularly want to. "You look a little lost."

"How can I be lost? I know exactly where both I and my princess are."

"Do you know where anything else is though?" She smirked at him.

Well, he didn't so, "Of course not, I have never been here before."

"I can show you around if you'd like." She smiled at him, "Oh! and my name's Viola." The girl's smile was quite wide now.

He hadn't really been wondering what her name was but was polite enough not to say so. He probably should get a lay of the place that way he could be of more service to his princess, "Alright. But I need to be back here in two hours." He wasn't sure when his princess would be done talking to the queen and that red haired girl but two hours should put him back in plenty of time.

"Alright then, what do you wanna see?" She was smiling so much Asrar wondered if her face was going to split.

"Where would I be able to practice?" Asrar was already better with the sword than most, but he wanted to get even better. He needed to be good enough to protect Hazel from anything, from spiders(which she was deathly afraid of) to dragons(which also terrified her but for the more obvious reasons). He had already killed more spiders than he could actually count, and he could actually count fairly high, he might not be a bookworm but he had still inherited some of the vast intelligence of his ancestry.

"Well the courtyard would be a good place," She looked him up and down as she was leading him. "You practice your swordsmanship a lot?"

"All the time."

"It shows," The girl brushed her hair behind one of her ears and gave him a sideways look.

"Does it? Good," That means he could intimidate people into not messing with Hazel.

His answer made the serving girl's smile widen, which he found surprising - her face had already looked like it could split at any moment. Why had his statement made her react like that anyway? If didn't have anything to do with her.

After she showed him the courtyard he asked her to show him the library. While he wasn't a bookworm, Hazel enjoyed reading. And anyway, libraries were a good place to look up information. It wouldn't be a bad idea to soak up new information about some of the creatures he might be called upon to fight.

After the library, she showed him where their eating place was as well as where their rooms were. Asrar nodded in satisfaction, his room was right next to his princess's. That would make it easier to protect her.

The whole time she was showing him around she had been chattering. Asrar tuned out most of it, but did learn that she had three brothers and four sisters. Her mother was still alive but her father had died. He also found out her favorite flower and the name of both her first dog and current dog. And that she wanted a horse.

When about two hours were up, he started heading back to where his princess was. The girl walked with him.

"Canst thou answer me something?" He decided to confirm his suspicion. "That man earlier, the one with the king, he is the sorcerer that is in the court, correct?"

"Lord Kaldrek? Yes," The maid blinked. "Why?"

Asrar didn't give her an answer. So his hunch had been correct. He also got the feeling that that sorcerer had realized what it was that he had been hiding for years. He wondered if he could persuade him not to say anything.

"Well, if you ever need anything don't hesitate to ask." He found himself feeling sorry for the girl as one of eyes did a small spasm. He hoped she would get that looked at as she seemed like a decent enough sort.

"I thank thee." He gave her a small nod as he turned his attention to waiting on his princess. Thankfully it did not seem that she had needed him while he was gone.