Lorelei POV

Despite my eyes being open, the only thing I was seeing were darkness. The first thing my senses pick up is the smell of something metallic, and then I feel a sticky feeling on my face. As my vision comes in, the wooden roof of the Inn starts to form. Entering my ear is the muffled sound of Narin's voice. But I didn't quite hear what he said. When I shift my face in their direction, the twins are just a vague figure. My face stings, this wound is going to give me a scar, I am sure of it. As I struggle to sit up, I get to look down at myself. My dress is ruined and covered in blood. "Thank god you are alive, We became worried when the blood started pouring down your face," Narin says. Neary and Narin are sitting at the edge of the spell circle, I am sitting in the middle of it. It's a carefully drawn circle for a haunting spell. All set up for me to get in and out without danger. well, mostly no danger. Everything happening to you under the spell will happen to your real body. That included ripping my clothes. Neary takes a rag with some water, and gives it to me "Thanks... the mission was a failure," I say while dipping my face with the rag. "I got caught, and worse they only had Neary's records" They both look uncomfortable. I know something is up, but before I get to ask. "No they did not have them...because they are here." Narin gestures to some files identical to the once at Pupillus.

Confusion and frustration wheeled up in me, "Where did you get those?" I may have said it harsher than I meant. "I was on my way back here when a man called out to me. At first, I thought he was gonna attempt to rob me but then," Narin paused for a moment. Hesitating before saying "Lorelei he knew our names, and he knows what we are doing here." My eyes were wide and my mouth ajar. "How is that possible?" Narin Gulped before saying "He didn't tell me, but he told me he had an offer to make us." The rag makes a splash sound as I throw it to the ground "What did you agree to !?!" I shouted. "Nothing. He just gave me the records, I haven't agreed to anything yet." Narin tries to reassure me. "But he offered this." He gestures towards the table, where a small bottle with a glowing green liquid stands. "What is that? Narin, if you didn't agree to anything, why is it here?" "Lorelei that liquid, it can remove the marks," It was as if my mind stopped working. Removing our mark is impossible, we tried. Even cutting into it doesn't remove it, when the skin healed it was still there. "If it works why would he even give it to you?" I ask. "We are three, that is only enough to remove one. He gave it to me so we can test it, so we know he speaks the truth." My disbelief in that potion's ability is big. But still, he must be sure of it's ability to let us test it. This could be our freedom. But at what cost? "What does he want from us in exchange?"

"What he is seeking is some information we have," Narin says. Information? What type of information can we provide? Thinking over that for a moment, I realise what it is he wants. "The only information we have there is worth anything is about the royal guards and the castle." I pick up the files waving them. As I continue speaking, my voice picks up speed. "This man figured out who we are and why we are here and then he took the risk to get these, all for us to consider his offer. You don't do this just to steal something." The files were slammed onto the table next to the bottle. My heart is racing and my breathing is unsteady "He is brewing something bigger. This might be an assassination attempt." Neary is stroking her hair, Narin biting his lip. "I think you might be on to something. Do you think we should help him?" Narin ask. I start to pace the room "I do not know. If the potion works, it could be our freedom. But it's the royal family. We were raised to protect them. Even after all these years it still rings in my ears."

"This man, when and where would he want to meet?" I ask. "He didn't give me a time, just said we could find him in the evening at Men's Blissful Menders" Men's Blissful Menders, it's on the other side of the city. It would take three hours to walk there, a risky walk now the guards know we are in the city. While thinking about the danger my gaze drifts towards the potion, there is enough to remove one mark. But what if it's fake? "The potion. Should we test it tonight," I ask. "I will do it," Narin insisted. "But Narin, it could be fake, hell it could be poison." He frowns his eyebrows. "Yes, which is why I am gonna do it, He did say it works fast but would hurt like hell." I chuckle for a second. "You know I handle pain better than you,""Yeah but I don't wanna see you or Neary in pain, I am doing it."

Neary is standing with crossed arms, a lifted chin and her lips in a thin line. She doesn't approve of Narin testing the potion. I would prefer he didn't either, but one of us has to do it. When I open the bottle a sour smell comes out "Last chance to back out," I say. "Just pour it already," Narin replies, from the bed where he is stiffly sitting, shirtless. You shouldn't think of this small man as strong, but as he sits there his muscles are very prominent, on his body there are faint scars, and the royal seal edged into his chest. I took a few deep breaths before turning over the bottle. The liquid spilt out so fast it almost missed the mark. A low scream came from Narin, which led to groans of pain. Neary takes his hand there is clenching the bedding, as he gasps for air, I stare at the green liquid dripping down his bare chest. "The mark is fading," I say in a whisper. It was almost gone, when Narin yells "Get this off me." His eyes full of tears. The Mark is gone. And the liquid has almost dried out. Grabbing a wet cloth I start to wash his chest. Some of the liquid comes on my hand, my fingers start to tingle, a burning sensation spreading "He didn't overplay it when he said it would hurt," Narin groans.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Neary and I have started cleaning up after the spell. The chalk from the circle isn't washing off, resulting in it leaving small white dots on the wood. Narin has gotten comfortable in the bed, wanting to sleep the pain off. Getting up from the floor, I walk to the table with the records "Have you read yours?" I ask Neary while picking mine up. "I read it out loud for Neary while we waited," Narin says from the bed, he isn't looking towards me, if he hadn't just spoken I would think he was sleeping "I am sorry, about your mother," I say. "I am not. Somehow, I am happy knowing she died. Not abandon us as we thought" He turns around looking at me "It wasn't a lot of information. But it's more than we ever had." Looking down at the file, I see the scratch-out name Shawty, under it Lorelei is written, both names are in Basins handwriting. That doesn't make sense. These should have been written long before we even met.

"Are you gonna read it?" Narin asks. "I am, but I am scared of what it will say." Hesitating I open it to the first page. As I do an item falls out "What is that?" Narin ask. "It's a piece of leather, there seems to be something written on it." I say while picking it up. Making out the text is hard I have never seen letters like that. At least I don't think I have. "It's hard to read, the letters are quite weird. I think it says Nopeneh or Jiopejien." The text seems familiar, but I can't quite remember. I turned my attention from the leather piece to the file. I get even more confused, instead of information on name and parents, there is a long written note.

Young girl. Around the age of nine. The orphanage was unable to locate her paperwork. The reason it could not be found is due to the fact that the girl claim that she does not know her name. More puzzling is that the orphanage staff does not know her name either, or how long she has been there. Despite the lack of information, she seems healthy. And have the potential to be a great royal guard.

Though it has only been a month, she has already demonstrated the potential I knew she had. She is paying attention in class, does well, and is pretty intelligent. I've started referring to her as Shawty. She appears to be acceptable with the name. Further, I have learned from her, that she arrived on a ship, but doesn't know from where. Her accent does confirm she is not from Martraigh. Talking to the orphanage staff they confirmed she was found at the harbour almost a year ago. She might have been forgotten or left by her family.

The hand writhing was unmistakable, it was Basins. Which means he already knew what my file had in it. He told me the truth, there is nothing. This is nothing. I was already aware of being found at the harbour, it's my earliest memory, which is odd given that I was either seven or eight years old at the time. The file is clenched in my hand, I am holding it so tight it's bending. My hope that this might provide me with answers to who I am and where I come from has been dashed. My origin has vanished. My throat is dry. I put everything on the line for nothing. My eyes have gotten wet, I try to blink the tears away while flipping to the next page. Maybe there is more, they could have found the file or figured out something.

Earlier today one from the orphanage came with the finally found file. They unfortunately had water damage and are completely unreadable. In it, I found a piece of leather. The leather piece has these strange letters I do not recognise. When I asked her about it, she stated it was hers but that she didn't want it. Choosing to ask if she knew what it said, she told me it was her name. I had to ask her several times what the name was, it was as if I had asked her an extremely difficult question that she had to think about . Lorelei, she finally said. As to where she came from is a mystery. Some of my fellow guards have suggested she could have come with the people fleeing the cursed forest. But her accent is not a Ledasgele accent. And these strange letters seem unknown, I suspect she has come from a place far away.

It's my name, the leather piece spells my name. Looking at it again, the weird letters лорелей I don't even recognise them, but they spell my name. But where is it from? The guard's speculation of me being from Ledasgele could be right. After all the cursed forest started to spread around the same time I came to the orphanage. Even if I am not from there, my parents could still have been killed by it. Looking over at Narin and Neary wanting to tell them what I read. But they have both gone to sleep. It is very late. Placing the file down. After I have taken off my top layer of clothing I blow out the candlelight. Soon enough, I'll be asleep too.