Tyranny of Steel

It had been close to a week since Honoria and the galley she was on first departed from Constantinople; they quickly passed through the Bosphorus and into the black sea. During this time, she stayed entirely in the captain's quarters, where she was allotted as her personal space by Agnellus.

The man commonly brought her and her pet eagle, Heraclius, food, and water to sustain themselves. Honoria did not have much to do during this time, so she merely entertained herself by daydreaming about what it would be like when she finally arrived in Kufstein and met with Berengar face to face.

She was like a young girl who had her first crush; though she never met the man, she could already envision what he looked like. She imagined Berengar to have blonde hair and blue eyes as she mistakingly believed that all Germans had.

However, the image in her head was slightly different from the real Berengar. Her imagination of Berengar was not scarred from battle and lacked the eyepatch. He also had shoulder-length hair that was center-parted and was not quite as handsome as the actual man.

She would be greatly surprised when she finally met the real Berengar and realized he was even better looking than she thought he would be. Nevertheless, in her mind, she imagined all kinds of scenarios.. Maybe he would leave his two women and marry her instead. Or perhaps he would do something scandalous like add her to his harem.

She began to blush as she imagined the thought of a lowly count keeping an imperial princess like her in his harem; it was simply too outrageous for her inexperienced mind to handle; as such, she quickly shook her head and stuffed it face-first into her pillow.

Heraclius merely gazed at the girl like she were an idiot and screeched in response. Hearing his voice made Honoria look out from above her pillow and glared at the bird. It was clear that she had taken offense to whatever the bird had said.

Whether Honoria understood the eagle's words or simply was so well accustomed with the bird that she knew his general intent by the pitch of his screech, the fact remained that she was not pleased with what Heraclius had said, and as such, she chastised him.

"I am not! You should mind your words Heraclius!"

However, her fun was quickly interrupted by a knock on the door and the voice of Agnellus behind it.

"Can I come in?"

Honoria rushed over to the door and slightly cracked it open while peering outside. Seeing the friendly gaze of Agnellus, she let out a sigh of relief before asking the question on her mind.

"What is it?"

Agnellus instantly began to scratch his chin as he informed the princess of the journey's current progress.

"We are about to pass through the Empire's borders at the Black Sea and enter the Danube. When we reach the first major town in Wallachia, we will be stopping for supplies and trade. If you wish, you can stretch your legs then and get some fresh air. If you do want to wander into the town, I suggest you stay close by my side. You never know who is out to harm you."

Agnellus's sister had reminded him to watch out for Honoria, and as such, he did not intend to let any harm befall the naive and innocent young girl. If something happened to her on his watch, the Byzantine Imperial Family would massacre his entire family in the act of vengeance if they were ever to find out.

After hearing this, a pretty smile formed itself on Honoria's pink lips. She was excited to get out of this cabin and see the world. As such, she quickly nodded her head and expressed her desire to get off the ship when they arrived.

"I look forward to it; I promise I won't cause any trouble!"

Having heard this, Agnellus sighed before muttering beneath his breath.

"Don't make promises you can't keep..."

Of course, Honoria did not hear what he said, and as such, Agnellus departed without incident. Agnellus was a practical man, and having Honoria on the ship was already an enormous risk, but bringing her into a town in Wallachia, she was bound to cause trouble. Nevertheless, he couldn't just keep her locked up for the entire journey. That would be inhumane.

Honoria quickly closed the door after Agnellus left and had a broad smile on her face; she could finally see what the world looked like! She could hardly contain her excitement and instantly began to tell Heraclius of the good news. Of course, as an Eagle, he had excellent hearing and had already figured out the details from the conversation at the doorway.

That did not prevent Honoria from repeating it, though.

"Heraclius! We are finally going to get to some solid ground! I can't wait to mingle with the local Wallachians; I wonder what they are like?"

Heraclius merely rolled his eyes at the naive girl; he could already feel a headache taking over; he would be forced to protect her from wicked men once more, or so the proud eagle thought within its mind.

An hour later, the ship docked in a medium-sized river town along the Danube in Wallachia. This town was called Brăila and was the main harbor of Wallachia. After docking on the ship, Agnellus knocked on the cabin's door, where Honoria quickly opened it with a wide grin on her face.

Seeing the young princess was so pretty and naive, Agnellus threw a set of less luxurious clothing in her direction that featured a shawl. After doing so, he said in a severe tone.

"Wear this, and keep your face covered at all times; I don't want any trouble to occur because of your appearance."

Hearing this, Honoria was perplexed; after all, she was completely unaware of the degree of beauty she naturally possessed. If she were to walk around uncovered, it would surely attract attention.

Despite the question in her heart, she was obedient and shut the door, where she quickly changed out of her lavish attire and into something much more modest. She quickly covered her head and face with the shawl before revealing herself outside the cabin's entrance.

The shawl resembled that of a catholic headscarf, and when combined with a face veil, perfectly covered up the girl's natural beauty, aside from her glimmering mint green eyes. Seeing she was covered correctly, Agnellus began to escort her off the ship.

In doing so, the rest of the crew gazed upon Honoria with curious expressions, they knew there was a VIP staying within the captain's cabin, but they had no idea it was a woman. Some of them had more wicked thoughts in their heads, and others were merely curious, but the way Agnellus glared at his crew immediately halted any inappropriate ideas that the men might be scheming.

As they entered the town, Heraclius took off into the air, watching Honoria from above like a guardian angel. He felt cramped within the cabin since they left Constantinople and needed to spread his wings for a bit. However, he never let Honoria out of his vigilant gaze.

As for Agnellus, he made sure the young girl stayed close by so that she didn't get herself into any trouble. While his crew was out purchasing the necessary supplies for the journey, and others were paying a visit to the local brothels, Agnellus was stuck babysitting the young princess.

Eventually, the young princess spotted a store that caught her interest. It was a local tailor. She had a great interest in seeing the local designs that Wallachian women wore; she was so excited she ran ahead from Agnellus.

Upon seeing this, the man almost called out to her before realizing that he did not know what to call her, he very well couldn't call her by her first name, but if he used her honorific, it would immediately alert people to her position.

Thus all he could do was chase after Honoria as she rushed towards the tailors. However, before Honoria could enter the building, she ran into a well-dressed man and fell onto her butt; as she looked up, she saw a young man with shoulder-length jet black hair and amber eyes glare at her with a sense of fury in his eyes.

However, when he noticed Honoria's flawless mint green eyes beneath her headdress, his furious gaze disappeared. And a wicked smile appeared on his face. This young man was a mighty Boyar of Wallachia, a high-ranking nobleman, and he was quite the handsome individual.

Because of this, he was particularly lecherous, and he had enough experience to instantly realize the excellent shape of Honoria's body hidden beneath her clothing. Seeing how she was dressed as a peasant woman, the Boyar began to take advantage of the situation and scolded the girl in front of him.

"Do you have any idea who I am? How dare you ruined my expensive coat! I demand payment!"

It was only then that Honoria realized that the mud from the streets had splashed onto the man's coat, and seeing as how she had no money, she did not know how to react to this. As such, she lowered her head and apologized.

"I am sorry, but I don't have any money to repay you for the damage I have caused."

Hearing this, the Boyar was even more confident that the girl was an impoverished peasant, and thus he began to lick his lips as he imagined what form of beauty this girl was hiding behind her veil. The Boyar instantly wrapped his arm around the women's neck and dragged her close while squeezing her chest before whispering in her ear.

"I know a way you can repay me..."

Feeling the man grab at her chest, Honoria immediately flinched and slapped the man in the face before making some distance between herself and the mighty Boyar. The moment she did, so she cursed at him.

"How dare you touch me!"

After being slapped by the woman he believed to be a peasant, the man felt his inner fury rising, and thus he pulled out his sword on his belt and began screaming at Honoria.

"You filthy peasant whore! You dare to lay a hand on my flawless face; I will have your head!"

The moment he charged at Honoria, Hercalus swept down from the sky above with a screech of fury; he had looked away for no more than a minute to catch a nearby rabbit, and yet Honoria had already gotten herself into trouble.

The eagle bravely rushed towards the defense of the princess, where his talons dug into the young man's sword hand, tearing through flesh and bone alike, forcing the man to drop the blade. Coincidentally this also happened to be the hand the man had used to assault Honoria.

The young man screamed in agony as he tried to shake Heraclius away, but the more he did, the more damage was dealt with his hand. In this day and age, the damage done to the muscles in hand was enough to make sure that the Boyar never again wielded a sword.

As such, the blood quickly flowed onto the ground before Heraclius released the man's hand, where he flew back onto Honoria's shoulder and screeched fearsomely at the wounded Boyar. The fury in Heraclius' gaze was enough to intimidate the fool who began to soil his pants. If Heraclius wanted to, he could have claimed the young man's life.

The crowd that had gathered stood in shock as they witnessed a member of the local nobility get so thoroughly defeated by the eagle. Even Agnellus was amazed at the lengths the bird would go to to protect the girl.

Though he immediately snapped out of his shock, he quickly arrived before dragging Honoria and the bird away. After such an incident with a member of the local nobility, it was best to get out of dodge as quickly as possible. Thus, Honoria was led back to the ship while Agnellus scolded her along the way.

"Goddammit! I fucking told you to stay nearby! This was exactly the kind of shit I was trying to prevent!"

On the other hand, Honoria was pouting; she was shocked and dismayed over the sexual assault that the local nobleman had done to her out of nowhere and instantly became bitter about it. If she were still within the borders of the Byzantine Empire, she would have revealed her identity to have the man executed for such a heinous act.

She made a mental note of this and vowed never to suffer such humiliation again in the future. After returning to the ship, Honoria lay down upon her bed with a depressed expression on her face. She thought a great deal as to what had happened and immediately asked a question to Heraclius.

"Count Berengar won't be such a scandalous individual, will he?"

The proud eagle merely gazed at Honoria with a frustrated expression, this girl could not help but get into trouble, and once more, he had risked his life to help her out. As such, he merely squawked at Honoria before shifting his head away as if he were ignoring her, causing the young girl to sink further into depression.

As for Agnellus, he made sure nobody had seen them enter the ship and tried to round up his men as quickly as possible. Because of this incident, they would have to finish their resupply at the next town. Thus before the Boyar could retaliate, the galley had departed and traveled further down the Danube. Hopefully, they would not have to deal with the consequences of the scene that had just transpired.