The next morning Will was awoken to a hand on his shoulder. Not fully awake and acting only on instinct and training he grabbed the hand and rolled, using all of his considerable muscle and mass to roll into the body of the person who had grabbed him. When his mind finally caught up to his reflexes, Will found himself straddling a person with one hand on their chest, the other cocked back in a fist ready to deliver a downward strike. 

“I’m sorry!” A panicked voice said from the person below him. 

Will noticed several things at once, firstly that his hand was on a very well endowed and supple chest, secondly that the face of the woman beneath him was of Elvish ancestry, and thirdly that the woman seemed to be wearing what he recognized as a maids outfit.

Will jumped to his feet and took his hand from where it had been resting. “I am so sorry.” He offered his hand to the young woman.

“It’s fine.” She said blushing red and accepting his hand.

Will pulled her to her feet. “Truly, I apologize and ask forgiveness for my…transgression.” Will said in Elvish blushing his shade of red as he gestured to her bodice that was slightly disheveled, trying to fumble his way through the apology.

“You speak Elvish?” The woman responded in the same language turning away to fix her dress top. 

“Yes, my grandmother forced me to learn it, along with several other languages.” Will said looking anywhere but the maid.

“Well, it is good to hear my native tongue.” She said turning back to Will. “I accept your apologies. My name is Ilvara,” she had switched back to common at this point and gave Will a curtsy, “I have been assigned to see to your needs as long as you remain in the castle.” 

“Ah, well thank you Ilvara. You did not need to wake me though.” Will said, realizing that he had yet put on his pants and shirt. He quickly moved to his clothes, folded neatly near the head of the bed. 

Ilvara saw what he was moving for and moved as if to help. “Oh, I’m good Ilvara, thank you though. Never really understood the idea of someone needing help getting dressed. And just out of curiosity why did you wake me?” 

“Oh! Yes, I did have a reason. The King has asked that you join him for breakfast. 

“Alrighty then,” Will said finishing lacing his pants and pulling on his shirt, “and just in case you have to wake me again, I wake up pretty quickly if you simply call my name at a normal level. I don’t want to repeat the earlier… mistake.” Will and Ilvara both blushed, and she nodded leaving to show Will to where the King was dining. 

Will sat down across from a young man who looked at will like he was glowing with divine light. “Ah, Will,” the King said looking up from his plate, and a pile of papers that rested on the table next to it, “this is the First Prince of Kolt, and my eldest son, Kale.” 

“Will, I just wanted to say that I am sorry for your loss and if you ever need anything from me do not hesitate to ask.” Kale said, bowing his head to Will as Ilvara placed a plate of food on the table in front of Will. 

“Thank you.” Will said as the young man finished the eggs that were on his plate.

“Very well, Will, Father, I will be off now.” Kale said standing and bowing to the two of them before he departed. 

“He seems like a good person.” Will said unsure of how he should interact with the King after the revelations that changed one of his driving goals, namely to kill the King.

“He is,” The King said, looking up from his plate once more, “ever since your father’s rescue of him, and his subsequent death, Kale has trained with the guard daily to ensure that if he is ever in a position like that again, he can do more to assist. He blames himself for the death of your father. But enough of that, I wanted to speak to you about what we spoke of last night, ask you some other questions, and answer any questions you might have.” 

“Okay.” Will said, still trying to figure out what he should call the King, as parts of him still refused to call him ‘your highness.’ Just then Princess Ilicia and The Queen came in and sat down.

“Morning Father, Will.” Ilicia said, and the Queen nodded to Will and then gave her husband a quick kiss on the cheek.

“Morning.” The King and Will said in almost perfect unison. 

“Now, as I was saying I have some questions for you, and I’m sure that you have some for me.” The king said as more servants and maids appeared with food for The Queen and Ilicia.

“Yes, um could I ask the first question?” Will asked.

“Of course, go ahead, Will.” The King said.  

“You said that my father came to visit you frequently. How did I never know that the two of you were friends?” Will asked.

“Well, that can be answered with a couple of reasons. But firstly I assume that you are roughly nineteen years old?” The King asked, intonating that this was pertinent to the question.

“Twenty, actually.” Will said.

The King nodded. “I assume that your father sent you away to live with your grandparents when you were around fifteen or fourteen?” 

Will nodded and the King continued speaking. “When your father married your mother, and before you ask I know very little of your mother or how the two of them met, he stopped coming by as often, and the day after you were born he stopped by and  said that it would be several years before we saw him again.” 

Will was listening intently, he knew little of his father’s history here in Kolt but he knew the reasons that The King did not know about his mother. “It was as he said, seven years passed before we saw Brock again, though it was not for good news. That night he told me that his wife had passed and that he would be unable to do the things he had wished, one such thing was bringing you here to meet me. He said that if an emergency ever arrived I could contact him but that other than that he was retired, and his entire energy would be devoted to raising you. He did tell me a little of you, said that at seven years old you could probably best a young knight.” 

Will chuckled. “That was probably true, many of my oldest memories are of training with my father. To hear him tell it, from the moment I took my first steps he started training me, and I would mimic him going through his daily training.” 

“Somehow that does not surprise me well several years later, you were sent to live with your grandparents, and Brock came to visit. After the typical reunion of friends, he and I sat drinking, and he told me something,” the King said looking as if he were reliving the moment, “He said that he had given you everything that he could. That you could best him in several fields and it was only a matter of time before you surpassed him in all fields. He said that he had sent you somewhere where you could learn even more when I pressed him he would only say that it was your mother’s parents who would be teaching you.” 

“I remember that day vividly,” Will said, his emotions threatening to get the better of him, “Dad had told me that it was a day of testing. We fought from sunup to sundown, one match after another, each in a different style, some with weapons, others with only our bare hands. At the end of the day, I had won twenty-seven matches and lost twenty-two. My father had simply smiled, given me a sword and a pack, and sent me on my way to see my grandparents. I remember it so well because it was the last time I ever saw my father.” 

The King was silent for a moment. Mostly because he could see that Will was emotional, but also out of shock, he had assumed that his friend had been exaggerating about his friend. He knew that Will would be well trained and probably one of the best in the kingdom, but the idea that someone had fought for a full day against Brock, the undisputed best in the kingdom, and come out ahead still seemed impossible to him. 

The King shook his head and then continued. “Yes, so I would assume that the reason that you did not know about me or my friendship with Brock was simply because, to him, you were far more important, and he put you first. Now if I could ask a question, in continuation of my thoughts yesterday, I do intend to do everything that I can to make good on the promise that I made your father, and to of course grant you a reward for saving Ilicia. So my question is this, what can I do for you?” 

Will composed himself. “Honestly, I don’t know, I won’t lie, a large part of my plan in coming here revolved around finding a way to kill you and every wizard in the city.” Will noticed the single guard, not Sir Balefor, in the room pale noticeably at this. 

“I imagine it did, though I have to ask, you had a prime opportunity to kill not only my daughter but also Alkard. Why did you not take it.” The King asked, his tone indicating that he genuinely wanted to know.

Will grew uncomfortable, he knew why but had hoped he would not have to admit it in front of the Princess. “Um, being totally honest? At first, I was just helping a stranger on my way to the festival. But after I saw her, I thought that she was quite attractive. So when the guards came and made me realize that she was a Royal, I had some very conflicting emotions. And as far as Alkard, I did not think that killing him outright would have been very conducive to my plan.” 

The Princess looked up as he spoke, and blushed slightly when he said that he found her attractive. She would never say it out loud as brashly as Will had, but she had decided in the festival that Will was indeed an attractive man.

“Ha!” The King chortled in glee. “So I guess no matter how well trained, men will always be men.” 

Will had to chuckle at that as well. “Though I do have a question for you Princess.” Will said.

“Yes?” Ilicia said setting aside her fork, and wiping her mouth with a napkin. 

“How did you even get into that situation?” Will asked.

“Ah,” The Princess said, her cheeks glowing brightly with embarrassment, “well to be quite honest, I snuck away from my guards, and went down the alley looking for something to hide my face so that I could enjoy the festival as anyone else, and not as ‘The Princess.’ While I was searching, those three that you first encountered around me came down the alley and you can imagine what they suggested.” 

The King and Queen both looked frustrated, and Will had to chuckle. “I take it that this is a fairly common occurrence?” Will asked the King quietly and he nodded. Ilicia was receiving a quiet reprimanding from her mother on the other end of the table. 

“Anyways,” Will said clearing his throat.

But before he continued, The King asked another question. “Might I ask what was your plan, at least so far as you had developed it, for killing me?” 

“I’m sorry?” Will said genuinely stunned. The guard in the room had perked up at this as well. 

“Well, call it morbid curiosity, but I always used to ask your father how he would get into the castle to kill me. I don’t want to die mind you, but it was always fascinating how your father’s mind worked. And now I am genuinely curious how you would do, I wonder if you have the same flair for it as your father did.” The King said sounding genuinely happy. 

Will shrugged and laid out everything he had figured out. The loose window grates on the ground floor, which gardeners could be bribed, he had tried to bribe most of the guards but they were stoic in their refusal. 

“That was you!?” The guard asked loudly.

“Yeah, I’m pretty good with disguises.” Will said with a smile.

“I never would have known.” The guard said. 

Will continued, laying out elaborate designs about every option he come up with. Strangulation, poison, fire, acid, and countless others. “It all depended on getting into the castle though.” 

“And how did you plan on that?” The King asked sounding excited. Will noticed that the Queen and Princess had both gone quiet listening to his detailed plan for assassination. 

“I thought of several methods, I even scaled the walls a couple of nights to try and make my way through the courtyards to get inside. But the guards were too good, I had to leave unsuccessfully every time. So I finally determined that the easiest method would be to get a job in the castle.” Will said with a shrug. 

The King nodded and then gave a meaningful look to the guard that was in the room. Will had thought as much but this confirmed that The King would have the issues in his security that he mentioned fixed by the end of the day. “Get a job in the castle, hmm.” The King seemed deep in thought. 

“Will, I have a proposition for you. To reward you for saving my daughter and to start on making good on my promise, let me offer you a job.” The King said after a moment. 

“I don’t think that I would be suited, I was driven by rage and would have taken any job available, but the only one that I would be interested in now is as a guard, but since they have to work in close proximity to the court wizards, I don’t think I could do it for long.” Will said trying to politely decline the offer.

“Well, before you reject me completely, hear me out.” The King said. “There used to exist a position, many, many years ago, in the time of my grandfather I believe, that was handpicked by the King. It has not been in use for some time now for one simple reason, Ilicia is the first Princess of the Kolt Royal family in two generations. The position was usually filled by the captain of the guard, or someone else that the King trusted.” 

The Princess had perked up at this and was listening intently with as much curiosity as Will was. Neither of them had heard of such a position in the castle staff before. The King continued. “The duties of this position were simple, to protect the Princess, and be her constant companion. As I have it Princesses tend to be a security problem for all their fathers.” The King cast a meaningful, yet playful, glare at his daughter. 

“Regardless, the way that this position has worked in the past is that the princess agrees to take this person with them at all times, even if she sneaks out to see a man or to do anything else. In exchange, this person is exempt from reporting to anyone what the princess does. However, if the Princess leaves this person behind to go off on some adventure, the one who fills this position is honor-bound to report everything that the princess has done during his time in the position.” 

Will thought about this for a moment before the King continued talking. “The position also came with special permissions, good pay, and quarters adjoining to the Princess’s so that she can easily notify him of a need for his accompaniment. You would also report only to the Princess.” 

“So essentially, I would be the private bodyguard of the Princess, beholden to no one other than her, and only required to report to you if she were to vanish?” Will asked, making sure that he understood at least the general idea of what the King was suggesting. 

“Yes.” The King said and then turned to his daughter. “I will only offer this officially if this is something that you agree to as well Ilicia. If I offer and if Will accepts, can you swear that no matter what you are going to do, sneaking out, running away for a week, anything, you will take him with you?” 

Ilicia looked from her father to Will, her eyes seeming to seek something from him, and then back to her father. “If Will were to accept the position, this is something that I could agree to.” She said with a confidence in her voice that seemed strange to Will.

“So, Will,” The King said turning back to him, “I am offering this job to you. Do you want it?” 

Will’s mind was spinning at a million miles an hour. He wanted to leave to hunt down Viltar, but he also knew that even if he left now, he had no idea where to begin. “I will on three conditions.” 

The King nodded. “I assumed you would have at least two.” 

“First,” Will said laying them out in his mind as he spoke, “if any information on the location of Viltar is discovered and it is proven to be reliable, I will be permitted to leave and hunt him with no penalty, if when I return you allow me to continue in the position I will, but if not I understand.” 

“I assumed as much, granted.” The King said nodding.

“Second, and this one is for the Princess,” Will said turning to the young woman, “you will promise that for two hours every day you will not make me leave the training grounds so that I can keep up on my training.” 

“So for two hours a day, you want me to sit in the training yard?” Ilicia asked.

“I’ll teach you to fight if you want, or yes just sit there. Two hours though, that is the bare minimum that I can train and maintain my skill level.” Will said, nodding,  wanting to make sure that he maintained his skills in the event that information on Viltar arrived. 

“Very well,” the Princess said with a nod of her own, “I can do that.” 

“And thirdly,” Will turned back to the King, “I request that the Princess and I both be granted rooms on the first floor, or even better yet ones that are on the outer wall of the castle with their own entrance. If her sneaking away is a common thing, minimizing the risk of exiting the castle is an easy step to assure her safety.” 

“That…” The King said thoughtfully, tapping his chin in thought for a moment. “That is an excellent point, I will guarantee rooms on the first floor, and see what I can do about the second half of that. Is that acceptable?” 

“Yes, I accept the position.” Will said with a smile. 

The King stood and offered his hand to Will. Will shook his hand with a firm grip.

“Very well!” The King said with a smile. “Will Garrow, I hereby name you The Princess’s Man!”