The bright light of the sun caused Kali to awaken from her slumber. For a moment, she stared upward at the sky above her, feeling a dull pain within her chest upon realization that she was not viewing the ceiling of her bed chamber. Though it had been three years, the sadness she felt being away from her home never left her as she was reminded of her current situation every time she awakened.

This is not a dream, she thought sadly. No matter how much I want it to be.

Taking a breath, Kali roused herself from beneath the tree under which she slept and looked over toward her left. Just a few yards ahead of her, relieving himself in the stream, was the boy she'd been following these past few days. He called himself Stanford but did not give him a last name, Kali wasn't sure if the boy was being secretive or if he just didn't have one, it mattered not to the young princess. What did matter, however, was that Stanford was an exceptionally strong warrior for someone his age and he was someone Kali knew she needed for her future plans.

Being a Drow Elf, Kali was naturally gifted with many abilities, some that allowed her to properly assess one's talent. Though she was very young and had yet to master most of them, Kali was certain that this boy was special, someone of generational talent that she would never see again. She had to have him.

"Huh, you're still here," a voice above Kali broke her from her thoughts.

The elf scoffed at the raven haired boy and stood up, dusting off her trousers and placing her hands on her hips. "Of course," she stated simply. "You think I was gonna give up that easily?"

"I guess not," Stanford shrugged, moving past her and toward his large sword, which was currently perched against a tree. "But you're wasting your time, I already told you I'm not interested."

"And why is that?"

"I'm a mercenary, I only take on jobs for money," Stanford explained. "And since you don't have any, your request is denied." And with that, he began to walk away from the glaring elf.

"I don't think you understand," Kali stated, quickly catching up with him. "This isn't a simple job I'm offering you, it's much bigger than that."

"Yeah, yeah, it's about the fate of your kingdom or whatever," Stanford rolled his eyes. "I honestly could not care less if there's no money involved."

"But I'm a princess, I have plenty of money!"

"Right," Stanford chuckled. "I already checked, you don't even have a single copper piece on you."

"You checked?" Kali furrowed her brow before realization dawned upon her. "Wait a minute, you groped me in my sleep?!"

In response, Stanford made a face of disgust. "I did no such thing! I just made sure you weren't hiding any weapons!"

"By rubbing your hands all over my body?"

"Don't put it like that."

"But that's what you did!" Kali wrapped her arms around himself. "I know we elves are said to be incredibly attractive to you human males, but that doesn't give you the right to grope us whenever!"

"For fucks sake," the warrior pinched the skin between his eyes. "Look, the point is you're wasting your time. So stop following me and go find someone else to bother, kid."

"I'm no kid, I'm ninety-three years old."

"Nice try, I know about elf culture. You're practically a baby."

"Well you're one to talk, you look quite young yourself."

"I'm only thirteen, so I guess we're both kids." Stanford continued making his way down the road, Kali trailing right behind him much to his disdain, as he noticed a town in the near distance.

"Great, we've finally made it."

"Made it where?" Kali asked him, earning an annoyed sigh from the warrior.

"The map I got from that bandit says this is Orangetown, which is where I was headed before running into you," Stanford explained slowly. "I'm here to meet someone about a potential job offer."

"Really?"

"Yup, the job supposedly pays well," the smirk on Stanford's face grew. "Maybe well enough so that I may finally be able to afford a horse."

Kali gave Stanford a look, cocking her head sideways. "You're saving up for a horse?"

"Not just any horse, a mighty steed," Stanford beamed. "One that I will ride into many battles with, carving my name throughout this land."

The drow elf chuckled at the boy, finding his over the top theatrics quite amusing. "I have plenty of horses," she informed him, somewhat smugly. "So many that I would ride a different one every day and I still never rode them all."

"Well excuse me for not being a spoiled princess," Stanford snarled. "Everyone isn't lucky enough to have a stable of horses, they're quite expensive."

"Well," Kali looked away innocently. "Maybe I'd be willing to gift a horse to one of my personal knights, if I had one." She then feigned a disappointed look. "Poor things will have to go without owners for a long time."

Stanford grit his teeth and turned away from the snickering elf. "Again, nice try," he stated. "But even that kind of bribery won't work on me."

"We have so many of them, hopefully we won't have to give any of them away," Kali sighed. "Or put them down."

That last line made Stanford turn on a heel and grab Kali by the shoulders, forcing the drow elf to bite down on her lip so as to not fall into a fit of laughter at the boy's distressed look.

"Y-You wouldn't!" he shrieked. "Elves are supposed to be kind to nature and innocent animals!"

Kali couldn't contain it anymore and threw her head back in laughter, a sound so alien to her ears. How long had it been since she'd actually had a real laugh?

"Of course I wouldn't harm them," she stated once her laughter died down. "My horses are like extended members of my family, I just wanted to tease you a bit."

Stanford clicked his tongue in annoyance and released the still chuckling elf, grumbling curse words under his breath while stomping off. As Kali quickly followed right behind him, Stanford silently wondered if he made a mistake saving the annoying little elf.

"Alright here we are."

"Really?"

The two companions were currently standing outside what looked to be a rundown pub, judging from the music and loud, boisterous noises they heard from the other side of the door.

"What? Something wrong?"

"I thought you said we were taking a job," Kali crossed her arms. "Not going to some filthy, rotten outhouse. 

"I never said we were doing anything," Stanford corrected. "And besides, this is a pub not an outhouse."

"Same shit," Kali followed him into the building. The moment she stepped foot inside she immediately felt the urge to vomit, as her nose and ears were assaulted by various foul smells and loud noises. 

Quickly, she followed Stanford to a table, where they both sat down and were met by a server. She was a large woman, looked to be in her early forties, with short brown hair, a hook nose and a mole under her left eye. 

"What can I get for ya?" she asked, eyeing them seriously. "Just so ya know, this ain't really a place for kids."

"You saying we're not allowed?" Stanford asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No, it's just we don't serve things kids would like," the woman shrugged.

"That's fine, I'll take two mugs of your finest mead," Stanford beamed, turning to Kali. "And you'll be having?"

"One of those wasn't for me?"

"Of course not, pay for your own drink."

"Rude," Kali scoffed and turned toward the server. "Do you all have any good wine?" She made sure to emphasize on the word 'good', because usually places like these served some of the most foul tasting wine she'd ever had.

The server noticed her rather haughty tone and made a face. "We do have a new shipment of Blackwood from Kaytram. It costs a little more, but I'm sure it'll be to your 'high standards.'"

"Blackwood wine?" Kali's ears twitched. "I'll take a glass of that."

"Sure thing, your majesty," the server spat, heading toward the kitchen. Once she was out of sight, Kali turned her attention back to Stanford, who was currently scanning the room as if he were looking for something.

"So tell me again why we had to come here."

"Well for one, I'm thirsty," Stanford told her, not looking her way. "And two, as I said earlier, I'm here for a job." A smile suddenly crossed his features. "And here it is, right on time."

Kali turned her head and nearly jumped out of her seat when she saw a hooded figure standing directly in front of their table, looking down at the two of them.

He just appeared out of thin air, I didn't even sense him, the drow elf thought.

Stanford, who didn't seem fazed at all, merely scooted over to allow the hooded person to sit next to him at the table. The person then pulled their hood down, revealing a rough looking boy that looked to be in his late teens to early twenties. He had brown, messy hair and dark bags under his sharp eyes as if he'd never slept a day in his life. He also had a bit of stubble on his face along with a large scar across his lip.

"Tristan, it's been a while," Stanford smirked. "Sorry, you like to go by Rat these days, right?"

"I have always been The Rat," Tristan stated through a thick accent. Kali noticed that his skin was a more bronze color than she was used to seeing, meaning that Tristan was likely from a foreign land. The elf flinched slightly when she saw Tristan's dark eyes land on her form, scanning her thoroughly. 

"Who is this?"

"She's just a tag-a-long," Stanford shrugged, giving Kalen a look. "She wants me to become her knight or something stupid like that."

"Hm," Tristan kept his eyes on the elf before giving her a sly smirk. "Quite the pretty one isn't she?"

"Eh, I guess so. If you like scrawny elves."

Kali scoffed at Stanford's nonchalant attitude about her looks, but decided against saying anything. Just then, their server arrived with their drinks just as Stanford and Tristian began to converse.

"So, Rat, what's the job today?" He asked as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small vial.

Rat nodded and held out his hand, an envelope falling from his sleeve. He then slid the envelope to Stanford, who was busy pouring whatever was in that vial into his drinks. "This should have all the information you need," Rat explained. "There is no timetable and payment is due upon completion."

"Thank you, my friend," Stanford smiled, tossing him a gold coin. "Wanna have a drink? It's on me."

"Next time," Rat patted Stanford's shoulder. "I have other clients to attend to at the moment." And in an instant he vanished, almost as if he were never there.

"That guy was....strange," Kali commented.

"Yeah, but he's damn good at his job," Stanford took a swig from his mug before opening the envelope, his face suddenly turning sour. "A black card? Damn it Rat!"

"What wrong?"

"A black card means assassination!" Stanford hung his head in disappointment. "That jerk, he knows I don't like these types of jobs!"

Kali gave Stanford a bewildered look. "You don't take assassination jobs? Didn't you just slaughter a group grown men not too long ago?"

"That was in self-defense," the raven haired boy explained. "It's one thing to kill when you're in battle or defending yourself, it's an entirely different deal with killing is your job." He ripped the card in half, not even bothering to look at it. "Besides, these type of jobs usually have you go after people that can't really fight for themselves. I don't attack people that can't fight back."

The princess blinked at the strange warrior before her, a small smile crossing her features. This boy was a rather peculiar one to her, one moment he was chopping off people's limbs like it was nothing and the next he was complaining about fighting fairly. This only reinforced Kali's determination to make this boy hers no matter what it took.

"This was a bust," Stanford groaned, downing the rest of his drink before tossing two silver coins on the table and standing up to leave. "Guess it's on to the next town. I hear there might be some work up north."

"Wait for me," Kali quickly finished her drink and stood up to follow him, however, the moment she did her body became extremely heavy, causing her to fall face first onto the floor, much to Stanford's vocal amusement.

"Ha!" Stanford pointed at her. "You're already drunk off one glass?" He reached down and helped the elf to her feet. "Are all elves such lightweights?"

"N-No, I'm not....drunk...." Kali breathed. "This is....something else....my body won't move...."

Suddenly, Stanford pushed the elf back onto the floor, as two arrows shot past where they were standing and landed in the wall. Whipping his head around, the warrior saw the server from earlier, only now with a bow and arrow in her hand and looking much more intimidating. Behind her were two other men, likely the cooks, both were holding bladed weapons in each of their hands.

"Looks like someone didn't like your attitude from earlier," Stanford stated. "They must have put some sort of drug into our drinks."

"B-But you're not affected...."

"This isn't the first time someone's tried to drug me," Stanford smirked. "Which is why I carry a potion made from fairy dust on me, that stuff will purify anything." He then stood back up and unsheathed his large sword as the bystanders began to clear out of the bar. "You stay right there, Princess, while I get some answers from these guys."

Without a moment's hesitation, Stanford dashed toward the three assailants, blocking the arrows the server shot at him along the way. Once he closed the distance, he quickly cut her bow in half before kicking her in the face and sending her stumbling backwards. As the two cooks moved in to attack, Stanford dodged them both, before slashing one of them halfway through their torso.

The other cook tried to use this as a chance to attack, but Stanford was quicker than him and whirled around to ram his sword right through the cooks chest, sending him into the wall of the pub. With the two cooks down, Stanford turned his attention toward the server, who had made her way past him and was now running toward the paralyzed Kali with a large knife in her hand.

"No you don't!" Stanford shouted, picking up a plate and throwing it in her direction. The plate hit the server right in the back of the head, shattering itself and likely part of her skull as she fell onto the ground, unconscious.

The young warrior let out a breath and returned to Kali's side, pulling out another vial of fairy dust and placing it to her lips. "Drink up, it's fast acting so you should be able to move in a few minutes." Kali quickly swallowed the rather sweet tasting substance as Stanford returned to the body of the server to search her pockets.

"What this?" he murmured, pulling something from her apron. It appeared to be a card, the exact same card that Rat had given Stanford earlier. "Now it all makes sense."

"What does?" Kali asked, feeling her body start to become lighter.

"They got the same assassination job that I was offered," Stanford showed Kali the card. "And unfortunately, it seems like you're the target."