We Were Born To Lose

“Dear?” A soft voice cooed and a hand touched my arm. I breathed in and opened my eyes. Mom’s kind face was looking down at me. I could get used to waking up this way instead of being kicked.
“Thanks.” I mumbled, sitting up.
“No problem sweetie. Come to my chambers and eat breakfast. Matt is down there and I’ve got to go wake up Alice, Cass, and Daniel.” Then she walked out of the door. I got ready quickly and slipped out of my room. I was on the way down the stairs when a knight came into view. My breath hitched in my throat and I envisioned him beating me to death. I latched my eyes to the ground and didn’t dare look at his face. My plan was to slip past him and get breakfast, but no.
“Hey.” He said. I didn’t look up but I shifted my body to face him. “Are you the Prince’s new servant?” He asked. I nodded. “Speak up.”
“Y-yes.” I said in a voice just above a whisper.
“The cook said that his breakfast will be done in ten and you can take it up to him.” He said casually.
“Oh, okay.” I said.
“Look up, kid.” He laughed. I slowly shifted my gaze up into his kind eyes. He was big and muscular with a sharp jaw and brown eyes. “I’m Sir Merrick. Don’t be scared of us knights, we look scary but honestly if you bring us a pastry from the kitchen, we will be your best friend.” He said with a playful wink. A little smiled played at my lips. “Yes Sire.” I said. He turned and walked up two stairs before calling after me again.
“Hey.”
I looked up at him.
“Don’t tell Alex okay?” He asked, another person who called him Alex.
“No worries.” I smiled.
“Good. Now go grab your breakfast.” He smiled. I nodded and skipped down the stairs. I opened the door and sure enough, Matt was there.
“Hey.” He greeted.
“Hi.” I said, spotting a pot of oatmeal and a stack of bowls with spoons next to it. I grabbed my breakfast and sat in front of Matt. After chatting, I asked, “Who’s servant are you?” I asked.
“Sir Merrick’s.” He said before shoveling a spoonful in his mouth.
“Really? I just met him.” I said, taking a bite.
“He’s great isn’t he? He let’s me get away with a lot.” Matt laughed. I chuckled too.
“Don’t worry about the Prince, He might not be as loose as Sir Merrick is, though few are, he’s still a fair master. His old servant was always treated right.” He said.
“What happened to him?” I asked. Matt’s face grew dim.
“He fell ill. He died very slowly and painfully. He wanted the Prince to go ahead and kill him to end his suffering but he wouldn’t. He said that the day he kills one of his own is the day he is no longer worth of the crown.”
“Oh.” I said, astounded by the Prince’s honor. Just then the girls and David walked in.
“Hello my servants.” Alice greeted.
“Hello my Lady. Thank you for gracing us with your presence.” Matt said in a dramatic tone, bowing low and kissing her hand. We laughed and they sat at the table with their bowls. We talked and I found out that Cass was the servant to Sir Rian Dawson, Daniel was the servant to a knight named Sir Dorien and Alice was a servant to Lady Lisa Gaskarth, Alex’s sister. As soon as I finished eating, I went to the kitchens and grabbed the Prince’s breakfast and took it up the stairs. I knocked on his door timidly.
“Come in.” Said his voice. I opened the door and saw him practicing sword techniques on the chipped left vertical column at the foot of his four poster bed. “Place it on the table.” He said, ducking an imaginary blow and thrusting his sword into the column. I did as he said and he tossed his sword on the bed. “Did you get breakfast?” He asked.
“Yes sire.” I replied.
“Good. There’s a basket of clothes by my wardrobe which I need you to wash, then you need to come back up here and help me with my armor and we’ll go train.” He said, sitting down and eating.
“‘We’, Sire?” I asked, puzzled.
“Yes ‘we’. You need battle training.” He said. I wasn’t sure how I felt about this. Sure it’ll be great fighting along side with him and the knights, but it will also be very dangerous. He must’ve sensed my unease because he looked up at me with a soft, reassuring expression and said,
“Don’t be afraid. I won’t send you into battle until I know you’re ready.”
I nodded and picked up his basket of clothes and walked down to the kitchen to get a bucket of water and soap to wash them with and also a few pastries. Once I gathered everything, I seated myself outside next to a clothes line which was near the kitchen’s herb garden. When I was done, I wrung them out and hung them to dry. I returned the bucket and skipped back up the stairs. I opened his door after being invited in and saw that he was wearing a faded, red shirt and brown pants with leather boots and a sword on his belt. He opened a trunk at the foot of his bed and pulled out some armor and lay it on the bed. I had no idea how to put armor on so the Prince walked me through it as he put mine on for me, then I helped him with his armor, him only giving guidance when I needed it. I was surprised with how patient he was being as my clumsy fingers clasped things in place. Once we had our armor on, mine was a bit loose since I was so skinny, he grabbed a sword for me and we walked to the field. On the walk to the training yard he said,
“Normally I train my knights at this time but I’m setting aside a few hours to get you trained. When you’re ready, you can start coming with my knights and I when we go on patrols around our lands. Have you had any training whatsoever?”
“No Sire.” I said.
“Great.” He mumbled. I felt ashamed at my inexperience and looked at the ground which was passing under my feet. “No matter though, everyone’s got to start somewhere and better you’ve never held a sword before than you have bad fighting habits.” He reasoned.
“Yes Sire.” I agreed and to my surprise, we walked into the stables.
“You are going to have your own horse. He will belong to you so you are expected to care for it.” He said. My eyes went wide.

My own horse?

He led me to a stall which had a beautiful bay in it with a white stripe down his head.
“Name him what ever you want. Have you ridden?” He asked.
“Yes, Sire” I smiled, holding out my hand to allow the horse to sniff it. He looked for a treat in my palm but when he found nothing, he huffed and dropped his head to eat the hay on the ground. I’d ridden a horse when my old master moved from a town called Albite to Rivguard. It was before he forced me to be a sex slave. I shuddered at the memories. The Prince gave me a questioning look but I ignored it. If he found out, he’d fire me, inprision me, he may even have me killed. I gave my horse one last look and we walked out of the stable.
“Okay first thing you need to learn is defense. I’m going to teach you how to parry. Point your sword at my heart.” I did as he said with some difficulty due to the weight of the sword. “Now watch what I do.” He crossed our swords then brought his sword around mine so that now the tip of his sword was touching my chest and mine was out to the side. I knew that with one movement, I’d be dead. “Now do it to me.” He said. I was quite confused. He just asked me to put him in a position where I’d hold his life in my hands. “Go on, I trust you.” He said. My chest swelled when he said this and I nodded and crossed our swords. I messed up the first two tries but on the third, I got it. “Good. Now let’s speed it up. Do it faster.” We practiced for a while. When we were done, I’d gotten the hang of parrying and other methods of blocking hits, then we moved to footwork. After that, he taught me a few hand to hand fighting techniques and then we stopped when a servant brought us lunch. The Prince invited me inside his tent and out of the hot sun to eat.
“Sire may I ask a question?” I asked.
“You just did but yes.” He replied.
“Why are you teaching me this?” I asked.
“Because being my servant can be dangerous so it’s good to know how to defend yourself, because I’ll be bringing you on patrols and we may get ambushed, and because if I need to go to battle, you will come with me and you can be positive you’ll need to fight there.” He said. I nodded in response.
“So tell me about yourself, Jack.” He said. I froze. He can’t know about the slavery.

Way to go Jack. You’re going to lie to your prince on your first day.

“W-well I was born in Albite and my p-parents died when I was twelve. I lived on the streets for a year being hated by everyone when I met my previous master. He took me in and we move to Rivguard and the second we got there, he turned abusive and would beat me everyday, but you probably don’t care about that.” I rushed, I didn’t want him to pity me. “Anyway, he owned an inn and I had to…Take care of all it’s clients by myself.”

Well, it’s not a total lie.

I looked to his face and was met with a soft expression. I felt my cheeks turn red in shame.
“I’m sorry that happened to you. You didn’t deserve that.” He said.
“Thank you Sire.” I almost whispered.
“You almost done?” He asked. I shoved the last of my sandwich in my mouth and nodded. He laughed when I tried to swallow it all but the bread dried my mouth out so it caused me to cough. He tossed me the water skin and I chugged half of it down. “You done trying to choke yourself?” He asked with a laugh.
“I think so.” I replied, grinning.
“Come on knuckle head.” He said, slapping my knee.

Notes

Title Cred: Migrane by Twenty One Pilots (I had no idea what to put as the title so... yeah)


Are you guys as in love with twenty one pilots as I am? Because I fricking love them.


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