In the kingdom of Hethra, deep in the castle walls lays two very different people. Aleck, the handsome warrior trying to prove himself and tortured by his past, and Willow, a witch that has a deep resentment towards the royal family.

These two very different people are about to embark on a journey across the kingdom to find a treasure for the king.

Characters:

Aleck
Age: 20
Appearence: Black hair swept over his forehead, soft velvety green eyes inherited from his mother, lean build
Personality: Aleck has a cold personality due to all the troubles that he's seen growing up with the rulers of the city. Wants to prove himself to be part of the princess's guard.

Willow
Age: 18
Appearence: short and thin and somewhat muscular build, pin straight fire red waist length hair, chocolate brown eyes
Personality: Willow has a normally bubbly personality but her temper can be as mean as they come. She's very stealthy and is the refuse to take no as an answer type. She's a witch that resents working for the royal family because she blames them for her parents' deaths.

Aleck shivered slightly as he once again started his rounds walking around the castle and looking for any intruders. The secret of being a warlock was easy to hide but something he frequently regretted doing. If he told the king he had a chance of actually succeeding but he didn't want to. He had his weapons with him (a sword and a bow) along with a sling of arrows. His ultimate duty was to defend the area but he'd had a secret desire to surpass his record and gain in the ranks of his branch of society.

Willow stood hovering over her latest potion. She mixed the ingredients while she spoke chants under her breath. "Augindun Gesitut." She whispered into the cauldron. In only a few moments she would've finally created the healing potion she had been boiling all week.

Aleck was confused when the commander of his unit came to him. He seemed to be having some important news because he was walking fast. "The king requests your audience," Commander Rauk said clearly. "He has a mission for you to do something." There wasn't any other information for that after that and the Commander left almost immediately.

"Willow?" A servant asked, causing Willow to jump and spill extra ingredients into the potion. Willow's face turned a remarkable shade of red as she turned to look at the servant with a deathly glare.

"What could you possibly want?" She asked, venom dripping from her voice.

"The king wishes to see you." The servant said, suddenly nervous from Willow's temper.

"Very well." She said as calmly as possible, marching out the door and through the corridors.

Aleck was confused at the moment, waiting outside the hall to where the king's throne was. He always had people visit him there when he needed to give orders. He knew that the King felt more powerful in there.

"I wonder what he possibly has to say to me," he said to himself as he checked his sword and armor to see that they were in decent condition. When he was satisfied with that he waited until he was invited into the presence of his majesty.

Willow practically ran down the hallways, still fuming about the loss of her potion. She had waited a week for that potion to be finished and now it was ruined.

As she rounded the corner to the throne room Willow saw a young man dressed in armor. Why was I called here with a guard? Willow thought, nodding to him in acknowledgement.

"Are you here for a meeting with the king?" Aleck asked, hoping the answer was no. It would probably be another five minutes or even ten minutes before they were called in, but he could never really calculate this. He looked at her and for a moment had thought that they might have to make a trip together, he shrugged off the idea.

"Yes." Willow said, eyeing the guard. "And you?"

"Yes," Aleck said. "I've been expecting a mission recently, I had a meeting with the king earlier this year." The door was opened then a servant waved his hand intending them to go into the king's hall.

Willow rolled her eyes as she moved forward. Just like every other guard he was completely full of himself, his pompous demeanor was something Willow had very little tolerance for.

Willow straightened her skirt as she moved through the doors towards the throne. Upon seeing the king she bent into a curtsey. "Your Highness." She said, working at her hardest to not let her resentment towards him show.

Aleck was excited but not entirely expecting anything big. He entered slightly and bowed waiting for the king to tell them to rise. He did not speak though for he was not commanded to speak yet and resented the girl for speaking.

"You may rise," the king said after a moment. "I have a specific mission for the two of you that will require both of your talents. I'm in search of a specific treasure that was said to be owned by a rival of ours. After we had defeated them however we could not find it. I need you two to find it for me."

Willow kept her face straight, quite a mission in itself. "How will we find the treasure, Your Highness?" She asked, excitment oozing out of her veins. She had been waiting for a reason to leave the castle ages ago.

"I have information about the forest that is suspected to be in but you will have to go by word of my to find out where it is. I need you two to work as a team to get this for me because that is the only way you will succeed," the king explained, looking specifically at Aleck as he said that.

"Yes sir," Aleck said with a slight bow, dreading the idea that he could possibly fail at this. He knew that he had a little trouble getting along with people but it usually wasn't bad. It was the secret he was keeping, he was sick of always keeping a secret and no one really get to know him. It was the main reason he was considered 'trouble' by some of the commanders of the army.

Willow smiled to herself, an adventure was sounding better with every moment. Willow bowed her head, waiting for the instructions on how to get to the forest.

"Aleck has been to the forest many times so I expect him to know the way, no other instructions are needed. You will be leaving tomorrow and you are dismissed," the king said, he yawned after that and looked at the servant standing next to him and whispered something.


Aleck bowed after the king dismissed them, his energy bubbling over but not quite showing. He needed something like this so that he could build up his rank but he wasn't sure how he was going to do on this trip. She seemed as though she wouldn't be the type to actually listen to something and seemed rather spiteful over his excitement about a new mission. It had been over two years since he'd had a mission but he'd left to go to this place a few times during that period to escort people or just to scout.

"Well this will be interesting." Willow mumbled, more to herself. She moved quickly back to her dungeons, avoiding the guard boy.

She hurriedly packed her things and filled her bag with an extra set of clothes, a few potions, and extra emergency ingredients. "This should do." She mumbled, yet again to herself.

Aleck was already routing the quickest and safest route he could think of. He did this as he walked back to where the guards slept. When there he packed a very small amount of things. These included a book of spells (about five inches by three inches and two inches thick), some herbs that would be used to flavor the food, items used to light a fire, and a pan to cook the food on. If they traveled on foot he wanted to make sure to pack as lightly as possible.

"Well goodbye Jack," he said to the guy dozing in the bed above his. There was a mumbled response but not much else. He was suspicious of Jack and knew he would never be able to fully trust him.

Willow stood by her window, looking out at the setting sun. "Tomorrow will be fun." SHe told herself, petting the cat that had settled on the window ledge in front of her.

Willow lied in her bed, not able to sleep for long. The thoughts of leaving the castle filled her mind, waking her nearly every hour.

Aleck himself decided that a bit of rest would do him good. He finally fell asleep after an hour of tossing and turning. The excitement was up but this wasn't the first time he left the castle. He was nervous though, worried that there would be a flaw in his actions and that they would get lost. He had nightmares about getting there and the thing they needed was gone. When he awoke from a particularly frightening dream he couldn't get back to sleep. The sun was about to rise so he picked up his bags and headed for the main entrance where he expected to meet his travel companion.

Willow stood in the entrance with her bag on her back. She was bouncing on her toes, thrilled with the idea of leaving.

Soon she saw the guard boy walking towards her. "Aleck." She nodded in acknowledgement.

Aleck was a bit surprised when he heard his name. He hadn't recalled the girl's name at first but then remembered reading it on a piece of paper that he'd received late last night. Her name was willow.

"Good morning," he said in a cheery tone. "I'm glad to see you're ready and excited to take this trek. I've got a route planned that will take us the quickest route but there are some dangers along the way. Do you have any defense mechanisms or weapons?"

"I'm a witch." Willow said, wiggling her fingers. "I have potions and magic. They haven't failed me thus far. Are you prepared?"

"I have my sword, shield, and armor. I also have implements for cooking," he said with a slight sigh, he had packed lightly but had been excited to go on the trip with so few people. "Well, I guess we should go now."

There was only thing he was worried about on this trip, and that was if she found out that he could use magic. It had been hard for him to keep the secret but his roommate kept it a secret (until death.) This was nice because then he could talk to someone about the frustrations. If Willow found out however there was a likelihood that she would tell the king. That would mean he would not longer be allowed the promotion that he'd been going for so long.

"Alright." Willow said, leading them outside the castle. She remained silent until there were completely outside of the castle gates which surrounded the grounds, savoring the moment of leaving.

"Now where exactly are we going?" She asked.