The capital was slowly being painted a deep shade of red. As the sun was slowly setting, in a dark alley, slightly away from the bustling main road, a girl was doing her best to fight off a group of ruffians.

“Give my pendant back, it is a precious family heirloom.” She said, hostility in her voice obvious to the men surrounding her.

Smirking, the man who was pretending to examine the pendant spoke in an amused tone, “Why? What will you do for us if we do?”

“Please.” Seeing that she was alone, her guard dead on the ground, the girl lost her strength and fell to her knees. Large tears started running down her face, she started quietly sobbing. The strength she showed just a moment ago gone.

The quick defeat of the girl made the leader of the group quite happy. “Well now, I like you better like this. Listen to us and you just might get back home once we get what we need.”

The man raised the pendant a bit higher and started examining it, this time really paying attention, “Hey! This is real silver, you little bitch. You are some rich girl aren't you?" He was about to continue but her sobbing irked him so his temper flared, "Quit your wailing and answer me, the way we treat you will depend on how well you answer!”

As he was about to continue his hand was grabbed, the man's face showed a pained expression. Silence filled the empty alley.

“Hey, girl! Tell me something, will you.” while speaking the newcomer was pushed away by the ruffian. “Who the hell are you!? Mind your own business, you can have her once we're done…”

Not giving the thug a chance to finish the sentence and completely ignoring him, the man focused on the girl, “I asked the girl a question, shut it for now. So little one my name is Aron, tell me, where did you get that necklace?”

“M-my granny got it…” Struggling to finish her sentence the girl's neck was grabbed by one of the thiefs.

“I see. Well now, you said she was wailing, yes?” Aron was unperturbed by this event and asked a question towards the group before him. This caused their leader to get enraged, “Moron, what else can she do, she was dumb enough to give us a hand and follow us here! All she can do now is cry for her mommy who isn’t coming!”

The newcomer spoke in a calm, flat voice, loud enough for the men to hear, “The lady over there was not wailing or anything like that. She was howling, howling to assemble her pack, and now that we are here, you will feel our wrath for messing with our pup. Child, close your eyes please.”

As he finished his sentence an arrow pierced the neck of the man holding the girl, while a window was burst from behind the men and several figures emerged. The leader tried to do something only to be grabbed by the neck and pushed against the wall by Aron.

He did his best to mutter some words but failed, his legs were swinging around and he did his best to grab his dagger but it was to no avail. Aron released the ruffian and he gasped for air only to be hit a few times. Once more he tried to get his dagger, but Aron cut his arm of and placed the sword on his neck.

“Now what do you know about the Broken arrow society?”

The man was in a daze, he stared at the empty space that was once his hand, blood gushing out. The pain sweeping through his body brought him out of the daze. He was not a stupid man, knowing that his life was hanging by a thread and that the only way to survive was to please the person before him, he spoke quickly, “Nothing, I swear, I only know of their existence!”

Aron looked at the man before him like a child who got bored of his toy, “So, you are useless?”

“Forgive me, I will leave this life behind, start over, anything just… “ his words were cut short by the sword that ruthlessly severed his head.

The three back alley workers that were subdued were kneeling in a daze. Their line of work was not a pretty one but this level of violence being used while giving off no particular emotions was not what they were used to.

Aron approached them, looking down at the thugs before him, “You messed with our little pup. So tell me, society of the Broken arrow, any one of you know about them?”

The fastest thinking of the bunch swiftly began talking, “They are gone, slaughtered completely, that’s what I heard. Every one of them is gone, in a single night some rival group destroyed all of their safe houses and killed all of the personnel in the city. We can not help you any more than that, they are gone!”

“Too bad. Well it is not like you would have lived even if you told me something.” The knight, if anyone could call him that with the way he conducted business today, finished this line and nodded. Daggers flashed and the three lost their lives.

As if nothing happened, Aron approached the girl who was covering in fear and holding her eyes firmly shut.

“My lady, it is over now.” She opened her eyes slowly and fearfully, scanning her surroundings. As her sight fell onto the corpses, her eyes went round from shock.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“Young lady, please look at me, you are safe now. Can you tell me where you live, we will take you there.” Extending his hand, Aron did his best to smile cheerfully. “Oh. please forgive me, this is yours.” He then handed her the necklace he took from the leader of the ruffians.

The girl finally snapped out of her daze, “Thank you sir, thank you for saving me and returning my grandma’s pendant to me, it is my most precious heirloom.”

Aron nodded, and once more extended his hand to the girl, “Shall we go?”

“Yes! Please follow me,” leaving the cramped dark alley the two exited onto the main street.

Walking around the two shared only a few words and soon they stood before a house in the lesser nobles quarters. The girl approached the guards and, after calming them down gave her orders.

“Tell my granny that I have someone I want her to meet,” the guards nodded and one of them ran off. Soon enough an elderly lady walked outside with a brisk walk.

“Anya, are you all right?! Where were you all this time? Your parents are out there running around looking for you.” There was genuine concern in her voice and the way her eyes darted left and right to check for any injuries on her granddaughter were a clear sign of her worry.

“Where are your guards? Where is…” She then noticed the man standing behind granddaughter, “Sir, do forgive this old lady, how are you connected to my Anya?” Suspicion was obvious on her face, she placed her hand on something behind her back.

Aron stood firmly and only pointed towards the item the girl was firmly squeezing in her hand, “Am I right to assume you are the owner of that necklace?”

“Oh, I see. Yes! Retired Captain Clarissa Marel of the White fortress, at your service” Clarisa retracted her hand and gave a quick salute.

Aron returned her saluted without a hitch. “It is an honor to meet you, my lady!”

Anya was confused and started shifting her sight between the two people who obviously knew something she did not.

Clarissa, her grandma, noticed this and gave her a wink before deciding to change venue, “Shall we continue this discussion over some tea? Or are you running an errand?”

Aron decided to accept her hospitality. “My people will deal with it, it is just some walking and talking, nothing serious.”

Lady Marel put on a bright smile, “I see, well if this old soldier can help you, do ask.” He only nodded and the trio went inside.

Once inside they sat down in the guest room and were served some tea. The first to speak was Anya who finally regained her composure.

“Soo, granny he is from the eastern dukedom like you? A soldier?”

Aron was quick to answer, “We are all soldiers in the East my lady.”

“Now, what happened to get her this dirty?” Clarissa was in a situation where her main concern was Anya’s safety so she only now noticed the dirt that covered her.

Anya was quick to jump to her savior's defense as she did not want her granny to punish him for failing to protect her properly, as some nobles did, “It’s my fault granny, he only helped, don’t be angry at him please.”

Clarissa waved her hand to calm her granddaughter down. “Don’t worry child, even if I wanted to, this one is not someone our family can do much about.”

Anya was surprised, as her grandmother was not someone who backed down, ever. “Even you?”

The mighty grandma she knew only nodded, “Even me, back in my days we would have a lot of fun fighting, but that man is a knight in the east, judging by your necklace castle Black?

Aron handed his necklace over to Anya, who received it and started comparing it to the one she had, and gave his reply, “Indeed, my lady, I did my service in the days of lord Alaster as a captain of the Black fortress.“

Retired captain Marel was now intrigued, “How are the rookies of the new generation?”

Not wanting to be rude to his host, he gave a quick reply. “Nothing has changed, full of vigor and ready to fight. I am no longer a part of the permanent team, though, another has taken my place. I serve the lord directly now.”

The two laughed but Anya was getting restless, all of this was new information for her.

“I don’t understand granny.”

Her grandma nodded and gave her head a pat, “I will explain it all to you in time, for now know that he is my friend and all is well, you should get out of those dirty clothes, you do want to look pretty for your knight, don’t you know?”

“Granny!” Anya blushed and left the room accompanied by maids.

Clarissa looked at her with warm eyes as she ran out before turning around towards her guest, “What are you hunting for, if it is not a secret?

Aron cleared his throat, “Well, normally I would not share information even if you are a decorated officer, but since our lord does not care who finds out what we are doing I will tell you.”

Lady Marel nodded and he started “There were some fools who tried to assassinate our lord Henry on his birthday, so we are purging the world of their existence. The smaller ones we eradicated for good, but we are still looking into the Broken arrow society members. They are the ones I was looking for when I spotted lady Anya.”

“They will be hard to get, after all they are protected by the king, you must know this and if they are now hiding in private estates, going after them will be…” Clarissa shared her view of the situation.

“They are mostly dead, we are just hunting for anyone that might have slipped through the cracks." Aron spoke and took a sip of his tea.

For the first time since he met her the old woman showed genuine surprise on her face, “The duke is hunting the people protected by the king for real, not some rats to make a point!?”

“Much has changed, they barred their fangs towards one of our pups, so the duke and the duchess are not going to let them live.” Aron’s voice was that of a man who had no fear of the task before him, or the people he might anger.

“I remember our previous lord, he would have settled this in a more diplomatic way, but since I know full well the situation I will do my best to gain any information I can. Shall I send them to the mansion?” Clarissa was now invigorated and offered her help in the hunt.

“I would be very grateful if you did my lady.” Aron accepted her offer with a light bow.