[Comm] Reinhold and Virgo Loyalty Trial

The sound of jovial laughter and the light clattering of silverware on ceramic could faintly be heard in the large hallways of Reinholds home. It had been almost an entire week since the golden prince had met up with his best friend Virgo and the two had journeyed to the capital of Reinholds country. The two friends had a jam-packed week filled with all the exploration, sight-seeing, and tourism the two princes could possibly stand and tonight was the last night before Virgo would have to return to his own country before their parents returned from the summit. As the two princes joked and laughed together while enjoying their dinner there was a slight undertone of sadness as they both realized their fun was about to come to an end. Virgo noticed his friend looked down as the akhal puller poked his vegetables idly while the sky colored puller described his favorite parts of the opera performance the two had attended earlier in the evening. Virgo let his words trail off as he realized his friend wasn't entirely listening, smiling sadly as the sky puller gently tapped his fork against the edge of his glass. The sharp tink-tink-tink sound pierced through the thoughts clouding his friend's mind and the golden puller visibly jumped a little before looking up apologetically. "I've had a fantastic time here, your country is magnificent Reinhold," Virgo smiled as he elegantly finished off the last of his dinner while speaking. "It would really be a shame to only visit once! Perhaps when it's time for the solstice festival and our parents are busy arranging their respective speeches we might be able to come together once more?" he offered his friend something to look forward to with a mischievous glint in his eyes as he set his fork down.

Reinhold immediately noticed what his friend was trying to do and chuckled to himself, the solstice festival was only three days long and not enough time for them to travel too and from each other's countries but he appreciated the gesture. As he offered his agreement and began to tell Virgo about all the things they could potentially do during the solstice one of his attendants hastily entered the room and stepped all the way up to the golden prince's side with a deep apologetic bow. "Excuse me, your highness." Reinhold gave the attendant a quizzical look at the sudden breach of etiquette but nodded his head at them to continue with whatever had been so important as to make his highly trained staff behave this way. The attendant stepped even closer to the prince and leaned in to whisper in his master's ear so that their guest could not overhear. "Forgive me my lord but we have received word that a threat has been made against your guest." Reinholds face hardened in an instant, rage and righteous indignation boiling in his chest as he barely managed to contain his reaction. The golden prince turned to the attendant and whispered back, "What kind of threat and who would dare to threaten an imperial guest?" The attendant flinched at the tone in the normally kind prince's voice and he lowered his bow even deeper as he quickly answered, "We don't know who made the threat, but it seems someone has made plans to send mercenaries to kidnap Lord Virgo for ransom." The attendants' voice trembled audibly as they noticed the prince practically trembling with rage as they finished conveying their message.

Virgo immediately noticed the shift in their friends demeanor and eyed the prince and his attendant curiously. He couldn't hear what they were saying at all and he wondered what could possibly make his friend so angry. Reinhold quickly ordered the attendant to mobilize the royal guard and to double all security around the mansion. The attendant quickly nodded and practically fled from the room once he had received the princes orders. Virgo eyed his friend who was obviously trying to return to their conversation as if nothing had happened. "Is everything alright?" the sky puller questioned who merely gave a reassuring smile while finally finishing his own dinner. "Yes it's nothing important. It seems one of the maids made a mistake and left a window open after making up the room you were going to stay in tonight. A bird apparently got in and made a mess of your chambers so we will need to find other accommodations for you for tonight." Reinhold quickly came up with the most plausible excuse he could and it seemed like the sky colored puller reluctantly accepted it. "Is that so?" Virgo questioned doubtfully, not entirely believing that his friend would get so mad over a small mistake such as that. Reinhold quickly cut Virgo off before he could question anything further, "Yes! Therefore tonight you will be sleeping in my chambers." The golden prince announced this quickly before standing up and moving to the small group of shocked attendants who had been standing near the edge of the room, "Go prepare my chambers at once." the flustered attendants quickly scrambled over themselves to follow the order, their shock and fluster was mirrored by Virgo as the sky puller quickly got up to follow his friend.

"What?? Wait, Reinhold! I couldn't possibly sleep in your chambers! Where would you sleep?" The sky colored puller gestured frantically while blushing slightly as he followed the akhal prince through the corridors. Reinhold only realized the implications of what he suggested after already leaving the dinning hall and at this point it was too late to rescind his order so he decided to double down. "I'll sleep in my study, it's the adjoining room connected to my chambers so there will not be a problem." Virgo continued to try and insist that there was still a problem but before he knew it the two pullers had arrived at the doors to Reinhold's room. The golden prince quickly guided his friend in and told him to get settled, as the flustered blue and pink puller stared at his friend in confusion the golden prince quickly closed the door to his chambers. Finally out of sight of his friend Reinhold let out a sigh and rested his head on the door as a small group of guards nervously approached. "My lord?" The leader of the group spoke up, requesting the prince to direct them. Reinhold quickly pushed aside his embarrassment and ordered the guards to their stations, emphasizing that they will not be forgiven if anyone other than himself enters the prince's chambers. As he watched the soldiers get into position one of his attendants quickly brought him his sword, he prayed he wouldn't need it but also hoped he'd get to see the face of the fool who dared to threaten his friend.

Reinhold stood guard outside his chambers along with the soldiers, while Virgo tried to settle in for the night. The golden prince's chambers were elegantly and tastefully decorated in a way that reflected his personality while also being expected of someone of his station. The sky-colored puller could hear many footsteps quietly shuffling around outside the doors of the chambers and he couldn't help but feel a little nervous at all the excitement going on. Could Reinhold's parents have come home early? No surely he would have looked nervous or frightened at the thought rather than mad, so then why...? Not able to think of a plausible answer the sky prince nervously approached the large plush bed and clambered into it. The bed was absolutely amazing, even softer than Virgos own bed back home and best of all it smelled like Reinhold. As Virgo snuggled in for the night, Reinhold paced back and forth down the long hallway outside his chambers. The soldiers he had stationed watched the puller pace anxiously, both nervous about a potential attack but also nervous about the prince personally guarding his guest with them. The tense and heavy atmosphere around the guards and the prince persisted well into the night. Virgo was blissfully asleep while Reinhold continued to glare into every shadow he passed.

Just past midnight, right when the soldiers were getting ready to change shifts Reinhold noticed a shadow move at the edge of his vision. The golden prince quickly snapped his head toward the window where he could just barely see the silhouettes of two vayrons pouncing on one of the guards who was stationed below the terrace outside his chambers. There they are! Reinhold bared his teeth in a vicious snarl as he barked an order to the guards. Half of the soldiers guarding the room quickly sprang into action and followed Reinhold as the prince sprinted out the window and jumped down into the back garden. He barely felt the impact of the three story plunge as the golden prince charged head long at the intruders. The intruders had just managed to subdue one of the guards when they all noticed the prince sprinting at them at break-neck speed. One of the exclaimed an expletive in shock as they stumbled over themselves to get their weapon ready to meet the prince's blade. The akhal pullers blade slammed into the intruders and easily shattered the poor quality blade, the intruder barely managed to stumble back enough to avoid a lethal blow as Reinhold continued the downward slash. The intruder barely had the time to let out a groan before they succumbed to their injury and collapsed in a heap before the irate prince. The other intruder who was still grappling with the guard stared at their fallen comrade in terror as the akhal princes glowered at them, his eyes burning with hate.

Reinhold lifted his blade ready to strike the other intruder when the intruder quickly decided to surrender. They threw their blade to the ground and raised their hands in the air, "W-Wait! Don't kill me, I surrender!!" Reinhold merely silently glared at the intruder as the guard quickly moved to apprehend them. The guards who had been guarding his chambers who he had ordered to follow him finally caught up to their prince and sprang into action to subdue the fallen intruder and tend to their wounds. The guard who had a hold of the uninjured assailant asked his prince, "Your highness, what should we do with them?" Reinhold leaned in threateningly toward the intruder while still brandishing his blade, which was still dyed crimson with the intruder's friends blood. "How many of you are there?" He demanded answers from the intruder who practically wet themselves in fear at the feeling of the blade against their neck. The intruder quickly spilled all the details of who they were and their numbers. There were supposed to be four of them in total, two were supposed to approach through the back  garden while the other set were supposed to sneak in through the servants quarters. No matter how frightened the intruder was however, they refused to tell who had hired them for this job much to the prince's steadily growing anger. As much as he wanted to strike this fool down where he stood, he still needed information from them so he ordered his guards to throw the two intruders into the dungeons to be further interrogated later.

As the soldiers moved to follow their masters orders, Reinhold quickly turned back to his palace and sprinted for the servants quarters. As the prince rounded the corner of the hallway that connected to the servants living areas he could hear multiple voices yelling and the sound of dull thumping. The golden prince gripped his blade tightly as he rounded the corner ready to save his servants from the intruders but much to his surprise he found that a small group of maids were beating the snot out of the human intruder while two of the guards, who had been nearby at the time and had heard the commotion, were already shackling the vayron intruder. The maids quickly greeted their lord when they realized the prince was in their presence and the guards also saluted him. The human was bleeding and unconscious on the floor while the shackled vayron was hurling insults and trying to threaten that his friends would kill them all. Reinhold quickly stepped forward and slammed the yelling vayrons muzzle into the floor before ordering his guards to muzzle him. The guards quickly complied and once the hallway was quiet once more he ordered for these intruders to be thrown into the dungeon with their companions. As the intruders were hauled away he returned to check on Virgo who thankfully was still peacefully sleeping. After assuring that his friend was still safe he ordered for his men to remain on guard as the akhal prince turned toward the dungeon. It was going to be a long night for everyone other than Virgo, and Reinhold silently promised to not let anything hurt his friend.