Chapter Two: Running Away

Run all you like, by his blade you will bleed out. He is coming, and more will show. Run all you want, young princess, you cannot escape his anger, not this time.

Someone sent that assassin to threaten or kill me, but who? I look at the assassin, he turns around to face me and says, "pack your bags, we're leaving town," and he hands me a couple of bags. I go over to my wardrobe and start stuffing my clothes into one bag, which they all fit into thanks to my packing skills, and I place a couple books into the other bag as well as all my gold and silver and bronze. I was saving up for a new start somewhere, but I guess that dream won't come true.

I leave my room, leaving all my unnecessary things behind. I see the assassin with his black cloak on and he has a bag or two on his back. I follow him into my backyard and see two stallions, each of them with saddlebags. I place my bags in the saddlebags of one of the two horses, the assassin does the same with his horse. I try to hop on, but end up on my butt with each attempt. The assassin comes over to me, lifts me up by my hips, and helps me get on the beautiful stallion. I could still feel his hands on me even though he was on his own stallion a few feet away. GAH! STOP WITH THE GOOEY ROMANTIC STUFF, TALIA!!! I focus on riding the horse, this was my first time on one. I soon get the hang of it as we pass over a bridge. The clear water below had a reflection of me and the horse.

The peacefulness of the area was awesome, I could hear animals and the wind. I see a flock of birds fly overhead, I saw how their wings worked hard to keep them airborne and the way they keep formation. It was beautiful. I couldn't believe it, all this was out here my whole life and I never left home to see it!

The assassin slows down a little and I catch up to him, he takes the reins of my horse from me and hops off his horse. I see that the sun was setting, the red fades to dark blue as I look from the sun to the sky above me. The feel of the night breeze, cold and calm, and I hear crickets in the distance. The assassin leads me and the horses through some trees into a new clearing. I hop down off my horse, landing on my feet. I was expecting to land on my butt since I have never gotten off a horse before. The assassin tied the horses up to a tree and set out two mats that seemed to be sleeping bags, he then proceeded to make a fire, using flint and steel, until small flames started. I still didn't know his name, yet he knew mine. How was I supposed to trust him if I didn't know his name or why he took this job from the Queen, and why did she want me to be protected?

"Talia, you alright?" His voice pulled me out of my thoughts, I looked at him and saw how close he was to me. Too close.

"I-I'm fine..." I stuttered. Why am I stuttering? Pull it together, Talia...pull it together.

"Your blushing." He stated, backing away a little. I noticed right then that my cheeks were warm. Why was I blushing!?

"No, I'm not. I was thinking about why the Queen would hire an assassin to protect me, a mere tavern waitress. Why did you accept it anyway? I'm not special or anything, so I don't matter!" I almost yelled, but then I closed my eyes and took a deep breath to steady myself.

"The queen believes you to be the most special woman in her kingdom, I accepted this job because if I become part of the Royal Guard, then I can be more than an assassin. You have no clue how important it is that you get to the Queen, alive." He replied, I just looked down at my feet. I was standing there like a fool.

"I am very sorry for practically yelling at you, sir, but all this is a huge change in my life. I have never ridden a horse before today, I have never left my village until today, and, for unknown reasons, the Queen sent an assassin to escort me to her palace." I say, sitting down on one of the mats.

"Call me Jason, Talia." He says, sitting on the mat next to me. Is "Jason" his real name? Or is it just a name he wants to go by?

"Is that your real name?" I ask, looking over at him. I see he is much closer than he was when he startled me from my thoughts. I could see the different shades of brown in his eyes, making them the breathtaking hazel color they are. My breath caught in my throat, he was looking right into my boring blue eyes, I could tell because he leaned in a little closer, causing me to not breathe at all.

"It is my real name, Ms. Talia." He leaned away and went to the other mat. What the hell just happened?! "You should get some rest, we have a long day tomorrow and, if you wish, I can teach you some self-defense."

I lay down, closing my eyes and curling up in a ball under the blanket that was on the mat. Sleep soon took over me, but it was pitch black…

"You are not worthy of being in this village!" A voice says, I look around the darkness but find no one.

"You must leave, witch! Get out of here before you murder us all!" Yells another voice. No one is in the darkness but me. I'm alone. Alone…

Jason stands a few feet away in the darkness, blood streaming down his face and hands. A katana in his left hand, his light brown hair is all messy and his hazel eyes hold hatred as he stares at me. I took a step back as he stalks towards me, holding his katana up.

"You are nothing! You don't mean anything to the Queen! She ordered me to kill you, so that is what I will do!" He screams at me, grabbing me by the throat and lifting me up. I scratch at his wrists and tried to pry his fingers off, I fail quickly. His arms suddenly erupt into flames as I manage to make him bleed, flames on my left hand and ice on my other hand.

"Talia! Wake up!" I am shaken roughly by warm hands on my shoulders. I open my eyes to see Jason hovering over me and shaking me, hard. He isn't on fire, he isn't trying to kill me. It was a nightmare, worse than the ones I usually have.

"I'm up, I'm up." I laugh, making him let go of my shoulders and relax. I sit up and see some of the grass burnt and some frozen, the burnt on my left and the frozen on my right. "What the hell happened?"

"You were screaming and some of the grass around you caught on fire and some of it froze. I didn't know what to do so I poured water on the burning grass and kept the freezing grass from touching you. What was happening in your head?" He asked, putting me into a sitting position.

"I was having a nightmare, there were voicing yelling at me and..." I trailed off, looking into his eyes. Tears started forming, streaming down my face, and I looked away. Jason touched my cheek, turning my face towards him and wiping the tears from my face.

"You don't have to tell me everything that happened in that head of your's, Talia." He stood up and started packing up his stuff. I packed up my stuff and placed it in the saddlebag of my horse.

We packed everything up, ate, and started riding again in silence. It was slowly killing me, he didn't say a word to me at all and my thoughts were getting the better of me. My nightmare with the fire and ice, the grass around me burnt and frozen, it had to be connected to something, but what? Only the Royal Family had magic, that's why everyone called them the Royals of Magic, but sixteen years ago one of the princesses was kidnapped and never found. They say that her magic was locked away until she met her perfect match, others say she was killed the day after being kidnapped. I believe neither of those, I had this idea in my head that the lost princess was taken away and raised by another family and didn't have magic. It was possible since the first heir to the throne doesn't have magic while her little brother has dark magic like his uncle, the Duke of Borok, the land of Darkness.

A few hours later, we arrive at a village that is ran by an assassin. Sir James, the one assassin who owns a village, met up with us at the main entrance to his village.

"Ahh, the young assassin who outwitted his master and made a life of his own. It is great to see you again, Jason. How have you been? Who might this young maiden be?"

"James, I agree that it is great to see you again, this is Ms. Talia. I was given a job by a very high payer to protect and escort her to them. We need food and water, then we'll be out of your hair." Jason tells the man, Sir James nods and then leads us to a tavern that was similar to the one I worked at.

Jason tied the horses to the pole outside the tavern, I unmounted my horse and followed the men inside. We sat at a table near the back and a kind girl with black hair took our orders. I ordered a water and some stew, both the guys ordered ale and steaks. As we waited for our food, the guys chatted about what's going on in the kingdom while I let my mind wander. I don't understand why, or how, these two assassins knew each other. It made this whole situation even stranger than it already is. Jason and Sir James seemed to be best buds, but that wasn't the case with assassins. They seem like friends when they really are enemies, rivals at least.

"Then I see Talia being pinned to the wall by Jerry, so I kill him with an arrow to his spine. Poor dude didn't see it coming!" Jason tells Sir James, hearing my name pulls me away from my thoughts. Jason puts an arm over my shoulders, taking a sip of his ale, and keeps talking as if it doesn't matter who heard him.

"That must have scared the living hell out of Talia, right?" Sir James glances over at me, "You were scared, right, young maiden?"

"I was indeed startled, but Jason escorted me safely home and kept watch outside. There weren't any other attempts to attack me at all from that point on." I lied, there was another attempt the morning after Jason killed the first assassin who attacked me.

Our food is then brought to us, both men getting steak and me getting my soup. I ignored them for the rest of the time we were at the tavern, some men that passed by looked at me with weird expressions that I wasn't familiar with. I ignored the whole tavern until it was time to go, which I was ready to leave the crowded building from when we first entered.

Jason was pretty much drunk when we left the tavern, Sir James and I had to help him walk to the inn where we had to stay since we were in that building for several hours. It felt good to feel the cool air in my face and neck, although my hands were freezing. Once we made it to the inn, Sir James had gotten me and Jason a room and I helped Jason there. He plopped down on the bed...the only bed. Why the hell did Sir James get us a room that had only one bed?!

"Talia, come here..." Jason slurred, reaching a hand out to me. He really was drunk.

"Jason, you need to sleep off the alcohol. Go to sleep and I'll get the hearth going, alright?" I ask him, starting up a small fire in the hearth. It soon grew warm in our room and I sat at the foot of the bed.

I feel arms wrap around my waist and tug me back, my back landing on Jason's warm chest. He had his arm wrapped around my waist and had a firm grip, this drunk assassin is so gonna get slapped.

"Just sleep next to me, sweetheart..." he trailed off. I waited until I heard light snoring and I then got his arms off me. There was a small loveseat next to the window, I sat down there and started out the window.

I eventually fell asleep, my dreams full of just the idea of what Jason would do when he finds out what happened tonight.