The Thorn Family

The words hit Willow like a truck, she was being offered a spot by Leah and Asher's side despite never really giving them a reason to either like or trust her. She was in an internal debate about how to answer. She had never done anything to gain the respect she was being given right now. A few words brought her out of her reverie, "Will you fight by our side, Willow Thorn?"

She knew that there wouldn't be another chance after this to change her mind. This was where she had to take a stand, one way or another. Asher had never blatantly threatened her once, he had only ever told her the reality of the situation. She couldn't blame him for that. Even with as blunt as he had been, there had been no malice in his words or tone. It had been entirely sincere.

She had landed herself in this situation by following them in the first place. That part was entirely her fault. By now, the same people that were after Asher and Leah would surely know that Willow was associated with them. She was ready to pull her hair out at the thought of it all. So much was coming her way all at once, with no way of backing out now. At the least, she had five more days before they went out on this new adventure. She finally mumbled to Asher, "I'm with you."

"That didn't sound very enthusiastic, but it'll have to do for now," he answered her.

Willow thought to herself, 'Not very enthusiastic? I'm practically being forced into it. It's either stick with these two and have a fighting chance, or die with a blade in my back. Where is the choice in this?'

In the end she didn't say anything, instead just nodding to Asher. In spite of her nervousness, there was almost a giddiness in her. She was going to be fighting against a mystery organization beside two cunning rogues, it was nearly like the stories she had read back at Thorn manor as a little girl. There was a dashing young warrior and a beautiful accomplice at his side. Neither one was shying away in the face of danger. She felt her face begin to get a little hot when Asher began to stare at her, seemingly almost reading her mind at that moment. His steely gaze made her break eye contact, she couldn't stare into those emerald green orbs any longer.

Asher asked her, "Is there something troubling you?"

"Nothing," she answered immediately. She couldn't even look up. 'How am I supposed to say that I find him to be incredibly attractive? It would never work anyway, once I'm restored to my position in the Thorn family, no matter how hard he works, he will always be below me in class,' she thought.

Asher shrugged and went back to his work with Leah looking over his shoulder. Willow sighed as she felt a slight pang of jealousy for how closely Leah was able to work with Asher. After a couple of hours, Asher stated, "We'll do more research and preparation tomorrow after my next match. Don't alter your bets if you expect to keep your money," he said with a sly wink.

"How can you be so sure you will continue to win? You're going against contestants who have won just as many matches as you have," Willow said incredulously.

"I have my reasons. I don't tire like a normal man for one. I could be up for days and still be ready for a fight as though I just awoke," he answered. With that said, Asher motioned towards a set of beds he had gotten so that they could all stay in the same room for the time being.

"I don't trust that our assassins won't come for us in our sleep, so I wanted us to be as close together as possible so that in the event of that happening, we're prepared. Good night, both of you.". With that, they went to bed.

--

Willow dreamed of her time at Thorn manor. She was born into a life of luxury, wanting for nothing at all. She learned of the arts and combat both. Her childhood was what most children would dream of, aside from her parents being distant. She just assumed it was due to their duties surrounding their status. The empire surely would call on them any time they wanted to.

They were eating dinner one day when it all went wrong. She had lived a fairly charmed life to that point as she was fourteen years old living in the house of a baron. There hadn't been much reason for complaint until that day in the middle of summer.

One of the servants accidentally dropped a silver platter causing quite a ruckus, spilling the goblet of wine her father had requested The patron of the family Thorn, Alexander Thorn, began screaming at the servant immediately for daring to waste even a single drop of the expensive wine. It had gotten on the expensive table runner that had been set on the long dining table in a T shape that ran the length of the room with the family of Thorn lining it towards a throne on the very end with knights gathered towards the entrance hall. Her father had been a cruel man. She hadn't noticed it for a long time until one of the family servants spoke out of turn in defense of that man who had simply made a mistake. Her father had leapt the distance between the two and immediately used the same power of hardening that innately ran in the family to empower his strikes. His fist turned to a steel like substance and he struck the servant across the face with great force. The sound of bones crunching was heard across the room.

Willow rushed forward to help the servant who was down on the floor with his face already swollen from the trauma. As soon as she approached, her father swung his still hardened fist backwards and flung her across the room. The only thing that had saved her was her hardening her skin, otherwise she would have had multiple broken bones of her own. As soon as she had been sent flying, her father had gone back to beating the servant. As she approached, she saw blood pooling under the man's head. It was clear he was already dead.

"If you ever try that again, you will be gone from this place," her father spat angrily. "Do you understand me? I don't need you, I have plenty of other successors who would be more than willing to do whatever it takes to please me. By the grace of the gods, your mother may even give me a son one day rather than daughters. All of you have proven to be too soft so far, too weak. Do not ever stand in my way again, or your name will be struck from the records of the Thorn family."

A year passed with no more incidents. Willow had strived to become the best the Thorn family had to offer. She had been given great merits in every school of training she participated in and had developed new techniques to the ability of hardening, learning how to extend it into weapons and actually giving them a sharper edge. She had taught all of this to her father, who was still more powerful with his ability, yet had not found those techniques so far.

In reality, they found Willow to be nearly a genius as far as the family power went. She had been pioneering ways to use it that no one had done in the centuries that they knew about it. She received praise over the next two years until one fateful day.

Her mother had given birth to a baby boy. Willow's heart dropped at the sound of that announcement. She had given it her all, she had achieved so much, just for the family fortune to be given to a boy. He was the rightful heir to the name of Thorn and as such he would be granted the estate and wealth of the Thorn family. This was whether he was gifted or not. He could be useless as a lord, it wouldn't matter, he would become the patron of the clan.

Willow felt sheer despair at the thought of that. She couldn't begin to fathom how all of her hard work would be tossed to the side, just like that. Her father began to beat the servants once again, whom Willow had discovered were closer to slaves to him. He had his knights lock them all in a barracks at night and let them out during the day.

Willow wouldn't stand for it anymore. There were more techniques that she hadn't shown her father, fearing he would do something to interfere with her taking the title of baron Thorn. In the end, her suspicions had been correct. She snuck up to the servant's barracks quietly and extended her fingers into razor sharp blades before snapping them over the chains that held the doors shut.

As the door swung open, she was greeted by an empty room. Her father was sitting in there smugly grinning at her. "Looking for anyone in particular?" he asked. His sadistic grin enraged her immediately. "You have been abusing these people for far too long," Willow screamed at him.

"They're common trash, not people. Learn your place and learn theirs. I am going to teach you a lesson now. After that, I will banish you from this place until you can show me that you are worthy of the Thorn family name once again."

After that, Alexander Thorn beat Willow within an inch of her life. She thought she was going to die that day. When she awoke from her beating, she discovered she had been dropped off in the middle of nowhere with nothing to her name. Not even a single coin.

She wandered the countryside for a few years, doing odd jobs until she met Asher the day he had been debating going into the guild. After she tested at the guild, she was immediately put into the C ranking where she stayed, as she was still developing her power. After that she eventually met up with Asher and Leah once again, leading her down her current path.

The dream began to end as she felt a firm hand shaking her awake and she saw Asher's steely gaze above her. He said nothing, he just continued on to Leah and did the same to her before leaving. She saw the light of dawn peering through the window and groaned, wishing she could have slept just a bit longer.