Chapter 400

400 For Her Hand(Part One)

***CONTENT WARNING: LANGUAGE***

Skye smirked at her husband; “And what kinda prize did ye have in mind?”

Tidas tightened his grip on her; “The kind I claim in the privacy of our room..”

Chuckling loudly as she turned in his arms, Skye whispered into his ear; “You’ll have ta wait, but I take it that’s not an issue fer ya since ye already knew that me time is upon me..”

Tidas chuckled loudly as Lucas finally caught up to them. Skye assured him that no one had tried to deceive her, then Murdoc sidetracked him with another bottle of whiskey. He hesitated a moment, but decided to follow after the Highlander King instead.

Murdoc’s stories of Skye were both entertaining, and filled him with a sense of fatherly pride. Lucas didn’t see Skye’s accomplishments as his own, he was just proud to have had a hand in creating such a wonderful person. Even if his life amounted to nothing at the end, he would smile knowing that Skye was his daughter...

************

The party was hitting a high point at around a quarter to midnight or so. One wouldn’t be able to tell who was a Highlander or Alconian if it weren’t for their clothes. They talked, gamed, sang, and danced together like they hadn’t been at war with each other for hundreds of years.

Only a small group remained bitter about the end to the fighting. The fact that it was brought about by peace instead of the annihilation of the Highlanders was what they were really angry about..

.....

It had always been the assumed course of resolution, but Skye and Tidas had changed all of that by saving Murdoc and Petrie. The land, minerals, and possessions were all meant to be spoils of war. In the past, everything would’ve been divided up amongst the Crown, and the soldiers who had distinguished themselves on the battlefield.

Since their were no lands or riches gained, the soldiers would simply receive their usual pay with hazard and extra time added. Even though the mission was ordered by the King, Tidas would’ve let anyone who didn’t want to go off the hook. But all that had been ordered to report, did..

Tidas had the admiration and loyalty of his men to a fault. They had all drunkenly shouted on several occasions that Tidas’ authority was the only one that they recognized. He had saved most of their lives by risking his own at one point or another. If it came down to it: even the majority of the still-disgruntled soldiers would side with him.

Only a few didn’t like their Commander, which were the ones already in Marco’s pocket. Connor Arnold watched Skye and Tidas from a distance while keeping another on Kari and Klaus. They were off to the side with Ronnie, Ralph, and Arthur chatting away.

Klaus could feel eyes on him, and figured that it was Connor. He had been avidly stalking Kari to the point that she had requested to stay with either another female, or Klaus. One of the sympathetic generals had assigned her and a female Shaman to the same tent, cutting Connor’s stalking time down, but he was persistent.

As Kari walked off to go relieve herself, Connor walked around, and came up behind her as she was emerging from Moonstone Castle. She looked like a scared little bunny to him, which made a wide, creepy smile stretch across his face..

“How’s my fiancé today? Enjoying your little tryst with that fool?”

Kari fought back the fear that threatened to choke her; “Klaus its a thousand times better of a man than you will Ever be. Just leave me alone!”

Connor’s face scrunched; “That attitude of yours will have to be adjusted. It is unbecoming of the next Lady Arnold.”

Kari sighed in exasperation; “I am NOT going to marry you! I don’t like you! AT ALL! Just leave me-”

In one swift motion, Connor slapped Kari across her face as he said; “And the future Lady Arnold should know her place! You do Not talk back to me! Understand?! Unless you like to be beaten.. That, I can accommodate..”

As fear gripped Kari’s heart and throat, Klaus came rushing up to Connor from behind, and shoved him as hard as he could into the brick wall of the castle. Connor’s nose was instantly bleeding, and his chin was already a bright red color. By the following morning, he would have a massive bruise covering half of his face.

Kari had instantly run into his arms as tears started to stream down her cheeks. Seeing how scared she was made Klaus’ blood boil.. ‘I warned the bastard..’

As Connor gripped the side of his face, Klaus walked over to him, and slapped his uncovered side hard. As he yelped from the added pain, Klaus could barely keep the hostility out of his voice; “I challenge you, Connor Arnold, to a duel! If I win, you NEVER bother Kari again! If I lose, I will stay away from her..”

Connor scoffed as he straightened up; “You have no authority, Bastard! Kari was promised to me by her family-”

“Who has since broken off the engagement. Yer blackmailin’ didn’t work,” Skye stated as she and Tidas approached.

Connor froze. They had already warned him to stay away from Kari. If either of them wanted to, they could kill him, and no one would try to stop it..

“How am I supposed to fight?! I have no magic!” Connor bellowed.

“I don’t need my magic to scrape a piece of shit like you from me boot,” Klaus replied, drawing even more anger from Connor.

Unable to refuse without damaging his reputation, Connor said; “She has to agree to marry me! I refuse to fight if she doesn’t!”

Kari and Klaus shared a look, then Kari agreed. She had complete faith in her love, and knew that a man like Connor couldn’t even hold a candle to Klaus. As the news of the fight drew in spectators by the dozens, Connor internally panicked..

‘I can’t beat him! How do I take down a fighter when I’m not much of one myself?!’

As he started to realize what he had done, Connor excused himself to ‘go take a piss’. After he had disappeared into the castle, he went into the first room he saw, and tried to collect himself..

Another soldier appeared out of no where inside the dark room. Connor was going to start yelling at him, but the aura the man gave off sent out a clear message: he would die before he could. The hallway was packed with servants taking food and drink out to the party, so he would’ve been heard, but would’ve also died shortly after.

The two stared at each other a moment before the mystery man extended his arm. Connor hesitated at first, but extended his hand in return. The man’s smirk sent a chill down his back as he opened his hand..

“Use this..”

As the man spoke, he dropped a small gun into Connor’s hand. Not expecting it, the fool nearly dropped it as the man added; “If you get desperate: don’t forget what’s in that cart in the center..”

Connor’s eyes went wide; “I thought regular people weren’t supposed to touch it?”

The man smirked as he walked away; “A lie, I assure you..”

As he looked at the small gun, the man disappeared without a trace. Connor then removed a knife from the sleeve of his armor, and slipped the firearm into the space. He put the knife into his boot, then rejoined the group..

When he emerged from the castle, Connor realized that he had never seen the man that he had just encountered among the other soldiers. His skin tone was more akin to someone from Sai, or possibly even the Fire Nation.. ‘Am I being tricked by Sai? Doesn’t Skye have a connection to them? Who the hell was that guy?! And why didn’t he feel.. right?’

As Connor internally stuggled to make sense of the situation, Klaus called out to him; “If you’d prefer not to fight, I’d be happy to let you bow out.”

Connor glared at the man who stood between him, and the lifestyle he was used to. All of the food, booze, drugs, and women he could ever want rested upon him obtaining Kari as his wife. He wouldn’t need her for long; just enough years to get a few heirs out of her..

‘After that, I could just put her to work twenty-four/seven. She’ll make me and my family rich, and Prince Marco will accept me into his inner circle! I just have to kill this bastard first..’

As the thought crossed his mind, Connor called out; “Anything but Magic goes!”

Klaus chuckled; “Are you sure about that? Even without my magic, I’m much faster and stronger than you. This is your last chance to call this farce off.”

Connor grinned broadly as he replied; “You should’ve stayed in your place..”

“That’s enough, ye two! No fightin’ dirty, and no killin’! Tis a duel of honor, not a fight to the death!” Skye yelled as she and Tidas stepped forward..

Tidas hadn’t taken his eyes off of Connor since he’d come out of the castle. Skye had felt a small presence of Dark magic for a few moments shortly after Connor had gone inside, and the prince was betting that he had something to do with it..

Skye couldn’t feel any Dark magic from Connor at all, but still didn’t trust him, or the situation. He was the worst kind of man: one that believed that women were property to be managed and owned. If she were a compulsive noble like so many others, then he wouldn’t be a problem right now..

‘I shoulda killed him a while ago, but Ima no cold-blooded murderer..’

As the thought crossed her mind, Tidas stepped forward; “The rules are simple! Whomever gives up, is knocked unconscious, or is otherwise unable to continue: loses. No kill shots, and no serious maiming, either. Yes, I’m looking at you, Klaus..”

“....I make no promises,” he replied.

Kari leaned up, and kissed his cheek; “Be careful, love. I can’t lose you..”

Klaus chuckled lightly; “Don’t worry, I can handle this idiot with my hands tied.”

As Kari walked over to stand at Skye’s side, she noticed that the princess was looking towards the castle. When she asked about it, Skye assured her that it was nothing, then turned back to the impending fight.

As Klaus and Connor took their places, the man that had given Connor the gun looked on from the shadows. He smiled to himself as he watched he’d Skye looking around nonchalantly.. ‘She will make a far better Queen for my King than that spoiled little bitch back at the palace..’

As he watched from the darkness, Ahriman wondered if Tidas had any clue as to just how little time he had left with Skye...