The Ruffian King

A woman and her daughter are walking through the quiet woods, down a dirt trail to their secluded cabin. A large jaguar jumps out of nowhere in front of them.

"Daddy!" The little girl shouts in excitement as she runs over to the large fluffy cat. The jaguar is hugged tightly by the little girl as she her hair starts rubbing against its nose. There's a bright flash.

"AHCOO!" Clark sneezes loudly, pulling his daughter closer to him so she's not hit by it. Some birds fly away from their resting spots in nearby trees. He wipes his nose as he lets go of her and stands up, his wife covering her mouth as she laughs at him.

"Think that's funny?" He asks as he walks over to her. She lets out a surprised scream as he sweeps her off her feet, holding her in his arms.

"Ew!" Their daughter Cindy covers her eyes and looks away as they kiss.

"I thought you'd be gone for another week?" Leslie asks.

"Got their faster than I expected,"

As Clark puts her down he sees someone hiding behind a tree, looking at him with wide eyes. The person quickly runs off into the woods out of sight.

"Everything alright?" Leslie asks.

"Uh…" Clark starts patting his pants, pretending to feel for something, "No, actually, I think I dropped something. Just head to the house, I'll meet you there shortly, alright?" He gives her a peck on the cheek before he heads off into the woods, Leslie and Cindy head for the house.

"I gotta tell him!" The man exclaims to himself as he frantically runs through the woods. He glances back when he hears something chasing from behind, but he sees nothing. He screams as a jaguar appears in front of him, lunging at him and pushing him to the ground. There's a bright flash and a hand grabs him by the throat.

"Who sent you!?" Clark exclaims with fury.

"I-i-it…" The man struggles to say.

"Who!?"

"It was Harvey, Harvey sent me! Please Clark, please don't kill me…"

"You've already proven to me you don't keep secrets," He pulls out a knife from his belt. He rams it into their skull, their body going limp. He pulls his knife out and rubs it against some grass to get the blood off. Putting the knife away he heads home.

"Did you find it?" Leslie asks as he enters the house. A fire is lit in the chimney, heating up some meat on a spit roast.

"Yeah, the sparkle made it easy to spot,"

"Sparkle?"

Clark pulls out a small red crystal that sparkles in the fire's light.

"It's so beautiful! Where'd you find it?!" Leslie looks at the beautiful crystal in awe, it's red glow reflected in her eyes.

"In the deserts of Sahir, they're actually quite common there,"

"Well this looks special to me," She places the rock down on the table before putting her arms around his shoulders, they starts swaying back and forth to a melody of the fireplace as Cindy picks up the rock and looks at it.

"So, how long do we get you for?" Leslie asks, the two of them smiling at each other as the fire's music moves their feet. Before Clark answers his smile fades away, so does Leslie's as she already knows what he's going to say.

"...Just for tonight. I have to leave first thing in the morning, I'm needed at the palace for a special delivery to some town by the southern border," Those words only confirm her fears.

"Well...at least we get tonight with you," She says, covering her disappointment with a smile, and he does the same. The small family spends the night talking, telling stories, Cindy shows some drawings she did, and they have a wonderful dinner.

As Leslie puts their daughter to sleep Clark just sits by the fire, staring at it.

"You gonna come to bed sweety?" Leslie asks as she walks into the main room.

"Yeah, just, give me a minute," He replies as he glances at her.

"Okay," She walks off to their room as he once more turns to the dying fire.

That scumbag Harvey, sending someone to spy on me. No doubt he wants my throne. I'll have to think of someway to get rid of him, I made a promise to myself that I wouldn't let my life affect them…

With a heartfelt sigh he gets up and heads to the bedroom. For the rest of the night him and Leslie forget about the morning and enjoy each other's company. The morning comes and before the sun rises Clark leaves.

It gets harder to leave every time, he can no longer bear to see their faces of sadness as he says goodbye, so now he just leaves before they can awake. Long before he met her, he had been a ruffian, a theif, an assassin. He had spent years clawing his way to the top, all while hiding the fact that he's a therian, something that no ruffian would want to work with. He had become a well respected theif within the secret groups of Qanas when he had first met Leslie.

Something about her was different from most of the women he had met, and whatever it was, it had captivated him. He knew from the start that he couldn't let her be a part of the life he lived, and that the only way he could ever be with her was to keep her as a secret. He would go on solo "missions" to see her and he told her that he was a travelling merchant that delivered goods all across Qanas and sometimes in other kingdoms, and she fell for it.

Leslie was the first person to learn that he was a therian, and she didn't care, she wanted to be with him. The lines between his two lives seem to keep intertwining in very unfortunate ways. He's had many close encounters where he was on a mission and she had nearly saw him, and now people were being sent to spy on him. If anyone ever found out he was a therian, or that he had a family...they won't find out. After a week's travel, Clark enters a tavern in the middle of the night.

"Place is closed pal," The bartender says.

"I'm here for royal business,"

"What kind?"

"The real kind,"

"Go on in," They reply as they nod toward the door behind the bar. Clark nods and heads back there. Entering a small room he opens another door leading to stairs going down. Walking down he walks through a heavy wood door, entering a large room lit up by torches. A group of men are standing around a table, looking at a large map while they discuss plans. The one opposite Clark's side looks up and sees him approaching them.

"Ah, Clark," The man says with some surprise, "I thought you were going to be gone for another week?"

"Hi Harvey. Plans changed," He replies coldly as he steps in front of the table, "So, where are we with the plan?" He asks.

"Um...we think we found a way into the castle. The northwest tower here, is the least guarded, and we've gotten word that there was an accident that caused the wall to get cracked. So, if we can get ourselves a mage to chip away at that wall, we can sneak in from there,"

"What next?"

"That's as far as we've gotten. Everything around the tower is heavily guarded,"

"Hmm...I'll take a look at it, you guys get some rest,"

"A-alright," As the men all leave Clark closes the door behind them and locks it. Standing over the table he looks at the map of the castle and the town surrounding it.

"Let's see...where can I trap you, without you noticing?" He mutters to himself as he looks for places where it'd be impossible to escape in the castle.