Peasant's POV I looked back at Feliks, and his horrified expression. He had not expected this, and I knew it anyway. I shrunk back, moving from the aggressor’s path.

“Smart man, alright little prince, come here, your bounty’s bound to feed me for the next year!”

The odd, menacing man slowly walked over to the boy, and grabbed him up by the scruff of his furs, like a little pup.

“Don’t bite now, nothing said I had to deliver you all in one piece.” He got right in Prince Feliks’ face as he spoke, completely indulging himself in making a show, but for the prince, or me, I did not know. I would not find out.

Just as he became distracted, I mustered the greatest strength I could and launched myself at the man’s back. As my arm gripped about his chest and my thighs entangled themselves in his legs, I dug my teeth as deep and far across his neck as I could and tore through.

The two of us were sent tumbling along together, and my teeth held on. The bandit’s sword was knocked from his hand, sliding across the snow. The prince was dropped with yet another yelp, and he fell into his now usual bundle of furs. 

I ended up on top of the surprised and panicking bandit. His eyes were wide in shock. “Why you…!”

He reached for his sword but I was first to act, clawing my hand across his face and pummeling it as hard as I could. Bite after bite I continued at his neck as the taste of blood filled my mouth and flesh caught between my teeth.

It was gruesome, yet I felt no disgust. No revulsion filled me. I wanted to puke, but no, a part of me wished that I wanted to puke. This felt almost natural to me, and that sent a shiver through me.

The man cried and screamed in pain, filling the silent woods with his voice. I felt the prince’s eyes on me, though I could not see him. The bandit was truly panicking, feeling as his life slipped away.

He could not speak anymore, and instead gurgles came from his parting lips, “Augh… gragh! Sta-augh!”

There was no sense to them, but the intent was delivered clearly. Even if I offered mercy now there was no chance he would survive. His airway was torn and open to the air and only blood would fill his lungs again.

Soon, the spasms and struggles of the man began to fade and slowly came to a stop, and I found myself spitting up the blood of the dead man underneath me. His face and neck were a horrifying mess, and finally a small pang of disgust entered my heart, and I heaved a few times, though with no food filling my stomach, a dry pain rose in my throat. 

Still my limbs throbbed, at least. Each had their own injuries, and soon I felt I might pass out from the blood dripping from both my leg and my gutted arm.

Slowly again, I rose to my feet, or at least my remaining one. I wobbled over to the prince, “Sorry Your Highness, but I didn’t really see another way around this.”

However, contrary to my expectations, the young royal bundle rushed my body and attached himself to my leg. “Thank you for saving me.”

I sighed in relief. I had assumed I might be condemned to death by the young royal, though it seemed I was safe for now.

“The sounds of battle have stopped,” I noticed. There was no more yelling, and the clashing of metal had long faded away. I tried to take a step towards the road again, but almost fell on my face.

The prince hurriedly rushed by me and did his best to hold me up, and I wrapped my good arm over his shoulder, placing the burden of my weight on him. “Thank you, Prince Feliks. I apologize for the inconvenience of my crippledness.” 

He didn’t seem to know if I was serious or not, and he did not look at my face to confirm. In fact, I came to understand why. I felt the warm sensation of blood staining most of my face. It probably still stained my teeth.

It was silent for a brief moment before the prince spoke, “I won’t tell them anything. About what you are.”

I paused, frozen for a moment. “What do you mean? What I am? What?” The flurry of questions left my mouth before I could think.

“Stranger, you don’t have to pretend, I saw—”

Before he could finish, the temperature dropped severely and many crystals of ice surrounded me, floating in the air.

“Feliks, step away from him immediately!” The queen showed herself, her hands surrounded in a frosty mist and weaved signs through the air as the crystals threatened to pierce hundreds of holes through me.

But Prince Feliks didn’t move. Instead, he stood in front of me, and his lack of support almost sent me tumbling for the hundredth time that day, but I managed to stand.

“Stop sister! He saved my life!”

The queen’s cold expression twitched for a moment. “Step away from him. If he’s forcing you, he will be dead before he tries to hurt a hair upon your body. Now hurry!”

I soon saw that Andrei was missing. Despite how illogical it seemed, Andrei was probably somewhere close by, waiting for the right moment to dispatch me. I lifted my one good hand up in surrender, though the atmosphere did not change. 

It was a standoff, and my life was just hanging in the balance.

Time seemed frozen as the standoff continued. Both the prince and the queen did not back off. “Move Feliks. I can’t guarantee you won’t end up with a few scratches if you continue to ignore my commands.”

He was adamant, and stubborn, as to be expected from a young boy. And a prince at that. “I don’t care! This isn’t right, why do you want to kill him so badly!”

The queen shook her head slowly, “You’re too naive. He can’t be trusted. Maybe this time the peasant saved you, but you trust him far too much, and far too easily. When you least expect it, he’ll stab you in the back. Look at his face. An animal is what he is. It’s best we rid ourselves of him now. You don’t mind, do you, Peasant? It’s for the prince’s sake.”

I said nothing. There was probably nothing I could say to change her mind anyways. ‘Stubbornness runs in the family after all.’

“I asked you a question, Peasant.”

Though she had saved my life, I wondered why that was. Would she so easily kill the person she had insisted upon saving just a day ago? Perhaps she was testing me.

I did perhaps the least reasonable thing there was. I pushed the young prince away from me and slowly dropped to a knee, bowing my head, “If you wish to kill me, I will not object. I cannot object. You want to protect your family.

“But, if you spare me, I, Peasant, offer you and yours all the protection I can afford.”

She scoffed, her cold dead eyes resting with a weight upon my bowed head. “Is this a joke, Peasant? A cripple, offering to protect royalty? What protection can your few limbs offer?” 

Though her tone was even, I felt the prick of the ice crystals. My skin was slowly frosting over. Any longer and the damage might be permanent.

“This Peasant has not disappointed so far, as the prince has offered. Once you see that my usefulness is gone, I shall give my life without complaint.”

She let out the swiftest of chuckles, amused. “Very well, I’ll allow you your life for now. But I will hold you to those words, Peasant.”

She turned away and the sharp crystals of ice dissipated into snow as the frost faded from my body and Prince Feliks returned to my side to help me up again.

“Again, thank you, Your Highness.”

“We’ll call it even.” He wore a proud smile as he spoke. 

From ahead, the still neutral voice of the queen drifted back, “Since you’re already accustomed to it, I expect no issue with your name now, yes?”

I already knew what she meant, but I didn’t intend to cause any more trouble. “Of course, Your Majesty.”

“Good, Peasant.”

She disappeared from view, easily outpacing us, given my condition.

From behind, a hulking figure’s shadow went over and past us. Andrei made his way without a word. As I had expected, he had been lying in wait somewhere. There was no way I would have made it out of there even if I tried my very hardest.

Soon the overturned wagon came into view, lacking horses as well. 

“We’ll be on foot from now on…” The queen drifted off as she looked back, and her annoyance showed on her face as she looked at my missing foot. 

I looked around, ignoring her gaze for a moment as I saw the corpses littering the ground. They all had various gear that would prove useful. 

I moved from Prince Feliks’ side and began looting the corpses, “Though I lack limbs, my mind remains intact. I will need only a moment, Your Majesty.”

She said nothing, and I again could feel her observing me. First I strapped a sword to my side and began outfitting myself in leather and steel. Pauldrons over my shoulders, and a gauntlet over my left arm. The armor was lined with fur, luckily. I also adorned myself with a cloak.

“Do you all mind… if I have a moment of privacy?” I turned to the three pairs of eyes that watched me curiously. However, only Prince Feliks averted his gaze. The other two did not dare take their eyes off me.

Though embarrassed somewhat, I gave in and changed out my torn pants for a new set of much warmer pants, accompanied by a right boot. However, I was not finished there. 

First I tore the padding from the other boot I had found, and then took a leather bracer from another body. Using the knitting from one bracer, I began to use terribly opened holes in the passing to sew a bracer to the padding before taking a stake of wood from the carriage wreckage and twisting it into the thick layer of padding, but I found it would not hold fast.

“May I ask why you are delaying us this much, Peasant?” The queen cleared her throat and took a step to peer over my shoulder.

“It is a prosthetic for my leg.”

“A prosthetic? From all these scraps? Impossible.”

“Not entirely, if you would indulge me, perhaps your ice could aid me in this last endeavor?” I held up the really poor pegleg, gesturing to where the wooden peg was being held to the padded bracer.

She squinted her eyes before releasing a sigh. With a simple wave of her hand, ice encased the contact point and held the construct tightly together.

“I appreciate your benevolence, Your Majesty.” Though perhaps she had detected a hint of sarcasm in my words, as she glared at me before gesturing for me to continue.

With that finished, I ran a belt around the bracer and finally fit my leg into it. I used the knitting to tighten it, and the belt secured it further, as well as allowed me to run a few more belts up to my waist, to make sure my entire leg held the prosthetic on.

The queen huffed, “It seems you are a bit more resourceful than expected. You have my reluctant congratulations, now may we finally continue?”

I nodded, standing up and testing the pegleg. My balance felt better than having two different length lower limbs, but it was nowhere near as good as if I still had my foot. Though the memories of when I had it were gone, I knew this well.

“It will do.” I commented to myself, before observing as the queen and Andrei began sorting through the baggage that had been tossed about by the wagon.

Feliks meanwhile, continued to stand by my side. It seemed he had grown far more comfortable with me.

“How did you know how to make that?” He asked me, curiosity filling his twinkling eyes beneath his blonde hair.

The question caught me off guard. The truth was, I didn’t know how I knew. It just made sense to me. “I have no idea, quite frankly, Prince Feliks. I just did it.”

He made a small noise, and a thinking look spread across his face, “Maybe you were an engineer before all of this. I think only the finest engineers could have made something like that with such ease!” 

He seemed impressed, and that brought a bit of pride in my heart, as well as some comfort. “You may be right.” 

We smiled at each other before looking back to the others.

My jaw nearly dropped at the sight before me. The queen had outfitted herself in a shining silver suit of armor. From her eloquent winter dress and delicate appearance she had transformed into a veteran warrior. Large pauldrons now adorned her once small shoulders. Her hands were wrapped in beautifully patterned steel up to her elbow. Her boots had been replaced by heavy greaves. 

The skirt of her robes were now replaced by padded pants with steel woven to the hips. Lastly, across her torso was a beautifully crafted chestplate. It all looked very heavy, and though her movement seemed to be restricted by her armor, her gracefulness had not faded one bit.

I finally blinked away my surprise and she smirked in my direction. “It’s rude to stare so disgracefully at royalty, Peasant. I hope you do not make the mistake again.”

I swallowed and looked away, where Prince Feliks was smiling at me apologetically, shrugging.

Andrei had now wrapped a heavy pack about his back and carried a few more weapons than he had before, looking even more menacing than before.

A thought struck my mind like a stone to my head, as I looked between the prince and the queen.

‘Even though they’re nothing alike, they’re royalty, no doubt.’

Royalty was beautiful, and proud. The blue orbs beneath the blonde hair of the prince glowed at all times, even when frightened for his life. Even amongst others sharing his colors, he would stand out.

Still a young boy, he had a regal presence. Despite how kind he had acted to me, a stranger, his shoulders never rolled past his chest, and his back never arched. His head was held high, chin facing the horizon with determination.

The queen was no different, if anything, more demanding in presence. In her armor she looked a force to be reckoned with. ‘I wonder how many times she’s had to wear that armor.’

Silver-white hair was braided tightly and hung like a silk whip behind her head, where her now adorned helmet allowed it to fall. The plume matched the hair, a brilliant shade of the wintery color, standing far above her head.

True warriors surrounded me, and put my ramshackle, mismatched outfit to shame. Not to mention the lack of an entire fighting limb, but if I became disheartened at every reminder of that fact, the journey would be long and hard indeed.

As if reading my thoughts, Prince Feliks spoke up, “Don’t worry! I’m sure you’ll still find some way to help us out. Fighting isn’t the scariest thing in the wilderness after all.”

Despite the somewhat ominous reassurance, the prince was smiling, “And once we get to the Alliance Embassy, I can introduce you to my older brother’s.” His voice fell to a whisper, “They’re a lot nicer than Kira.” He gestured to the queen.

‘Kira? So that was her name.’