Chapter Text
“Please! At least let me bring him some water, my lord!” The paladin pleaded.
“No, Butters! He is a traitor to our kingdom, he put us all in danger! He needs to be taught a lesson! Needs to be punished!” the Wizard was quickly growing tired of this argument and was extremely tempted to send his paladin down to the dungeons as well for running his patience thin.
The paladin, however, wasn’t willing to give up in his pleadings just yet and argued “B-but my lord, we need him alive in order for this deal to work! He’ll only survive for around 3 days without basic necessities. We can’t let him die or you know for sure Beldroth will be ruthless! Another battle is already looming, my lord. If we could please, lessen the severity of it…”
The paladin trailed off, shrinking in on himself slightly as the Grand Wizard loomed over him, a stern looks on his face as he glared at the blonde.
“He needs to be taught a lesson, Butters. We give that traitor,” he spat the word like venom, “nothing of ours, no matter the plentifulness of our food supply. He is not to be bathed nor healed, let alone fed. The filthy elves know what I want. And until I get what I want, he is to suffer.”
The wizard gripped his staff tighter and slammed it down to make it clear that he was done with this conversation. The paladin flinched at this and hung his head in defeat. “Alright… I understand, my lord. There will be no interaction with the prisoner until the kingdom receives what you desire.”
“That’s what I thought.”
With that, the Wizard dismissed him from the throne room, and the paladin didn’t spare him a second glance as he hastily made his way to the hall, no longer wishing to be in the cruel presence of his ruler. Mind clouded with worry about possibly having a dead man on his conscience, he didn’t notice the princess walking towards him, and promptly bumped into her.
“Ah, Princess Kenny! My deepest apologies!” He stammered as he offered his hand to help her off the floor. “I-I wasn’t paying attention to my wanderings, but that is no excuse. Please, forgive my insolence, dear princess.” As he helped her right herself, he handed her his handkerchief so she could wipe her dress free of any offending dirt on the floor.
She just smiled however, and gently pushed the handkerchief back in the paladin’s direction. “It is quite alright paladin, do not worry yourself. You do not need to apologize, I am fine; a little dirt can’t hurt me.” Her voice was so calm and serene, easily calming anyone who was granted the grace of hearing it. “You, however, do not appear alright.” She also had the talent of being able to read anyone like an open book. “What is it that troubles you, paladin?”
Tucking the handkerchief away and red in the face from embarrassment, the paladin didn’t reply, couldn’t reply. He was slightly calmed however, merely hearing the princess’s voice and knowing she wasn’t cross with him. Unlike his other ruler.
“I cannot say.”
The princess looked at him a moment, then at the grand door down the hall, and made a little “ah.” sound. “Would you join me on a walk, paladin? Perhaps it will aid in clearing your mind.” She offered a looped arm to him, which he gladly accepted, letting out a sigh of relief, feeling comforted by her compassion and understanding.
Looping his arm with hers, he led her on a walk outside the castle and out into the courtyard, far enough so that no one could possibly overhear their conversation. Especially a certain wizard.
Sitting upon the stone bench overlooking a grand fountain, a rose, freshly picked, resting in her hair, the princess listened as the paladin expressed his worries to her as he paced.
“Do you understand what I am saying, princess? Yes he is a traitor to the kingdom and to us, and yes he deserves some punishment, but it is simply inhumane to starve him! Our wizard doesn’t see it that way, says he needs to be starved to ‘learn a lesson’, but my good conscience is telling me to provide him something, that I can’t just let him there to die alone of hunger or dehydration! Punishment is one thing, but this is nothing short of torture! Pure and utter torture!”
He was aghast, filled to the brim with upset and worry. He was called ‘Butters The Merciful’ for a reason, wanting desperately to aid their prisoner in the very minimum, to make sure he didn’t die before the Grand Wizard wanted him to, -he shuddered at this thought, feeling a wave of disgust at even thinking something like that- but the paladin greatly doubted that the wizard cared about such things. He was not seeing the danger he was putting their kingdom in. The wizard was not humane and didn’t care if others perished if it meant he could get what he desired.
“I want to give him something to prevent his death, princess. I don’t want it in my conscience that if he died prematurely, and I could’ve done something to prevent it…” He paused in his pacing and took a breath, casting a sorrowful glance at the princess. “I don’t want him to die, princess. I don’t think I could bare it.”
There was a long silence between them for a moment before the princess gently beckoned him to sit with her, patting the spot next to her with such carefulness. He obliged his princess’s order and made to sit to her right, putting his head in his hands and letting out a quiet, shaky breath.
“I don’t want him to die…”
As his shoulder shook silently, the princess brought a gloved hand to his back delicately and rubbed slow circles in an attempt to sooth his weeping. While doing this, she thought of an idea.
“Mayhaps, paladin, I think I may have an idea.” She waited until he looked up at her to continue. “As you well know, I have just as much authority as the wizard in this kingdom, and I think I may have a slight solution to your worries.” At this, the paladin unsheathed his face fully and wiped a tear away.
“You do, princess? Oh please, may I hear of it?” He was hopeful, knowing the princess wouldn’t cruelly lie to him.
She gave a gentle smile at his sitting up and said, “Paladin, I hereby grant you the ability of providing our prisoner with clean water daily, but unfortunately, to keep the wizard from killing us both, I don’t think it wise to provide him food of any sort.”
The paladin drooped at this, but was happy enough to be able to, at the very least, provide the elf with that something that paladin knew would keep him alive. Weak, but alive. Satisfied, the paladin perked up and addressed her.
“Oh, thank you princess, thank you! Your compassion will not go unforgotten, never by me! Shall I let the prisoner know of this as well?” He stood up and offered the princess his hand, which she took.
“I shall be accompanying you to him, yes, as to not get you into trouble with the wizard. I shall explain this to him as well.” She stood, brushing the ruffles in her dress back down so they sat smooth. “He was a friend to us all, paladin.”
“I know princess, he was. Perhaps he will still be friendly with us?” He sounded doubtful.
She thought for a moment before shaking her head. “I do not know if his current feelings towards us will be as welcoming as they once were, but perhaps he may. We cannot know for now; all we can do is bring some water to him and hope he’s still alive down there.”
The paladin cringed, but knew she was right. Linking their arms together once more, the paladin and the princess made their way back to the castle with the new goal in mind. The paladin silently prayed that even though the elf in their dungeon had betrayed them, that he was still alive.
“Hold on, Pip. We’re coming to help you.”