Roy stood just outside the door, his legs trembling from the sprint back to the safehouse. He wanted to be as dirty as possible, hoping that the men behind the door wouldn't notice that he had bathed and eaten. If he had skipped his little meal attempt, he might have actually gotten what he had gone for. He scooped up a few handfuls of dirt and spread it over his sweat-coated skin. Undoing the past few hours was disappointing; it had felt good to be clean for once.

His breath still shaky and shallow, he pushed open the door.

The response was swift and brutal.

His feet were immediately swept from beneath him and he was shoved face first into the floor. From the vices on his arms and legs, he guessed that he had three or four men on him. Someone yanked his head up by his hair to identify him.

"It's just the kid."

They released him and allowed him to clamber to his feet. His legs were still shaking and he was as dirty as he'd ever been. Their affectionate greeting was standard procedure. Intruders were not tolerated. Even as he spoke, more men were prowling around the safehouse to make sure he hadn't been followed.

"Where is it?" A deceptively smooth voice announced the presence of their leader. Roy didn't know his name, but he also didn't care. He was just another cutthroat.

"I didn't get it."

Smack.

Roy stumbled backwards under the force of the blow, but he managed to keep his footing. The leader saw to that. He struck him again. This time Roy went down. The leader drove his heel into Roy's gut. He gagged, but, terrified that they would find out he had eaten, forced himself to swallow it down.

"You didn't get it?" Roy heard the dangerous edge in the leader's voice.

"No. He had it on him the whole time."

The leader let out a deep melodious laugh.

"And you couldn't force it from him? Was that weakling too much for you handle? Or did he hide behind his knights?" The leader and his minions had only ever spoken of Marth's cowardice and cruelty and though Roy put none of his trust in these men, the young king had never once proved it to be otherwise; these mongrels had free reign in Altea. But in the few hours that Roy had spent in the Lowell castle, Marth had put food in his belly, a weapon in his hand and clothes on his back; and as foolishly idealistic as his actions were, they were neither cruel nor cowardly. No, the cruel cowards stood before him. Roy turned his blazing scowl upon the leader.

"Useless."

From the far corner of the room came a soft moan. Roy saw his mother sprawled over a rickety little cot and felt a terrible guilty rage. It was his fault; she was the most effective harness they could put on his fire. He would never risk her safety. Every moment, her scarlet eyes were empty, her pale skin was grey, her delicate limbs were still, but he knew that deep inside her trance, she was searching for her son.

Unfortunately, she had also caught the leader's attention.

"I have no need of someone more useless than Altea's king, nor the woman who bore him." Roy could hear that sadistic smirk in his voice. "Except of course, as test subjects." He pulled out a small vile of dark red liquid and showed it to the battered boy sprawled on his floor. "A new poison one of my plant users recently developed. I have wanted to test it, but until only a moment ago, I could not spare a man." The leader paused and Roy knew he was deciding which of them to use. "I think your mother would like very much to be put out of her misery."

Roy let out a feral yell, but before he could even get off the ground, the men swarmed him. The fire user struggled wildly against them, thrashing and gnawing, but he couldn't break away. He strained frantically. He was outnumbered. He was desperate. His mother was in danger. He had a weapon. He pulled the dagger. Their hold was too solid. He couldn't reach them. The dagger was taken from him.

With his only weapon now gone, he was roughly restrained.

The leader advanced on the boy baring his teeth in a ravenous grin.

"Or perhaps you would like it a little more."

Roy glared defiantly up into the leader's face, hoping he looked stronger than he felt.

The leader's minions forced Roy to his knees, his head back, his jaws open as the contents of the vial were tipped into his mouth. When every last drop was spent, a hand sealed his mouth and nose shut while others coaxed the poison down his throat. He squirmed every moment, but they held him fast.

With the deed done, the men threw the boy to the floor. His body gave small involuntary twitches as the poison spread rapidly through his bloodstream. He could feel his heart recklessly trying to escape its rib cage, circulating the drug ever faster and straining his body to the point of deterioration.

Roy fought the poison's affects as long as he could, however futilely, and through his blurry eyes, he watched the leader gently gather up his mother's fragile body and carry her away. He heard a distant shuffle of feet and felt a faint twinge of pain in his left hand before he knew he was alone.

Who would protect his mother from them now?

And then he succumbed.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

"…put yourself at risk like that! You sensed that he was in a life-threatening situation, so you just stormed blindly into it! Why didn't you call for me?"

"There was no time. I'm the only one who could have located him fast enough. If I had hesitated, it might have been too late. He was in immediate danger."

"I know how you feel about protecting the Altean people, Marth-"

Marth.

"- but your life isn't expendable either. What would Altea do if it lost two of its kings in as many months? Not to mention the last male Lowell!"

"Well then maybe you and Ellis would finally get married!"

"This is not a joke!"

Roy stirred from his heavy slumber. He turned toward the voices that provided landmarks in this dreamlike reality, but they had stopped. As he grew closer to where they had been, his body slowly reconnected with his brain. He was almost sorry that it did; everything ached and he groaned through raspy vocal chords.

"…m not dead?" He blinked his eyes open slowly. The lighting in the room was dim, but not gloomy like the safehouse. He was in a bed.

"How are you feeling?" Roy recognized the soothing quality of Marth's soft tenor, but he couldn't quite focus on him yet.

"…alive." Marth and his companion shared a quiet laugh at this and its pleasant sound was enough to steady Roy's awareness. The other man was tall and slender, older than the king, with long auburn hair. His face was sharp and strong, but his eyes were by far the most striking, dark and narrow, searing. Roy preferred the gentler curves of Marth's face and turned to the young king beside him. "Where am I?"

The two men at his bedside exchanged glances, silently communicating in a way that suggested a mutual trust. Marth's mysterious guest politely stood and left.

"You are in the castle infirmary."

Roy gave Marth a look of sheer bewilderment. It was impossible. He should have died within minutes of ingesting that poison. The ice user read his expression and pulled out the dagger. "Before I gave this to you, I sealed it with a ring of ice, as I have done just now." He held up the sheathed blade and showed Roy the fresh white band around it. "I felt you break it and tracked you through the ice." The young king's hands tightened around the dagger. "But I never thought that you would leave the safety of the castle. Thank the elements you were still alive when I found you." Roy saw genuine relief in Marth's expression, heard it in the tremor of his voice and it amazed him as much as his survival.

The young king handed it back to him with an encouraging smile. Roy held it tenderly, confusion hovering on his tongue. "This was taken from me after..."

"Well, someone gave it back." He nodded at Roy's bandaged left hand. The fire user flexed his hand, feeling only a slight ache, and returned the dagger to its proper place. As he did so, Marth rearranged his concerned expression into one of mock-solemnity.

"And now that I have saved your life, in spite of the fact that you did not honor the terms of our duel, I expect you to repay your debt by learning to use fire effectively."

"Who saved his life?" The two boys looked up to see a bouncy young girl with hair the color of a cloudless sky enter with Marth's earlier companion. She was slight of build, strong and graceful. Her bright eyes were the same brilliant blue as her waist-length hair and she wore a cheeky grin. "I'm pretty sure that of the two of us, I'm the better plant user." The young king rolled his eyes playfully and the girl stuck her tongue out at him. Roy watched the exchange with interest. He had never seen Marth behave without authority or reason in his expression.

"This little imp is a dear friend of mine and a very important ally from Talis: Princess Sheeda." As he spoke, the girl sprang to the side of the bed-ridden boy and shook his good hand. Roy thanked her sincerely for saving him, but there was one thing he thought was odd.

"Doesn't Altea have its own plant users?" He saw the girl's eyes darken to a deep shade of cool grey as she and Marth exchanged an ominous look. But it was brief.

"If you can call them plant users… I'm the best there is!" She said matter-of-fact with a mischievous smile. "Now let's see how you're coming along." She took a seat beside Marth to better check Roy's pulse and temperature. As soon as she decided they were normal, she commenced with a more invasive examination. He could feel her sending microscopic plant cells through his body.

It was so weird.

The process was slow. She guided her probes through his circulatory system, one hand hovering just over his skin where the little cells checked for any abnormalities. Her expression remained blank as she did so, all of her focus on Roy's blood. She had to be careful to avoid imprecision lest she damage the boy. But once it was over, she pronounced him healthy and poison-free.

"Navahl," Marth called to his companion who was waiting at the door. "Could you escort Roy to his room? There will be some training clothes for him in the wardrobe. I'll be there shortly." Both Sheeda and Marth helped Roy out of the bed, who noticed that he was still dressed in his thread-bare tunic. He was steadier on his feet than he had anticipated after his painful awakening.

Navahl gave Roy a small nod and led him into the hallway.

As soon as Navahl shut the door behind him, Sheeda whirled around to face the young king and the words all but poured out of her mouth.

"I think the poison had a dragon blood base." Marth's brows shot up in disbelief.

"That's impossible. Anri killed the last of the dragons generations ago."

"I know, I know. But I've never heard of any material anywhere in the world as effective as dragon's blood. When the dragons were still alive, many of the world's pioneering plant users studied and developed it; there are all kinds of texts on the subject. It augmented any substance it came into contact with, whether helpful or detrimental. Roy's poison was the most potent I've ever encountered. It's a miracle that he's even alive."

Yes, it was a miracle. Marth could remember the state of the boy when he had found him. In order to slow the poison's effects he had had to cool the fire user's body temperature to a dangerous low.

"But more important, who has access to that kind of potency, dragon blood or not? And who is using it?" Marth grimaced. Roy had been poisoned in this city and he had no idea how it had happened. The house he had found him in had been little more than a shack without windows or furnishings or any signs of life.

"And Marth…" The Talisian princess rarely hesitated to tell her friend anything. "…I think you should keep an eye on Garnef. I mean, maybe it's just his old age, but it's hard for me to believe he couldn't do anything for Roy and even harder for me to believe that such an accomplished plant user didn't even suspect dragon blood." Marth nodded. When the king had called for his high priest, Garnef had quickly written the boy off as a lost cause. He hadn't thought much of it at the time, preoccupied as he was, but she was absolutely right. It was very strange, suspicious.

"Thank you, Sheeda. I don't know what I'd do without you." He smiled with appreciation and humility, but she threw her arms around his neck and gave him a playful kiss on the nose.

"And don't you forget it!"