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The following novella was written as a collaborative effort between myself and Dragonatic for the People. Project started March 2010. All characters and content are copyright to their respective owners.This series will only be made available for reading in its entirety for a limited time only, with parts released periodically!! All comments, critiques, and criticisms are welcome.

By the time Donichus had left the building, feeling more or less relieved, Jaquaran was still swinging around his sword, being careful to avoid pedestrians as they walked by. Donichus put a hand on the lad's shoulder, causing him to stop and look up.

"You forgot this," Donichus said, holding up the scabbard belonging to the sword Jaquaran was holding.

Jaquran took it and sheathed the sword, and strapped the belt attached to it around his waist. "I can't wait to start using this!" he exclaimed.

Donichus chuckled, "don't get too excited, now. It's not all the glorious fighting you might think. But, once we get outside the city, I'll teach you more about how to use it."

In due time, the two left the city walls, and as promised, Donichus taught Jaquaran more about fighting, both unarmed and armed combat, as the two continued on their way north into France. In the week that it took to get from where the village was to where they were headed, Jaquaran had learned enough combat and stealth skills that would allow him to best an ordinary soldier. Two nights before the intended mission, the two camped just outside of the city, not wanting to draw any attention to themselves. Donichus went over what was to happen, and who exactly they were targeting. Their target was a middle-aged mountain lion named Baron Fernithor, essentially the lord of the town whose word was law for these people. Anyone who disagreed usually disappeared into the dungeons of his castle or banished from the town, with a death penalty laying in wait should he return. He was to make a speech from his castle window to his "loyal" subjects. In reality, they feared him so much that they only pretended to be loyal so they wouldn't be killed or tortured. Fernithor controlled so much of daily life that even suggesting doing anything out of line in the Baron's mind was severly punished either by physical punishment or heavy fines. Fernithor's brother, Kantithor, who differed only in height and was slightly younger, was who they did not want to harm. Should Fernithor die, Kanithor would take his place.

Donichus, having a good reputation with those who wished for fairness, was tipped off to this unjust ruler by one of Kanithor's aides some months ago. Donichus was paid in advance to assassinate the ruling Baron after Donichus toured through the town and its castle with said aide, with Donichus disguising himself like the foreign dignitary he originally was before he took up the mantle of a vigilante. After seeing what went on, Donichus honestly would've done the job for free, but he did, after all, need to fill his belly, sharpen his sword, and re-stock arrows every once in a while, so he took the money anyway. He was only to be standing inside the castle as Baron Fernithor was to make his speech to the crowd, so he was very likely to be out of the way while Donichus took his shot with his bow and arrow from a distance. Jaquaran, however, was to cause a ruckus among the guards by the door to the castle to distract them and the rest of the crowd from Donichus.

"All you have to do," Donichus explained, "is throw a rock at one of the guards, then use your sword to defend yourself until I take the shot. Understand?"

"But... how will I know when you took your shot?" Jaquaran inquired.

"Believe me," he assured the boy, "you'll know. There will be gasps, you'll probably hear a gasp from Fernithor, and people will start pointing at him. It's a high-profile assassination. People will notice after I take the shot."

Jaquaran gulped, but nodded. "So, when is this speech?" he asked.

"The day after tomorrow," Donichus answered with purpose, "tomorrow, we shall observe the building so I can find a spot to hide, and you can find your place to run to after the guards are distracted. Sound good?"

"It does!" Jaquaran exclaimed.

"Good. Let's get to sleep so we can wake up nice and early for tomorrow," Donichus suggested, and began unraveling his sleeping supplies for both himself and Jaquaran.

The next day, after breaking fast at a local tavern and finding their way to the castle, the two could see the window of the castle that was being prepared for the speech tomorrow with torches, candles, and the works of elaborate outdoor decoration. Guards were posted around the castle walls, so the two had to be subtle in their planning. There was a door directly below the window, though on the ground floor. The window was probably on the third story of the castle, well within shouting distance of the ground. There was a small brush of trees and bushes to the castle's right that Donichus thought to be a good place to hide and take his shot. The guards' positions, however, weren't the same as they probably would be at a mass attendance event, but they went over a few different possible scenarios for Jaquaran's part of the plan. Before too long, Jaquaran felt very confident in his part of the plan. Donichus, however, was a little less confident; he wasn't entirely sure if Jaquaran was fully able to make a decent distraction for the guards, but at the moment, he didn't really have that much of a choice. Jaquaran was well aware that he was putting himself in physical danger, but he was still very willing to do so all for the sake of helping out with the raptor's plan of a relatively major political assassination. At least Donichus would be able to run to the boy's aid if the guards caught up to him after the assassination, or if things went wrong. Not that he really wanted to do so, but it would at least be a way of returning the favor to Jaquaran; he helped the boy after the boy had voluntarily helped him with his plan.

That night, after Donichus bought dinner for the two of them, which in turn exposed Jaquaran to some of the local cuisine, most of which Jaquaran never even knew existed, and paid for a room for the night that the two of them could sleep in. Before they slept, they went over their plans one more time; Donichus was to get there early, before the crowds arrived, and take his position. Jaquaran was to stand near the main body of guards on the ground, and start a ruckus a few minutes into the speech with them, get them to chase after him. Donichus would take his shot, then make a run for it, and would meet up with Jaquaran at a predetermined spot in town, from which the pair would make a run for it out of town, taking the most confusing routes through the town possible to lose any guards that might be following them, and once they were lost, they would exit the town as fast as possible, and make their way northeast from there. It wasn't entirely foolproof, but it would certainly work on an unsuspecting, egomaniacal baron.

The following evening, Donichus and Jaquaran arrived on the scene of the speech early, when the guards were only just beginning to man their posts. Donichus took his position in the brush, after telling his young apprentice to wait for the crowds to come in before taking up his position. Jaquaran nodded and promptly headed back into town to wait for the crowds to start pouring in.

An hour of waiting and observing the balcony window later, Donichus saw the crowds come in. Humans and anthros of all shapes and sizes filled the field below the balcony, predominately clothed in pauper garb and rags. There came to be a very rank stench that filled Donichus' nose not too long after the crowd had gathered, but he kept his focus up at observing the wind direction from the trees above him and the banners at the top of the castle. He also took a few quick glances into the crowd to see if Jaquaran was in there, but it was largely in vain. He saw a couple jaguars in the crowd, but they were far too old to be Jaquaran. He found himself to be legitimately concerned with the boy's safety; far more than he expected to, actually. He still could feasibly do this task without Jaquaran; he could just take the shot and run. It would be less safe for him, but he could still get done what he set out to do. Though, since Jaquaran was, in some ways, putting himself on the line for Donichus's act of vigilantism, he felt that he owed the boy something. His protection, he figured, was what he owed him, at least, for now.

Donichus was suddenly snapped back from his philosophical realms of thought to the present world with Baron Fernithor's most personal bodyguard, a human with dark eyes and blond hair, boomed towards the crowd announcing that Fernithor was to speak now. Donichus snapped his head towards the balcony window, and watched as Fernithor gave his speech to his subjects. It was a very long-winded speech about how the kingdom is doing well, the King sending his regards, and a good deal about local affairs that Donichus was not aware of. He patiently waited for the distraction Jaquaran was going to make before he took his shot.

It felt like an eternity, but just as Fernithor was wrapping up his speech, and as Donichus had decided to take the shot anyway, a loud clang could be heard from the door of the gate. Donichus's head snapped to the direction it came from. Another clang could be heard, again, though he could see what caused it; a rock had been thrown at the guards, and it hit the guards' plate armor. Donichus looked up to Fernithor, who was looking down, wondering what was happening. It was the moment Donichus was waiting for. He drew back his bow, accounted for the wind, adjusted his aim accordingly, and released the arrow. The arrow took flight, and although Donichus felt as if the flight was a minute long and everybody saw it, the arrow hit its mark, straight into Fernithor's chest. He gasped, and so did the others in the crowd. The guards in the window quickly rushed him away from the balcony, and Donichus took his cue to get up and run for the location where he was to meet up with Jaquaran.

Arriving at the spot, Donichus noticed that Jaquaran hadn't arrived, yet. What had gone on? Donichus pondered the worst, that Jaquaran had been captured or killed, or that he was still running. The idea of simply running away crossed his mind; in fact, it would be more to save his own hide, since it wasn't exactly wise to be lingering around the streets of a town whose baron had just been assassinated by arrow, with a bow in ones' hand. He looked around, and saw a few of the town's watchmen jogging around with lanterns, looking for the culprit to the slaying of Fernithor. Donichus got antsy, and prepared himself to run at a moments' notice.

Suddenly, he heard the clanging of metal so clearly signaling a swordfight in the distance, not too far from his position. Donichus knocked an arrow and rushed towards the scene. After rounding a corner of one of the smaller buildings, he saw, in dim torchlight, a small feline figure just barely holding his own against two of Fernithor's guards. By reflex, he immediately aimed and fired upon the guard that seemed to be the stronger of the two. It hit him, but only on his shield arm, whereas his sword arm remained intact. The guard, a boar anthro, clutched his wounded arm in pain while the other guard, noticing his comrade's injury, turned towards Donichus, having noticed the direction from which the arrow had come from.

Jaquaran used the distraction to his advantage, as he would with anything that would impair his enemies, and drove his sword at the smaller guard. Unfortunately, the sword missed the gap in armor he was aiming for, and it turned the badger's attention back towards the young boy. Donichus immediately put away his bow and drew his sword, sprinting towards the battle. Upon getting within striking distance of the uninjured adversary, said adversary swung his sword at him, something Donichus easily parried. The badger guard continued to strike his attacker, proving to be far better than Donichus originally thought, but still nothing that he couldn't handle. After parrying multiple blows from the guard, Donichus went on the offensive. The guard appeared to have a harder time parrying with his sword, but he did, after all, have a shield, which usually makes parrying much easier. He was certainly not the captain of the guards, but the badger put up a very good fight the entire time, until he suddenly stopped, eyes widening, gasping for breath. He dropped his sword, blood slowly flowed from his mouth, and then his body collapsed to the ground. Jaquaran's sword was sticking out from his back, and the owner removed it from the corpse's gap in armor.

Victory was not theirs quite yet, however, as the other guard regained his composure and managed to pull the arrow out of his shoulder. Using his shield arm to wield his sword, he immediately went for Jaquaran, who parried the blow with ease. The guard, whose face was concealed by his helmet, was surprisingly proficient with his shield arm, but he lacked the speed of his sword arm, which had likely been rendered useless. Donichus decided to only intervene in this fight if it seemed like Jaquaran was in peril, so he kept an eye out for anyone rushing to the guards' aid, but also observed Jaquaran's fighting, if nothing else but to critique it later on once they had fled this village. It was clear to Donichus that Jaquaran had learned quite fast and, considering that he was just barely holding his own against two guards before Donichus intervened, was doing very well against a disabled, but still difficult opponent, especially for a relative beginner. Before long, Donichus saw some torchlight in the distance, reflecting off chain mail and plate armor. Reinforcements had arrived. Anxiously, he turned back to the fight between Jaquaran and the wounded guard, who was either tiring out or just losing blood. Jaquaran parried a few blows, the last of which by holding the handle with one hand and the end of his sword with the other, parrying a downward chop move. Immediately, Jaquaran got up, managing to fit between the arms of the guard in what was an extremely risky and potentially deadly move, and thrust the flat of the sword at the guards' helmet, which knocked him back, making the guard dazed. Pouncing at the chance, Jaquaran finished off the guard by slicing at his neck. Blood flowed profusely as the guard crumpled over on the ground. Jaquaran stood there, panting, but clearly satisfied with his victory, albeit slightly sickened by the amount of blood that was flowing from his beaten opponent. Donichus was pleased that Jaquaran could effectively hold his own for as long as he did, but didn't want to force the boy to exert more than he could, noticing that their lives could be in danger. So, noticing that the mass of guards from the castle were closing in, Donichus lifted the boy, carrying him much like he did in the escape from Talos' home, and took flight.

With the town very far behind them, Donichus set Jaquaran down. He was largely unhurt, but he had fallen asleep from the exhaustion of the day. Being grateful as he was for how Jaquaran had helped him out that day, Donichus immediately started preparing a bed for him. Although it was little more than a few cloths laid out on the ground, it would more than suffice for sleeping. He even used some of the cloths from what would normally have been his bed. It was strange... he had never felt this deeply for someone before. Being a vigilante and everything had made him tough over the years, but apparently he still had soft spots. He finished up by setting Jaquaran down on the bed, and putting a blanket over him. The jaguar remained asleep, but was sleeping more easily now that he was in a more comfortable setting. For a reason that Donichus couldn't even fathom, even while he was doing it, he leaned over to the boy's head, and lightly kissed his forehead. He immediately realized what he just did, and jerked back, feeling more than a little bit confused. Donichus shook his head and simply went to fixing his bed for himself to sleep in.

But even after settling in, his eyes stayed wide open as he replayed back the memory of what'd happened that day - but namely what happened just a few minutes ago.

"Donichus? Hey, Donichus!" There came a slight tug on his cloak, and instantly, the raptor burst from his void. Snapping up and lifting a clawed hand out from his sash, the sight that greeted him was a rather pale-looking Jaqaran, eyes wide and head held stiff as the knife suspended against his neck brushed lightly against his fur.

"Jaqaran?" he blinked.

"I... made breakfast." The jaguar gulped, careful not to let the blade come into contact. In his hand was a small canteen, steaming, but only half-full. Some of it had spilled onto the ground.

Upon registering, Donichus quickly withdrew his weapon and tilted his head away to hide the sudden rush of heat that flushed his face. "Sorry about that."

Jaqaran's shoulders fell as he exhaled out. "Don't mention it. Here." He handed him the cup, and Donichus stared down at the dark brown liquid. It smelled recognizably as tea from the leaves of one of the plants he'd taught him to identify. Again, a warm rush that didn't originate from the tea swept over him, which he was quick to hide again by taking a small sip. "It's good. Thank you."

Satisfied with the both of them, Jaqaran smiled as he got up and began poking at a small fire; on top of which was another steaming cup and a small sack of the various nuts he'd showed him how to collect as well. Donichus scanned over them while also studying the boy's face. Two cups of tea and a sack of nuts was hardly even a meal; and yet Jaqaran seemed so pleased with himself. So pleased with the fact that he'd done something for himself and someone else without having to be told. And Donichus felt oddly relieved. "You got all this by yourself?"

"Yup!" Jaqaran's smile became slightly wider as he gave a deep nod of his head and carefully removed the second cup from the fire. Blowing a few times into it, he took a modest drink and popped one of the nuts into his mouth.

"So what did you think of yesterday?"

"Ohh... well, it was..." Jaqaran looked down and swirled his cup around, as though the answer were written in the spume. When he looked up, Donichus was still staring at him. "...it was great. I kinda liked it!"

Donichus recoiled back, surprised. "Really?"

"Sure!" Jaqaran stuffed more nuts in his mouth and talked through them. "I mean, the adventure of it all. And a chance to kick some seriously bad tails. You must never get tired of it!"

Now it was Donichus's turn to look down and swirl his cup. "Well, actually... I -"

"So what do you have planned next?"

Donichus, thinking it better not to dwell so much on his former thought, drained his canteen in a final swig and wiped the side of his mouth with his hand. "Well, Jaqaran," he said, getting up. "After how you performed yesterday, I think you're ready to finally help me take on my main objective."

Jaqaran nearly choked on his mouthful of nuts before taking a large gulp of tea. He pounded twice on his chest before gasping out, "Your... main objective?"

"Yes. In the next country over, there's someone I'd been meaning to arrange a meeting with for some time now."

Jaqaran leaned in. "Who?"

Donichus kept his gaze focused on what he was doing as he spoke, picking the cloths on which they slept up and folding them neatly. "A king, Tyrannio. He's the one everything boils down to, and the reason why I do... what I do."

"Why?"

To this, Donichus, grunted. "Let's just say the name is inherently evil."

Jaqaran finished the last of his tea and threw his cup in his pack. The sack of nuts, he left. "Well, I can take your word that this guy is as bad as you make him seem. But how are you even going to get close to him? I mean, a baron making a public speech is one thing; a full-blown king in the safety of his chambers is another matter entirely."

"Not, when you have this." Donichus pulled out the small vial of black magic from his pouch. "This ought to make things much easier." Despite how much Donichus has taught him, he could never expect him to know nearly as much about magic. But his conjecture was disproven by the way Jaqaran cringed at the small vial when Donichus carefully pulled off the lid. From the tiny bottle came a thin wisp of smoke that seemed to merge with the fire.

"Dark magic? Do you... know how to use that? It could be dangerous."

"Dark magic isn't any more dangerous than any other kind of magic," he replied as he closed it back up again. "What makes a magic 'dark' is really what you use it for.; say you use light magic for bad purposes. Then it becomes dark. And according to theory, it should work the other way around."

"What if you use dark magic for bad purposes?"

Donichus dropped his pack and sighed. It was obvious the boy knew his way around these things - he should've known, given his former master. "Darkness is merely the absence of light, Jaqaran. What gives dark magic its properties is the fact the there's really no illumination that can be shed on it. It's chaotic, knows no boundaries, and is completely unpredictable. But for skilled individuals who know how to control it, it can prove to overcome the most impossible of odds."

Jaqaran took up the cloths that Donichus had and stuffed them into his pack. "Alright. So what do you need me to do?"

"I'm going to need you to be my eyes and sword. I may be able to take care of anyone who tries to interfere, but when I have my shot at Tyrannio, I can't have any distractions. Is that clear?"

Jaqaran slung his pack over his shoulder and double check to make sure his weapon was securely fastened. "Crystal."

"Alright, let's go. We got a long hike ahead of us... by the way, did you even notice how out you were yesterday? Those were some impressive moves you pulled off..."

Their conversation trailed, and neither appeared to notice as they fire they left behind sputtered, then suddenly hardened into a bed of jagged icicles.