Not-So-Angelic Guardian

"I will have time for fun when I do not have to work. As for now, I have my duties and my plans, and will stick to them as such. If this is so much of a problem, I suggest hiring a jester instead of a sellsword."
Though he tried to remain professional, every man has his limits. Richard did not want to have to keep answering to Kieara's tedious questions, and just wanted to get on with being shown around. Whether she had friends or not was no concern of his - he was hired to do a job. He was going to do it, and hopefully, be paid. That was it.
 
She sighed and dropped it for now. However, she was determined still to get him to enjoy himself here. She took him to the library. "This is the library." she said. It was huge with rows upon rows of books. "Anything you could want to read about waits in these shelves."
 
While trumped by real experience, battle theory was invaluable as well. As was knowledge of herbs, animal physiology, what you could and couldn't eat in the wild, and other such things that allowed for survival in the wilds. Though he did not engage in reading stories about any such frivolous things as knights in shining armour on faithful steeds, he did find something resembling enjoyment in formulating strategies and battle plans, though it was more in the sense that he found it passed the time - not that he enjoyed it.
Richard nodded, and looked to Kieara, awaiting further directions.
 
Kieara sighed at his simple nod, then she lead him on. She showed him the kitchen and dining room, then the hall of the maids quarters, and the knights quarters, even though he was supposed to stay with her at all times. Then she showed him to the ballroom. After that, it was time to head outside. "Next is the gardens." She smiled. "They're my favorite."
 
The gardens... The big, open, gardens, with bushes and hedges big enough to hide a man. And you're going out there. YOU MORONIC LITTLE-
In an instinctive reaction, Richard moved to walk ahead of Kieara, though only slightly - he still followed her, but he was in position to push her out of the way, should trouble occur. He expected something to happen in the gardens - he wasn't quite sure what, but he didn't like the princess being exposed from so many angles, to potential threats. He wished he'd brought his shield, but it was too late for that - people would get suspicious if he headed back to the armoury.
 
"I love flowers of all kinds. Do you like flowers?" She asked him as they walked. "Though I must say that firelilies are my favorite." She told him. She showed him what they looked like and to a gazebo in the center. "Daddy often sends me out here to meet with people and to have lunch with important people."
 
Nodding in acknowledgement, Richard stepped closer to Kiera, so he was standing in front of her - not significantly, but enough to allow for a swift reaction. He knew something was up. It was a gut feeling, but he never doubted his gut feelings. On more than one occasion, they had saved his life, and he wasn't about to shun them now. If a blade came out of nowhere, his hand would push Kieara to the floor before the projectile did.
 
She spoke. "Are you alright?" She asked noticing he was extra tense. She didn't know what was going on but he wasn giving her a bad feeling.
 
"It's fine. I'm just doing my job."
If she was concerned about him being tense, then he supposed that she did not understand the purpose of a bodyguard. That they were supposed to, well, guard. He needed to keep himself alert, not relax and allow a potential killer to slit her throat while he wasn't looking. So far, he thought the situation to not particularly in his favour. The princess was not accustomed to the harshness of the real world, so it seemed - further evidenced by how she blatantly put her cleavage and figure on display. He swore he saw a few servant peeking down her dress, but he had neither the time nor the reason to walk around with a gown like that, then it was her choice, not his. He was hired to be her protector, not her father.
 
Kieara just wasn't used to being around someone so tense all the time. In all honesty, the royal gaurd wasn't so uptight as him. There was an archer that had a bag of golden coins in his pocket bearing the mark of the mint from the royal treasury in a tree nearby. He had an arrow pulled back and was taking aim.
 
Unnatural metallic glint in the tree. High chance of it being an arrow, higher chance of it being aimed at the princess. Logical course of action is to get princess out of firing range, and to apprehend the potential assassin.
Almost instantaneously, the thought process had finished, and Richard took action. A nearby stone was hurled in the direction of the archer - it had no chance of actually hitting him, but it was enough to show that he knew he was there. Richard had been a mercenary for years - if he didn't learn how to pick up on the glint of the sun on an arrow, then something was wrong. Stepping in front of the princess, he tensed, knowing that he was not the main target. If he was shot, by the time he had let loose the arrow and reloaded, the princess would have - hopefully - fled.
 
Kieara froze as he did all this. She stayed behind him a bit scared. "W-who's there, what's going on?" she asked him. The archer stayed still hoping to convince him that he'd only thought he saw something. He was well hidden in the leaves, perhaps a raven had plucked something shiny from the ground somewhere.
 
Richard had not survived as long as he did by thinking everything was a bird - he'd seen too many men fall because they didn't see something coming. He was forced to always be on guard, to stand between the client and danger. If that was an archer, then he was doing his job. If not, then it hardly mattered.
"A potential assassin, princess. I politely request that you return inside for now."
 
Kieara listened to him and nodded. "O-ok..." she said nervously and turned quickly heading to go inside the castle. The archer wasn't giving up however, he drew an arrow and released it as she fled catching the tail of her dress and knocking her down, then he drew another.
 
Grunting with frustration, Richard stood defiantly in front of Kieara, after having torn the arrow from her dress. It had been done carelessly, seeing as he had no time to waste - he was more concerned over whether someone was going to be shot or not. He stood, his sword drawn, held defensively - it wasn't exactly a shield, but it blocked arrows a lot more effectively than his flesh.
 
His eyes narrowed. He wasn't payed for two bodies, and he wasn't going to get stiffed out of the pay for two by the king, so he didn't want to kill this man, just the princess. He waited to think out his next move. Kieara stayed behind him now not daring to head to the castle.
 
"Get back! He's only got time to shoot one of us, and he can't shoot you from that angle, not while I'm here!"
Richard issued the order, not daring to take his eyes off of the arrow - the only sign the archer was there. If it wasn't he would be invisible once more, and Richard would be forced to rely upon his predictive skills and mind's eye. And this would never be enough.
 
Kieara did as she was asked to do. The archer decided he'd have to be manuverable. He moved in a flash jumping through the trees. Kieara gasped and ran towards the door of the castle. She hoped Richard knew what he was doing.
 
Though not able to pinpoint the location of his foe, Richard was still able to detect roughly where his foe was, by the rustling in the trees. Just as fast as his adversary, he sprung into action, shielding Kieara as best he could. He knew his chances of offering full protection were slim, but he needed to try.
 
Soon he saw he wasn't getting anywhere from the trees and hopped down drawing a sword of his own. Kieara made it inside the door, she turned though looking for richard.
 
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