Thanks for your advice Rubber Duck! Very much appreciated.
Ok kids, the only characters you've probably recognized so far are Marek and Lalasa. The rest are original. Well, some of the characters that you know and love will be playing a part in this story (but the plot has to build a little more). I can guarantee three that will play a substantial part toward the end, and maybe more that don't get quite as big a role, it depends. This story tends to write itself sometimes. Anyways, on to the disclaimer!
I DON'T OWN ANY OF T.P.'S PLOT, CHARACTERS, T-SHIRTS, COFFEE MUGS, FOAM #1 FINGERS, ECT...
***********************************************
Luke was up at dawn the next morning. Dressing quietly, he opened his door and crept down the hallway. By the end of his first week at the Dove he had known every entrance and exit to the building. He also knew where to step if you didn't want the floor to creak. He slipped out the back door and down the street.
After weaving in and out of allies for a half an hour, he stood at the back to the entrance of Marek's hiding place. He had taken the key from Rhazier's clothes last night while he was fighting with Loni. Unless Rhazier looked at the fake key Luke had replaced the original with closely, he would never know.
Marek was in his study when Luke slipped in quietly. No look of surprise crossed his features as he saw Luke without Rhazier. Actually, he looked like he had expected a visit like this.
"What can I do for you Luke?" Marek inquired as he set down the quill he'd been writing with.
Luke walked forward to stand directly in front of his desk. "I have some questions," he stated.
Marek smiled. "Doesn't everyone?"
Luke gave him a small smile, but quickly turned serious again. "Lohedri Fuhr Dasme," he said slowly, "what does it mean?"
"Translated literally, it means 'The Hidden will triumph', but it is apart of much more," Marek said. "The phrase is part of an Old Ones' Text found in the ruins near Tirragen Lake almost ten years ago. The text tells of a changing of times that will occur, like it was destined to occur back then. We assume that they were referring to the eventual destruction of their race. We can only conclude that they are foretelling another 'change of times' in which the Hidden will set in to motion."
Luke crossed his arms over his chest. "So basically we have one of two possibilities. Lose to the oncoming evil and see the destruction of the entire Eastern Lands take place, or defeat the evil, only to be the cause of the eventual destruction of our entire race."
Marek shook his head. "Not necessarily. The text does explicitly say that the 'change of times' is bad; it just says that the one that occurred during their lifetime would be because of the evil in the world. We have a shot in making this a good 'change of times'."
Luke gave Marek a shaky smile. "No pressure then."
"None at all," Marek replied with a smile of his own. Long ago he had learned to make the most of the situation. Nothing would get done by being depressed about it. 'Fate has messed with me before,' he thought, 'and it will mess with me again.'
"Marek?" Luke asked suddenly, "how were you drawn into this life?"
Marek grinned at that question. "So many times I have wondered the same thing," he replied. "Perhaps I was born with a crooked heart, or maybe I just had bad luck. Whatever the reason, I don't regret being what I am."
Marek frowned slightly and looked down. "I would never try to change what I am, because then I would be lying to myself. I had a friend who thought he could change. Hell, he thinks he is changed, but I know better, he'll still be the same person I knew so long ago, no matter how hard he tries to hide it."
Luke stood there quietly. Marek seemed to take this change of heart by his friend as a deep betrayal and was still bitter about it. "Who was it?" he questioned softly.
Marek looked up, as if remembering Luke was there. "No one important," he replied. He turned business-like all of a sudden. "Well Luke if that's all you needed to know, I suggest that you return that key to Rhazier before he suspects something."
Luke knew that Marek knew as well as he did that he would never be so foolish as to just take the key without leaving an exceptional copy, but he didn't press. He knew a dismissal when he heard one.
"I suppose I'll see you around," he said to Marek before he walked out the door.
Marek nodded, and went back to whatever he'd been working on before Luke had walked in.
'Well that could have gone worse,' Luke thought as he stepped out into the street. 'At least I'll still be in time for breakfast,' he thought with a grin as he quickened his pace.
*******************************
"That was great Lalasa, I'm glad your staying here with us, your food's delicious!" Luke exclaimed.
Lalasa blushed slightly and grinned at the young man before her who had just eaten an ungodly amount of food. "I didn't even know if you could taste it since you were shoveling it in your mouth so fast," she teased him. "You eat just as much as my last mistress did."
Luke laughed. "I've never met a woman who could keep up with," he replied. "She must be huge."
Loni came and sat ungracefully at the seat across from Luke. "Lady Knight Keladry is no petite woman."
Luke raised his eyebrows as he turned to Lalasa. "Keladry of Mindelan was your former mistress?"
Lalasa nodded proudly. "Yes, I was with her during all of her training during her page years, and we've remained friends. I do her sewing when she's in Corus. She's never been good at it."
Luke laughed at that. "No I would expect she wouldn't be," he said. "She was pretty well known back when I was in Tyra. They said she was just as good as any male knight if not better."
"That she is," Lalasa said with a nod.
"I would love to spar with her one day," Luke said with a wistful gleam in his eyes.
Lalasa rolled hers. "Is that all you lads think about," she demanded, "fighting?"
Luke grinned. "No, food is also very important."
Lalasa gave him a friendly slap on the shoulder as he walked past. "Oh," he said, before walked out the door, "I also think about how I going to keep impressing beautiful young ladies such as yourself."
At this Lalasa turned a nice shade of magenta, as Loni chuckled at her friend's expression. "You'll get used to him," she assured her.
Lalasa shook her head. "Doubt it."
***********************************
"Moving me up to the big leagues huh boss," Luke said with a grin as Rhazier stood in front of him, arms crossed.
"You're training has officially ended, so now I'm going to put your lazy ass to work," Rhazier replied calmly.
"Ouch,' Luke said. "I didn't know you felt that way. Actually, I still wish I didn't know you felt that way."
Rhazier rolled his eyes. "It's time you earned your keep. This is an undercover assignment. You and Trows are going to pose as potential customers at a little get together Merchant Fiddler is throwing. You will need to use him to gain access to his private study. From there, I want you to look for anything you can find that would show shipping records for vials of Drusythem or anything you can't identify."
Luke raised an eyebrow. "No letting me in easy huh boss?"
Rhazier smirked at him. "You want to be in the big leagues you have to be a big boy."
Luke just stuck his tongue out at him as he walked out.
'Maybe we'll work on the big boy part,' Rhazier thought exasperatedly.
*************************************
"Mister Tanner, Mister James, so glad you could make it."
Luke nodded coldly at the man. "I'm sure."
The man took their cloaks and hurried off to fetch his master. Luke glanced at Trows and gave a slight nod. The two were dressed in rich silks and both carried gold "dress" swords at their sides. Instead of dress swords, however, the two had very thin, but still extremely sharp sword waiting to be used.
The man returned followed by a portly looking man with a very ruddy complexion. "Welcome to my home," Fiddler said jovially to the two men, shaking their hands. "Please have a drink."
"No thank you," Luke replied stiffly. "We'd rather not linger," Trows said, looking around the room with arrogance and disdain, "let's get to business."
Fiddler's smile faltered slightly. Evidently, he'd been hoping to get the two a bit more "agreeable" before they negotiated. "Very well," he said. "Follow me."
He led Luke and Trows up a wide staircase and down the hall to a large study. He said something quietly to his servant, who then nodded, and walked out shutting the door behind him.
"Ok gentlemen, what are you interested in?" Fiddler asked when he was sure the servant had left.
"Silks from the Yamani Islands," Trows said.
Fiddler smiled, greed showing through in his eyes. "That won't come cheap lads," he said with a wide smile. "I'll be needing a down payment."
Trows nodded at Luke who took a large purse off his belt. "This should suffice," he said as he handed it Fiddler.
"Thank you very m..." was all he said before he fell to the floor unconscious.
"Idiot, didn't even notice the cut we gave him," Trows remarked, looking through his desk.
"I don't think he expected a sleep-inducer coating the bag of money," Luke replied, searching his chest of drawers. Feeling something shake loose, Luke discovered a hidden drawer. "Well, look what we have here," he drawled.
Stacks off shipment records concerning illegal goods including Drusythem lay in the drawer. Trows took out a pale blue mirror-like object, and started scanning the pages.
"You sure that's going to work?" Luke asked.
"Yeah, once we get back all we have to do is put the mirror on a special lens and a machine will reprint this information," Trows replied. "Magic and technology can do wonders."
Luke nodded watching the door.
"Ok, we've got it," Trows said, putting away the mirror and setting everything back to its proper place. "Let's go."
They both grabbed Fiddler by the shoulders and sat him in his chair behind the desk. With luck, when he woke up a few hours later, he wouldn't remember anything. The two men crept silently down a back stairway and through the kitchen, where they went unnoticed. After getting their cloaks they strode out of the house and into their waiting carriage.
Once inside, the two leaned back in their seats and grinned at each. "Good job rookie," Trows said.
"Piece of cake," replied Luke as the carriage set off.
Ok kids, the only characters you've probably recognized so far are Marek and Lalasa. The rest are original. Well, some of the characters that you know and love will be playing a part in this story (but the plot has to build a little more). I can guarantee three that will play a substantial part toward the end, and maybe more that don't get quite as big a role, it depends. This story tends to write itself sometimes. Anyways, on to the disclaimer!
I DON'T OWN ANY OF T.P.'S PLOT, CHARACTERS, T-SHIRTS, COFFEE MUGS, FOAM #1 FINGERS, ECT...
***********************************************
Luke was up at dawn the next morning. Dressing quietly, he opened his door and crept down the hallway. By the end of his first week at the Dove he had known every entrance and exit to the building. He also knew where to step if you didn't want the floor to creak. He slipped out the back door and down the street.
After weaving in and out of allies for a half an hour, he stood at the back to the entrance of Marek's hiding place. He had taken the key from Rhazier's clothes last night while he was fighting with Loni. Unless Rhazier looked at the fake key Luke had replaced the original with closely, he would never know.
Marek was in his study when Luke slipped in quietly. No look of surprise crossed his features as he saw Luke without Rhazier. Actually, he looked like he had expected a visit like this.
"What can I do for you Luke?" Marek inquired as he set down the quill he'd been writing with.
Luke walked forward to stand directly in front of his desk. "I have some questions," he stated.
Marek smiled. "Doesn't everyone?"
Luke gave him a small smile, but quickly turned serious again. "Lohedri Fuhr Dasme," he said slowly, "what does it mean?"
"Translated literally, it means 'The Hidden will triumph', but it is apart of much more," Marek said. "The phrase is part of an Old Ones' Text found in the ruins near Tirragen Lake almost ten years ago. The text tells of a changing of times that will occur, like it was destined to occur back then. We assume that they were referring to the eventual destruction of their race. We can only conclude that they are foretelling another 'change of times' in which the Hidden will set in to motion."
Luke crossed his arms over his chest. "So basically we have one of two possibilities. Lose to the oncoming evil and see the destruction of the entire Eastern Lands take place, or defeat the evil, only to be the cause of the eventual destruction of our entire race."
Marek shook his head. "Not necessarily. The text does explicitly say that the 'change of times' is bad; it just says that the one that occurred during their lifetime would be because of the evil in the world. We have a shot in making this a good 'change of times'."
Luke gave Marek a shaky smile. "No pressure then."
"None at all," Marek replied with a smile of his own. Long ago he had learned to make the most of the situation. Nothing would get done by being depressed about it. 'Fate has messed with me before,' he thought, 'and it will mess with me again.'
"Marek?" Luke asked suddenly, "how were you drawn into this life?"
Marek grinned at that question. "So many times I have wondered the same thing," he replied. "Perhaps I was born with a crooked heart, or maybe I just had bad luck. Whatever the reason, I don't regret being what I am."
Marek frowned slightly and looked down. "I would never try to change what I am, because then I would be lying to myself. I had a friend who thought he could change. Hell, he thinks he is changed, but I know better, he'll still be the same person I knew so long ago, no matter how hard he tries to hide it."
Luke stood there quietly. Marek seemed to take this change of heart by his friend as a deep betrayal and was still bitter about it. "Who was it?" he questioned softly.
Marek looked up, as if remembering Luke was there. "No one important," he replied. He turned business-like all of a sudden. "Well Luke if that's all you needed to know, I suggest that you return that key to Rhazier before he suspects something."
Luke knew that Marek knew as well as he did that he would never be so foolish as to just take the key without leaving an exceptional copy, but he didn't press. He knew a dismissal when he heard one.
"I suppose I'll see you around," he said to Marek before he walked out the door.
Marek nodded, and went back to whatever he'd been working on before Luke had walked in.
'Well that could have gone worse,' Luke thought as he stepped out into the street. 'At least I'll still be in time for breakfast,' he thought with a grin as he quickened his pace.
*******************************
"That was great Lalasa, I'm glad your staying here with us, your food's delicious!" Luke exclaimed.
Lalasa blushed slightly and grinned at the young man before her who had just eaten an ungodly amount of food. "I didn't even know if you could taste it since you were shoveling it in your mouth so fast," she teased him. "You eat just as much as my last mistress did."
Luke laughed. "I've never met a woman who could keep up with," he replied. "She must be huge."
Loni came and sat ungracefully at the seat across from Luke. "Lady Knight Keladry is no petite woman."
Luke raised his eyebrows as he turned to Lalasa. "Keladry of Mindelan was your former mistress?"
Lalasa nodded proudly. "Yes, I was with her during all of her training during her page years, and we've remained friends. I do her sewing when she's in Corus. She's never been good at it."
Luke laughed at that. "No I would expect she wouldn't be," he said. "She was pretty well known back when I was in Tyra. They said she was just as good as any male knight if not better."
"That she is," Lalasa said with a nod.
"I would love to spar with her one day," Luke said with a wistful gleam in his eyes.
Lalasa rolled hers. "Is that all you lads think about," she demanded, "fighting?"
Luke grinned. "No, food is also very important."
Lalasa gave him a friendly slap on the shoulder as he walked past. "Oh," he said, before walked out the door, "I also think about how I going to keep impressing beautiful young ladies such as yourself."
At this Lalasa turned a nice shade of magenta, as Loni chuckled at her friend's expression. "You'll get used to him," she assured her.
Lalasa shook her head. "Doubt it."
***********************************
"Moving me up to the big leagues huh boss," Luke said with a grin as Rhazier stood in front of him, arms crossed.
"You're training has officially ended, so now I'm going to put your lazy ass to work," Rhazier replied calmly.
"Ouch,' Luke said. "I didn't know you felt that way. Actually, I still wish I didn't know you felt that way."
Rhazier rolled his eyes. "It's time you earned your keep. This is an undercover assignment. You and Trows are going to pose as potential customers at a little get together Merchant Fiddler is throwing. You will need to use him to gain access to his private study. From there, I want you to look for anything you can find that would show shipping records for vials of Drusythem or anything you can't identify."
Luke raised an eyebrow. "No letting me in easy huh boss?"
Rhazier smirked at him. "You want to be in the big leagues you have to be a big boy."
Luke just stuck his tongue out at him as he walked out.
'Maybe we'll work on the big boy part,' Rhazier thought exasperatedly.
*************************************
"Mister Tanner, Mister James, so glad you could make it."
Luke nodded coldly at the man. "I'm sure."
The man took their cloaks and hurried off to fetch his master. Luke glanced at Trows and gave a slight nod. The two were dressed in rich silks and both carried gold "dress" swords at their sides. Instead of dress swords, however, the two had very thin, but still extremely sharp sword waiting to be used.
The man returned followed by a portly looking man with a very ruddy complexion. "Welcome to my home," Fiddler said jovially to the two men, shaking their hands. "Please have a drink."
"No thank you," Luke replied stiffly. "We'd rather not linger," Trows said, looking around the room with arrogance and disdain, "let's get to business."
Fiddler's smile faltered slightly. Evidently, he'd been hoping to get the two a bit more "agreeable" before they negotiated. "Very well," he said. "Follow me."
He led Luke and Trows up a wide staircase and down the hall to a large study. He said something quietly to his servant, who then nodded, and walked out shutting the door behind him.
"Ok gentlemen, what are you interested in?" Fiddler asked when he was sure the servant had left.
"Silks from the Yamani Islands," Trows said.
Fiddler smiled, greed showing through in his eyes. "That won't come cheap lads," he said with a wide smile. "I'll be needing a down payment."
Trows nodded at Luke who took a large purse off his belt. "This should suffice," he said as he handed it Fiddler.
"Thank you very m..." was all he said before he fell to the floor unconscious.
"Idiot, didn't even notice the cut we gave him," Trows remarked, looking through his desk.
"I don't think he expected a sleep-inducer coating the bag of money," Luke replied, searching his chest of drawers. Feeling something shake loose, Luke discovered a hidden drawer. "Well, look what we have here," he drawled.
Stacks off shipment records concerning illegal goods including Drusythem lay in the drawer. Trows took out a pale blue mirror-like object, and started scanning the pages.
"You sure that's going to work?" Luke asked.
"Yeah, once we get back all we have to do is put the mirror on a special lens and a machine will reprint this information," Trows replied. "Magic and technology can do wonders."
Luke nodded watching the door.
"Ok, we've got it," Trows said, putting away the mirror and setting everything back to its proper place. "Let's go."
They both grabbed Fiddler by the shoulders and sat him in his chair behind the desk. With luck, when he woke up a few hours later, he wouldn't remember anything. The two men crept silently down a back stairway and through the kitchen, where they went unnoticed. After getting their cloaks they strode out of the house and into their waiting carriage.
Once inside, the two leaned back in their seats and grinned at each. "Good job rookie," Trows said.
"Piece of cake," replied Luke as the carriage set off.