Kandy groaned as he woke up and stretched, his back aching from the hard ground. His travel mattress was comfortable enough, but days of sleeping on the ground were slowly taking its toll.

He squinted against the harsh morning sunlight filtering through the thin fabric of his tent. Jabari could already be heard packing up his own sleeping setup next to him.

Kandy didn't want to move, but after soaking rays from the Emberos sun for the last eight or so hours, the air in his tent was so warm that it was almost heavy.

"I've got to get a self-cooling tent next time I'm in Boomtown," Kandy muttered. "Or just one that stays at fall temperatures."

With that, he exited his tent.

"Rise and shine, my friend," Jabari called out. "We should depart this miserable place before the heat becomes unbearable."

"Mmm," Kandy could only gutturally groan in response.

As he continued to stretch his sore muscles, movement in the corner of Kandy's vision caught his attention.

A young woman was making her way through the campsite, a basket balanced on her hip. Her black hair caught remnants of light from the setting sun, coloring parts of it a burnished copper.

He watched, transfixed, as she paused to speak with one of the other travelers, her every move exuding a calm friendliness. A strange fluttering sensation stirred in Kandy's chest.

"Jabari," he murmured, unable to tear his gaze away. "Who's that?"

Jabari glanced over. "The girl? Given her simple garb, I assume she's just one of the locals. Likely selling food or supplies."

"She's beautiful," Kandy whispered under his breath.

Jabari chuckled, slinging his pack over his shoulder. "Easy there, my friend. We don't have time for dalliances. We should be on our way."

But Kandy could barely hear him. Just then, the young woman turned, and their eyes met across the crowded campsite. Time seemed to slow as she offered him a warm, inviting smile. Kandy's heart pounded in his chest.

The pounding only escalated as the young woman approached.

"Are you looking to buy some of our famous underground lake's water?" she asked Kandy.

"I, u-uh. The, I, uh." Kandy stammered for a bit before gathering himself, somewhat.

"I, uh. Yeah. One… water, please."

The young woman took an apple-sized clay jar out of her basket and handed it to Kandy.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

"One bronze coin, please," she asked.

Kandy stared at her, dazed.

"Ahem." Jabari stepped in front of Kandy, blocking his vision, and handed a metal ring to the girl. "This should suffice, yes? Please pardon my friend, the heat’s getting to him."

She took the ring and examined it. "This works. And I don't mind."

She leaned around Jabari's huge frame and looked Kandy up and down. "My name's Taraji. You can ask for me if you're back in town again."

"I, uh… yeah. Definitely!" It took a moment for Taraji's words to travel from Kandy's ears to his brain, but when they did, he beamed so brightly that Jabari had to cover his eyes.

Kandy looked on with wonder as Taraji left.

"Well, isn't that sweet," Jabari lightheartedly mocked. "Young love!"

"Shush." Kandy brushed him off. "It's not like she could even see…"

He looked down and saw that in his tiredness, he'd forgotten to wrap himself in the concealing cloths before exiting the tent.

"Oh."

"Yep."

***

Kaen screamed as he woke up, the image of a monstrous plant's terrifying teeth flashing before his eyes.

He instinctively reached for his knives, only to find that he was wearing no more than a strip of cloth around his nether regions.

A few more seconds of observation revealed that he was in a clean, cozy room, lit brightly from the sunlight shining in through the window.

Seeing that he wasn't in any immediate danger, least of all from a giant carnivorous plant, Kaen took a few moments to collect himself.

"Lets see…" he mumbled to himself. "I scammed the fat priest and the skinny knight… and then I spent a while walking up the mountain and…"

He shuddered as he recalled how close he'd come to a horrifying death.

"But where am I now?" he wondered out loud.

He made his way to the window and looked outside, then swiftly retreated while covering his family jewels.

Despite the cool temperature in the room, beads of sweat began to form on his forehead.

"Ha… so I made it to this cursed place."

Kaen's eyes turned toward the door. A pile of neatly-folded black clothing sat next to it that he recognized as his own.

He lifted it—his clothes felt soft. Too soft. He grabbed his pants, which were at the top, and raised them in front of his nose to sniff.

It smelled… flowery. It smelled like…

Kaen found a tear welling up in his eye and brushed it off. He was a man, and he had a job to do. To find that idiot son of his. Then he'd never see this cursed town ever again.

After hurriedly clothing himself, Kaen found that his bag, knives, and poisonous oils were nowhere to be found.

"So they disarmed me in my sleep… ha!"

With his chin pointed towards the heavens, Kaen loudly laughed before exclaiming, "The cowards! Of course they fear me, the Mountain Dagger Bandit King! Hahaha!"

He swung the door to his room wide open and strolled out. After walking down a hallway and some stairs, he saw what seemed to be the front door of the building to his right, and to his left, the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen in his life.

Actually, Kaen was sure that this was the most beautiful woman anyone had ever seen in their life. She was tall, slender, with bright blue eyes and a smile that just pulled you in…

"So how did your father's absence hurt you?"

The pain that radiated from his heart pulled Kaen back to his senses.

"Wha—what happened?" he asked, looking about. "Why am I laying down on this couch? "

He looked towards the windows—when he'd last checked, the sun hadn't even reached its peak in the sky. Now, though…

"How long have I been under your thumb, witch?!" Kaen shrieked.

"Hm. Interesting." The beautiful woman ignored Kaen's outburst and instead tapped her chin with the end of a feathered quill. After a moment of contemplation, she began to scrawl on a stack of parchment paper perched atop her knee. "The subject was in a state of functional unconsciousness, but recovered once prodded with a question that sparked… what?"

She continued to mutter to herself as Kaen slowly picked himself off the couch and, without letting his eyes stray from the beautiful woman, backed away until he felt the door swing open behind him.

It was only then that he finally turned around and, with all the speed he could muster, ran the heck away.