(continuing from chapter 9)

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Derogan stared at him for a minute, he could hear the guilt in Saxon's voice and guessed that the entity felt he was at fault for Mandara's current condition.

"I'll tell you what you can do," the maid said, "you can take this washcloth and basin and clean Prince Mandara's wound, I have to go to the knights' infirmary to find some more herbs because someone forgot to restock them."

Derogan looked a little worried that the maid asked Saxon to clean Mandara's wing, he didn't know that the entity had experience with wings so he was worried that he could hurt his brother worse, but before he could protest the maid had left.

N:   Saxon hesitated before he picked up the washcloth and basin, yes he asked if he could help but it would make more sense that Derogan might do it, but he sat down in front of Mandara on a stool and got to work.

Saxon often helped Anglo tend to wounds on his wings as sometimes he would need help to reach the parts he could not, so he has had experience when it comes to healing wing wounds. He gently lifted Mandara's wing by a fraction of an inch and moved it slightly so that it would reduce the tension on Mandara's back and could access the wound better without hurting the prince.

He dipped the cloth into the basin, raised it, and dabbed it gently around the wound, cleaning up the area. He would stop if he heard any sound of pain from Mandara before continuing. He did this until the maid returned, at which point he placed the basin back on the table for them to continue.

M:   Derogan held Mandara's hand the whole time, doing what he could to comfort his little brother.  Mandara was vocal while Saxon cleaned his injury, it hurt like crazy and there were times where the entity couldn't touch a single feather without getting a jerk reaction or a painful sound.  Derogan would softly rub Mandara's forehead to keep him calm and tell jokes or stories to take his mind off the pain.

When the maid returned and Saxon stepped aside Derogan stayed put as he knew the next part was the worst.  Because this was the 18th century and modern medicines didn't exist yet, people had to use herbs to tend to injures, and it was usually pretty painful to have crushed leaves rubbed into wounds.

"Ok Mandara, it's the part we don't like, are you ready?" Derogan asked.

Mandara nodded, "c-can I hold Saxon's hand this time, p-please?"

Derogan tilted his head in confusion at the request, not knowing how to answer, he turned to the adult to see if he was fine with that.

N:   Saxon nodded, he did not mind, so he went to the bedside and knelt, reaching out so that Mandara held his hand. Seeing Derogan's method of keeping the young country calm, he decided to do something similar. He looked up to the maid, who dipped her head to indicate she was going to start, so he began.

While the maid was tending to the prince's wound, Saxon retold their memory of the spicy sandwich, how he was pretty sure that his tongue died, and that Mandara was fun to hang out with.

When Mandara began to fidget more because of the pain, Saxon absentmindedly rubbed his thumb against Mandara's hand, forming small circles. He started to describe the spirit Ora, about the calming aura she emitted, since the young country was asleep when he was taken back to his father.

When the maid was done, he continued to gently stroke the prince's hand until he fell asleep, exhausted from staying awake while the maid was applying the herbs.

M:   Derogan watched with fascination, he always admired the gentle sides of adults, it wasn't a very well-known side, especially when it came to empires, but people could do a lot when they decided to just be kind and caring.

"Well, for the head of insurgents, you're pretty good at being gentle and caring," he remarked, the teen knew about the insurgent stuff because he had been eavesdropping on people's conversations, kids hear more than adults realize after all.

The maid rolled her eyes as she grabbed some bandages, "I think that is enough talking for now, why don't you two go somewhere else, like pranking someone or something."

Derogan's eyes lit up at the mention of pranks, but he didn't want to leave Mandara alone either, "but Father asked me to stay with Mandara, to keep an eye on him," he protested.

"Your brother will be fine, Prince Derogan," she reassured the boy, "he's fast asleep and won't be going anywhere, go on and have fun."

Derogan grumbled, he really didn't want to leave but if the adult said Mandara would be fine then he was inclined to believe them, so he sighed and said, "alright, I'm sure there's somewhere I can find a spider to drop on someone's head, do you want to come, Sir Saxon?"

N:   Saxon did a double-take when Derogan referred to him as the head of insurgents, wondering how he was able to know that, and worried if Mandara would have known too. His eyes widened in fear when the maid mentioned pranks, however, he relaxed when the prince invited him to prank someone else. He couldn't refuse causing some sort of trouble, so he nodded, minding not to speak until they left the room.

Once he closed the door, he watched as an excited young country itching to pull a prank so he smiled and said, "you know the place best, so lead the way and let us pull a prank." He followed Derogan as he led him through the castle to prank someone.

While they were walking, Saxon had to ask, "since learning who I am, has it changed how you see me?"

M:   Derogan shrugged, "in a way, it explains why you came here in the first place and why so many countries are after you.  I guess what had been irking me is that you would cause unrest in your own family's empire, I would understand if it were their enemies or someone you don't get along with, but they're your family, it's the only one you get and you made them turn on you.  Why, don't you feel guilty about that, or do insurgents simply not feel remorse?"

He turned his head away from Saxon once he was finished ranting, not caring if he got an answer. He eventually led Saxon outside to the forest next to the castle, "ok, if we want a good prank then we need a scary animal to do it, Mandara and I usually stick to snakes and spiders but anything will do, and if you're good enough we can catch a badger to scare Father with, that is always fun."

Derogan then thought of a little trick he could play on Saxon, he just needed to get away from him first, so he blurted, "last one to catch an animal has to eat a bug!" then bolted away in a general direction.

N:   Saxon did not know how to answer that question and frankly wasn't sure himself; however, he quickly turned his attention to Derogan when he said his challenge and saw him run away, so he dashed in the opposite direction into the forest. He definitely did not want to eat a bug.

When he was far enough from the tree line, he slowed down to a jog as he tried to search for a source of water, a river or pond, so that he might catch a fish or a frog, since they are also animals.

When he found one, he grabbed hold of a branch and snapped it off, planning to use the now jagged end of the stick to use as a way to catch a potential fish. Squatting down near the edge of the river, he rocked on the balls of his feet and waited patiently for any sign of life to appear.

In the corner of his eye, he noticed movement and found a frog, so slowly he snuck towards it, stick in hand, giving his full attention to capture the frog.

M:   Derogan knew exactly where to look, he and Mandara had scoured this forest a million times over and knew all the nests, food sources, and territories of every animal that lived there.  The teen ran straight for a dead tree and looked in between its roots, sure enough, there was a snake, right where he knew it would be.  Having done this time and time again, he carefully reached in and grabbed it behind its head.

"You're in luck mister snake," Derogan said, "you're going to help scare a friend of mine."

The snake wriggled and hissed at him, clearly not wanting to scare anyone, but Derogan ignored his protests and dashed off in the direction he saw Saxon run in.

When he found him by the river he had to keep himself from giggling at the way Saxon was crouched down with a stick over his head.  Derogan crept closer as quietly as possible, hoping that if he was close enough he could scare the entity into the water.

When he felt he was close enough he jumped out from behind Saxon, held out the snake, and screamed, "I FOUND ONE!!!"

N:   Saxon heard something behind him so he turned around just as Derogan shoved the snake into his face, causing the entity to freak out, instinctively step back, and fall into the river.

"Bloody hell," he shouted when he crashed into the river, and when he stood up with the support of the stick, he stared daggers at Derogan on the bank, "you little sh-". He lost his footing and was engulfed by the river again.

He got up again and waded towards the bank, pulled himself out, and waddled towards Derogan drenched. He stood over the prince with the stick in hand, and growled, "I swear, if your father was not the one who is keeping me safe, I would tackle you to the ground." He then proceeded to sneeze.

M:   Derogan immediately burst out laughing, so hard that he dropped the snake and landed on his ass, cackling like a hyena.

"That's what you get for trusting someone who plays tricks on people," he shouted as he tried to catch his breath.

He stood up as Saxon climbed onto the bank of the river, smiling smugly when the entity made his comment, not really taking it seriously since he figured the other was saying it out of spite.

"He might be keeping you safe from other people, but he can't protect you from me," Derogan smirked, then he jumped up and playfully smothered Saxon with his wings.

N:   Saxon, taken by surprise, took a step back and sat down heavily as a flurry of feathers covered his view, he tried to waft his hands in front of him in a failed attempt to protect himself. When he saw his chance to escape, he bolted away from Derogan into the thicket of the forest, shouting, "catch me if you can."

He ran and ran, trying to get away from the young prince, until he found a good spot to hide, so he went on all fours and hid behind a large bush, using the gaps to potentially spot Derogan coming.

M:   Derogan quickly stood up and chased after him, "you can't run from me, I know these woods better than you!" he called after the retreating entity.

The two ran for a long time, deeper and deeper into the forest until it was so thick you had to pump sunlight into it.  This didn't bother Derogan as he had a secret ability, his bird half was an owl so he could see in the dark. However, even with this advantage, he still lost sight of Saxon somehow, so he stopped to catch his breath and see if he could try to pick up his trail.

It wasn't hard to find it, water droplets and muddy footprints led right to the bush cluster the entity was hiding in.  Derogan smirked and stood up, "a favorite nesting area for reptiles is dry bush clusters, if you don't want to get bit I suggest you get out of there fast."

N:   When hearing this, he jumped out so quickly that he stumbled and crawled away from the bush, his eyes wide with fear. Then when he turned and saw Derogan watching, to salvage the dignity he had left, he stood up and smoothed out his clothes, eyeing the bush in case anything jumped out.

Embarrassed from what happened, he turned to Derogan and asked, "may we go back to trying to find an animal to prank someone, preferably not me?" Then he added, "and I am sticking with you this time."

While he was tidying himself, he started to shiver from the cold, and it did not help that the trees practically blocked out the sunlight and he was dripping wet.

M:   Derogan noticed him shiver and frowned, "maybe instead we go back since you're all wet, there are a few nests along the way but I don't want you getting sick either."

He started leading the way back to the castle, stopping in certain places to check for any animals. Most of the nests were vacant and ones that had babies in them he left alone.  When the two were a few meters from the treeline of the castle, Derogan checked one more spot, a bolder pile near the dead tree from before.  In between the cracks in the rocks he was able to spot another snake.

"You might want to step back, there's another snake in here," he warned as he reached in for it, carefully and expertly pulling it out.

N:   Saxon froze where he was, staring at the snake while Derogan handled it, and nervously laughed, "does this kingdom spawn snakes or something?" He circled around the prince, minding that he would not stumble into another snake's nest, but he noticed something scurry in a bush, so he looked closer.

A badger was hiding away from the two of them, and when Saxon pointed it out to Derogan it scurried away, so Saxon used it as an excuse to get away from the snake and gave chase.

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Anglo neared the Kingdom of Mandoria, he was exhausted that he was pushing his limits over a long period of time, so he glided, using the breeze to carry him, when he spotted a band of humans also approaching the kingdom.

Lowering himself to the ground, he glided just above the humans, and when they got too close to the kingdom, he dove and landed in front of them and enquired where they were going.

"Hallo, Herr Anglo," spoke the leader, "we are going to take Saxon and give him what he deserves. So, can you kindly move aside?"

"I would not be able to do that," Anglo replied, bristling his wings to appear larger when he realized who they were, "no Prussian is touching Saxon, do you hear me?"

He did not get a response when Mandorian guards spotted them, circled and trapped them, and had them all at sword-point.