She was in pain, a lot of pain. It jolted through her side with each bounce. She vaguely rememberd a dagger between her ribs. 'Why am I bouncing?'
Someone yelled something that sounded like a command. It sounded far away to her. 'Who's yelling? Where am I?'
She regained and lost consiousness over the next few hours.

She heard faint sounds in the background, two people talking. She wasn't bouncing up and down anymore. 'That's good' she thought.

'She was hurt pretty bad, I'm not sure if she'll make it.' a male voice said.
'We need to get Cera here, she can help. I am sure of it!' another man exlaimed.
'Go get her then. We need her healing power or else I'm afraid for her life.'

The second man hastily left the room while the first stayed with the wounded woman.
'Em, stay with us, help is on the way.'
'I need to stop the bleeing somehow.' he thought to himself. 'I need to get her leather armor off and stop the bleeding for now.'

He knew he had to stop the bleeding fast so he reached for his dagger and cut through the leather corsets bindings to get it off of her as quickly as possible. He then grabbed clean linnens and a bowl of boiled water which he had prepared earlier. The stabwound had cut deep but he couldn't see if it had hit any of her vitals. He used a large part of the linnen to keep pressure on the wound to stop the bleeding.

After 15 long minutes the other man came back with a woman, Cera. Without saying a thing to eachother she moved to the wounded woman on the bed and started her incantation for the heal spell.

A good hour later the wound seemed to have closed. The bleeding stopped and her heartbeat and breating had returned to normal. 'Now she needs rest.' the woman named Cera said. 'let us leave the room.'
'I will stay with her for now, just in case'. Cera looked up at the man who had stayed with her best friend and stopped her from bleeding do death. She just nodded at his and left the room. She was exhausted and needed to sleep.

When she woke up it was still dark. 'Still or again?' she thought to herself. 'How long have I been out?' She tried to speak but found her voince gone. She opened her eyes again. It was a bit lighter now, candlelight...or a hearth.
She tried to sit up but her whole body protested. She then found a stong hand on her shoulder, pushing her back onto the bed. 'you need to rest some more.' A warm voice said to her. 'Water' It was all she could say at that point. After a few seconds she felt the same hand cup her neck and bring her up a bit. A cup was brought to her mouth and she drank a few sips of refershing water.
'Thank you.' she said. 'You are welcome.' he replied. She could hear the smile on his lips.
'His voice.' she thought. 'It sounds so...mysterious.' She felt her ears go red at the thought that flashed through her mind then. 'good thing it's dark in this room.'
'What are you smiling about?' She heard his voice again. 'Crap...he noticed.'
'Just happy to be alive.' She blurted out quickly. 'How long have been out for?'
'About two days. but enough of the talking, you should sleep and get more rest. If you need anything I'll be here.' She heard that same tone in his voice as before.

Around two days later she was fit enough to sit up and grab a cup of water from the nightsand herself.
'Glad to see you felling better' she heard a familair voice say. Her best friend of 6 years, Cera, was sitting next to her bed. The grin on her face was wide and het eyes wet with tears of joy. Her best friend survived a what should have been fatal stabwound.
'Don't cry Cera, I'm fine'. Right when she said that a painspike went through her side and she groaned. 'Ok, I'm not fine yet'.
'Just glad you are alive. I'll report to the big boss and let you rest some more'.
Cera got up, straightend her skirt en kissed her friend on her forehead. 'See you tomorrow!'
'Yeah, see you tomorrow'.
After a few more sips of water she decided it was time to sleep a bit more, she was exhausted.

**********

He watched her sleep, her full pink lips slightly parted as she breathed steadily.
'I only just met her and I can't keep my eyes off of her, Damn it.' He thought to himself.
Instead of looking ah her he started at the wall in front of him thinking of his next mission.
He was so deep in thought he didn't notice her wake up.
'A penny for your thoughts?' She asked, scaring the living hell out of him. The cup he was holding flew through the air, the contents, water, landing in his lap.
'Damn it lady, don't scare me like that'.

He stood up and grabbed a cloth from a nearby table to dry his pants with.
'I'm sorry'. he heard her say. He didn't miss the slight laugh in her voice when she said it.
He turned to her to say it was alright but when he looked at her the smile he heard in her voice was nowhere to be seen. The look she did have on her face was one of pure horror.
He raised an eyebrow at her and asked what was wrong. Reliasation then dawned on him she could now see his face very clearly in the candlelight.
He had hoped he could tell her about his heritage before she was fully awake, but alas.
Thinking it would be best to not come closer to her he started to explain.
'Sorry if I scared you, I didn't mean to.' He swallowed hard, hating the explaining he always had to do. She just stared at him, her eyes still wide in shock.
'I am here to watch you, keep you safe. If you like I can call for Cera.' She just nodded at him.

She watched him as he moved to the door and then dissapeared to the other side of it.
Letting out a breath she didn't realise she was holding she threw back the covers and slid out of bed. Still weak from her wound she had to hold on to chairs, tables and the edge of her bed.
She found her gear in the corner of the room. She quickly grabbed her dagger.
'What the hell is going on here. Why is there a Drow at my bed? Wait... is this my bed? Where did he take me? Is Cera a prisoner of his aswel?' So many questions raced through her mind at once.
The door opened and she saw him come in again.
'Stay back!' She yelled as she held her dagger in a defensive way.
Before he could say anything she saw Cera, her best friend, come through the door. Pushing the Dark Elf casually aside. He even let her nudge him.
Cera then noticed the look of utter confusion on her friends face and looked to where she was looking. At him.
'Em, no need to fear him. He's on our side. he's a friend'.
'You think everyone is a friend, Cera!' She yelled at her friend.
Cera's face went from smiles to an innocent shyness, eyes toward the ground. 'I do not think that everyone is a friend'. She replied with a pout. 'But this guy IS a friend' Was her quick and quite loud follow up. Her arms flailing as she said it.
'He was assigned to keep watch by the Magistrate'.
'So we are not his prisoners?' She asked Cera. 'Em! No! We are not prisoners'.
'Then why am I not in my own house and in my own bed?'
'Because moving you that far would have killed you' Was his reply. He hadn't moved from the near the door. 'This is a safe place. When you are well enough again you are free to go to your own home.'
'So if I'm understanding all of this just right.' she paused for a moment. 'You are my ...caretaker?'
'One of them, yes' he replied. 'Cera is another and there is a thrid.'
She was calming down, the adrenaline leaving her body. 'Cera, can you help me back to the bed? This wasn't a very good idea'.

The next morning when she woke up and looked around the room she saw him again. Cera was nowhere to be found. He was reading a book and looked over the edge to see her awake. Before he could say a thing she was apologising to him.
'I'm sorry. I didn't know.' her eyes looked sad when she said it.
'It's ok, I'm used to it, or atleast, I should be used to it.' he replied quietly. His eyes went down towards the book.
'Let's start over?' her voice didn't sound too sure to him but he nodded his approval to her.
'I'm Elmyn, Bard by day, spy for the Magistrate by night. But I guess you already know that.'
He nodded at her.
'My name is classified by the Magistrate's orders, but everyone calls me Shadow'. Was his reply.
'Shadow huh? It suits you I guess. Nice to meet you'. She geniually smiled at him for the first time and he felt his heart skip a beat.
'Fuck' he thought 'that's the prettiest smile I've ever seen'. And then he knew this assignment was going to be the hardest one he had ever had.