Tursed my worid upside down

The former queen invited them into the dining room with cold politeness. She asked no questions, but only glanced sideways at Klaus, and in these fleeting glances Egor did not notice a shred of warmth or anything even remotely resembling a mother's feeling. They went down at the moment when the slaves were hastily putting the last dishes of hot stew on the table. They had to give them credit. In such a short period of time, the servants managed to set the table with enough food to feed ten people to their fill.

Minami sat at the head of the table, Klaus took the chair on the right side of the table, letting the one closest to his mother pass. Egor hesitated a little and still decided to sit opposite the prince.

"Help yourself. I rarely have guests, so the staff did their best," the woman waved her hand around the table, then raised it up and snapped her fingers. A pretty girl immediately came up to her and filled an empty glass with wine.

"Can you drink wine yet?" she turned to Klaus, who couldn't help but make a face. Minami smiled with just her lips. "Fill the glasses of my dear guests too."

The rest of the late dinner passed in complete silence, broken only by the sounds of cutlery touching plates. Minami drank one glass after another and the gleam in her eyes made it clear that the woman had better stop.

"Klaus, are you afraid of me?" she asked, raising one eyebrow, putting down the cutlery and pushing away the plate with almost untouched food.

"What makes you think that?"

"You're sitting so far away, come closer."

Klaus paused for a few seconds, pushed his chair back and approached the woman. She took a sip of wine, put the glass on the table and stood up, taking a step and coming very close to the prince. The woman raised her head to look Klaus in the eyes. A slight smile spread across her face, which made Egor shudder slightly.

Minami slowly raised her hand and placed it on the prince's cheek. The young man tensed slightly from this gesture, but did not move away. Minami stroked his cheek, traced the line of his cheekbones and slowly moved down to his neck, holding her palm.

"You have his skin color and height, but your pretty face and those deep eyes are clearly from my lineage. If only you weren't so dark," she removed her hand and sighed slowly. "Your skin reminds me of him," the woman turned around and headed to the other side of the table, where Egor was sitting.

"I didn't think that such a puny soldier would guard the crown prince."

Minami stopped behind Egor, placing her graceful palms on the back of his chair, but her gaze did not take her eyes off the prince.

"He is not my guard. He is... he is more of an advisor."

"I see," she raised an eyebrow. "Your advisor, then. And what kind of family is he from?"

"He is not of high birth."

"So a slave," she nodded to herself. "Tell me, Klaus," she moved away from Egor's chair and headed towards the prince again. "Why did you come to this godforsaken place? Why did you risk taking only one slave with you? Is he special in some way? Does he have outstanding magic? Or, despite his size, is he an excellent warrior?"

"I wouldn't say that he is a warrior or a powerful magician, he is just my advisor. I wanted to make sure that you are really alive and decided that it would be better to make my arrival a secret. Don't you think so?"

"So no one knows that you are here?" she put both hands on Klaus's shoulders, slowly moved them, moving them to the back of his neck, and then abruptly jerked them down so that their eyes were at the same level.

"No," the prince answered stiffly.

"That's very good," her lips stretched into a predatory smile, and then she did something no one could have expected from her. She leaned forward and pressed her lips to Klaus's.

It took the prince only a moment to understand what was happening. His eyes widened and he jerked back, pushing the woman away from him.

"What are you doing?"

Minami burst out laughing.

"Don't tell me you're still an innocent boy! Has no one kissed you yet?"

"What?" Klaus was taken aback. "That's not what I'm talking about! I'm asking why you're doing this?"

"You're not attracted to me?" the woman asked, feigning surprise.

"I think you've had too much to drink and aren't quite yourself," the prince shook his head. "Let's discuss everything tomorrow, when you've had some sleep."

"Oh, boy, you have no idea how much wine I can drink and still be fully aware of my actions. The question is different," she took another step towards Klaus, who retreated again, "do you think I'm not beautiful enough? Or maybe not young enough?"

"I don't understand you at all. Do you know who I am?"

"Don't take me for an old senile woman," the woman's eyes flashed angrily. "One look is enough to understand who you are. Your marks are tanned skin, chiseled chin. You are his heir!"

"Yes, but I am also your son! What you are trying to do," he shook his head, "is wrong."

"Don't tell me what's right and what's wrong. I may have given birth to you, but that's all. Maternal feelings? Ha! What nonsense! You snuck into my prison, what did you expect? For me, you're a stranger, you're his son. In my eyes, you're quite an attractive young man, so why shouldn't I take advantage of the opportunity and get that warmth that I really lack?"

"Enough!" Klaus exclaimed, losing control of himself. "I made a mistake, I admit it. Thank you for dinner, and now we'll leave."

"There's no need to rush. You can rest. I've already arranged for a room to be given to you, in case you don't want to share it with me," the woman grinned. "Your slave will also have a bed prepared..."

"No, Egor stays with me. Let them prepare another bed for him in my room."

"Bringing another bed will be problematic, especially because of the lowborn slave."

"Then he will simply stay in my room," Klaus sighed.

Minami snapped her fingers again, and a slave appeared next to her.

"Take our guests to the room. This one," she pointed with a dismissive gesture at Klaus, "preferred to share a bed with his slave, and not with me."

After these words, she turned abruptly and left.

"Please follow me," the slave bowed, and the young people silently followed him.

In the room, a lit fireplace, a jug of hot water and a basin awaited them. The bed was made with fresh sheets, and on the table next to it there was wine and snacks. Everything for one person, but before the young people had time to look around, there was a quiet knock on the door.

"Come in," Klaus answered.

The door opened slightly and three slaves entered. One with a rolled-up mattress, a pillow and a blanket, the second with another jug ​​of water and the third with a wine glass and another plate of snacks. They quickly distributed their load around the room and left, bowing low at the exit.

Klaus automatically pulled off his light armor, released his shirt from his pants and unfastened the sheath of his katana, took several knives out of his boots, from his belt, threw everything on the table next to the snacks, poured wine and drained the glass in one gulp.

Egor understood the prince's confusion and bad mood. All his life he considered his mother dead, and when he was convinced that this was not so, then she... her behavior... let's say, did not live up to expectations.

"Klaus," Egor began uncertainly, not knowing what to say and where to put himself, so he went to the mattress lying in the corner and began to slowly unroll it.

"Stop it. There's a huge bed here and we can easily fit on it together," Klaus said, pouring wine, but this time into two glasses.

Egor stopped what he was doing and slowly walked up to the table, taking the offered glass.

"To the reunion with mother," he grinned sadly, tipped the glass into himself and sat heavily on the bed, putting his hands on his knees and lowering his head into his palms.

"Klaus, I understand that you're upset, but maybe we misunderstood something? Maybe she really did have too much wine and..."

"Egor, what could be misunderstood here? She wanted her own son to fuck her!" another sad laugh. "I just - he tore his head from his palms and looked into Egor's eyes."

The young man had never seen such a plea in the prince's gaze, as if he was asking Egor to find an explanation or waiting for him to say that it was all just a dream. The fair-haired guy could not resist, he walked up to Klaus, sat down next to him and touched the prince's cheek with his hand. Klaus turned to him, and Egor lost his mind, before he could come to his senses, he closed the distance between them and pressed his lips to the prince's lips, as if trying to erase the former queen's vicious kiss from the prince's body, from his thoughts, from his memory.

Klaus parted his lips in surprise, and Egor accepted the invitation, deepening the kiss, which lasted until Egor ran out of air in his lungs. He was breathing heavily when he pulled his face away from the prince. His face, red from what he had done and from excitement.

"I'm sorry," Egor whispered, trying to get out of bed, but Klaus quickly caught him by the wrist, and with his other hand turned the guy's face towards himself, forcing him to look into his eyes. Egor became even more embarrassed. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have..."

"Shouldn't have or didn't want to?" Klaus asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Shouldn't have," Egor whispered, lowering his eyes.

"Listen," Klaus spoke, letting the guy go. "I understand that you've been through a lot lately and it's hard for you to cope with your emotions. Sex is the best way to distract yourself, well, at least that's what they say," the guy grinned. "I promise, as soon as we leave here, I'll pick you the best slave in the house of pleasure!"

Egor was taken aback. He had just kissed the prince, thereby giving vent to the feelings that had tormented him for so long, and Klaus was offering him a prostitute? Egor's eyes widened, and the skin on his neck turned crimson.

"Don't be shy," Klaus slapped him on the shoulder, considering his friend's reaction to be embarrassment, not righteous anger. "I understand everything, hormones and all that."

"No, you don't understand," Egor hissed, getting out of bed and drinking his portion of wine. "You don't understand shit if you're offering me something like that!"

Klaus stood up and slowly approached Egor, looming over him like a mountain and studying him with a piercing gaze.

"That is, what you just did..."

"Yes, I did exactly what I wanted," the fair-haired young man shouted right in the prince's face, gathering all his remaining courage for this gesture.

"No, Egor, that's not what you wanted," the prince said, starting to pace around the room "and you've never even had a girlfriend, how can you think that..."

"I don't need a girlfriend to understand what I feel and what I want. Forget it. It's okay, I shouldn't have behaved like that. I just thought... let's go to bed? I'm really tired."

"Egor," Klaus took a couple of uncertain steps towards his upset friend.

"Klaus, please, don't make my situation worse. I understand everything. You are not interested in me in this regard and I promise that this will not happen again. Just don't kick me out, send me back, I promise that I will never do anything that is unpleasant to you again."

Klaus's face changed. Anger? Discontent? Egor did not have time to understand what exactly it expressed, as the prince covered the distance between them in a few wide steps, roughly grabbed the guy by the chin and lifted his face up, after which he kissed him. Persistently, pressing the poor and confused Egor tightly to himself with his other hand.

"I don't find this disgusting," he said in an even voice right into the young man's lips while he was trying to catch his breath. "But I don't want you to regret anything later, not having tried a woman."

"I don't feel anything towards women," Egor admitted resignedly. "I tried when I realized that I was attracted to you not only as a friend or...," he shook his head, not knowing how best to call the unusual relationship between them. "And I have no attraction to other men either," Egor interrupted, just as Klaus wanted to ask the obvious question.

"Egor, if...," he didn't have time to finish when the door suddenly swung open and guards burst into the room. "What the shit..."

Klaus pushed Egor sharply behind him, reached the table in one jump and pulled the katana out of its sheath just as the warrior closest to him almost took the guy's head off. Now Klaus was truly furious and was afraid that if he used magic, he would smash the room to smithereens. He was not worried about the safety of the room, he was worried that the consequences of the destruction could affect Egor.

"Don't let them escape!" a voice was heard from the corridor, most likely their captain. "The crown prince must not leave this room alive!"

While Klaus was fighting off the attackers, new opponents appeared in the doorway. There was no end to them. Klaus could not watch them all, but Egor clearly saw how a man in the far corner without armor and weapons created a fireball in his hands and was about to throw it right at Klaus's back.

There was no time to think, and Egor ran out of his flimsy shelter, blocking Klaus at the very moment the ball flew in his direction. As soon as the magic approached the guy, it immediately dissipated, leaving behind a fleeting heat in the area of ​​the anti-mage's neck. He was able to reflect the ball, but Egor did not know what to do with the sword heading for his stomach, and he closed his eyes in fear. He only felt the wind near his ear and heard a whistling sound, but did not feel the expected pain in his stomach. Opening his eye, the guy managed to see a soldier falling to his knees with a short dagger embedded in his eye up to the hilt. As if in slow motion, the man fell first to his knees, still clutching the sword in his hands, and then collapsed on his side.

"What the fuck are you doing out of hiding!" Klaus roared at him. "Hide before they make holes in you!"

"But I wanted help!"

"Hide," Klaus growled.

Egor obediently hid behind the bed and peered out, looking for a new magical threat.

"Klaus, the one in the right corner has..."

 Before Egor could finish speaking, another short dagger flew at the man with fire magic, piercing his neck through.

"Damn it! Where did you get so many daggers!"

"It wouldn't hurt you to have a couple, too!"

A mountain of corpses was growing in the small room. Egor only shouted, hinting where Klaus could expect a vile blow from, and the prince, unquestioningly trusting him, hit the target right on target. There were no soldiers left in the corridor. Klaus stood covered in blood and was breathing heavily, wiping his katana on the shirt of the nearest corpse.

"I can't believe she decided to kill me!"

"Who decided to kill you?" Egor was surprised.

"Really? And you yourself didn't understand?"

"It can't be! She's your mother. Maybe this is the king's order?"

"How do you imagine it? It's several days' journey from the castle to this estate, and even if he has his own man here, it will take time to deliver the message. We were attacked about twenty minutes after we entered the room. The guards who were guarding the estate only from the outside attacked. Did you even see one inside?"

"No," Egor shook his head.

"Exactly, and who could have let them in here? Certainly not slaves," the prince grinned. "Collect all the food. We are leaving immediately."

Egor didn't want to believe what the prince had just said, but the facts spoke for themselves, so he didn't answer and began collecting food in a travel bag, which he hadn't parted with since arriving at this estate. He tore the sheet into shreds and wrapped dried meat, cheese, bread and fruit in them.

Klaus was pulling out and wiping the blades from the dead bodies at this time.

"Are you ready?" Klaus turned around, Egor nodded and they left the room, leaving behind several dozen corpses and blood soaked into the carpets. Klaus only managed to wipe the blood off his face and hands, but his shirt, peeking out from under his unbuttoned light armor, turned from white to almost red. As soon as they took a few steps out of the room, they immediately heard the tramp of at least a couple dozen military boots on the stairs. This was the only path they knew. Klaus cursed quietly, turned sharply in the other direction and grabbed Egor by the elbow, hurrying him on.

They barely had time to turn the corner when the soldiers found themselves in the corridor. Ahead were only closed rooms and a window. Having pulled the handles of several doors, Klaus abandoned this idea and headed for the only exit.

The soldiers had already discovered that the prince and his "frail slave" were not among the corpses, so there were only a few minutes, if not seconds, left before someone discovered the fugitives. Klaus quickly opened the window, trying to act as quietly as possible and looked out. Third floor, a flat wall, not counting a few torch holders, but they were installed too low. Again, Egor heard a selection of choice curses that the prince had clearly picked up in another world.

The panic was growing, and the young man nervously shifted from foot to foot. The soldiers' voices were approaching, there was nowhere to run. The prince yanked Egor behind his back, pressing him against the window frame and crouched down.

"What are you…"

"Shut up, I need to concentrate." Klaus cut him off.

One of the soldiers appeared from around the corner and immediately started screaming.

"They're here!"

The stomping grew louder. The young men found themselves sandwiched between the window and the soldiers, who seemed to have no end.

"As soon as I say "now"," grab my shoulders tightly.

Klaus didn't let Yegor utter a sound. He pressed both palms to the floor and sent an electric discharge through it. The floor cracked, the soldiers who had already turned the corner screamed in pain, their bodies turned black before their eyes and they fell dead from pain shock. The cracks in the floor grew larger.

"Now!" the prince shouted, and Egor grabbed his shoulders.

The discharges stopped coming from Klaus's palms, but it was too late. The floor, where magic had penetrated a second ago, cracked and flew down. They went down to the floor below. In an unusual way, yes, but still they went down. Egor's fall was softened by Klaus's body, on which the young man fell.

"Maybe you should get off?" a muffled voice sounded.

Egor looked down and saw that he was pressing Klaus's head against the split pieces of stone with his chest.

"Oh, sorry!" he stood up as quickly as he could and offered his hand to the prince.

"We need to leave," he said, shaking the stones out of his hair.

"Not so fast! You've made such a mess!" a voice was heard from ahead.

The young people only now noticed that several bodies were lying next to them, crushed by stones, and there were guards again in front.

"How many of you are here anyway?" Klaus shouted indignantly, and, not giving the soldiers a chance to take action, he shouted "now."

"Just not again," Egor groaned, grabbing the prince's shoulders with his dust-white hands.

This time Klaus was not careful, he shot lightning straight into the floor next to them and made an almost full circle with his hand. One of the soldiers threw a dagger. Klaus jumped, putting maximum force into this action, the floor collapsed again, and the weapon flew just a couple of millimeters from the top of the prince's head, cutting off several unruly hairs.

Another fall gave pain throughout his body. This time Klaus did not soften the blow, and Egor fell next to him, feeling that all the air had been knocked out of his lungs, but there was no time to worry about abrasions. Klaus grabbed Egor by the hand and ran forward, to where they should have found the exit.

Another surprise awaited them in the great hall.

"Wow, Your Highness, you are an unusually stubborn young man," said the man. One of the five who stood blocking the main doors, but the young people did not need them.

"Only five," grinned Klaus.

"Don't be so self-confident, Your Highness," said the other man and released a stream of air, sharp as a cue ball. If Klaus had not dodged, then instead of the painting hanging on the wall behind the young people cut in half, it could have been his throat.

"Oh, magicians. This is even more interesting," the prince's lips stretched into a predatory grin. He grabbed the katana more comfortably and launched lightning bolts at it.

Egor stood next to the prince. Klaus understood that magical attacks would not harm him, and the fair-haired guy felt useful for the first time in this crazy time.

The man with wind magic threw an air dagger again, which Klaus parried with a light movement of his wrist. The opponents at the door began to slowly disperse, trying to encircle the young men, simultaneously attacking the prince with spells. Fragments of the floor and water arrows flew at the guys, but they either fell apart near Yegor or were parried by Klaus's electrified katana. The prince did not have time to attack, but only defended himself, and Egor understood that they would not last that long. Klaus understood this too, so he retreated step by step as much as possible.

The opponents were under the false impression that they were cornering the heir to the throne, which gave them confidence and lowered their vigilance, so at the first opportunity Klaus threw a dagger and the water arrow flying at him fell apart without even touching the sword. A small victory that distracted Klaus for just a moment cost him a painful blow from a wind whip under the knees, and he fell heavily to the floor. At that moment, the remaining opponents simultaneously launched projectiles at the prince. Egor, without thinking, rushed forward and, not knowing which side to protect the prince from, simply jumped on him from above, pinning the rising Klaus back to the floor.

"Damn!" Klaus cursed, hitting his head on the stone floor.

"But you're alive," Egor answered, rolling off his friend's back, and at the same moment Klaus threw another dagger, which entered right between the ribs of the wind mage and, most likely, pierced his lung.

The man grabbed the dagger and fell to his knees. The remaining two looked at each other in confusion. This was enough for Klaus to rush forward and cover almost the entire distance separating him and the second water mage. In a panic, he launched a powerful stream towards the prince. Due to confusion, the man was unable to fully control his magic, and the blow was like a broken faucet. The powerful but even stream did not pose a threat to Klaus, he crouched, rolled across the floor and stood almost close to the mage, plunging the katana into his chin.

"You're the only one left." He addressed the dumbfounded earth mage, who tried to throw the nearest piece of stone floor at Klaus, but the prince simply chopped it in one motion, having first thrown the water mage off his katana like a rag doll.

"Klaus, be careful!" Egor shouted, closing the distance between them, but the prince himself had already noticed a child coming out from behind a column with eyes wide with horror and absorbed the discharge with which he planned to finish off the last enemy back into his hand.

"Kid, get out of here" Klaus shouted at him, but the child seemed not to hear and walked straight to the prince.

The boy passed by the earth mage and was already halfway to the prince, when a nasty smile blossomed on the former's face, and he picked up the largest piece of stone and pointed it towards the kid.

"I am your enemy! Don't touch the child," Klaus shouted, but he was already running towards him.

The stone, as if mocking him, was slowly approaching the child and Klaus saw that he had time, although the earth mage could have already killed the child, but for some reason did not do this, allowing Klaus to reach his goal and cut down the approaching threat, hugging the child and protecting him with his body from the falling stones.

As soon as Klaus saved the child, the earth mage turned and ran, disappearing from sight. The prince watched him and turned around at the desperate cry of Egor, who was only a couple of steps away from him and the child.

The prince turned his head. Steel flashed in the child's hand. The boy raised the weapon above Klaus's thigh and lowered it, but the prince felt no pain. All because Egor stumbled a step away from his final goal, fell, slid on his stomach the remaining distance to the prince and sharply extended his hand, wedging it between Klaus's leg and the dagger.

All this took a few moments. Klaus knocked the steel out of the child's hands and shook him sharply.

"What are you doing?" but the child did not answer, but only looked at the prince with those same wide eyes.

The prince angrily pushed the kid away and grabbed Yegor's hand.

"Are you a arse?"

"Everything is fine. The wound is not deep. We need to leave."

Klaus swallowed everything he wanted to say to this idiot, stood up, grabbed Egor by his healthy hand and headed towards the dungeons. The voices of soldiers could already be heard in the distance. The survivors were descending, and reinforcements were already approaching the threshold of the estate.