The Dagger and the Crown

King Herald is pacing back and forth; deeply troubled by the startling news he received. He had sent his daughter to another kingdom in his place to accept a “gift”. What the gift is, he has no idea but the convoy has run into an accident and cannot proceed unless another is sent. Normally, this wouldn’t be a problem except for one thing; the letter had said that they are stuck in the middle of The Black Forest, one of the most dangerous places on the planet, with carnivorous plants, quicksand, giant predators like the Gottesanbeterin (giant praying mantis-like creatures with a ravenous appetite), Razor Boars, and the most dangerous of them all; The Bone-Hound, the undisputed apex predator of the jungle.
Sir Alan stands at attention, ready to be sent out to rescue the convoy with his group of 11 knights. “MI ‘lord?” Alan begins. “My men stand ready to depart on your command. Just say the word.”
King Herald stops his pacing, looks over at Alan, and says, “Patience, my young knight. I am still waiting for three more people of our group.”
And almost as if on cue, the door bursts open, revealing Selene in wearing her usual long dark green robe and pointy hat and carrying a large spell book in one hand, and ornate looking staff in the other, and a rather large bag on her back. “I’m so sorry, Milord. I was double-checking to make sure I had my scrolls, potions, and herbs ready. Oooooh, I hope I’m not late.”
The king chuckles as he says, “Relax Selene, you are not late. Our other two party members have not gotten here yet.”
“Oh, thank Ormazd,” Selene says, sweeping away her auburn hair and revealing one of her pointed ears.
Alan, upon seeing her ear, asks her, “Hey, are you an Elf?”
Selene looks at him with somewhat large, green eyes, smiles, and remarks, “Why, yes, I am an Elf.”
“Then why are you living in the castle and not the forests and jungles like the other Elves?”
I don’t know. Maybe because I’m the Court Wizard and that I would not be very useful to the kingdom in the forests and jungle. Duh?” Selene answers with a smirk, effectively earning an annoyed look from Alan and a few snickers from everyone else. Before Alan could make a retort, the doors open again and two people enter. However, everyone stops what they are doing when they see that these two are not wizards nor soldiers nor mercenaries, but assassins. Or, more specifically, assassins from The Hidden Blades. Everyone in the room, except for the king and Selene, draw out their weapons and surround the assassins.
The shorter of the assassins simply says, “Quite the welcoming party you have assembled here, mi lord.”
Alan looks over at Herald and says, “Mi lord! Quickly, get to safety while we hold these killers occupied!”
But instead of getting to safety, Herald simply says, “At ease, Alan. Lay down your arms.”
“But sir…”
“You heard me. I have personally invited these two gentlemen here from their guild to act as escorts.”
“E-escorts? But sir, they are killers. Assassins! Who…”
“… are under contract as of now. And until that contract is complete, they will follow my and Selene’s orders and be on their best behavior. Am I right young men?”
Both of the assassin’s bow and the taller one replies, “Yes, Mi lord. We are well aware of our objectives and boundaries and will do the best we can to achieve them.”
“Good. Now then, what are your names?”
“My apologies sir, but we are not allowed to reveal our true names. However, we can tell our code names.”
“Very well. Now then, introduce yourselves to your party.”
“Yes sir.” Both assassins turn to face the others and the taller one says, “Good afternoon, I am Malum. And this is my friend and partner, Daemon. As you can obviously tell, we are members of the Hidden Blades. As our royal highness has said, we are now under contract and will faithfully follow any of the king’s or the court wizard’s instructions until the assignment is complete and we are on our way. We are very much looking forward to working with all of you.” The soldiers are all grumbling to themselves and to each other, not happy with their situation. Selene looks over at the two assassins and locks eyes with the green-eyed Malum. As they look at each other, she begins to feel a chill go down her spine so she turns to the other assassin, Daemon, but when she does, she sees that he is actively avoiding eye contact. At first she is confused but then figures that he is strictly staying professional and walks over to talk to the king. Malum notices this and whispers to Azazel, “Hey, Azazel, what’s with her? I noticed you trying to avoid eye contact with her. What’s going on?”
“I met her a few days ago when I went to visit Solon. I wasn’t in my guild armor but if sure she will recognize my eye color and figure out that Azazel and Daemon are one and the same.”
“Ah, I see. In that case, avoid contact with her. Heh, guess that is one problem with having unique eye colors. Makes it easier to pick you out in a crowd. Well, as I said, avoid making eye contact with her. Anyone else here know you?”
“Yes, Alan, the leader of the Royal Knights. He has met me in my civilian disguise when I met up with Lillian. He was also the one who I ran into when I got Canis out of prison.”
“Damn, well, just stick near the other knights, or something. Actually, you can be the one who scouts ahead. That will put some distance between you and the ones who may know you.”
As the assassins are having their conversation, Alan goes over to King Herald and asks, “Mi Lord, are you sure that we can trust them? I mean, they’re assassins. For all you know, this could be a trap set by them to capture and murder us.”
King Herald smiles at the young knight and says, “I understand your concern Alan, but rest assured, I have employed their services before, and I know them to be extremely loyal as long as they are under contract. And I do not know why, but there is something about the one with the purple eyes that makes me trust him. Tis a strange thing. Anyways, are your men ready Alan?”
“They are ready as soon as you give the word.”
“Excellent.” Herald then turns to the assassins. “Are you two young men ready?” The two assassins look over at him, then to each other, then back at him and nod. He turns to Selene and asks if she is ready and gets the same response. “Great, now then, I am not only entrusting you with the details of this mission, but also my daughter’s safety, so please bring her home safely.”
Alan, his squad of knights, the two Hidden Blades assassins, and Selene all exclaim, “YES MI LORD!” And they head out. Once they are out of the room, Herald pulls out a locket containing a small painting of his late wife, Leanna, and says to himself, “Don’t worry, I promised you that I would try my absolute best to take care of our daughter and keep her safe. And I will continue to do so.”
It was early in the morning when the rescue party departed from the kingdom. Their party consisted of a dozen armored knights, including Alan, two assassins, Malum and Azazel/Daemon, and an Elvan mage, Selene. They had enough provisions to last them at least two weeks, maybe longer since Selene prefers eating fruit and other plants to meat and the assassins being adept at gathering food in dangerous areas. The party is standing at the edge of the jungle, staring into its dark depths as sounds of prey being chased and killed and sounds of birds are heard.
“Doesn’t sound and look very inviting.” Selene says to Malum. “And yet here we are, about to enter quite possibly the most dangerous place on this planet. Any thoughts?”
Malum looks over at here and says, “Yes, we will go into the jungle until it gets to about afternoon. Then you and the knights will make camp as Daemon and I scout the surrounding area until it’s too dark to see anymore. If we find any signs of the caravan, we will report back.”
Before Selene could respond, Alan comes up to them and says, “Who the hell died and made you leader?”
Malum, without looking at him, responds, “I was not saying what we were going to do. I was merely suggesting it. Lady Selene asked for my opinion after all.”
Selene looks over at Alan with an annoyed look on her face as she says, “Listen Alan, like it or not, we have to work with them. They are far better trackers than any of us. Plus, if the caravan is captured by bandits and being held hostage, they could sneak in and rescue them with little risk. So, for now, just trust them.”
“Trust them?! Why should I trust a group of murderers? And I am damn sure they do not trust me or my knights.”
Before Selene could say anything back, Azazel comes to the group and says, “Lady Selene, I have found cart tracks. If we have any luck, they would’ve tried doubling back and something stopped them. Should we perhaps try to see if we can find them?”
Selene looks over at him and says, “Very good. And yes, let’s try it. For now at least. And we will be going along with Malum’s idea for now. Now then, let’s go.”
Alan grumbles his disapproval but, having little choice, he goes along with the plan. The party then goes into the jungle and begins their search for the lost princess.