To Catch a King

Jask normally disliked stealing artifacts. Sure, they were pretty to look at and worth a lot, but it was a hassle to get in and out of dark buildings at night. The clock chimed one o’clock, and she mentally cursed. It was taking entirely too long to find this artifact. She didn’t even know what she was looking for.

The museum she searched through was not much of a museum at all; most of the things in the building were replicas of real, missing artifacts that enticed the people of Hena and other cities all around. The building was an old-world house, with three stories and more than enough windows. With renovations it looked like a respectable historical facility, but with all of the artifacts, it resembled more of a storage area.

She heard a crash, and then a curse. Inwardly berating herself for not being alert, she pulled up her mask and looked for somewhere to hide. Though there were trunks everywhere, they were all open and it would be obvious if she was in a closed one. She was closer to a window, so she opened it and prepared to jump out.

“Ghost!” someone hissed. Jask relaxed. It was no one special, just her occasional partner. Not that she partnered up often, but this kid usually found her when no one else seemed to. Rolling her eyes, she spotted a strange looking artifact. It looked familiar, so she took out the sheet of paper handed to her from her commissioner. On it was a list of five different artifacts in five different areas. She was on her third artifact, the other two stashed at her home. The artifact she spotted matched the description of the one on the paper and she grabbed it.

Her occasional partner, a boy named Nil, sidled up to her. He was slightly shorter than she was, with hair too long and a face too young. He was just hitting the age of manhood, so he thought that being in close proximity to a woman—namely Jask—meant that he was normally in charge. Thankfully, he knew of Jask’s reputation as a high-ranking thief, so that meant when they were on a job together she was in charge. She was Ghost, after all.

The person in question beckoned for Nil to continue. He looked around, and then told Jask what he had seen: three weird looking people that were definitely not Ferilian crossing the square, and four Enforcers.

For once, Jask cursed out loud, scaring Nil, who had never heard her voice. Jask rarely spoke, and it was usually a surprise when she did. From what Nil knew, the Ghost came from the renowned Thieve’s Guild, located on the other side of Hena. He also knew that it wasn’t where she dwelled, since she refused to associate with people from it. He was curious as to why she didn’t want to talk about the Thieve’s Guild, since it was the best and biggest in the country, but respected her privacy.

Jask knew that she couldn’t fight four Enforcers on her own; though she was more experienced a fighter than they were, they had to advantage of better weapons and armor. Nil wasn’t trained to defend himself, either. She and Nil would need to hurry from the museum quickly in order not to get caught.

She glanced out the window. The four Enforcers were standing right below it. She couldn’t jump out the window even if she wanted to; Nil was horrible at everything athletic unless it was stealing. Grabbing the teenager’s neck, she pulled him to the stairs just as the Enforcers walked inside. She went to the second floor, glanced around, made sure she had the artifact, and then headed up to the third floor (she grabbed a fantastic looking dagger that could go in her collection) and then up to the rooftop.

The Enforcers must have heard her, because they came pounding up to the rooftop a few moments later. Jask started to run, Nil trailing behind. There was a building that was beside the museum and she knew that she could make the jump. As she came to the edge, she looked back for Nil, only to realize that he had lost ground. Knowing she would feel guilty for leaving him later, she turned back and urged him forward.

Two of the guards caught up, and Jask kicked one to the ground. The other punched her in the jaw, and she staggered back. Knowing that she would lose the artifact if she fought the Enforcer, she ducked out of the way of his next punch and quickly caught up to Nil.

For the second time that night, she spoke. “Get this artifact to Buyer Number One,” she told him, giving him the artifact. “And put this dagger in Space Eight. Go!”

Nil, who was terrified, ran as fast as he could and miraculously jumped to the other building. Jask knew that he was reliable and would get the artifact and dagger safely away. It was likely that she wouldn’t get away without a few scratches, though. The Enforcer that she kicked was now up and gaining speed on her. In order for Nil to make his escape, she’d need to stall for him. When the Enforcer approached, she punched him in the nose, causing blood to spurt everywhere.

She ducked under the second Enforcer’s swing—the same one that had gotten her in the jaw—and punched him in the stomach (forgetting that he was wearing armor) before bringing her arm down on his neck, the only chink in Enforcer armor besides the face. Thankfully, she didn’t use enough strength to break it. She may have been a thief, but she wasn’t a killer.

The third Enforcer grabbed her arm and twisted it. She refused to cry out, instead twisting her body and reaching for his face. The fourth Enforcer grabbed her other arm and the first, still bleeding, knocked her out.

She woke up in an interrogation room. It was the first time that she was in one, and she hoped that it would be the last. She was sitting at a table, her arms tied to the side of her chair. It was rather uncomfortable, but she was happy to know that she still had her weapons.

The door opened and an impressive looking man walked in. He looked much more sophisticated than the Enforcers, and wealthier than the Imperials above them. He stared for a moment at Jask before walking to the chair opposite her and sitting down. She noticed there was a folder in his hand.

He smiled. “Hello, Ghost,” he said. She grimaced. He had a nice voice, but it was rather condescending and made her wary. “Or should I say, Jask Victoire.”

Andreas Aijian didn’t usually train this hard for other people. His training was usually much more laid back, with occasional sparring matches with his peers. Unfortunately for today, there were Elite Soldiers coming to watch the regular soldiers and recruit whom they thought were best, and whom they thought was capable enough to look for the missing prince.

He grimaced inwardly. Earlier in the morning, before even he had woken up, news came to the barracks of the death of the king and how the prince was missing. Many of the men thought that the prince had killed his father and left to escape exile or death, but Andreas knew better. He had met the prince once; Prince Victor was a spoiled brat that had no respect for authority and was too dumb to pull off a successful murder.

“Aijian!”

The harsh voice of his commander pulled him out of his reverie and he paused with his training. He’d gotten caught up in his thoughts, again. This happened more often than not, but instead of spoiled princes he was usually wondering about how his family was doing.

He clenched his jaw. There was no way that he’d go off thinking about other things when he commander was walking up to him, an Elite Soldier in tow. Andreas straightened into attention and waited for his commander to speak. Surprisingly, the Elite Soldier spoke first.

“You are Andreas Aijian, correct?”

Andreas gulped. From his peripheral vision, he could tell that everyone had stopped training to stare at the encounter. He could feel the jealousy burning in their eyes; as a pure-blooded Native, there was no love for him in the military. People usually thought that he was going to turn on the military and go rogue, killing every citizen in his path as revenge for what had happened to his people over the course of two hundred years. If Andreas did that, it wouldn’t be the first time a soldier has gone rogue.

“Yes sir,” he answered. He resisted the urge to bow. This Elite Soldier wasn’t a royal, but the need to bow in his presence was almost overwhelming. “How may I be of service?”

The Elite Soldier frowned a bit. “No need to be formal. You may call me Lukas.” Lukas turned to Andreas’ commander. “I want this one.”

It’s like he’s looking for a pet, Andreas thought sourly. His commander grimaced, obviously thinking that Lukas was going to demand the ousting of a Native in the military. Natives in the military were rare enough as it is.

“This man is a native,” his commander replied. Lukas frowned. “Why would you want him?”

“Exactly because he’s a Native,” Lukas countered. He stepped back. “This man has been under my watch for his entire military career. Why? Because of the fact that he is a Native and that he has survived for four years under intense discrimination from you and your peers. He is also much more worthy to look for Prince Victor because of his upbringing than a mediocre soldier who has never had to fend for himself.”

Andreas fought the urge to gape at the Elite Soldier even as the whole training field gave a collective gasp and fell into murmurs. No one usually spoke to the commander like that, even Elite Soldiers. The commander was given deference because he was a war hero, winning huge battles when he just a bit older than Andreas.

The commander was turning red in the face, trying to hold in his fury. Of course, he thought that a citizen would be a better match for looking for the prince, even if the citizen had no tracking ability. It was always better than employing a Native, no matter the worth.

“Fine,” the commander bit out. He glared at Andreas, anger marring his features because he was put in his place by a man younger than him, and relief that he no longer had to look at the Native. Andreas felt his stomach churning in disgust at the commander. “Take him. Aijian, you are no longer under my command. Good riddance.”

Lukas sent a glare to the commander before turning to Andreas. “Go to your barracks and get yourself cleaned up. Gather your things and meet me in the dining hall in two hours.” With that, the Elite Soldier left. Breaking out of attention, Andreas let out a breath that he didn’t realize he was holding, and ran to the barracks.

Andreas didn’t have many things. Actually, all he had were two sets of training clothes, one of which he was wearing when training and the other that he was wearing now. Everything else he owned was back in Talehaven with his family. Still, he gathered his clothes in his worn travel bag and put his hair in a ponytail, trying to look a bit presentable. He looked at his bed, thinking that he’d never have to sleep on it ever again, and left.

Walking to the dining hall was nothing new, and it didn’t feel any different from normal. Except for the fact that he was meeting an Elite Soldier. An actual Elite Soldier. This was a chance that few regular soldiers ever had, since Elite Soldiers had their own living quarters and training area in the castle. Speaking of living areas, Andreas wondered. Since he was told to gather his things, was he an unofficial Elite Soldier? If he wasn’t going to be in the barracks, would he be living in Elite Soldier living quarters? Thinking about it, he was getting excited.

He entered the dining hall and saw Lukas standing by the exit on the other side. He caught sight of Andreas and beckoned for him to come over.

“Hello, soldier,” Lukas smiled. “Are you ready?” Andreas nodded, feeling giddy. “Then follow me.”

Lukas led Andreas to the residential area of the castle, usually private to visitors. In the residential area, there was the Royal Suite, Servant’s Quarters, and Elite Homes. In all actuality, everyone had their own suite in the quarters. They were just cordoned off and regulated by passwords.

Lukas walked up to the gate of the Elite Homes and spoke the password to the gatekeeper, letting them in. Turning back to look at Andreas, he could see the awe on the boy’s face. It was infectious, and the Elite Soldier could remember when he first entered the Elite Homes. It had been well over a decade ago.

He led Andreas to a suite. No doubt it would make the boy happy that he didn’t have to share a living space any longer. Lukas knew from experience that living in the barracks was harsh, and if you happened to be that rare Native, is was downright unforgiving.

When Andreas saw where he was to be living, he had to keep from weeping. This was better than he ever thought it would be, and he couldn’t wait to tell his family when he wrote home.

“This is your new living area,” Lukas explained. “As of now, you are an Elite Soldier. Usually, becoming one of us isn’t this easy, but rules need to be broken sometimes. Sit.” Andreas followed his command and sat on the bed. “Let me explain a few things to you: as one of us, you now have more privileges than you did as a regular soldier. In return, you are working directly under the Royal Family. Your job is to be sort of like a retriever. As you may know, our prince is missing. This isn’t known to the public yet because we don’t want country-wide panic.

“After you retrieve the prince, you will remain an Elite Soldier. You will have a partner for this as well.” Lukas held up a pin. “This you must have on your person always. You will never be taken seriously without it. As an Elite Soldier, your pay will be tripled and you will be paid by the month. You will have to buy your own possessions, though. Here is your advance. Be sure to find a place for it to be safe.” Lukas stood. “And with that, your little introduction is done. Since it is still light out, I recommend that you should go to the market for more clothing. Your uniform should be waiting for you when you return.”

As Lukas reached the door, he turned. “Before I forget, at nine o’clock tomorrow morning, a servant will be here to escort you to your briefing. Good luck.”