After Morgianna had made her escape Alistar and Thadeous checked the surrounding area for anyone else before making their way back to their own carriages. Thadeous ran a hand through his fiery red hair before looking at the demon beside him. "Who do you think she is?" He did not quite like Alistar but as Princes of their own respective kingdoms they had learned to at least converse in a civil manner with one another.
Alistar rubbed the crescent moon on his forehead. It had been a habit of his when he was in deep thought, one he had plans to break. "I do not know, but judging by her powers she has to be someone important. We are about to go see Alaric, so we should ask him if he knows anything about her."
They nodded to one another and climbed into their respective carriages so that they could head for the castle. Both were deep in thought about a girl in a red hood.
The trip to the castle seemed to drag on forever as both were impatient to ask about the mystery girl. The moment their carriages had stopped both alighted from within and quickly strode to where they were to meet Prince Alaric. They did not even give the servants a second glance as they walked to the Prince's private gardens, where they knew he would be waiting. They were already late, as the necromancer had made their trip be extended by a few hours, so they did not even stop to freshen up.
Alistar was the first to come into view of Alaric, and the latter was quite surprised. His friend who was normally composed with not even a speck of dust on his person was looking quite...disheveled. Behind him Thadeous was not looking any better.
"Are you alright?" Alaric tilted his head as they approached him in long strides as if they were being chased.
Alistar was about to speak when he was abruptly cut off by Thadeous. "Is there a girl in your kingdom that wears a red hood and caries around a scythe?"
His words had shocked Alaric into silence for a moment before he quickly grew alarmed. He took another look at the appearance of the two and immediately thought the worst. "Were you attacked by this said girl? I do not personally know of anyone that fits that description but I will find them." Without even waiting for a response Alaric called for a guard to come over and gave him instructions to search for a person fitting that description. "Search every town, every guild, I want her found."
The guard bowed and quickly walked away to carry out his orders. Meanwhile Alistar was frowning at Thadeous. "You should have explained it better." He turned to look at Alaric his frown still in place, none of them bothering to sit down. "Allow me to explain. On our way here, we were attacked, however, it was not by the girl that was just mentioned. There was a necromancer that must have been terrorizing a stretch of forest along the road. He had brought back many beings and was attacking carriages as they passed. Fortunately, we were traveling through the area around the same time and was able to fend off our attackers. When we went to find the necromancer to dispose of him, that girl had beat us to it. We could feel her power before we even got to her, she was that powerful. I have never felt anything like it. We wanted to ask her name, but she ran away."
Alaric was deep in thought, if what they said was true and there really was someone that powerful then it should be easy to find them. Plus he doubted there were many scythe-wielding, red hood wearing women out there in his Kingdom.
"In that case, I will not retract my order to find her. Only amend it to make sure that my guards know not to attack the person. I only want to let her know that we wish to speak to her." She had done their country a service by taking out the necromancer. If the person had continued to attack people along that road it would have been bad for their country, plus he did not want more people to get hurt. "Well now that we have settled that matter, would you like to freshen up before we have tea?" He changed the subject, once again looking at their disheveled appearances.
Several weeks passed when once again Thadeous and Alistar found themselves back in Alaric's personal garden. They had received letters telling them that they had found information on the mystery girl.
Alistar sat down in a pair of black pants and a red button-up shirt that was slightly undone. His long hair was loose and falling into his face but he did not try to move it. His eyes were glued to the report in front of him as he read it, once, twice, and then a third time.
Thadeous was impatiently trying to read over the demon's shoulder, wishing he could chop off his long hair that was getting in the way. "Come on, you already read it. Let me have it now." He reached as if to take the paper, but missed as Alistar moved it out of the way.
"You can have it when I am finished. Go sit on a plant and make it grow." Alistar was frowning. The report did not have much other than the fact that the girl was part of a mercenary guild called Roses Thorn and she went by the name Little red which clearly was not her real name. She only had three known associates and they all went on missions together: The Dragon because apparently he always wore something with a dragon insignia, Ghost because she was quiet and deadly, and then there was Joker. His name was an accurate description of what he was, apparently, the man had never met a stranger and would joke and laugh with everyone he met. The whole group covered most of their face and always stayed together, the only thing that was noted was that Little Red seemed to be the designated leader.
He finally passed the paper to the impatient Fay Prince and looked at his friend who sat across from them. "It seems there is not much out there known about her. Have you requested her presence?"
To his friend's question Alaric nodded his head. "I requested their group to meet with me because I wished to thank them personally but do you know what they said? They said and I quote: We did not do it for you, so there is no reason for you to thank us." Alaric had a calm face on but inside he was a little upset. Him being the Prince they could have at least given him face and agreed to come and let him thank them, instead they basically just told him no without any pretenses.
Thadeous had just finished reading and had a huge grin on his face that contrasted drastically with the other two boys. "I guess this means I will just have to join this guild to find out who she is!"
Alistar and Alaric stared at him as if he had lost his mind. Alistar was the first to speak. "You do realize that as the Crown Prince it would not be good to join a guild, let alone one that is not even in your own Kingdom?"
"I'm sure it would be fine, it is not like I am taking over the throne any time soon. I might as well do this while I am young before I am basically unable to leave the castle later. You don't mind do ya Alaric?" He gave the older Prince a huge grin, his mood infectious.
Alaric sighed, he had known Thadeous for most of his life and knew that even if he did have a problem with it the Fay Prince would most likely still go through with his plans. "So be it, but do not cause trouble in my kingdom." He felt a headache coming on and wished he had never told the boys what he had found. He only wanted to help them since he too had wished to thank the girl for taking care of the necromancer.
Alistar who had been watching their exchange gave an exaggerated exhale before turning towards Alaric. "As one of your best and only friends, I will take it upon myself to also join so that I can keep an eye on him for you." He made it sound as if he were doing him a favor, but they all knew that he was only joining because he too wanted to know who she was.