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Jackson's time with Barrett was the main reason he stayed. The days and hours spent doing everything and nothing with the prince seemed to quiet all the storms raging inside Jackson.
He was falling in love with Barrett and was pretty certain Barrett was falling in love with him, too.
"Jackson?" Barrett poked him in the arm. "Are you there?"
He sighed. "I can't focus on anything. Every time your father starts talking of the attack, all I can think of is how lost you'll be if he fails."
"My father has never truly won against the giants. But with me here, he's so determined -"
A slam drew both their gazes toward the entrance of the throne room where a man Jackson had not met stood. His face was etched with weariness and grief and bore a gash along the chin. Blood stained his armor, and it looked like a portion of his left pauldron was missing.
"Neil!" Barrett was up, rushing to the man's side.
"We tried to stop them from getting closer to the castle. We succeeded, but -" Neil hung his head for a moment before lifting it. "I need to speak to your father."
"What is the commotion?" King James entered and Jackson saw the man immediately cross to whoever this Neil was.
"My liege," Neil began solemnly, removing his helmet with a sigh of relief since protocol wasn't necessary anymore, "We failed." The helmet clanked to the floor as if he lost all strength to hold it. "Our numbers were too few," Neil continued, "and our resources are depleted." He took a deep breath before continuing. "We encountered impossible odds. . . there were too many of them."
"How many did we lose?" King James' voice echoed with madness.
"We must leave," Neil said bluntly. "Find safety elsewhere before more attacks come."
A long silence fell over them all. It hung like a leaden weight on the windswept clouds above them all.
King James finally spoke. "Very well," he said at last, turning away from Neil towards Jackson himself now. "We'll follow this man." King James looked directly at him.
The room spun as Jackson realized that he was going to be in charge of saving an entire kingdom of people.
You've saved your farm, you can save them. With Barrett's help.
"Here's what we're going to do," Jackson tried to breathe calmly. He had a kingdom to help save.
CHAPTER
FIFTEEN
Rushing around the grand chamber, Barrett tried to focus on the task at hand and not everything else. Because that's all your brain wants to think about.
More specifically, it wanted to focus on what would happen between him and Jackson when they were back in his world. Up here, their nights had been spent entangled together, but their days were usually spent apart. There was no way to know what would happen when Barrett was perpetually around. He had nothing to offer beyond being a prince, and that wouldn't have anything importance in the Realm Below.
Barrett's cheeks burned as he remembered Jackson screaming his name while his cock was between Barrett's lips, but this was absolutely not the time for that. Unfortunately, he'd been thinking about it before Neil burst in only an hour ago.
They needed to capitalize on the chaos and make their escape before the giant and his men discovered their plan.
With everyone already inside the castle to protect from the giant's attack, rounding them up had taken only an hour. Getting everyone out before the giants arrived could be an entirely different story if people didn't start taking this as seriously as it was.
The scent of magic filled the air, mixed with the earthy smell of giant footprints crushing grass and dirt underfoot. He tasted something bitter on his tongue - fear? Regret? Both? His mind raced as he thought about the home he’d only recently gotten back, and would now leave behind. But, he couldn't let himself dwell on it now. They had to focus on survival first.
"Hurry!" Barrett rushed the terrified servants, his voice strong and commanding as he tried to mask his own apprehension. "We don't have much time!"
Together with the servants, they gathered crucial supplies and weapons, stuffing them into satchels and packs. They couldn't afford to be caught off-guard if they were to stand a chance against the enraged giant and his minions. The weapons may not buy much safety, but anything was better than nothing as far as Barrett was concerned.
"Guards!" Barrett's father's voice boomed through the grand hall. "The time has come to seek a new life in the Realm Below. While it pains me to leave this realm - and our history - your safety is my top priority. My guards will lead groups of ten. You will go straight to the beanstalk. You will begin to climb down. You will never look back. Speed is key, but you must be as safe as you can be. Once we are on the ground, all those not in my army will move as far from the site as they can. We will cut the beanstalk as quickly as possible, and if we are lucky, the giant will fall to his death and his people will not be stupid enough to plummet to their death."
Barrett didn't know his father well after so many years apart, but he hated the pain he heard in the man's words. Leaving was killing him, but he still did what was best for the people who trusted him. Looking to the guards, he wondered what they thought of these plans.
The guards, fear etched into their faces, scrambled to obey their king's orders. They knew well the consequences of failing and it showed.
