For years the elves and human have been at war, many generations have known nothing but the fear for the other race. The other races sat back in their own kingdoms selling to those that would buy what they sold but never getting involved with the war openly. The Dwarfs in their mines working away at armor and weapons sold to the elves openly but then turned around and sold, for a higher price, to the humans. The small human kingdoms became one kingdom under a high king hoping that together they could overpower the elves but the elves with their longer lives knew war all the better. Orc’s sided with whoever would pay them in land and food, centaurs made predictions as to who would win, never telling what they truly saw.
Now the war has ended, no one is quite sure why it ended the way it did, the elves had the advantage and could have killed off all the humans but now though weak peace has been found. The elves for the loss of life have demanded that each of the human kings must give up one of their sons, the high king his own heir. After years of talks the Sons were sent and split up among the nobility of the elves. Each one promising that they would teach these sons of man what it was to be noble. The High king’s son just now having earned his shield was sent to the king of the elves. In the Land of Glavishstone he now must find a new place and maybe a new life.

Lord Roland looked up at the expanse of the elfin kings palace. His father’s palace was large but this, this was beyond anything that he had ever thought of. He could see the trees from the many gardens peeking over the walls and the smell of flowers were heavy in the air. All his life he had been told that they would come and kill him if he did not behave and now here he was to be a knight to the elfin king. The guards seem to look down on him trying to find fault in him, he straightened his back and ran his fingers once again through his dark sable hair.
“Take a deep breath my lord.” His personal guard said and smiled up at him. He would miss Josh. Josh got to go back after he saw to Roland’s placement in the kings court. In some respects he was jealous of Josh, but in others he was excited. It was not the excitement of his birthday but of the dawn right before the battle. His father had told him before he left that this would not be for forever, once they got a proper peace treaty he would come home, maybe then he might have new information on the elves that could save the humans next time the elves lied and tried to kill off all the humans.
Taking Josh’s advice he took in that deep breath and looked back at the cold judging eyes behind the visor of the armor. “I am Lord Roland, son of the High King William of Stonereach. I am here to report to the king of this kingdom and enter into his service.” He tried not to blush at the snickers that came from behind the visors of the guards.
“If that is what you truly think then your kind should have been wiped out when we had the chance. But let it not be said of the elves that we do not know what to do with upstart pups.” With that he turned into the gate house door and called forth a runner. The runner would tell the king then if the king thought it wise would get the price so he could meet his new “Plaything”.

Prince Calanon of Glavishstone sat in his lesson, ignoring the teacher. Instead, he chose to look out the window. From where he was sitting, he could see the front gate and he noticed some humans approaching. Since his lesson for the day was about the humans, he knew he should be paying attention. But, he just didn't really care. He just wanted for it to be done for the day.
It was about half an hour later when a servant came and summoned him to meet the new human slave. No, knight. That's why he was here. He really needed to start paying more attention to what is happening.
He followed the servant out to the gate where everybody was waiting for him, stopping just inside the doorway.

The runner returned and led Roland through the gardens of the palace. After a time he started to feel that this young elf was trying to get him lost. ‘not going to happen laddy buck, I have lived in enough places to remember how to get places.’ After some time he was lead into what looked to be a great garden in the heart of the palace. The other humans of his part had been told to wait outside where they were to be given refreshments. Roland was to see the king alone.
The man sat upon a throne made of living trees looking down at a game board as what could only be his wife made a move on it. They were dressed in fine velvets and not a single strand of hair seemed to be out of place. If not for the sounds of the birds and the small movements they made Roland would have thought he was looking at a painting.
“My lord the Human you requested is here.” The word human was said with a disgusted tone to the boy’s voice. “Your son, the Lord High Prince will be here momentarily.” In one quick breath the runner had condoned Roland and exalted the elfin prince. Roland tried to hide his anger and disgust.
The king waved a hand dismissing the runner and beckoning Roland forward.

Calanon soon arrived to the throne room. He entered the room and went up to his parents, completely ignoring the human.
"Good evening, Father. Mother." he said, greeting his parents first. Then he turned his attention to the human. Honestly, he didn't look very impressive to him. Just like any other human he's seen.
"So, Father. What's this human here for?" he asked.
"He is here to be a knight." the King reminded his son. He had, after all, already told him once. Even though he could tell the boy wasn't listening the first time.

Roland opened his mouth to speak but then thought the better of it. If this price thought to get a rise out of him by acting rude he was not going to get it. Taking another deep breath he let it out slowly. “I do not understand why you insisted on having a human serve here husband but must he stand here dirty?” Calanon’s mother lay her hand a crossed her husband’s as she spoke never once looking at the human as she called it. “do you still think that it is wise for him to serve as our sons protector?”
Roland fumed under his still face. To complain on how clean he was and he just off the road without time to clean up!

"I am sure about this wife. It will be alright. Its not like he could do anything to our son. He does anything, and he would be the cause of the war beginning again." the King said. He wouldn't hesitate if this human caused his only son to get hurt or killed. He would destroy every human if that happened.
While his parents spoke, Calanon subtly examined the human. He didn't understand why the human had to be his protector when the guards here already would do a much better job. But, he wouldn't question his parents. It wasn't like it was going to go on forever, after all.

“Well then husband send for someone to wash this human and dress him. We cannot have him gracing our court with his human…” she looked him over with a hint of disgust in her face. “clothes if you can call those rags that.” Roland bit his tongue trying not to upset his new host. How he wished his father had never sent him here in the first place. Now to find out that he was to be guard to this upstart of a prince. Though he felt this way he knew that his father needed to have him behave himself.
Smiling sweetly he bowed to them. “my lord and lady if you would but have someone take me to where I may wash up, I will be able to change into my proper clothes.” He said it as kindly as he could so that he would not upset these elves.
“And must he sleep in the royal hall next to our son?” she spoke as if he had not said anything.

The King immeidately called for a servant. He agreed with his wife. There was no way this human could be in their court like that. It was disgusting. He needed to be cleaned up and properly dressed.
A servant instantly appeared. She motioned for Roland to follow her, not wanting to speak to him. If it wasn't the King that requested it, she wouldn't have even come. Without waiting, she turned and started walking away, leading the way to the washroom.
"That is where he will have to sleep to be able tto protect our son." He said, though he didn't like it.

The woman lead Roland to the back stable areas where the cook had set up a tub of hot water. She stood there ready with a hogs hair brush the water steaming. Roland could tell just by the steam that it was hotter then any bath that he had ever had before. Before he could think to start taking off his clothes the cook’s assistant had his shirt off and was working on his pants. His squawks of protest went unheard as they had him into the hot water. By the end of the cleaning he would swear that he was less five layers of skin and as much hair.
They had him dressed in a loose tunic and off to see the page master for all the rest of the stuff that was needed for him. By the time he finely was able to take a breath he was in the rooms next to the princes. All of his stuff was ether burned or thrown away. His armor he had been told was to be melted down into scrap.

Calanon watched the human leave. He then stayed for a few more moments to speak with his parents before leaving to head back to his room.
He knew he still had one more lesson left for today. Archery. But, that was fine. It was one of his favorite classes anyway. Though he still had about a hour until it started.
He entered his room and sat down on his bed, soon hearing the arrival of the human entering his new room. Might as well go find out a bit more about him since he was stuck with him. He stood and went into the human's room without knocking.
"So. What's your name then?" he asked.

Turning around quickly Roland reached for the dagger that he was no longer carrying. They had told him that his new sword and dagger would be delivered soon. He looked the elf prince over, his shortest blue black hair seemed wild yet completely in order. Looking over the green tunic Roland could tell that they were made of a fine cut. Around his neck he seemed to have a winter beasts fur sewn to his over robes that were trimmed in gold. Though Roland had at first thought the young man was more likely to hide in the cupboard when war broke out now he thought better. There was hidden strength in his arms, and the way he held himself was more like a knight trainee.
Now Roland saw why he had been dressed in the pale green tunic with darker over robe and breaches. He had expected after seeing the king and queen that they would have put him into velvets but now taking a closer look at this young man he was happy they had fallowed his tastes in wardrobe.
“I am lord Roland son of the High King William of Stonereach.” He said standing tall.

"It is nice to meet you, Roland." Calanon told him, partially meaning it.
"I am Prince Calanon, son of the High King Ainion and High Queen Arwen of Glavishstone." he told him. Even though he was sure the human already knew who he was. It was just proper to introduce himself as well. "My next lesson is starting soon. You will need to accompany me."
With that said, he turned and walked off, intending to go to the target range to warm up a bit before his teacher arrived. Besides, it helped keep him focused when he had his bow in his hands.

“Nice to…” Roland glared at the back of the prince’s head as he walked away. ‘It just figures that he would do that. I guess I am going to have to get used to him treating me like a servant.’ Fallowing the prince he wished that he still had his sword and dagger. They had been a gift from his mother but of course the elves thought them inferior to anything that they might have. He fallowed behind the Prince wondering what his next lesson was going to be. ‘I hope it has nothing to do with humans and how stupid and dirty they think we are.’
“am I to call you your highness or prince or your name, or is there some combination of them that you want me to call you?” he tried not to let his frustration seep into his voice. It would not be wise to show his frustration at being treated like he was lower than he was. By all right they were the same rank but because of the elves long age they saw humans as below them in rank no matter what rank they held.

"You can call me any of those. Except by my name in public. It would be disrespectful." Calanon told him.
He arrived at the target range and went to get his bow. Normally a servant would fetch it for him. At least, someone would if he let anybody touch his bow. Nobody could except him.
After he had it in his hands, he felt much better. He grabbed a quiver full of arrows and got in position, ready to fire.

“Your highness, I no more like this then I think you do. I would rather be out hunting bandit, or questing.” He did not say that some of those so called bandit he was thinking of was the elfin raiding parties that used to cross into the human kingdoms every few months. He had been looking forward to fighting and winning battles after he had gotten his shield. Now he felt that he was just a babysitter to this elf. Grabbing a spare bow he weighed it and found it one of the best bows he had handled in a long time. He strung it and grabbed a second quiver. If the prince was going to shot then he was going to shot, and no one could complain for he had no other weapon to protect the prince with. “According to human tradition because we are both sons of high kings I should be able to call you by your name in public. But of course elves have to have it differently, though I don’t see how you can make friends and gain loyalty if your only allowing others to call you by your title.” He spoke it softly trying not to make it sound like he was judging the elves.

"I do not make the rules. Though while you are here, we are not the same status. You are a part of the guard and they must treat me with respect." Calanon told him. If Roland gave him the respect he deserved, then he would give him respect in return. That's the way things worked around here.
He didn't say anything about Roland grabbing a bow as well. There was on point. Instead, he just grabbed and arrow and lined up his shot, releasing it and watching it soar through the air, hitting the bulls-eye.

Pulling the bow back Roland let fire the arrow that he had drawn. The arrow flew straight but his aim was off. The arrow imbedded into the ring next to the bull-eye. “I must say this of your people Highness, you know how to make a good bow.” He drew back a second arrow and let it fly, it sailed and clipped the fletching of his first arrow to land just inside of the bulls-eye. “So what exactly are my deities to you? Am I to act as your guard or body guard?”

"You are to act as both." Calanon told him, firing off his own arrows. Each arrow hit in the bulls-eye, just like he knew it would.he'd been able to hit it perfectly for a few years now. But then again, it was always from the same distance. He wasn't sure what fartger back would do for his aim.
"Your job is to protect me from anybody who threatens my life." He stated. People have tried to kill him before, always ending in failure. They had never even made it past the main gate though. So he didn't want to take the chance of being unprotected if they did manage to get through.

“If I am to act as both then why was I disarmed and have not received a weapon since then?” he drew the bow back and fired. This time the arrow flew true and landed right next to the princes. He had always been good at archery but he had not expected this bow when he had first drawn it. It was lighter then he would have thought for how much he had to put into pulling it. Now he was happy that he had not gone with his first choice of the heavy bow if it was the same as this one. Taking a few steps back he drew again and fired. The arrow flew and then slowly dipped barely hitting the inside of the bull-eye. “How far back can you fire and still hit the target my lord?”

"I do not know why you have not receive any weapons yet. You will need to speak with the Captain of the Guard. He will sort it out for you." he told him. It didn't make sense why his guard would be unarmed. Maybe his Father just didn't trust Roland just yet.
He thought about the question and about his last archery lesson. What they were working on was distance, so he knew he could probably get back a bit farther than this. He moved back another fifty feet.
"About here, I believe." he stated.

Stepping back to where the prince stood Roland pulled back and let lose his next arrow. The solid sound as it hit the middle ring not far from the bulls-eye. “I have not tried to hit it from this far back. My last lessen was in firing from horseback. We were much closer then this to the target.” He knew that by the sound of the arrow connecting with the target he still had good pull. It would have gone through the padded armor that most of the foot solders wore. A smile of triumph spread a crossed his face. He may be human but he still could fire a bow rather well.
A wooden staff seemed to come out of nowhere and strike a crossed his shins. “do not get smug young human. Your stance is all wrong, you hold the bow as if it were a chicken you were TRYING to kill.” The old veteran that was the prince’s weapons teacher was one of the few elves that had not had a healer remove his scars. He wore them like a badge of office. It made him look like he was perpetually scowling. Roland had stumbled forward with the pain of the staff connecting with his leg. “Now your Highness, continue with your shooting while I run this young upstart through his paces, see if he is as good as needed.” The Weapon teacher bowed his head to the prince before knocking the bow away from Roland’s hand. “I say trying to kill because as everyone knows humans can’t kill much of anything.”

Calanon couldn't help but smile when the weapons-master hit Roland with his staff. He remembered getting hit with that same staff in his first lessons. Now he knows what not to do to not get hit.
He choked back his laughter when he said humans couldn't kill anything. That was amusing. But he managed to control his expression so that nobody noticed his laughter.
He grabbed another arrow and strung it up. He focused on the target and released the arrow. It hit on the very edge of the bulls-eye.

For the next hour and an half Roland worked hard not to add more bruises to what had already had been doled out to him with the staff. They moved from one weapon to another, each time he got the hang of the weapon he had been given the weapon’s master throw him a different one. Always keeping him off center trying to push him to get angry. As they spared he would throw all the insults that were commonly said among the elves about the humans. Roland tried not to let the insults sting but each one did. To know what was said about them and having it said to his face was not the same. By the end of their time he was bruised and soul wounded.
“Now my lord prince, I believe your father has requested that you and your new Human,” the disgust was plain in his voice. “Practice fighting as a pair not apart. It is hoped that by working together he will be able to protect you better.” He handed a pair of practice blades to both of them. “I have requested that some of the guard help me in training you.” A small group of the guards walked down from the main barracks.
Roland glared at first the weapons master then at the guards. “Well highness how would you handle this?”

While Calanon worked on his archery, he watched Roland train with the weapon master.he knew the old man was being rough on him, but it could still be worse. The man was hard on him when he first started training him, minus the insults.
When he was told he had to fight against the guards with Roland, he was a bit reluctant. Not for himself. He knew the guards would go slightly easy on him. But they would give everything they had against the human.
"Just follow my lead." He told him, gripping the sword tightly, ready to begin.