Prologue
Thurston Thorne walked through the disgusting hovel as quickly as he could. He hated coming here, but this particular person was a major contributor of their wealth and reputation, so he tolerated them choosing this location to meet at. Thurston looked behind him to see his best friend, Geolf Rathburn, following close behind. The two had met when they were five years old, and they had become fast friends doing almost everything together up until three years ago when he had unexpectedly left with Thurston's younger brother Tritin. Upon their return, neither of them spoke of what happened while they were gone, and the closeness Thurston had shared with him seemed to have weakened.
"You'd think with the money this guy has, he'd be able to afford someone to clean up this dump." Thurston said.
"It's a power move. He's trying to both tell us that he doesn't think very highly of us, and at the same time he's showing us what could happen if we should double cross him. It's really quite clever to do so if you think about," Geolf replied.
Thurston sighed in response. The guy was a great friend and a good mage, but he never seemed to be able to take a joke and he rarely even smiled. It was almost like he took no joy in anything in the world, but then again with all the rules the king put in place it was hard to find joy lately. When they got to the door of the meeting room, the two just walked in without knocking. Like usual, inside the room were several guards standing in front of a desk that an elderly dwarf sat behind.
"Ah Thurston, so glad to see you here." The dwarf said with a smile. "I have been waiting anxiously for your arrival."
"I must admit I'm intrigued. It's not often that you tell me that there's a time limit on your jobs that you offer us. I was curious as to what could be so inoperative." Thurston replied.
"It's probably the biggest job anyone will ever get, and I'm handing it to you personally," the dwarf replied with a sinister grin. "You see there has been even more uproar in the kingdom, with the upcoming marriage of Prince Damien. Many people think that an alliance between the kingdom of Dethoria and Lathnique will not only make our lives less enjoyable, but it will also put many of us at great risk of being killed. You and your crew would be at the top of the list, as well as most of my family for reasons we cannot change. That's why this marriage must not take place, and I'm wanting you to help me see that it doesn't."
"What do we need to do?"
"I want you to go to the palace, and abduct the Prince. Then you're going to bring him ALIVE, back to me so I can make his death as a statement to the rest of the royal family."
"How exactly do you expect us to do this? I mean if you haven't noticed, we don't exactly fit in with the regular humans." Thurston said pointing to his elf ears, and Geolf's eyes.
"That's up to you to find a way to do it, but if I'm not mistaken your brother will fit in quite nicely with them."
"Still there's no way to get into the castle. We'd be stopped at the gates and couldn't get within thirty yards of any of the royal family." Geolf said.
The dwarf smiled again. "That's another reason why time is of the essence. Right now in preparation of the wedding, the king is allowing many human travelers into the city. Also I have Intel that the Prince quite often frequents a little bar, for some not so royal entertainment. I have already arranged for you to have a room there for a few nights, so hopefully you'll find a chance to get to him there. If not then you'll just have to storm the castle by force."
"This is absurd. It would be a suicide mission." Geolf said, at the same time that Thurston said, "We'll take the job."
"Excellent! The pay is five thousand gold as stated in the message, and I look forward to seeing your swift return," the dwarf said as he held out his hand to Thurston. They shook hands, and the two turned to leave.When they got outside, the rest of the crew was waiting for them.
"Did you take the job?" Sierra asked.
"Yes, but I don't think now is the best time to discuss it. We'll talk more about it on the road," Thurston said.
"Oh yes, cause travelling to Dethoria to capture and kill the Prince is best spoke about on the journey there." Geolf snapped.
"What was that? Did you just say we're going to kill the Prince?" Tritin asked.
Thurston glared at Geolf, then he looked back to his brother that looked as if he had gone pale with fright. "Like I said, we'll discuss it more on the way there, but yes the job is to capture and kill the Prince."
