On his walk back to the bedroom, from the dark shadows, a man shouted at Zalair.

The prince turned around in time to see Keigo coming down at him from an over-the-head sword swing. Quickly Zalair jumped backward, avoiding the blade. He watched as Keigo landed and straightened up.

“Don’t daydream around me,” he said, rushing with a horizontal swing.

Zalair stepped quickly with the blade’s swing, not getting hit. “Oh, well then…” He grabbed a candle stand from the hall, swinging to block the next sideswipe. “Pardon me.”

Keigo grunted, swinging left and right, up and down.

The halls filled with clangs and clashes as Zalair parried and blocked all the swings of the sword.

“C’mooon!” Keigo shouted, getting fed up with Zalair’s better maneuvers. “Hold still!”

Clang as the sword met the metal of the stand, their faces going close. “No thanks.” Zalair pushed Keigo back with the force, ducked him and the stand down and spun in a circle. He did it perfectly, missing a sword swipe and hit Keigo’s back leg with the base of the stand, knocking him down.

Zalair rounded himself up, picking up the sword quickly.

Keigo coughed as Zalair suddenly pushed the weight of the candle stand onto his torso. As he opened his eyes though, he saw the gleaming blade of the sword aimed at his head.

“Now, then, are you finished?” Zalair asked.

Keigo glared up at him, “One day, I’ll kill you.”

Zalair’s eyes thinned, pulling back the sword, “Try it. It’ll be the dumbest thing you ever do.”

Keigo snatched the base of the stand off of him and stood up quickly, holding the stand ready to use as a weapon. “Is that supposed to be a threat?”

Zalair rolled his eyes, “Oh please. Just think for a moment what killing me will do for you.” He swung the sword round, slamming its blade into the stone, balancing it up with one hand.

Keigo didn’t fall for the trick. Instead, he just straightened up the stand and turned to walk away.

Zalair huffed, then called clearly to him. “Keigo.”

“What?” Keigo stopped, but didn’t turn to look back.

“Why do you want me dead anyway?”

Keigo shrugged, and started to walk away again. If he had replied, even a soft one, Zalair couldn’t hear it.

He moved to call out to Keigo again, but sighed instead. He looked out a nearby window to the sparkling sun on the castle. Zalair left the sword sitting there and returned to the room to sleep.