Jackul walked down the creaking old steps to sit in the one chair facing Adisu's unadorned desk. Adisu was already at his desk lighting a sealing candle as he scribbled some final words on a letter. Rosie sat on a window seal looking out at the night sky dangling her legs towards the interior of the room. Franz stood near the door leading outside to the main road leaning on one foot and staring at the fireplace crackling quietly on the other wall.

A few minutes passed in silence before Adisu sealed the letter with candle wax and a personal seal. He handed the letter to Jackul, finally looking at him above his thin spectacles.

"What's this?" Jackul nearly stuttered as he stretched out a hand to take the letter from Adisu.

"You know what it is, young man," Adisu's voice was flat, "a rejection letter addressed to the Guild. Go back home. There's no more room here for estranged royals. I'll see to it you get the next ride home aboard a whale-sh-"

"No!" Jackul said before thinking. Adisu looked straight at the boy. Rosie turned her entire head around while Franz simply moved his eyes from the fire to Jackul.

Jackul tempered his emotions and continued, "I can't go back. I came here to be a hunter. I was assigned to you by the Guild by order of the blessed Sultan Mustafa who personally paid the Guild a hefty sum to ensure my safe passage and continued trade with the Sultanate of Verdanta. You were personally assigned as my mentor by Guildmaster Flaxenus," Jackul threw out his hands in an open gesture voice cracking, "and here I am!" There was a hint of anger mixed with desperation in his voice. He didn't make the treacherous journey to Lizan Al Ghul to be told to go back home the very next day.

Jackul looked at Rosie, "Was she sent to stop me?"

Rosie turned and stuck her tongue out at Jackul.

"That's right, you mongrel! I was havin a good time, too, celebrating how I pulled a fast one on you right off the damn ship. Spotted your royal linens right out of the crowd. Next thing I know, you're falling all over me," she paused and narrowed her eyes then shot Jackul a curious glance. "How did you manage to find me, mongrel?"

"He could smell the alcohol on you a mile away," Franz quipped with a razor thin grin causing Rosie to scowl and lock eyes hinted with anger at him.

Adisu raised his hand to avoid stymie the change in conversation. He leaned back in his chair and began wiping his spectacles. He mulled over his thoughts before finally delivering his message. He emphasized each word, "Young man… why do you think your family sent you to this continent?"

"What!?" Jackul answered in incomprehension at the change in subject. "I already told you. They sent me here to become a hun-"

"Wrong!" Adisu temper flared as he shouted. "Boy, you're not stupid! I have my ways and I know enough about you to know that you should know exactly what position you're in. You're nearly a man and you had enough wit to make it this far without dying." Adisu finished with a muttered oath, “Serpents, boy.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Jackul quieted at this outburst. His anger reduced to a smoldering coal as his eyes dropped to the floor. He muttered to the floor, "They sent me here to become a hunter."

"Wrong again." Adisu's temper relaxed, "You're a walking corpse, prince. I initially sent Rosie to kill you as per your brother's order. I could have made a fine mint on your head, boy, but I chose different for your sake. Now I've made an enemy with a royal house, even better, one as mad as yours. The Guild has its limits of protection in so far as those limits keep their profits flowing, and I'm not about to give everything I have away for some estranged prince."

Jackul shifted and looked down at his feet and quietly remarked, "I'm not a prince…"

Adisu let the silence after that statement rest before continuing, "Prince Jackul Verdanta of the Golden Lion's Throne of the Azure Palace. Son of the previous Sultan, the blessed Reyda Bashar.”

“I am no prince,” Jackul muttered with disgust at the word ‘prince’.

“That word doesn’t exist in your mother tongue, but that’s what you are, Prince Jackul.” Adisu paused, “I'm a hunter of Cambria. I'm not one of those half crazed masked mercenaries roaming the Ring who make killing people a sport. Nor am I a profiteer of assassinations or slave trading. We do our best here to kill monsters, not people."

Adisu leaned forward and locked eyes with Jackul. He continued, "I refuse to involve myself with the child murder of your house, nor any house of the Ring." He turned to Rosie, "I told Rosie here to steal your passport ticket instead of kill you in hopes you'd get right back on that whale you came on.

Adisu looked away now at a nearby wall which mounted a broken mask. “Perhaps that would have kept my conscious clean.” He turned back to face Jackul, “That was your best shot, boy. Perhaps you could have joined a monastery and become a monk like the other royals. No blood on anyone's hands and you could've lived a nice long, celibate life."

"I renounced my noble ties to my family by order of my brother, the Sultan," Jackul was resolute. "I was allowed to live as long as I left and promised never to return."

"Your brother," Adisu began, his temperature rising again, "like any sensible ruler, can not afford any liability. Especially one that intends to improve his martial prowess in a foreign land no matter how likely you are to die out in the interior. Without a doubt, he intended for you to die. Whether that death occurred during a hunting 'accident' or in your sleep with a knife stuck between your ribs. Serpents know it's more than likely out here, especially for one as green as you."

Adisu leaned back in his chair and took a deep breath. He closed his eyes and went on, "Do the simple arithmetic, boy, the more paranoid he became, the more he realized the utility and peace of mind that comes with tying off any loose end." Adisu's eyes narrowed, "The question I have for you, Jackul, is how did you manage to convince him to let you live this long? Why aren't you resting at the bottom of the sea you sailed over?"

Jackul's eyes softened along with his posture. He chuckled as he dropped his eyes to the floor, eyes glistening with tears held back. "The truth... my brother promised not to drown me. That’s why he hasn’t killed me yet, even after I left his court in Verdanta to sail over the Great Sea.”

"…Why?" Adisu asked casting quick glances at Franz and Rosie who both had their attention on Jackul. "Explain, prince."

All eyes in the room were on Jackul as he took a deep breath. He began to explain his past growing up in House Verdanta under the shadow of the Golden Lion's Throne as the son of a courtesan to the Old Sultan Reyda Bashar.