*Recap- Tournament in 2 weeks, Elias and Alisha came to an old man for training. Old man thinks she is a girl* (Geez, I am bad at these things! XD)

***

"I am his bodyguard and my name is Arthur," I said in a real gruff tone trying not to panic.

Old man's eyes twinkled with mischievousness.

"Oh, sorry. In old age, my eyesight has gone bad. He said with a low chuckle.

Elias looked a little concerned and narrowed his eyes on me but I immediately walked ahead as if something was very interesting.

"Is it the time?" the old man asked Elias.

"I don't know yet. I am still not perfect enough but I think I love my people more than the present king."

"Loving someone is not enough Eli Being able to protect the one you love is what matters. If you don't have that power then there is no use. "

Elias nodded in agreement.

"I have a tournament coming up and I want to win that. People are under the delusion that I am useless." Elias said with determination.

"Before that my Prince you need to spread some rumours." The old man said and then he whistled in tune.

Two little kids around five or six came running inside the house after a while.

"Rose and Adam , it's time to tell the famous stories about the Prince." He said and kids nodded with a happy smile.

They ran away discussing something with each other as if they were had some strategy.

"What are the rumours about?" I asked feeling damn curious.

"Well, people should know that Prince is worthy of becoming the King. And also the Ministers should decide on what side they will be working on. But you will soon find out what the rumours are." He said still looking like he was mocking me in some manner.

"And you guys should now go and get some rest. We start working right away." The old man instructed.

I followed the Prince naturally and sat down on the matted floor even before he could.

"You can't wear that mask forever." He suddenly said making my heart jump.

"You were able to fool half the kingdom that you are nothing but a lazy prince." I countered his statement.

"You know your brother said that you were a kind person, well mannered and really tall. You do not fit the description." He might have thought about all this carefully.

"I am the youngest brother." I lied.

"Oh, he never told me about you." He looked kind of sad about this.

"Well, we were not always on good terms, so."

I was saved yet again but I had no idea for how long.

***

Josiah Kirk was old man's name but Elias called him Sir Kirk. When I woke up after a long sleep I realized that Prince was already out practicing something since I could hear Kirk and him talking.

I walked out and both the men turned to look at me.

"He says you are the best warrior he has ever seen, let's test that," Kirk said allowing Prince to rest.

"I just woke up let me get my senses back."

"No excuses . You are a royal guard, suppose to stay alert at all times of the day."

"And I am human as well." I retorted and noticed the amused look on Elias' face.

"You are not from this time," Kirk said shocking me yet again.

"What the hell does that mean?" Elias asked before I could.

But Kirk just smiled and challenged me with his eyes.

"Fine old man," I muttered to myself and charged with the sword.

My muscles were sore from all the mountain climbing but I handled best in my opinion. Kirk was the hardest opponent I have ever face and that includes the assassin dude I killed a few days ago. He was quick himself and anticipated my moves way before even I thought them. He was not even breaking a sweat after almost an hour into the session.

While we both fought with bamboo sticks, I had few injuries but there was not a single time he got hit. So I decided to finally mix and attack. I tried picking up some stones while I dodged his attacks and threw at him to distract him even a little bit.

My stone throwing surprised him finally and he looked at me. I threw few stones and he dodged but then in all the hitting and throwing my bamboo stick finally hit his arm. I moved back as he looked pleasantly surprised at my hit. I looked at Elias and he seems proud.

"Can I breathe now?" I said sitting down right there on the floor.

I was sweating and all I wanted to do was take off the bloody cover from my face and breathe.

"He is trained in a weird fashion, impressive but not noble." The old man said making me a little angry.

"Do you have a problem with that?" I asked in a frosty tone.

"I think it's kind of ingenious for a bodyguard to know such tricks." My shoulder slumped as my anger deflated and I asked the Prince for water.

"Interesting." He commented as I gulped water from the flask.

"Can we talk for a minute?" He asked me and after a moment of thinking, I nodded.

I stood up with weak legs and followed Kirk leaving the Prince behind for a moment.

After we were far enough from the hut, Kirk stopped facing the beautiful view of valleys in front of us.

"You can remove the cover and breathe now." He said in a sober tone.

"I am fine." I snapped at him.

"No, you are not. A woman needs some fresh air for a beautiful skin."

Before I could argue or deny , he said, "I can read auras dear. I know you are a girl even if you wear that mask or use a gruffer tone."

As soon as he said that, I took a step back my hand resting on the sword.

"I am just surprised how good you are with the weapons." I noticed that he looked calm about the whole thing.

So I finally removed the cover and inhaled sharply. It felt great as the wind caressed my face right then.

"Now what will you do? Tell Elias about this?" I asked the main question in my head.

"No, he is fine with you around. I only worry if he is in danger. But why are you in this time?" He asked as if he knew everything.

"And don't deny telling me that you are not from this time. Is Agnes involved?" He knew Mel's doppelganger.

"I think so."I mumbled to myself.

"I see you don't trust me enough to tell me anything." He didn't sound offended or anything.

"I met you few hours ago, how can I?"

"Fair point lady. Okay then answer this for me." He looked at me now, "Do you have feelings for Elias?"

I was about to say no but I stopped for a moment realizing I could not somehow confidently say no to this.

"Thank you for the sincerity." He said at my silence.

***

I was back to being Arthur but bless Kirk, he got me separate room, fresh clothes and even agreed to a whistle signal like he had for kids to let me know if Prince was to come to my room.

After a long time, I got a good night sleep, a satisfactory bath and some relaxing time. But days were hard work. Kirk seemed really impressed with my performance and he said that he has never seen a better fighter than me.

I even learned to use the spear and aiming accurately with daggers, arrows and other small weapons. But most of his time was dedicated in making the Prince better. Elias was really hard working, I will give him that. He practiced early morning with Kirk and then in evening with me. And then he worked out whenever he could manage.

And it was obvious to say that he had a very appealing physique. Sometimes I was foolishly staring at him and old man Kirk caught me most of the time.

"How do you know Agnes?" I asked them one day as we both worked on my martial art skills.

"She is my wife." He said simply and a little shocked I got a kicked on my leg.

"Why would she do something like messing with time?" I asked since he already knew I was not from here and he seemed fine.

"When it can do some good, she does that." He said calmly like his wife did this for hobby.

"What good is coming from this?" I asked mostly to myself but I saw Kirk smile.

"You will see as the days unfold. Maybe without you, Prince would have died in one of the attacks. I have heard you saved him many times." He looked at me as if his words meant something.

"Few times." I agreed.

"Even as a princess." Oh, so that's what the look was for.

"It was an emergency."

"You will be caught once the tournament starts." He waited for my response.

"What should I do then?" I asked since he was kind of the expert old advisor here.

"He asked the kingdoms to take part in the tournament. Norgivia has a princess and has no one to represent them in the tournament. Everyone will want their daughter in the race for being Elias' bride. So represent Norvigia." He said and it took me a moment to realize what he meant.

"You want me to participate in the tournament?" I asked shocked at this incredulous idea.

How can I be next to Prince and be in the tournament?

"But he will realize the person he met in the dance was not the real princess."

This made Kirk chuckle, "That will not matter dear, he is not interested in the title of the princess. He is interested in the girl who saved his ass that day."

He just said something a person from this time wouldn't know, kick his ass?

"You are also not from this time, are you Kirk?"

He just shrugged and said, "It's time you let the world see what a girl soldier can do sweetheart."

Katherine McNamara as Alisha

Sam Clafin as Prince Elias

Robert Sheehan as Norman