Hi guys, here's chapter 2 :D

Chapter 2

Lux stood on the hill, staring down at the capital city in the distance. The sun was rising, bathing the entire city in a golden glow. The tall spires of the palaces and houses of royalty almost reached the level of the hill they were currently camped on.

"Having regrets?" Talon asked. He was lying on the ground behind Lux, studying a map of Valoran with his backpack as a pillow.

"No, not really." Lux turned away from the city she'd lived in her whole life and crouched down next to the assassin. "So, what's the plan?"

Talon pointed to a location on the map just a couple miles east of the capital city. "I'm meeting up with a friend. She'll give us horses and some supplies for the journey."

Lux raised an eyebrow. "She approves of you travelling with a Demacian? You do know we're breaking basically every law in existence."

Talon chuckled. "She isn't a Noxian. She couldn't care less. Besides, only you are. As a Noxian, Demacian laws don't apply to me. "

Lux sighed. "Whatever. Who is this person?"

"You'll see." Talon rose and rolled up the map. "Let's get going. It won't be long before they wake up and figure out you aren't there anymore."

"Yes. Let's." Lux shouldered her backpack, taking one last glance at the shimmering city by the sea before turning her back and following Talon into the wild.

Grassy plains stretched into the distance, with a smudge in the distance that marked a forest. Talon pointed to the smudge. "That's where we'll get our horses. If we move fast enough, we can get there as the sun sets. It should be far away enough that they won't find us, and we'll have a nice campout to stay the night at. I'll lay out the whole plan for you there, and we'll set out for Urtistan in the morning with our horses."

"Sounds good." Lux was brimming with excitement, anxious to be on their way. She rarely left the confines of Demacia, and when she did, she was usually under heavy protection from guards. She never had the chance to do anything fun.

"Are you hungry?" Talon asked as they began to walk.

Lux had been so caught up in the excitement of adventure that she had failed to notice her deprived stomach until Talon mentioned it. "Um…" Lux glanced at Talon sheepishly in embarrassment. "Yes…"

Talon laughed, and pulled some bread and some slices of meat out of his backpack. "Here." He tossed it to her. "It's not much, but it should last you until lunchtime."

"Thanks." Lux mumbled, beginning to eat.

True to Talon's word, it was sunset when they reached the edge of the forest. They had travelled nonstop, eating lightly for lunch on the way. Demacian patrols were sure to have been sent out, and Talon didn't want to risk being caught by setting up a fire and eating.

As they entered the cover of the trees, what little sunlight left faded, leaving their surroundings in darkness. "Lux." Talon whispered. "Can you see me?"

Lux squinted but could only make out the faintest silhouette. "Not really."

"Here." Lux felt Talon grab her hand, pulling her along as he led her deeper into the forest. Even though she knew it was only to prevent them from getting separated, she couldn't help but blush a little at the contact.

After about half an hour of carefully navigating through the dense forest, they came out into a clearing of sorts. The moon was rising, casting faint light on their surroundings, and also illuminating the huge tree in the middle of the clearing.

Before Lux could blink, a group of men dropped from the tree, with more appearing from the underbrush behind them to cut off their escape route.

"Hands up." One of the men, obviously their leader, said. "We'll be taking all your things."

Lux gulped nervously, and glanced at Talon who seemed completely unfazed. "Lux." Talon whispered as they moved back-to-back, quiet enough that the men couldn't hear. "5 archers. At your 2, 3, 5, 6, and 8. Think you can take care of them?"

Lux put her hands up, but made sure she was in a position to quickly grab her baton. Scanning the treetops, she saw that there were indeed archers in the locations Talon had mentioned. They were barely noticeable, only slight moonlight glinting off of arrowheads giving them away.

"Got it." Lux whispered back. "It'll get very bright though."

"I'm counting on you." Talon breathed, as the men closed in. One of them reached out to take Talon's bag, and he sprung into action. Grabbing the man's arm, he twisted it around, causing a cry of pain from the assailant.

At the same moment, Lux cast a flashbang, blinding the men around them. Withdrawing her baton, she spun and fired two beams of light at the trees in quick succession. Both hit their marks, and Lux saw two archers fall from the branches they were perched on

The remaining three archers were on the same side, so Lux threw up a barrier of light, blocking their arrows. Meanwhile, Talon had taken advantage of the flashbang to incapacitate more than half of the men, but there were just too many.

"Talon! Behind you!" Lux screamed as a man prepared to stab Talon in the back. He began turning, but Lux could see he was too late. Her energy concentrated on holding the barrier, she could do nothing but watch in horror. "TALONNNNN!"

Suddenly, a green wave flew out of the forest, cleanly slicing the man in two. The threat averted, Talon whirled and threw four daggers with inhuman speed, taking out a man who had risen and was approaching Lux, as well as another 3 who were just recovering from the flashbang.

"Lux, I got the archers. You clean up here." Talon sprinted past her and into the shadows of the forest, disappearing from sight.

Lux turned to see all the remaining men dead, and a woman standing there, shaking blood off a massive sword, that seemed to be multiple broken pieces held together by green energy. As Lux watched, the additional pieces vanished and the blade returned to a broken state. The woman flipped off her hood and Lux could see that her hair was pure white, falling around her shoulders rather attractively.

The woman looked up and met Lux's gaze. Smiling, she approached the mage, offering her hand. "Hey. I'm Riven. You must be the poor soul who got roped into Talon's adventure."

Lux smiled shyly and took her hand. "H-hi… I'm Lux."

At the mention of the name, a knowing smile spread across Riven's face. "Ah… he's mentioned you before."

Before Lux could respond, Talon dropped from a tree next to them. "Hey, Riv. Thanks for the save."

Riven grinned. "You owe me another one."

"Hey." Talon said, raising a hand. "Last time didn't count. I had it under control."

Riven raised an eyebrow, but before she could say anything, Talon continued. "Anyway, Riv, look at this." He handed her something.

When Riven took it, her eyes immediately widened. "How did they get their hands on this?"

"Noxus high command." Talon responded grimly. "It has to be."

"What is it?" Lux asked, curious.

Riven held it up so Lux could see. It was the front half of an arrow, and on the arrowhead was smeared a black substance. "See that black stuff? That's nightshade, one of the most lethal poisons on Runeterra. A single cut, no matter how small, will kill you."

"The thing is," Talon cut in, gesturing to the poison. "The plant it's made from only grows in very rare places in the Shadow Isles. To my knowledge, it's recipe, as well as the locations of the plants, is only known to the Noxian high command. It's a secret they guard very jealously."

Lux frowned. She had actually never heard of this nightshade before. "Are you saying that was a planned ambush? There's no way high command would so easily give this stuff away to common thugs, would they?"

Talon nodded. "For some reason, they want us captured." He paused, thinking. "Or, well, they want me captured."

Riven dropped the arrowhead on one of the bodies, shaking her head. "Swain's a greasy bastard, isn't he?"

"Yep." Talon agreed, sighing. "Anyway, let's get going. I'm hungry."

Riven pouted. "Is that all I'm good for?"

Talon laughed as he began to walk off. "I never said that."

Riven sighed, shaking her head as she went after Talon, Lux close behind.

A couple of minutes later, they emerged into a smaller clearing, with a large tent on one side, and a small fire in the center. Three horses were tethered to a tree on the side of the clearing.

A very nice smell permeated throughout the clearing, and Lux's stomach rumbled involuntarily.

Talon turned to her, eyebrow raised, causing the mage to blush a deep crimson, and turn away in embarrassment.

Riven laughed. "Well, let's eat then."

After the meal, Lux laid back on the grass and sighed in content. A wave of exhaustion suddenly swept over her, and she realized she'd been awake since the morning of a day ago. Turning on her side, Lux immediately drifted off to sleep.

Lux awoke to the grey dawn light filtering into the tent. Sitting up, Lux looked around, and saw Talon fast asleep in the opposite corner. He must have carried me in here. Lux blushed a little just thinking about it.

Shaking off those thoughts, she exited the tent to find Riven sitting next to the remaining coals of the fire, warming up her hands, hood pulled low over her face. The exile looked up at Lux as she appeared.

"Good morning." Riven smiled.

"Good morning." Lux responded as she moved to sit next to her.

"Did you sleep well?" Riven asked, flipping off her hood.

"Mhm." Lux nodded. "You're really good at cooking."

Riven laughed lightly. "Thanks. I have been doing this for awhile, after all."

They fell into a comfortable silence, only broken when Talon flipped open the tent entrance, already dressed in his purple assassin's attire. Lux had opted to leave her armor at home, bringing only her baton for the sake of travelling fast.

"Good morning." Riven greeted.

"Hey." Talon yawned as he made his way to the fire as well. "We should get going soon."

Riven rummaged around in her pack and brought out some bread, tossing some to each Talon and Lux. "Eat up then we'll pack up here and go. I'll come with you until we get to the marsh. I'm heading back to Noxus."

After eating and packing up their belongings, the three of them mounted horses and set off towards the East.

"What are you going to do about Swain?" Riven asked as they travelled, seeming worried. The two Noxians rode side-by-side, Lux behind them listening in.

"I don't know." Talon frowned. "I'm not sure how he found out I was in Demacia, much less in that forest."

"Who knows that you're acting on your own accord?"

"Katarina, of course." Talon replied. "But there's no way she'd tell him. She-" He cut himself off, as if he noticed something wasn't right.

He whipped around, a dagger appearing in his hand, and threw it with lightning speed up at the trees.

There came a squawk, and a large crow flew out, blood dripping from its wing where Talon's dagger nicked it. Before it could get away, Talon threw a fan of four more daggers, catching the crow in the chest, as well as both wings. It fell to the ground, twitching as its lifeblood drained into the dirt.

Dismounting, Talon knelt next to the fallen creature. Glancing over, Lux saw that the crow had six eyes, three on each side of its head. She shivered involuntarily, a little creeped out by the creature, even though it was dead. "Yep." Talon looked up at Riven. "It's Swain. This thing is definitely one of his."

Riven grimaced as Talon pulled out his daggers and remounted his horse. "Well we better get going then. And fast."

"Yea. Let's go." Talon turned to Lux. "Sorry about all this. I had no idea Swain had turned on me."

"It's fine." Lux replied. She couldn't help but be excited about the whole situation. "This just makes it more exciting, don't you think?"

Talon blinked before cracking a smile. "You're really strange, you know?"

"I've gotten that before."

There was a short pause, and Talon chuckled and said, "Ok well, let's get out of here."

The real adventure had only just begun.