Just a Cocky Brat to Grow Up Strong

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Theory

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A mess.
That was basically what was going on in Senna's kingdom.
He was actually the youngest of two princes and quite the cocky one at that.
The boy was trained to fight more than to read because he shunned those lessons in lieu of practicing more.
His temper was as short as the daggers he loved to use and even though his father was a ruthless ruler he saw nothing wrong with his peasants suffering from overtaxing and war on every boarder.

Senna was in his room, just waking up with the interest of getting cleaned up and then off to swordfighting.
He called upon his personal guard who seconded as his helper since he'd driven away his previous five.
The kid's wardrobe was pretty simple, just a bunch of well-fitted shirts and breeches but his father expected him to have his hair brushed and pulled back and everything perfectly clean.
Tch.
He was gonna go play in the dirt with swords! Why get so prissied up. That was his older brothers thing.
Oh well.
Best to make father happy then get on his bad side.

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Upon the call given for his required attendance, the dark-brown haired man came to his younger master's aid.
"You called for me, Senna?" He was always there the moment he was called, having a sort of soft spot of fondness for the boy despite his temper and attitude. Anton stood just inside the room's doorway, a sword sheethed at his side attached to his pants, looking more like a chainmail-less knight than anything else. Considering that all his protective duties were based around Senna, who was more often than not kept safe within the castle grounds, Anton found no reason to be weighed down by heavy armors when all he needed was his sword.

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As soon as Anton showed up Senna had a list of things he wanted him to do but a knock at his door disrupted the kid and bristled his attitude.
"What?!"
The messenger came inside and cleared his throat, holding up a piece of paper to read to the boy.
"It has come to our attention that the peasants in blocks B, F, and G are falling ill and starving from lack of currency to purchase food from the farmers in area A and C. The king was currently busy with other issues and said to pass this information to master Senna for his decision."

The young prince raised a brow and crossed his arms over his chest.
"Why should we pay them for doing nothing?
They should pay us more because we protect them."
Well, that's what his father had taught him, drilled into his head.

"So, I assume master's choice will be to disregard this message?"

Senna rolled his eyes and growled. "Of course. No leave, stop wasting my time."
 
Anton gave a silent but deep sigh as he listened to what the messenger had to say whilst he watched Senna's expression and heard what he had as an answer. Pleasantries between himself and the young prince had been disregarded once Anton had succeeded in staying as Senna's guard for about a month; he'd now lost track of how long he'd been the prince's guard.
"Senna, if you keep ignoring matters like that things will only get worse and you know that the King will blame you." He sighed, a little more obviously this time, before he shook his head and spoke again,
"However, that matter aside, what were your plans for today?"
 
The boy looked up at his guard and pouted.
"I just do as father taught me.
He is the one who is always right."
Unknown to the boy his father was so wrong it was incredible.
In fact, the thing that he was doing was actually escaping before things got fatal.
Yes, the man was leaving his younger son in charge of the entire castle but Senna didn't know that yet.

His father took his older brother and were currently vanishing into the forest a mile away.

"I would like you to carry my bow and arrow down to the archery field within the courtyard."
He couldn't carry them?
Tch, obviously he could but that wasn't his job!
Well, it wasn't his guards job either but he'd been using the man for such things many times before and since he never complained, oh well.
"Let's go" Senna said, heading for the door with nothing in his arms.

There were several peasants starting to gather outside the castle walls...

(going to zzz night)
 
"Yes, I know you do, though you do have a brain of your own to use." Anton knew that his words always fell on deaf ears when he spoke of the boy doing anything for himself in regards to the kingdom. As he was instructed to carry the prince's things, Anton gave him a calm smile as he followed Senna out, though the moment he was within earshot he could hear the unpleasant sounds of what was the beginnings of a mob. He frowned as he became curious as to why they would come to harass Senna instead of the King himself; surely the peasants wouldn't know who was truly meant to be in charge of them? There was something up and Anton wanted to know what it was.
"Perhaps archery isn't a wise choice today, Senna. Something is going on out there and showing yourself to the public might not be the wisest choice." His voice was wary as he moved ahead of Senna to try and see what was going on as they headed in the gate's general direction.
 
The boy stopped abruptly to leer at his guard.
He was no employed to lecture him nor to give advise!
"I can handle myself. If someone tries to bother me I have a bow and arrow and your sword at my disposal."
Moving around the knight he grabbed for his bow and headed straight for the gate.
There were at least twenty or so people there now and as he neared they all seemed to quiet, then put their hands on something beneath frock coats and leather pockets.

"What are you all doing here? This is my father's castle, not yours! Be gone!"

Oh yes, wise little prince was heading right over to the mob, back straight and posture calm.
He saw no danger because everyone 'respected' his dad and thus should respect him as well.
 
Expecting nothing less than the reaction he'd received, Anton gave soft sigh as he allowed Senna to reach for his gear. He then followed the boy closely, standing with a hand resting on the hilt of his sword as the mob was addressed. He watched in silence though wished sometimes he could smack his charge around the head for his lack of thoughtfulness towards the less fortunate; but to Anton he knew that it would no doubt take something like Senna being in their situation to truly understand what was happening.
"Shall we continue?" He asked of the boy quietly, his eyes never leaving the mob before them as he kept an eye on any hints of danger that they may pose.
 
The boy eyed the people, several of which had already taken out blades.
He flinched and took a step back, disgruntled.
"How dare they draw their weapons at me!" The kid growled under his breath.
Senna straightened his shoulders and walked right up to the gate, just out of reach of the others weapons.
"You will all leave! How dare you come here with weapons!!"
Where the heck were the normal guards anyways??
Why was Anton the only one around...
 
The entire situation just felt wrong. Anton frowned as he reached an arm out, carefully pulling Senna back behind him, his own sword now drawn despite the gate acting as a barrier.
"You heard what the Prince said. Get lost, the lot of you!" His voice was somewhat deep, though not to the point that it sounded funny in comparison to his looks as some people's voices did, hard and demanding as he glared at them all. Anton wanted an explanation, but he'd be able to get one, hopefully, if he could drive them away first and talk to other guards later on. Though it was then that he too realised that there should have been some at the gate and yet there were none.
 
The peasants just got angrier and fully brandished their weapons.
Well, crap.
"Yeah?! Your daddy abandoned you, took all the guards and left his little pup son to defend his castle!"

Senna bristled at the accusation and bolted over to the gate.
"You know nothing of my father!! He is at a meeting and will be back to lock you all in the dungeons at his return!!"
The boy swing his body at the swords poking through the gate...not the best idea since it got a few slashes along the oak.
There were many more people gathering by the second and some had brought ladders and rope hooks.
Uh oh...
"A-Anton...?"
 
As the mob said that the King had fled, Anton started to piece together the information, remembering what the messenger had said this morning. Could it all be a trap for the young Prince? He surely hoped not, though he wouldn't doubt it.
"I think perhaps it may be best if we retreat for the moment and figure out what is really going on." He suggested as he pulled Senna away from the gate protectively; just by himself Anton was not enough to fend off all of the angry peasants.
"Please, come with me."
 
The boy was extremely reluctant to go along but he saw more hooks swishing over the top of the wall.
"They can't do that! Where are the guards?!"
His eyes flitted around everywhere to try and locate a single guard besides Anton but nothing.
"This isn't right!"
Yes, he was pissed but it finally clicked that he was in trouble and the boy knew Anton wasn't strong enough to handle all those people, trained or not.
So, hesitantly followed the direction he was tugged, glancing back over his shoulder at people starting to climb down from the castle walls.
What the heck was going on?! Could they have been telling the truth??
 
"We'll figure it out, don't worry." Anton assured as he lead the prince safely inside, going through various corridors that twisted and turned like a maze. Eventually he came to an old library that looked like it had never been used; or at least not in a very long time. He escorted Senna inside, knowing that it would take anyone a long time to find it - if at all.
"We'll be safe in here for a while. I'd like you to stay here and I'll go try and find out if what the peasants said was true. It was strange not to see any other guards around, but this is the first I've noticed anything strange." As much as he didn't really want it to be true that the King had left his youngest son to deal with angry peasant mobs, Anton was pretty sure that it was really happening and he needed to figure out why, and how to fix it. He waited, however, for Senna's agreement or objection to his leaving without him.
 
Senna wasn't happy about being tugged along. In fact, Anton was probably the only person besides his own father that could get away with doing such a thing.
He didn't recognize that passages that were being used because he mainly stayed outside or in his room, the back corridors had never been interesting to him and when they stopped inside the old abandoned library he was even less impressed.
The boy had never been taught books and couldn't read.
He did secretly like being read stories but once his mother, the queen, passed away he had pretended to hate it so he could look grown up in his father's eyes.
When Anton spoke of leaving he was going to object, saying he should stay here and protect him, not go outside and risk being killed before the guards come to take care of the crazy mob.
But the look in his guards eyes had the boy hesitant to give any orders.
So, hesitantly, he nodded, but not before stepping forward and handing his royal sword to the night.
"Take it.
If you fall I am dead either way."
Senna knew he wasn't trained well enough to keep off more then two or three people maximum so his weapon was best used in Anton's hands.
 
The man simply chuckled softly, and even though he took the sword, he then handed it back,
"Keep it, Senna. I've got my own and you'll need it should you decide to leave here before I return and run into any trouble. I won't be long; I know all of the back and secret passages of this place like the back of my hand." Anton explained before ruffling the boy's hair a little with a playful smirk before he headed out of the door and disappeared down another corridor.

It took Anton a while to find any signs of life that weren't peasants. A maid had been what he could only describe as cowering, in a corner of the kitchens. After a brief discussion with the frightened girl he gave her directions for a safe escape before he left and began to search main rooms in hopes he could find any sort of documents that would indicate the King's reasons for his retreat of his own kingdom and perhaps his whereabouts. Unfortunately he had no luck, and could only head back to the library where he'd left Senna.

With little incident, Anton had managed to avoid most of the peasant mob's sight, only being spotted once or twice but never being caught due to his knowledge of the secret passages. Using them more than the normal corridors, he made his way back to the library, tapping on the door,
"Senna. It's Anton."
 
Senna hesitantly closed the door behind Anton.
It was loud and creaked as he shoved it with all of his strength to get it to shut.

While his knight was gone he went back to the shelves and started picking around the books.
It was several minutes later that he took one out that seemed familiar.
It was the book his mother used to read to him all the time when he was a younger boy, before she passed away.
When opening it a small sheet of paper slipped out and fluttered to the floor.
"Hnn?"
Setting the book back on the shelf sideways he ducked down and picked up the small item.
Standing up he unfurled it but frowned, unable to read.
That's when he heard Anton knock on the door and nearly tore the sheet in half from surprise.

The kid quickly ran to the door to pull it open and let the other in.
Once they were shut again he held out the dusty paper to his knight with an expectant look.
"Can't...read it."
It was very small handwriting and not much but it was a very obvious reason to leave behind Senna.
He was an illegitimate child and the paper said if he lived the kingdom would fall.
Perhaps the king left the boy with all the blame so the peasants would kill him and then he will come back to save the kingdom from collapsing.
 
The man slipped into the room only to find himself instantly presented with an old-looking note and blinked. It took him a couple of minutes before he let out a troubled sigh - Anton seemed to sigh, a lot. It was a subconscious action, for the most part. Once he read it over a couple of times to make sure that he was reading correctly, he took a seat on one of the old dusty chairs and looked up at Senna, nearly sadly.
"We need to get out of the castle, Senna. This note left by your mother basically says that your father wants you dead." He paused as he then looked down at the not in his hands that rested on his lap. How had he not noticed all of this happening before now? Anton wanted to kick himself over it, and the pain that he felt he'd failed his job in protecting Senna showed in his eyes, though not on the rest of his face.
 
The boy's face changed abruptly at his knight's words.
"Wh-what?"
Walking over to him he snatched up the paper and squinted at it, trying to understand any kind of word on the sheet.
He eventually picked out his name but that was as far as he managed to get.
"I-I....why? Why would father want to kill me??"
Senna looked really confused and actually scared for once in his life.
"I only ever did what father asked! I-I don't want to die for a reason I don't know!"

Suddenly you could hear voices outside the door in the hallway, whether they figure out the library or not, Cenna didn't want to wait and find out.
Wait...
Anton serves his father as the boy's knight...but...
The kid slowly stepped back a few times, lips pursing as his eyes narrowed slightly.
"Y-you....work for father....."
Oh yes, it was obvious in his eyes that he was now unsure whether to even trust Anton.
In fact, he turned and ran for the back exit of the library, up the dusty stares and through the long isles of shelves.
 
Anton watched the boy as the disbelief and fear became obvious, though he let the prince prattle on without interruption. The man sat there as Senna accused him of working for the King, and though of course he wasn't, he allowed the boy to run off alone - for the moment. Moving as silently as he could, Anton grabbed a metal rod that was used to stoke fires, and placed it in an awkward position at the door that would not quite prevent entry, but would hinder the time it took to get in greatly.

Once that was done, the man followed Senna's choice of escape and headed up the stairs. Once at the shelves, though, he looked around in search of the prince.
"Senna. You needn't worry. You know I only work for you and I couldn't bring myself to hurt you, even if I was ordered to!" He called out, unsure of the boy's location, but he knew that where they were at the moment their voices wouldn't be heard outside of it. Anton sighed softly, mostly in irritation but it also sounded a little sad, as he began to walk the lengths of the shelves, trying to find his charge.
 
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