"Arabian Nights"
Part 34
by Beryll
Viggo wasn't quite able to say what exactly had woken him up. He was vaguely aware of a shadowy figure moving on the bed. Content that it was either Orli or Elijah he was about to drift back to sleep, when a sudden shout brought him to full awareness in the blink of an eye.
"NO!" It was Elijah's voice, filled with dread and panic and anger.
Sitting up and reaching for any kind of weapon simultaneously Viggo tried to make sense of what was happening around him.
The shadowy figure was poised above him for a moment, the gleam of metal in his hand ready to strike. But then Elijah flung himself at the assassin, both of them toppling from the bed in a heap of limbs.
It only took the assassin a moment to fight off Elijah, shoving the boy back violently.
Viggo could hear the pained yelp of Elijah but the boy had given him the time he needed to focus. When the attacker jumped back on the bed, Viggo was ready for him. His fist impacted with the stomach of the assassin hard and the figure fell to his knees with a surprised 'uff'. Viggo did not wait for him to recover.
He grabbed the wrist of the hand still holding the dagger and twisted it till the assassin let go. Somewhere in his mind it registered, that his foe was by far not as strong as he would have expected. Quickly wrestled the assassin down, pressing his face into the bed, one of his arms painfully twisted behind his back.
Only when he was sure the attacker was firmly under control, did he shout: "GUARDS!"
"Elijah? Are you all right?" he then asked worriedly.
A groan answered him, followed by a confused and sleepy Orli asking: "What's happening?"
"Orlando, go and get us some light in here!" Viggo commanded. "And see if Elijah is hurt."
He needn't have bothered as guards rushed into the room, carrying oil lamps, their naked swords and deeply worried expressions. It suddenly dawned on Viggo, that he had been extremely lucky. If Elijah hadn't reacted so fast, he would probably be very dead now.
One look at the boy showed him, that Elijah was sitting on the floor, slightly bleeding from where he had probably hit his head but otherwise unharmed.
"Your Highness, are you all right?" one of the guards asked, quickly stepping up to the bed.
Then Viggo looked down at his attacker for the first time, noticing that it wasn't much more than a boy either, maybe of Orlando's age. He had quit struggling but was still breathing hard.
"I'm fine." Viggo reassured the guards.
"He's alive?" one of the guards exclaimed. "Oh my lord, we've never caught an assassin alive so far. Finally we'll be able to question one to find out who is behind all this."
Orlando had at last sat up next to him, blinking into the sudden light. He was about to scramble off the bed to look after Elijah, when the guards helped Viggo to pull up the assassin without giving him a chance to escape. Orlando's eyes went wide.
"Dominic?" he whispered, his voice filled with awed surprise. "DOMINIC!" he then shouted, ready to hug the other boy, still held prisoner by the guards. Only Viggo's strong arm held him back.
"Orlando?" the assassin asked just as surprised. "You... you're alive?"
Viggo looked from one another, trying to make sense of the exchange.
"Of course I'm alive!" Orlando answered, trying to pull free of Viggo without paying him much attention. "What are you doing here?" Then it finally registered, that guards were holding the other boy and what he had tried to do. "Oh Allah." Orlando stared at the assassin in shock. "Why...?"
Confusion and anger were battling on the face of the other boy. "I thought you were dead! They said the prince had... you were..." He looked at Orlando, clearly noticing that his friend looked quite unharmed, then at Viggo who was slowly starting to understand what must have happened.
Orlando turned to Viggo too, his eyes huge and imploring. "Master... he... he didn't mean that... he didn't know... he's my friend."
"He tried to kill me." Viggo said quietly, fully aware that the boy must have been set up to believe Orlando dead. He had been used. But even knowing this, Viggo couldn't just let him go. Crime had to be punished. And if the boy knew anything about who was behind the assassination attempts on his adopted sister and brother, he would personally torture him to find out.
"Lock him up and make sure he can't escape or kill himself." he told the guards. "But don't touch him! I will personally see to this in the morning."
The guards dragged the young assassin out of their prince's rooms quickly, leaving him alone with Elijah and Orlando.
"Viggo... please..." Orlando took his hand, "he was doing this for me..."
Viggo sighed deeply, rubbing his eyes, then pulled free of Orlando, got up and went over to Elijah.
"Should I get a healer for you?" he asked the boy, who was still looking a bit dazed.
Elijah blinked two times and then managed to focus on Viggo. "I saved your life." he said, sounding rather confused at that fact.
Viggo smiled. "Yes, you did. And I am deeply grateful. It is a debt I shall honor."
That brought a shy blush to Elijah's face.
"It was a brave act indeed." Viggo continued, helping Elijah to his feet and then settling him back onto the bed. "Let me check that wound, little one." He got one of the lamps closer, inspecting the wound. "Get me some water and clean linen." he told Orlando, who obeyed quietly, obviously very scared for his friend.
It didn't take Viggo long to clean the wound and by then it had already stopped bleeding and Elijah had regained his balance.
"Thank you." he said when Viggo was done.
Viggo smiled at him. "I thank you." he replied.
"What... what will happen to the assassin now?" Elijah asked, after exchanging a quick glance with Orlando, who had been sitting on the bed the whole time, worriedly chewing on his lower lip.
"He will be questioned and then punished." Viggo said, sensing silent understanding pass between his two kittens.
"Punishment for attacking a noble is beheading." Elijah said, making Orlando wince.
"Is there nothing you can do to save him?" Orlando implored, scooting closer to Viggo.
Viggo looked from one to the other. "So he can try again?" he asked sarcastically.
"He only tried to avenge Orlando." Elijah pointed out. "I would probably have done the same in his situation."
"So would I." Orlando agreed.
"And what do you two suggest I do with him?" Viggo asked. "Just let him go free? Do you know what that will do to my reputation? I must be seen as strong, kittens, whether you like it or not."
Orlando hung his head in defeat but Viggo could see Elijah's quick mind hard at work in his bright blue eyes.
"You could keep him." Elijah suggested after a moment of thinking. "Say that death would be too generous a gift for an assassin. Say that you will keep him to see that he suffers as much as he deserves."
Viggo blinked at him in consternation. "Keep him? Here? With you two?"
Elijah nodded and then Orlando attached himself to Viggo's side, his huge brown eyes begging and slightly brimming with tears in a shameless display of manipulation. "Please...?" Orlando's voice went straight to the soft spot in Viggo's heart, making refusal nearly impossible.
"I... uhm..." Viggo tried hard to find a good explanation why this way not a good idea and to his surprise found none whatsoever. The fact that he clearly remembered that firm, lean body of Dominic pressing against his didn't help either.
"I will talk to the boy in the morning, see if he is sorry for what he has done and if he is willing to reveal who send him. Then I will decide."
"Can I visit him?" Orlando pressed his luck.
"No." Viggo stated firmly. "I will take care of this."
Orlando looked like he was about to say more, but a gentle kick from Elijah shut him up. Again they exchanged looks and Viggo realized with amusement that they were quite apt at silently communicating without him understanding.
"Let's go back to sleep." he said yawning. "Seems my busy day tomorrow just got even busier. I need the sleep."
Orlando and Elijah agreed without argument. And Viggo noticed with quiet happiness that this time it was him who was lying in the middle, one of his kittens cuddled into each of his arms. Somehow the fact that Elijah had saved him had earned him more of the boy's trust. Maybe it wouldn't be so hard after all to win him over.
If you enjoyed this story, please send feedback to: Beryll
go to PART 35