The night before in a village near Solaris in the Kellor kingdom.
Night had finally reached the contact location. He had been running and hiding for days as the marquis sent his men to pursue him after the battle was over.
These past few days had been some of the hardest in his life; he had eaten very little; he had slept but a few hours a night, and had to always keep himself on the move.
Night did not know, who the men were exactly, but one thing was for sure; they were no knights nor regular soldiers. Whoever was after him had made him feel like something was constantly staring at his back, and though they were relentless in their pursuit, he had managed to shake them off.
Now he had finally made it, carefully moving about in the streets at around midnight, when the villagers had long gone to sleep; he slowly neared a particular house that seemed no different than the others.
Upon getting close, Night extended his hand and knocked on the door, three successive knocks followed by a pause, then two more, then a pause, then a final three knocks.
He waited for a minute or two, constantly turning his hooded face to scan the surrounding, just as his patience was about to run out, the door opened and a hand grabbed him and pulled him inside.
Night was completely taken by surprise by this sudden action; once pulled inside the house, he had found himself completely disoriented since the interior was pitch black.
He quickly tried to ascertain the situation as he spoke with a low voice, "What the hell are you doing, it's me!"
Soon a response came from the darkness, "I know it's you. The question is what are you doing here!"
Hearing this, Night's confusion turned into anger as he responded, this time his tone colder and higher. "I am here to report obviously, take me to the Lord I need to divulge what happened."
No response came for a while, making him feel as if he was speaking to darkness.
"Not only the lord, but the entire region knows what had happened, not only did you screw up, you also allowed one of the leaders to be taken alive. Honestly, I have no idea why you came back, you should have just disappeared and spared me and yourself some trouble." The voice responded.
"I know, but I have to report to the lord nonetheless, the situation is not exactly all my fault either, the marquis is just too crafty for his own good. I will take responsibility I just need to see the lord." Night argued.
"Sorry, nothing personal but it's too late." The voice spoke once more; this time it came right behind Night. Before he could turn around, he felt something impact the back of his head and lost consciousness.
After the body fell to the floor, the voice sighed before speaking. "See what you made me do, I have so much work to do now, you should have just disappeared."
Outside in the village that was cloaked in darkness, a barely visible silhouette stood far away from the house that Night had entered, as it stared at it, unmoving and without a sound, like a statue that draped itself in shadows, just to disappear the moment later.
--------------------------------------------------
In a forest a few hours from Landow.
A young woman was sitting near a stream as she observed the occasional fish rear its head from the water.
She had blonde hair, very light greenish eyes, a few freckles on her face, and looked to be in her late teens, around seventeen years old.
Behind her were two horses strapped to a tree a distance away, one looking to be a poor quality steed that could be found in the possession of an average person, while the other looked to be a high-quality one that would tell any onlooker that whoever owned it was not to be trifled with.
Soon she heard footsteps behind her, which progressively became louder as whoever was moving was coming her way. At this, she simply smiled as she spoke.
"What took you so long?"
A few moments later, a collection of flowers were slowly lowered towards her as Marek placed them on her lap and responded. "It's not easy to get you really nice flowers, it takes time to carefully pick them up."
"Well you should not waste so much time on this, I am here to see you, it's been so long since we had some time together, ever since your father sent you north."
At this, Marek simply asked, "Do you like them?" She answered by slightly blushing and nodding her head.
"Then it's worth the time Rose, plus we will have all the time in the world from now on, there is nothing urgent that requires my attention at the moment." He answered with a smile.
"I hope so, although seeing you entering the city with the marquess looking like a prince charming was nice and all, I prefer if you stayed here so that we would always see each other whenever we want," Rose spoke.
Marek's smile grew wide at this as he lay on his back with his hand behind his head, serving as a pillow.
"You know that is not possible, I am afraid that though I will be staying in Landow for now, my father will probably continue testing me more in the future, this will require me to be away from you for some time."
"So it's decided that you will succeed your father as the next marquess, Marek?" Rose asked with a hint of sadness in her voice.
" Well, pretty much, I am the eldest son after all and though my younger brother has... improved from his useless self, it's probably too late," Marek answered, he looked at Rose and saw the sadness in her eyes as he sighed before he continued.
"I know what your thinking, don't worry, we will find a way, I can convince my father about us, I just need some time that all." He spoke these words to comfort her.
Hearing this, she just sighed; she knew deep down that this was most likely to be a dream that would never come true; a dream of a young woman that she would eventually have to wake up from. Yet she lied down next to him; she lied down and closed her eyes as she allowed herself to dream.
Marek turned his head and looked at her sleeping peaceful figure, in his eyes, she was the beauty that was beyond any he encountered in higher society. When he was with her, there was no need for etiquette; no need for formalities or dress codes.
With here he could be himself, a simple man with a simple heart and mind. It was not easy to reach this point once she knew of his status, but she quickly got used to him after some time.
He like that she mostly treated him like a simple man; there was no my lord, no bowing or pretences. With her, there was just Marek, and he liked this a lot.
He took a deep breath; then he too, closed his eyes and just absorbed the peace.