[h1][center][color=gold]Regent King Adrian de Hiertania[/color][/center][/h1]

[hr]

The sound of metal striking metal was music to Adrian’s ears as he parried another one of his assailant’s heavily telegraphed slashes. 

It had always been easy for the noble to lose himself in the flow of battle. After all, there were no sensitive egos to worry about stepping on here, no insufferable advisors constantly nagging him, and perhaps most importantly, his next move was always obvious to him. He turned aside another intense blow, but this time he pushed forward immediately and in one smooth motion he brought his opponent tumbling to the ground. The man landed with a rather ignoble crash behind him, joining his two fellow guardsmen. Deep down, Adrian knew that the self-satisfied smirk that was creeping into his expression must have been an insufferable sight for his sparring companions, but it had been far too long since he had this kind of exhilaration coursing through him.

“[color=gold]Come now, I thought you whelps promised I was going to break a sweat this time,[/color]” he boasted, despite his breathing being much more ragged than he would ever admit. He lifted his practice sword so that it rested on his shoulder and turned his eyes to the three guards struggling to their feet, one eyebrow raised.

“I wouldn’t look so high and mighty captain, your age is going to catch up to you one of these days,” Malcolm, the first of the guardsmen to get back on his feet, retorted good naturedly. 

 Adrian’s smirk widened into a full on smile. It had been a long time since he had been a captain of anything, what with this whole regent king business that had been thrust upon him. “[color=gold]Please, when I’m old, gray, and sitting in my rocking chair, you sad lot still won’t be able to score a hit on my beautiful face.[/color]”

The comment earned him scoffs and more grumbling, but it only brightened Adrian’s already good mood. A ray of sunshine broke through the clouds and graced the modest courtyard with its presence. The castle had plenty of more impressive ones, but Adrian had always been drawn to this one with its lonely willow tree. And it was against that sorry piece of wood that he propped himself up against on this rather unremarkable morning, enjoying the last few minutes he had before he had to get back to being the regent king. These sparring sessions were becoming more and more infrequent, but the escalating tensions between Hiertania’s oh-so-lovely neighbors had been eating up most of the man’s free time. 

The sound of footsteps cut through the prince’s thoughts and echoed throughout the small courtyard. “[color=gold]Your expression speaks volumes about the good news you bring me,[/color]” he said all too dryly to the rather grim faced messenger. “[color=gold]Gentleman,[/color]” he addressed his men with a brief nod, “[color=gold]I do look forward to the next chance I get to thoroughly trounce you.[/color]”

[center]---[/center]

Adrian ran his hand up the side of his exasperated face and then combed it through his hair as he climbed the stairs to his brother’s chambers. The messenger’s news did not surprise him much, as pillaging on the border had unfortunately become rather commonplace, but as it was the latest in an ever growing string of hostilities, it was only a matter of time before large scale violence broke out. It was unclear where exactly the bandits hailed from, but the details in the message led Adrian to suspect they were in fact Hiertanean. Nothing could be proven quite yet, so for now he would see what his brother wanted.

And there he was, in front of the doors to his brother’s chambers. Of all the times he had entered the room, Adrian could not recall a single time he had opened the doors “properly.” Most notably, there had been the time that he had actually kicked the doors open when he first heard about his niece, Ihana, and demanded that she be brought home.  Adhemar hadn’t let him anywhere near his tower for a solid month after that one. “[color=gold]No sense in changing now,[/color]” he muttered to himself, throwing the doors open overdramatically and then proceeded to waltz into his brother’s room like he owned the place.

“[color=gold]Good morning brother, I was told you wanted to see me,[/color]” he stated matter-of-factly.