The sunrise was beautiful that morning. When Aravis woke up, she found a letter.
Dear Aravis,
I need your help. I noticed that a group of rebellious people have formed in this Kingdom. They spread stories about me, my family and other nobles. More and more people are turning against us. My question for you is, if you can collect as much information about these rebels as you can find, and inform me about them. They call themselves 'The Bearers of the Crystal'. We can stay in touch through a confidential counselor of mine, the innkeeper of The Silent Inn, in Rilat.
Of course the reward will be great.
With kind regards,
Your King
The very same day, Aravis packed her stuff, left her cosy tree house at the river shore, and hopped on a boat that was sailing towards the capital. She had never seen a boat like this before. It was made out of metal instead of wood, and it was by far the fastest boat she had ever been on. The crew, all men with black hair, light skin and dark eyes, let her sail with them for free if she would provide a meal from fresh-caught fish.
It didn't take long before Aravis arrived in the capital. There, she looked for The Silent Inn named in the king's letter. It didn't take long until she found this inn, as it was one of the highest buildings in town.
The name wasn't right at all. People were talking, they enjoyed their lunch with the sound of a musician playing the lute. He was singing a song about the King, about how rich he is, and that he doesn't share his wealth with the civilians. Some people started to sing along. At a certain moment, the man behind the bar called out. 'Lek! Get him outta here!', the man screamed. One of the waiters, a muscular man with quite long, black hair and clear green eyes, walked towards the musician and grabbed him by his arm, to show him the door of the inn. The man behind the bar smiled at Aravis. 'You must be Aravis', he said to her. It was the innkeeper, a man of about sixty years old. He had dark hair that was here and there turning grey. 'I am Donk Marreski', he introduced himself.
The next day, Aravis decided to check out Rilat. She had never been to the capital before. It was a lovely town with a lot of taverns. The biggest building, with the words 'Town Hall' above the door, had a painting on one of the walls. A beautiful picture of a piece of crystal covered the entire wall. Some shops also had the same, pearl-coloured paint on the walls. Justice was a word often written.
Though it was still quite early in the morning, the market stands were already prepared to sell their goods. A lot of stuff was being sold: the local farmers, butchers and bakeries sold their fresh food, but there were also more exotic goods being sold. The market square was huge, bigger than Aravis had ever seen. Well, that's what makes this the capital, right?
Aravis looked around, there were many odd stands. Unusual items, which seemed to be from another continent, were sold. There also were some organisations that built up a stand at the square to get people's attention. A wizard's school looking for new members, a group of jong men looking for people who were interested in becoming a soldier.
Walking around the marked, Aravis got robbed. She managed to stop the bandits, but didn't get off with it all good. When she got back at the inn for lunch, the big wound on her cheek worried the innkeeper. Donk Marreski knew about her secret mission, and even though he knew that Aravis was powerful (why else would the king have picked her for this?), he didn't want anything bad happening to her. Therefore, he sent his son Lek Marreski, the waiter, with her, to protect her where necessary.
Back at the market square, Aravis decided that she needed to find more information about those mysterious Bearers of the Crystal, who were clearly present in this town. The main problem was Lek. She got so annoyed by him, that she couldn't be happier when Lek screamed 'Hey Aleksei!' to a young man with a brown cloak, standing at the 'soldier-stand'.
Finally gotten rid of Lek, she could do what she needed to do. She was fascinated by all the goods that were sold, but the stand that sold stones drew her attention the most. The saleswoman was a young elf lady, and when Aravis asked her about about the Bearers of the Crystal, she didn't answer. As this didn't work, Aravis decided to ask her about the king. Instantly she answered the question Aravis asked. 'The King collected taxes with the promise that he would build a new, stronger bridge. The amount he asked for was a lot, but us civilians payed for it, of course, what else could we do? We wanted that bridge. The problem is, the bridge never came there. Instead, he used all the money to arrange the marriage of his daughter and buy expensive wedding rings.' The elf pauses dramatically, and then continues her story. Sorrow can be heard in her voice. 'The King never loved his daughter. As his successor, he wanted a son. Therefore the King looked for a powerful prince to marry his daughter. It is said that the princess actually is in love with the stableboy. Soon, the princes is gonna marry the exotic prince against her will.' She ended her story with sorrow, Aravis could notice that the elf felt sorry for the princess.
At that very moment, a man appeared behind the elf and kidnapped her. He was dressed in martial arts clothing, with the badge of Rilat on it. The people at the market all took a step back, scared of what might come. No one was willing to help the poor elf. The martial artist hit the elf, knocking her unconcious, and he took her away, towards the forest. On his way, 'She is a Bearer of the Crystal!', he screamed.
Aravis couldn't stand the sight of this scene. Yes, she was at the King's side, meaning she wasn't at the side of the rebels, but the elf's words have touched her. She agreed with the elf, arranged marriage shouldn't be a thing. At the edge of the woods, the martial artist stabbed the elf. Aravis wanted to stop this unfair fight, and climbed into a tree. She took her javelin and looked at the scene beneath her. She jumped down from the branch, right on top of the martial artist, javelin first. A loud cry of pain filled the air. The martial artist looked at her, surprised. Where the hell did she come from?!
The fight continued for a while, until Aravis knew she was in trouble. She wasn't as strong as the martial artist, and even if she was, she could never kill him. She on a secret mission, sent by the King himself. She could never kill a servant of the King! Not knowing what else to do, she decided to create a thick fog, using her magic. She grabbed the elf, and left the cloud of mist. This was hard, since not only the martial artist, but also Aravis herself, couldn't see a thing. Once she found her way out, she ran into the forest, taking the elf with her, afraid she might be followed.
She ran...
and ran...
and ran.
