Chapter 4

“Eighteen… Nineteen… Twenty! Ready or not, here I come!” Beowulf announced, taking his armoured hand away from the slit of his helmet visor and looking around the courtyard. The large soldier began his search, walking around the immediate area first and looking behind bushes and up in trees, knowing how agile and acrobatic his quarry could be. The last time they had played, Thedrick had somehow carried the princess up into the rafters of the chapel, and Beowulf only found them when he heard them snickering above him at his fruitless search.

Of course, he didn’t find anything in the courtyard, they weren’t going to make it that easy for him, then the game wouldn’t be as fun. So, he started wandering around the castle grounds, checking any already known hiding spots and searching for any new ones. Beowulf was always the seeker when they played, as he was too huge to be able to hide anywhere. Meanwhile, the vampires were both very small, and could fit into surprisingly tight spaces, so he needed to be thorough.

While searching, Beowulf came across a sight he was not expecting. He recognised Emil’s curls from behind, though he was dressed in plain linens rather than his usual fancy armour or fancy noble clothing funded by his parents. He was sweeping the paving stones under one of the archways that connected different areas of the castle. Beowulf approached slowly, then reached out and tapped the guard on the shoulder.

Emil jumped slightly at the touch, letting out a small yelp of surprise before he spun around to look up at the giant soldier. Then suddenly he was glancing away as his cheeks flushed with embarrassment. “Oh, Beowulf…”

“What did you do to annoy Cassian this time?” Beowulf asked humorously, guessing that Emil was undertaking some kind of punishment.

Emil made a sound of frustration, baring his teeth slightly. “It wasn’t my fault this time, I swear!” he claimed, looking up at Beowulf earnestly.

“I’m sure,” Beowulf said sarcastically, smiling behind his visor.

“It really wasn’t! I didn’t start the fight; I was just defending myself! But Cassian never believes me, since he has it out for me,” Emil grumbled, eyes falling to the ground.

“Have you perhaps tried not being so insufferable?” Beowulf joked, placing a hand on Emil’s shoulder.

Emil snapped his head up to glare at Beowulf. “Oh yeah? Just because you’re mister perfect…” he sneered, raising his chin defiantly. “What are you doing out here anyway, going out of your way just to demean me? I thought you weren’t supposed to leave the princess’s side?”

“We’re playing hide and seek,” Beowulf said, a little taken back by Emil’s bitterness. “Did you happen to see her and Thedrick pass through here?”

Scoffing, Emil shrugged Beowulf’s armoured hand off his shoulder. “Yeah, they did. Headed in that direction,” he nodded towards the other end of the archway.

“Thanks Emil,” Beowulf said cheerily, clapping him on the back with one hand lightly before stepping around him heading off through the archway. He heard the guard mutter something behind him but couldn’t quite make out what it was.

As Beowulf continued his search, he passed by the infirmary just as Balthasar was emerging from it, his clothing and face stained with blood. Beowulf stopped next to him, and the chirurgeon looked up at him with a questioning eyebrow and a weary expression. “What do you want, Beowulf?” he asked curtly.

“Have you seen the princess and Thedrick?” Beowulf asked, stopping himself from asking about all the blood.

Balthasar looked confused. “Has Thedrick taken off with the princess?” he asked with some concern.

"No no no,” Beowulf said quickly while shaking his head, “we are playing hide and seek. I sent him with her to protect her."

“You sent Thedrick… to protect the princess?” Balthasar asked with disbelief, eyebrows pulled together. “You know he can’t even protect himself!”

“Oh, well, I gave him a knife, just in case,” Beowulf tried to reassure, raising his hands in surrender.

“You gave Thedrick a knife?!” Balthasar exclaimed in alarm, staring at Beowulf’s helmet.

“You know he wouldn’t hurt her!” Beowulf countered quickly.

“I'm not worried about him hurting her, I'm worried about him hurting himself!” Balthasar snapped in response. “Remember the last time he tried to do the sword swallowing trick?”

Beowulf paled a little as he remembered that unfortunate incident. Then he swallowed nervously. “Alright, you have a point. B-But I’m sure they’ll be fine; we have played this game many times before without incident.”

“I hope for his sake you are right Beowulf,” Balthasar muttered, still looking displeased. “And no, I haven’t seen them, I have been and still am very busy, so if you’ll excuse me…” The chirurgeon didn’t wait for a response before turning away and striding off down the hallway.

After taking a moment to recover from that intense encounter, Beowulf continued on his way, trying to think of places that he hadn’t searched yet. After what Balthasar had said he was actually starting to feel a bit worried, and tried to increase the pace of his search, as it had already been taking quite a long time as was.

Hastening down one hallway, Beowulf spotted Effie hurrying towards him. Beowulf slowed to a halt, watching the nursemaid as she approached him and stopped in front of him, quickly catching her breath and straightening up.

“Where is Princess Maerwynn? She is late for dinner,” Effie asked with urgency, looking around Beowulf as if the princess might be hiding behind him. “Why isn’t she with you?”

“O-Oh, w-well, were playing hide and seek, you see,” Beowulf started to try to explain nervously as the nursemaid glared up at him.

“You let the princess run off on her own?” Effie accused with wide eyed shock.

Beowulf crossed his hands back and forth in front of him while shaking his head. “No no no, Thedrick is with her.”

“Like that makes it any better!” Effie snapped, scowling up at him now. “Where are they then? The king is waiting on her.”

“Uh… I haven’t found them yet…” Beowulf admitted, pressing a hand against the back of his neck nervously.

Putting her hands on her hips Effie made a loud noise of displeasure and frustration. “Well, the game is over, let’s go call them to come out.”

The soldier and the nursemaid started walking around the castle, calling out Thedrick and Maerwynn’s names as loudly as possible, telling them to come out because the game was over. But the two small albinos did not emerge from anywhere, and after several minutes of running around searching for them, Beowulf and Effie ran into each other again.

“Well, I’m guessing you didn’t find them either,” Effie said while frowning with disappointment. 

Beowulf shrugged and shook his head. “I’ll go get the guards to help search,” he offered.

“I’ll grab the other servants,” Effie confirmed with a nod, before the two quickly parted ways again.

Soon the majority of the castle staff were searching for the princess and jester, calling out their names all over the castle grounds. Beowulf was organising search teams to send into town when he saw Cassian approaching him wearing a very confused expression. Beowulf tried to shrink under his old mentor’s gaze.

“What in the names of the gods is going on here?” the officer asked, looking around at all the guards hurrying off to search.

“Um… well… you see… I may have… misplaced the princess…” Beowulf hesitantly admitted, staring at the ground, unable to meet Cassian’s gaze.

Cassian immediately placed a hand to his temple. “Let me guess, she’s with the jester?”
Beowulf nodded meekly in response.

Cassian sighed heavily. “Stay calm, we will find her. I highly doubt Thedrick would have taken her too far. I’ll take over organising the search, you go back to looking,” the officer instructed, before turning away to talk to a group of guards waiting for instruction.

Nodding quickly Beowulf turned away, walking briskly as he tried to think of more hiding spots Thedrick might have taken the princess into. He was getting really worried about why they hadn’t shown themselves yet, Thedrick would know better than to take a prank this far. There was a nagging thought in Beowulf’s mind that something might have happened to them, that he had failed in his duty to protect the princess.

“Hey, Beowulf, what’s going on?” a familiar voice called out, causing Beowulf to take pause and turn in the direction it came from. It was Emil again, standing a short distance away while looking rather bewildered.

“We can’t find them!” Beowulf exclaimed in despair, taking a few steps towards Emil. “And they are not coming out of hiding when we call them. I’m running out of places to think to look, I feel like we have already searched the whole castle!”

“A-Alright big guy, woah, try to calm down,” Emil said, raising his hands as Beowulf loomed over him. Beowulf realised what he was doing and shrunk back a bit. Bringing a hand to his chin Emil looked thoughtful for a moment. “... let me help. Come with me,” he instructed, and motioned for Beowulf to follow him.

“Wh-Where are we going?” Beowulf asked with uncertainty, but still followed the smaller man.

“We… knew a lot of good hiding spots,” Emil explained vaguely as he led Beowulf inside and then deep into the labyrinth of hallways in the castle.

“Who’s ‘we’?” Beowulf asked in confusion.

“... Thedrick and I…” Emil admitted hesitantly, keeping his face turned away from Beowulf.

“W-What? What do you mean, Thedrick and you?” Beowulf pressed. “I thought you hated him?”

“I… I do! Well… it was complicated…” Emil said avoidantly. “L-Let’s just concentrate on finding them, yeah?”

The smaller soldier increased his walking speed, as if he was trying to run away from the conversation. Beowulf wanted to push Emil for more information, but remembered he needed to prioritise finding the princess first, so he fell silent as he continued to follow.

Emil led Beowulf to an old, unused storeroom somewhere deep in the castle. They moved through the dusty space and at the back, obscured from the rest of the room by an old set of shelves, was another small door. Emil carefully opened it.

Inside was a space like a small, dark broom closet. And in the middle of it, lying curled up on a pile of old motheaten rags, was the jester and the princess. They both appeared to be fast asleep, with Thedrick curled up around his daughter, their pale faces relaxed as they rested, framed by their matching messy white locks.

Beowulf let out a massive sigh of relief, before he ducked into the small room and crouched down next to the sleeping pair. He reached out and placed a hand on Thedrick's shoulder, gently shaking him awake. The jester stirred slowly, his crimson eyes opening and turning to look groggily up at the giant soldier.

“Oh… Beowulf… you found us…” Thedrick mumbled out as he sat up, which disturbed the young princess from her nap as well. “But I thought the only people who knew about this spot were me and…” Thedrick suddenly seemed to notice Emil standing just behind the crouching Beowulf. “Oh, hey, that’s not fair, you cheated!”

Beowulf placed his hands on both Thedrick’s shoulders, which drew Thedrick’s attention completely to him. “Thedrick I am so happy I found you. I was so scared I was going to have to tell the king that I had lost the princess.” While he was saying this Maerwynn was also pushing herself up into a sitting position, then looking up between their faces with her large red eyes blinking in confusion.

“W-What?” Thedrick stuttered, also looking bewildered.

“I couldn’t find you two anywhere, now the whole castle is looking for you!” Beowulf explained, helping Thedrick to his feet before scooping up the princess. “Quickly now, we better go call off the search before the king finds out.”

“I’m sowwy, I was sleepy…” Maerwynn whimpered as she looked up at Beowulf’s helmet while he cradled her in his arms.

“It’s not your fault sweetie, Thedrick was supposed to be responsible for you,” Beowulf reassured the princess as the group of them headed out of the storeroom.

“Yeah, nice going fool,” Emil jeered, and Beowulf glanced back at them to see the guard elbowing Thedrick as the two of them followed Beowulf down the hallway. Thedrick let out a huff and tried to put some space between them, while Beowulf shook his head and turned to look where he was going again.

When the group of them slowly emerged into the courtyard again, Beowulf’s heart sank in his chest. The king was standing in the middle of the courtyard talking to Cassian, who was wearing a very worried expression. Beowulf felt the sudden instinct to run, but instead forced himself to walk towards them. As he did so he heard a squeak from behind him, and quickly glanced back to see Emil had grabbed Thedrick by the arm, probably because he was trying to flee.

As Beowulf approached Richard and Cassian, the two of them looked over towards him, their eyes instantly drawn to the princess he was carrying in his arms. Beowulf noticed Cassian let out a sigh of relief, while the king looked at the group approaching with pursed lips and a scowl. When Beowulf stopped in front of Richard, Effie, who had been waiting nearby, came up to him and took Maerwynn from his arms, resting the child on her hip and then turning towards the king.

“Y-Your majesty, I’m so sorry, this won’t happen ever again,” Beowulf stammered out, shrinking slightly under the king's steely gaze.

“I am disappointed Beowulf, though I know you had no ill intentions. I’m taking you off duty for the rest of the day to consider your mistake though. Cassian will fill in for you,” the king explained, then looked between the officer and the nursemaid. “Go get her ready for dinner,” he instructed, and the two of them quickly moved away with the princess, slipping back through a door into the castle. Cassian shot Beowulf a sympathetic look before he disappeared from sight.

Richard then stepped over to stand in front of Thedrick, who Emil was holding in place next to Beowulf. The jester cowered under the king’s look of disapproval, glancing around nervously. Richard quickly looked at some guards who were waiting nearby. “Arrest the jester,” he ordered, and Beowulf’s eyes went wide with surprise as the guards jumped to attention and then approached Thedrick and Emil.

“W-What? Your highness, p-please, I didn’t put her in any danger, you know I wouldn’t!” Thedrick exclaimed anxiously as the two guards flanked him and took one of his arms each, forcing Emil to let go and step away.

“Perhaps a little time in the dungeon will teach you a little responsibility, Thedrick,” the king said with a small sigh of disappointment.

“Hold on your majesty, Maerwynn’s safety is my responsibility, you should punish me instead,” Beowulf argued. “Or punish us both, at least let me go with him.”

Richard closed his eyes for a moment as he shook his head. “Beowulf, I know you already take your duties seriously, you simply made a small lapse in judgement, and I am sure you have learnt your lesson from it. The fault of this lies mostly with Thedrick, and he needs to face the consequences for it, and if you go with him then it won’t really be much of a punishment,” he explained carefully and at length. Then he nodded to the guards. “Take him away, and make sure no one lets Beowulf into the dungeons.”

Thedrick looked up at the king in despair just before the guards started dragging him away. Beowulf took a step towards them, but then suddenly felt something tugging on his arm. He looked down to see Emil frowning and shaking his head at him. Beowulf watched on sadly as the guards took the jester out of sight, while the king turned and headed back into the castle, leaving Beowulf and Emil alone in the courtyard.

Beowulf lowered his head to look at the ground while trying to fight back tears that were threatening to spill out. He had one job which he had been doing for the past four years, but today he had failed to do it properly and had disappointed the king and landed Thedrick in the dungeons.

However, Beowulf was snapped out of his moping slightly when Emil tugged on his arm again. “Come on big guy,” he said, before leading Beowulf over to a bench and guiding him to take a seat. Sitting down next to him, Emil looked up at him with concern, hand still holding Beowulf wrist.

“Don’t blame yourself Beowulf, this is the idiot jester’s fault for falling asleep on the job,” Emil attempted to comfort. Beowulf sniffled under his helmet, and Emil frowned. “Don’t cry…”

Suddenly Beowulf reached out and grabbed Emil, dragging the startled guard into his lap and wrapping his arms around him in a massive bear hug. Letting out a small, choked sound, Emil struggled a little in protest for a moment while Beowulf held onto him for comfort. Eventually Emil stopped struggling and allowed Beowulf to keep squeezing him.

“It will be alright Beowulf…” Emil choked out while his chest was being slightly crushed by Beowulf’s massive arms. “The king wasn’t that mad…”

Beowulf suddenly let go and looked down at Emil through his visor, the guard now seated in his lap. “But poor Thedrick, stuck in the dungeons… he’ll be so cold down there!”

Emotions seemed to battle across Emil’s face for a moment. “Well… you know how much he likes Thedrick, he’ll probably let him out of the dungeons soon… you should try not to worry too much, the jester seems to be virtually indestructible… I bet he’ll be fine…”

“I really hope so… thanks Emil,” Beowulf said softly, and gave the guard another quick hug. When he pulled away, he noticed Emil’s cheeks were flushed, and Emil looked away nervously.

“No problem…” Emil said with a forced chuckle as he climbed off the large soldier’s lap. “Glad I could help. But, uh, I better get back to sweeping…”

Beowulf nodded, and a small smile tugged at his mouth as he watched Emil stand up and start walking away, quickly glancing back at Beowulf a couple of times anxiously as he went.