A Threatened Treaty

Prologue

A man with brown and unruly hair stopped his horse in front of the doors to the Heron, a tavern that could be found in the smuggler's port of Hibernia.

Anastasio Devine was this man's name and he was ambitious to no end. He wanted everything in the world and that meant the countries as well. In this little port of Hibernia, he was aiming towards getting Araluen first. He looked at the small little tavern and shrugged. This was the last place he needed to be before he set out for Araluen with the intent on taking it.

But first, he needed to be informed about what he was getting himself into, and the information he needed could be in the little tavern. He dismounted and tethered his horse to the pole next to the door. After that was done, he threw open the doors and stooped to walk in before looking around the small building. "Close the door, fool!" cried the bartender.

The man closed the doors and continued looking around the room. There were several men in the room, but not enough for a crowd. He walked to the bar, where the Tavern Keeper was cleaning a spare tankard with a cloth.

The Tavern Keeper placed the tankard under the counter and looked at Anastasio. "What brings you here?" he asked.

Anastasio nodded to one of the casks. "Ale," he said simply.

The Tavern Keeper nodded as he fetched different tankard than the one he put away. He filled it up to the brim with Ale from the cask and placed it on the counter in front of Anastasio, who pulled out two gold coins.

"You don't need that much for ale, sir," said the Tavern Keeper.

"They're not for the ale," Anastasio replied. He paused as he took out two copper coins and placed them further toward the tavern keeper. "Those are for the ale. The gold is for information."

"Well, I'm your man, then," said the tavern keeper eagerly.

Anastasio's mouth curved upward. "Good. I was wondering if you could tell me about Araluen's leadership," he said.

The tavern keeper nodded. "Araluen is the most trusted country in the world. Their leadership is superb, but it's weak because some of the members and their friends and family are vulnerable because of this. They tend to hang out in the open."

"Who are the members?"

"Queen Cassandra, her husband Horace, their daughter, don't know her name. There's also the special forces."

"Who's in the special forces?"

"Three Rangers and three Couriers, soon to be four. They're deadly when all gathered up, and just one of them is a handful."

"What do you mean, soon to be four?" Anastasio questioned.

"I mean that there's gonna be a fourth Courier joining them in about five years. She's the granddaughter of the infamous Alyss Treaty," the tavern keeper answered.

Anastasio was a bit surprised that this man was just spilling out this information like a waterfall, but he realized that he never gave away his intentions. "Do you know her name? The granddaughter, I mean," he asked.

The tavern keeper thought about it for a moment, then shrugged deeply. "I don't know. I think her name is Evangeline, but I might be wrong," he said.

Another man decided to interrupt their conversation. "Another ale, over here!" he shouted, his words slurred just a little. The tavern keeper inclined his head in the man's direction and began to prepare the man's ale for him. "Sorry to cut our conversation short. Wish I could've given you more info."

Anastasio shook his head. "No. You've given me more than enough information for me to handle myself in Araluen," he said, scooting the two gold coins forward and leaving without another word. As soon as he was out the door, he took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh.

He looked up at the sky and grinned to himself. Evangeline, huh? he thought. "It's not a lot, but it's a start," he said to himself.

He mounted his horse and rode to the inn, where he'd wait for the next ship to Araluen.

A/N: Hey, Guys! Just so you know, if you haven't Alyss' Return: She Lives, then you need to do that first, otherwise, you'll find spoilers and that isn't good. Also, make sure that you've read Finding The Lost Twin too because there are spoilers from that as well.

Thanks for reading!

-Nicole