The dimly lit tavern was filled with the sound of muffled conversations and the occasional clink of glasses. Ralf sat at a small wooden table, his eyes fixed on the hooded figure seated across from him.
The stranger was his client, and Ralf didn't even know his name.
But that was normal for this line of work. He had been hired to do a job, but the man's offer had left him with a mixture of suspicion and curiosity.
"So let me get this straight," Ralf said, leaning forward. "You want me to steal the books of a lowborn girl and kidnap her?"
The hooded man nodded, a sly grin spreading across his face. "Yes, that's correct."
Ralf asked, "And what is so special about this girl?"
"She is the White Mage's apprentice," the client said, getting straight to the point.
Ralf's eyes widened in surprise. "The White Mage, huh? I've heard some crazy tales about him. Is it true that he made the entire King's Landing piss their pants?"
"Yes, the tales are mostly true," the man said uncomfortably, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. "And that's why the reward for this job is so high."
Ralf raised an eyebrow but didn't press the matter further. Instead, he listened intently as the client explained the details of the job. When the man finished, Ralf shook his head in disbelief. "This seems like a risky job," he said, hesitating.
The client leaned back in his chair, his eyes glinting with amusement. "I understand your concerns, but if you act quickly, the Mage won't even be in Winterfell. And I'm willing to double the amount of coin you'll receive."
Ralf's interest was piqued. "Double?" he repeated, considering the offer.
The man nodded. "That's right. But you'll have to leave tonight if you want to get it done."
Ralf immediately agreed, his greed not even allowing him to consider declining. He quickly called a few of his mercenary acquaintances, and they headed straight to Winterfell.
It only took a few days into the job for them to realize that it was going to be more complicated than they had expected.
His first plan of trying to buy the books off failed, and two of his best men disappeared in the process of trying to steal them from the clinic.
He still didn't know what fate had befallen them, but he had a job to do.
Undeterred, Ralf decided to improvise and focus on his second objective: kidnapping the girl.
However, just as he was about to act, the White Mage returned to Winterfell, throwing a wrench in his plan.
Despite the setback, Ralf knew he had no choice but to proceed.
So he and his team made their move. The tension was high as they made their way through the streets of Winterfell, following their target.
------------
Freya had made a grave mistake by stopping at the market before heading back home from the clinic. She was too consumed with happiness to realize that she was being trailed by a group of shady men, the same ones who had previously tried to persuade her to sell her precious books.
Despite her momentary lapse in judgment, Freya was no novice when it came to the ways of the world. She knew better than to trust anyone and had prepared herself for such a situation. Her instincts kicked in, and she bolted through the familiar streets, her heart pounding in her chest.
She could hear the pounding of their footsteps behind her, drawing closer with each passing moment. But Freya was quick and nimble, and she knew the alleys like the back of her hand. It wasn't long before she found herself at a dead end, with no escape in sight.
Most people would have been consumed by panic and fear, but Freya was different.
She had a plan. She reached her hand behind her into her satchel.
"You got nowhere else to run, girlie," one of the men sneered.
"Should have quietly handed over the books to us. Maybe then we would have been extra careful while grabbing you. Now, though, we are going to have to get a little rough," another one said.
"Oh please, you idiots have no idea who you are messing with," Freya said with a smirk. She drew her hand, and threw five vials of a colorless liquid, towards the men in front of her. Three were hit dead on, while two were missed by a hair's breadth.
She would have to get better with her aim.
She wasn't really worried about missing two, though.
She knew her plan would have worked even if she had missed all five of them.
The vials breaking on the floor would have been more than enough for her plan to work.
What was in those vials was some sort of milk of poppy variant El had created that he called morphine. One whiff of the vial would put anyone asleep for hours.
The vials shattered on impact, its contents scattering across the ground and the men. In seconds, the air was filled with a noxious cloud, and the men stumbled, their movements growing sluggish before they collapsed onto the ground, their eyes heavy with sleep.
Now came the small flaw in her plan, where all she could do was hope that someone had heard the commotion. She started feeling extremely dizzy, and wasn't completely sure about her hasty plan anymore.
Thankfully, her luck was good, and she saw someone running towards her. She almost cried in happiness when she saw Jon's face, and with her last breath, she warned him as she raised her hand to stop him.
"Wait!! don't come any closer, Jon."
"Get… El."
"Don't come any closer," she repeated in a whisper, and then she passed out.
----------
Jon had barely heard her whispered words, and while he was desperately wishing his body would move so that he could help Freya, every sense in his body stopped him from getting closer. He could visibly see something wrong, mostly near the passed-out bodies of five men. Luckily, his brain started working again and began to process her last whisper.
"Get El."
He could definitely do that and his body agreed immediately as he ran straight to El's clinic.
He must have run at record speeds, but it still felt like forever.
He finally reached the clinic and ran straight through the door. Not seeing anybody in the main hall, he immediately ran into the lab and saw El writing something down.
"Freya. Trouble!!"
--------
As soon as the words left Jon's mouth, El felt a chill down his spine. He sprang to his feet and darted out of the clinic without another thought. Fenrir, sensing the urgency, was right beside him in an instant.
"Find Freya," El commanded, his voice firm and steady.
Without hesitation, Fenrir took off at a full sprint, racing through the streets and alleys with lightning speed
They reached the alleyway in a few seconds.
El surveyed what he saw and immediately realized what had happened.
The smell was a big clue.
He could smell the morphine in the air and he knew his lovely assistant always kept a few vials on her person.
It seemed to be a wise plan, but perhaps he realized it was time to give her an upgrade, she was important to me.
With his eyes fixed on Freya's prone form, he said, "Don't come a step closer, Jon."
He approached her and knelt down beside Freya, beginning the process of upgrading her. Even though she would never match his strength, he could make her resilient to nearly anything this world might throw at her.
He didn't even have to deal with the morphine in her bloodstream; her upgraded immune system took care of that.
A few seconds later, he saw her groggy eyes open and widen in shock, and immediately calm down when she saw his face.
"Did you miss me that much?" she immediately said.
"Maybe a little more than I expected," he said sincerely.
"So you were shopping for tomorrow, huh?" he continued, looking at her bags that were on the floor.
"Uh-huh," she nodded as she rose to her unsteady feet along with him.
"But you know that it's dark, and you wouldn't want this fair maiden to go back to her home in the dark alone, would you?" she said, looping her hands around his neck as she steadied herself.
"Of course," he said on instinct.
"Your clinic is closer though," she whispered in his ear.
"My fair lady makes a very interesting point," he replied.
He heard Jon cough and we turned our attention to him.
"You can continue that after we deal with the five unconscious men," Jon said dryly.
He agreed and asked, "Do you have some rope by any chance?"
Jon didn't even question it and brought the rope In the time it took for El to touch all five men, making sure they would stay asleep until he was ready to deal with them.
El tied all five men together and tied them to Fenrir and patted his back.
"You know where to take that, don't you, boy?" Fenrir woofed in agreement. He gave him one last pat, and he ran off with the men in tow.
El looked at Jon. "Tell your father what you saw and to make sure anyone doesn't go into this alley for two days. Tell him I'll talk to him tomorrow."
After saying that, he lifted Freya in a bridal carry.
Without wasting another second, he was off at speeds that were not meant for humans.