“Come on man! We’re going to be late!” a younger woman shouts.

A tired man groans and yells tiredly

“Hang on, I'm still waking up!” he slowly puts on his shirt, and quietly mumbles “Why the fuck did they decide this shit had to happen at six AM.”

“LANGUAGE Deacon! We have to be on our best behavior, this is impor-” she’s cut off.

“Triss, I fucking know. I get it. Blah blah blah, important stuff, blah blah, this moment will decide our lives blah blah blah. I fucking get it, just please.”

Deacon struggles to put on his boots while grumbling to himself.

Triss looks at him annoyed. “Ok, dickhead. Didn’t realize I talked too much about THE REST OF OUR LIVES!”

Deacon gets his stuff together and puts his coat on. He lays his hand on the doorknob before turning his head and looking at Triss.

“Alright, let's get this over with. Come on.”

Triss fires back, “Took you long enough!”

Before them are miles of plains. The grass shimmers and ripples run through the grass as the wind blows through calmly. Massive houses line the road, homesteads, with massive farms behind them, rows of different fruits and small vegetables. It’s a beautiful sight, but Deacon is much too preoccupied to notice the sight.

Deacon looks over at Triss and asks, “You know…what exactly are we doing again?”

Triss looks confused.

“Ummm, we’re going to the manor… For the… whole… inspection for the… Bounty hunting service?”

“Yeah, yeah, but like…what does that entail again?”

Triss’s eyes widened.

“Are you fucking kidding me? What have you been doing for eight years! The training, the climbing, hell, the fighting. All of the stuff you needed to learn about how you, ya know, fight shit?!”

“...So, like, an exam?”

She rolls her eyes and drops her hands to her waist before facepalming. Her arms trying to find the right way to express themselves.

“Why the hell did I get paired with you? You know, I sometimes believe that you are actually the dumbest thing on this planet. I would put you below rocks, and that’s an insult to rocks!”

“Look man, I just need a refresher. It’s six in the morning, I'm tired, and I can’t remember basic facts.”, he rubs his eyes to adjust to the brightness. He then looks at her with a smirk.

“Act like I know nothing. like I'm fuckin stupid, ok? What are we doing?”

Triss calms down but still looks annoyed.

“OK, fine. First, we’re going to be doing the wall climb, It’s tall, and it goes up the whole mountain in the middle of the village. It’s meant to exhaust you because we’re supposed to be able to keep going afterward-”, Deacon interrupts.

“I get why, I just need to know what order.”

“Do you want me to tell you, or do you want to commentate over me and make this a thousand times harder for yourself?” Triss replied, raising her eyebrows.

Deacon sighs. “Alright, I’m sorry. keep going.”

“Anyways, after that, you have basic human fighting. just knowing how to use your fists to fight, then they give you a weapon of your choosing to fight another person.”

“Why wouldn’t they just give me a random weapon?” Deacon questioned.

“Because you’re rare not to have your weapons on you, and those moments where you pick up a random sword on the ground are just movie bait. Also at that point, you’re probably already dead, or you should just use your hands anyway.”

Deacon nods “Fair enough.”

“After that, we're doing beast hunting. You should know the weak spots of different beasts and know how to use a four-legged monster's blindspots to your advantage.”

“Any tips for that one?” Deacon asks

“If they use their two front legs, back up, if they pounce, dodge left or right, if they're only using one hand, go towards the arm they're not using, if you see it coming early, just try and land anything you can.”

Deacon smiles

“You know, you're kinda cute when you start explaining stuff.”

Triss rolls her eyes with a smile and gives him a half-hearted elbow.

“Oh, shut up. I know what you're trying to do, and it’s not gonna work. You can’t flatter me.”

Deacon retorts teasingly, “Oh, but I mean it. I’m one hundred percent honest! The way your eyes light up, The way you really get into it.”

Triss looks at him with a smirk. “Oh yeah? Then why don’t you buy me dinner, hmm?”

Deacon laughs. “You think I could afford that? Look, I admire your faith in me, but I don’t have enough money to buy myself food. Why do you think we have so many cucumbers in the fridge? I’ve been stealing them from the neighbors.”

“Well, then how about you use your stolen goods to make me some food once and a while?”

“Hmmm, let's see if we manage to stay partners after the training. if you live up to my standards, I’ll consider it.”

Triss fakes being offended

“Oh, YOUR standards? What if you don’t meet my standards? You’re the one that didn’t even know what the fuck we were doing about an hour before we were doing it! Face it, Deacon, you’d be lost without me.”

Deacon, also acting offended. “Well, you know what, fuck you. How about that?”

Triss without skipping a beat, quips, “Well, maybe if take me to dinner first- OH WAIT-”

“ Touché.”

There’s a long silence as they silently laugh to themselves before Deacon speaks again.

“Wait, I cook like every other day, What do you mean I should cook every once and a while?”

“It was for the sake of the argument, don’t think about it too much”

They keep talking and laughing, continuing down the long road ahead. They make it to town. It’s decently sized, and as they make it through the market section, they can see a crowd of people buying different goods, mostly selling fruits, but some interesting stalls of crystals and jewelry, to name a few. Past the market, there’s a small neighborhood before finally making it to the manor. A man waits by the door and checks his watch before looking at the both of them.

“Well, two minutes before starting. That's a new record!”

Triss looks at the man, and then at Deacon.

“Well, professor, it wasn’t exactly easy, you can imagine the groaning I had to endure.”

“Oh, I assure you, I don’t envy your position. Anyway, they’re waiting for you, so get going.”

He stops for a second but turns around before opening the door

“Oh, and deacon?”

“Yeah?”

“Please, refrain from swearing, the judges don’t take too kindly to it. Also no, there won't be water during the test, get it BEFORE you start”

“Yeah, yeah, I got it”

“Alright, I wish you two the best”

Deacon opens the door. The room has a dark oak look. very homey, and welcoming. darkened yellow chandeliers hang from the ceiling in the entranceway, and a few comfortable benches and chairs line the entrance. A few small pairs sit in wait. A grand staircase splits outwards into a catwalk, where a man stands above them all, he looks bored, but then he spots the two of them and begins to speak.

“Ah yes, finally, I can start the briefing. Okay, EVERYONE! I need you to listen to me, I’m going to go over the basic premise and flow of this. We're going to be taking in one pair at a time, the two of you will be tested in your stamina, strength, and tactics in a few tests. You have one rule, don’t make me intervene and you’ll pass with flying colors. Now, because those two made me wait so long-” he points at Deacon and Triss

“-They’re going to go first, all of you wait your turn, this might take a while.”

A few snickers and laughs are heard in the crowd. Deacon and Triss walk with the man trying not to make eye contact with anyone else.

Triss speaks up after they go out the back door, “You know, you didn’t have to embarrass us in front of everyone.”

The man chuckled, “Well, I wanted to see you go first anyway, and besides, it was entertaining.”

He turns his head up toward the ledge in front of them. A massive climb up the cliff face, that seems to go almost halfway to the clouds. the ledges are jagged and shallow, but sturdy. Two massive brown inflated bags sit under the cliff face.

“Welp, I’m going to go around. Have a great climb! Oh, and if you fall, aim for the big airbags. Just a word of advice.”

Deacon whispers to himself, “Oh jeez, really? Couldn’t have guessed that myself.” He starts his climb, with Triss not far behind him. The rocks cut into the gloves they're wearing, but they manage to keep their grip. Deacon notices that Triss starts to struggle halfway up the climb.

Deacon yells out, “You good down there?”

She yells a little, “Yeah….just…not the greatest climber…fuck.”

“Ey, the professor said not to curse!”

“Oh shut the fuck up, let's just get up the goddamn cliff before I pull you off of it.”

“Yeah, well, you gotta get to me first!”

Deacon starts scrambling up the cliff as fast as he can. Triss shakes her head and mumbles to herself. “I'm not chasing that lunatic.”

Triss takes a while, watching a maniac shoot up the mountain without hesitation.

After an hour of climbing, grip management, a rest period, and more climbing, they finally make it to the top. Triss pokes her head above the ledge and sees Deacon lying on his side, in the grass. She makes her way up and gets closer to him, to realize he’s resting. She lightly snakes him, with no response.

They Crouch down right next to his ear and whisper. “If you don’t wake up, I'm gonna kick you as hard as I can… 3… 2…1.”

She gets up slowly, then quickly pulls back her leg as far as she can, and lets it go. It barrels right for his spine, but Deacon rolls out of the way.

Triss loses her balance, and her leg on the ground slips and rips right through the grass as her whole up torso falls straight backward with a loud *THUNK*

“Ow…you dick…”

Deacon starts laughing his ass off.

“I can’t believe I got you with that, holy shit, that was the best!”

He continues to laugh while Triss grabs a small rock and throws it at him, smacking him in the face

“Ow… Ah, fuck my nose. Owww. AaaAaaaah-”

“Are you two gonna stop dicking around and get on with this?”

They both stumble frantically and get up to stand in line at the same time, “Sorry Mr.Talion sir.”

Talion huffed, “Thank you. As I'm sure you all know, the next part is where we start fighting. So, both of you need to get me incapacitated somehow, without the use of your weapons. This a capture mission, so you're going to have to do this non-lethally…..alright, come at-”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Before he can even finish, Deacon throws a clean right hook in his jaw that almost knocks him to the ground.

Talion uses his momentum backward to spin around and launch a downward fist at Deacon, which he dodges.

Triss sneaks up behind him and sweeps his legs, while deacon smacks him with another punch while he’s falling.

As Talion’s on the ground, Deacon stands on top of him

“Well, I think that about does it.”

Talion, a little defeated “You could’ve at least let me finish my sentence”

Deacon retorts, “Well, you always told me to save the talking till after the fists were down”

“Ok well, you won so get off my back.”, Talion groans.

“Oh yeah, sorry.” Deacon steps off of Talion and allows him to get back up.

“Ok, now, get your weapons ready, and prime. I need to grab mine. ”

He whispers to himself a little

“And recover a little bit…ow”

Deacon points out to himself quietly

“Hey, that rhymed”

Deacon and Triss sit down on the grass. They watch as Talion walks into a shed and starts looking for his gear.

Triss pulls out her bow, neatly polished, and the wood sturdy as a rock. The end spirals, holding the line in. Engravings lace the edges, and metal reinforcing the longer arches to keep it from snapping. She tests the strength of the line and begins to place stoppers on the ends of her arrows.

Deacon pulls out a custom-made sword. A long, decent-sized blade runs out, with small divots and bumps along the edges. Deacon says it helps to make things bleed, but he just thinks they’re cool. The guard on the sword is made of blackened steel, and the grip is wrapped in black leather. The end of the guard is a rounded end, with a crystal eye dead center. He begins to sharpen his blade with a whetstone he kept in his bag, then places a stopper on the edge.

Triss grabs out a smaller, but still hefty knife. The blade has a small bow in it, creating a rounded edge, still able to do a serious amount of damage, and puts a stopper on it.

Deacon pulls out a mace, blackened steel, wear and tear on the spikes, with the steel even peeling backward. One of the spikes has dulled and only leaves a blunt stump. “Yeah, I’m gonna save this for later.”

They both holster their weapons and get up and ready.

Talion walks out with a shield and a spear.

“Now, wait for me to finish this time, okay?”

Deacon kinda mumbles, “Yeah, sur-”

“What was that?”

“I SAID YES SIR”

“Good. Now, this one is pretty self-explanatory, Let me see how good you are with those weapons. 3. 2.1. GO!”

They stare at each other. Not moving a single muscle, Deacon holds his sword in a downward stance, while Triss holds an arrow on Deacon's shoulder.

Talion stands with his feet square, and his eyes above his shield.

The air is silent. Talion speaks up.

“Well, I haven’t seen this tactic befo-”

An arrow flies straight towards talions head, and he blocks it with his shield, “Nice try.” He shouts as he unveils his eyes.

The first thing he sees is an underhanded strike from Deacon, coming into a sideways chop, clipping just off of the bottom of the shield, and smashing right into talions stomach, while Triss aims an arrow straight into his head as he tries to move his hield downward, striking against his forehead.

Triss throws her arms up. “WOOOOOOOOO YEAH, MILLION DOLLAR SHOT BABY! FUCK YEAH!”

Deacon high-fives Triss while they do a little celebration dance. Talion stands bewildered and impressed. Not sure what to get from that.

“Where the hell did you learn that from?”

Deacon looks at him with a smirk, “You gave us a whole farmhouse and a field to refine our craft, did you not expect us to use it?”

“Well, I just didn’t expect such high-level play. And for it to work”

He laughs to himself a little from amusement. Returning without a beat to a more serious tone.

“Anyway, it’s time for me to test your mettle. They should be back with the beast soon and I’ll warn you, you're not gonna get a break, so take those stoppers off.”

Both Triss and Deacon stand half-saluting.

“Yes sir!”

They get down and start removing stoppers, and make sure their blades are sharp. Triss grabbing the two arrows she fired. Four men roll up a giant cage, and inside is a giant beast. Nicknamed the Cerberus for its use in trials.

Around six feet tall, and 10 feet wide. A massive wolf.

Deacon looks over Triss with his weapon over his shoulder.

“So they're just gonna release a wild animal on us?” Deacon questioned.

Triss looks at him a little worried.

“Yup, you gotta problem with that?”

Deacon lightly shrugs it off.

“I guess I can’t complain”

Talion looks at them, holding the pin keeping the door on.

“Alright, on the count of 3. 1…..2……3!”

He drops it and starts running in the opposite direction. The beast pounces right out of the cage glares directly at both of them and starts circling to the right of them.

Deacon leans towards Triss and whispers, “What do we do, you're the expert here.”

Triss grabs him and they start moving in the same direction as the beast, whispering to each other, so as not to provoke him.

“It’s getting ready to fight, Make sure to keep yourself ready, and remember, look for an opportunity to strike.”

“Does it have strong bones?”

“Not really, they’re more agile…. Wait, you better not be doing what I think you're doing.”

Deacon looks at her with a side-eye. “We’re doing the new maneuver.”

“You crazy little shit, if you live, you're DEFINITELY getting me dinner.”

“Oh, you’re on!”

The dog locks his heels in and stares daggers into Deacon. Deacon mimics its stance, locking in his heels, leaning forward, and anticipating his next moves. He had to remind himself to breathe because the stress had made him hold his breath. His hands shake a little, but he keeps himself steady.

The dog jumps into action, its steps pounding and thundering on the floor as it reaches closer in seconds. Deacon braces for impact, and waits for the strike. The dog rebounds and stops in front of him. Growling and barking with foamy saliva dripping from the sides of its maw. An arrow comes from the side, the fur dense enough that it stops the arrow from hitting its flesh.

The dog pivots and attempts to pounce, but Deacon grabs onto the side of the beast and, as fast as he can, climbs on top of it. The dog tries to shake him off, but the dense fur allows Deacon to cling on. He slowly makes it up to the giant beast’s back, but the dog rolls onto him. For a brief second, Deacon gets winded, but he managed to hold on while being thrown around like he was on a rodeo bull. Finally, he catches his breath. He grabs his sword and starts trying to jab it into the back of the beast, but the fur is so dense, that the sword can’t seem to pierce.

An arrow lands directly between the beast's eyes, and it cries out in pain. Deacon's eyes light up as he sheathes his sword, and pulls out his mace. He looks at the head of that mace and finds the point that’s been chipped off. He moves the blunt piece into focus and begins to cling his way up the beast's back. The dog is still bucking him and writhing. Shaking him as much as possible to throw him off. Deacon looks for an opening, and he finds one as the dog stops bucking for half a second. he lets go, jumps, wraps both hands around the mace, and slams it directly into the back of the arrow, driving it straight down into the beast's head, after a yelp, and a few more frivolous attempts at shaking him off, the beast finally falls to the ground, pinning Deacon between it and the floor with its weight, lying limp on the ground, unmoving.

Triss walks over.

“Well, I’m honestly surprised that went as well as it did”

Deacon wheezed weakly and stretched to try and relieve the pain in his back.

“Well, I wouldn't say it went that well…. Can you help?”

“Oh, yeah, sure, hold on.”

She attempts to hoist up the dog, but it barely moves.

Talion walks back from behind the shed and looks at them with a smile on his face.

“I knew you could do it! You two are destined for greatness. You guys are going places.”

Deacon yells out in pain, “THE ONLY THING I'M GOING TO BE DESTINED FOR IS A HOSPITAL IF YOU DON’T GET OVER HERE AND HELP ME!”

Talion’s eyes widened.

“Ah, shit, sorry, hold on “

Triss and Talion both pull the dog up off of him, and he slides out before they let go

“Thank god, my legs still fuckin work”, Deacon exclaims.

Triss collapses onto the floor next to Deacon.

Talion beams with pride, “You guys made it, you passed the test!”

They both weakly let out a

“Hooray…….”

While Talion laughed to himself as the two looked at each other, disheveled and exhausted.

“Well, here’s a little payment from me to you, you guys earned it. Go get yourself some food, and then get yourself some rest, god knows you need it.”

He kinda awkwardly stands there for a minute. laughing to himself

“Welp, I gotta get going with the rest of the guys, and get this cleaned up, so you best get outta here soon.”

Deacon wills himself up, grabs the pouch of gold, and begins to walk down the hill. He says his final farewell before disappearing from view.

Triss follows shortly behind.

Deacon starts to speak

“Well… Do you wanna eat out or do you wanna grab something and take it home?”

Triss sighed, defeated, “Let's just grab something and go home, I wanna lay on the couch and forget about today for a bit”

They get down to the bottom of the hill, walking on the path that leads back into town.

“What sounds good?”, Deacon asks.

“I don’t know, how about….. Vince’s? I could do with a sandwich right about now.”

“Yeah, sounds good. alright.”

They make it to the store. A small shop, the only one of its kind. A man greets them behind the counter.

“Hey, ya’ll done already?”

Triss speaks up, being the least exhausted.

“Yeah. took a while, but we got it. Now, just get us our ham sandwiches Vince.”

“Coming right up!” Vince winks and immediately starts on his work. For a simple sub, he shows amazing work and dedication. The food looks incredible, compared to most local food. They grab it and give a little high-five to Vince on the way out.

"good luck! and remember, you're always welcome in!"

The air is quiet for a while as they walk. around halfway home, Triss looks at Deacon and asks, “By the way, we trained for something completely different, you were just supposed to be the distraction while I hit the weak spot, when did you decide to take charge?”

Deacon just kinda shrugs while looking forward.

“I don’t know, I just wasn’t getting any grip on the fur, so when I saw that arrow, I got an idea and just went with it.”

Triss looks at him surprised.

“So you're telling me, that you took a massive risk, that could’ve gotten you killed, because you didn’t just wanna stand there?”

“I mean, yeah”

They walk in silence for a second. Triss was dumbfounded and trying to find the words.

“Well, I guess I can’t be mad. It did work after all, but please try not to do stupid shit that’ll get you killed.”

“Why?” He starts to say sarcastically. “Are you getting attached?”

“No, I just like the free food that’s all, and I can't get food if you're dead.”

“You're the one that’s pushing to go to dinner.”

Triss waves her hands up. “Look around genius, what do you think we're going home to do?”

“To eat”

“......”

“......”

“You dumb mother fucker-”

Deacon laughs.

“I’m fucking with you! I know what's happening.”

Triss scoffs, crosses her arms and rolls her eyes as they keep walking.

Finally, makeing it home. Deacon pulls out his key ring and starts fumbling with them.

“Come on Deacon, your hands aren’t that shaky are they?”

“No, I just forgot which side the key goes in.”

“How? You know what, I'm not even gonna start. It’s the long metal part, the thickest, that goes up, while the teeth go down”

“Isn’t that reversed? Doesn’t that mean that our lock is upside down? cause like, most locks the teeth go upwards.” his hands trying to help paint a picture as he stands, lost in thought

Triss looks at him with a stern voice and says, “Deacon… it’s late, I’m tired, and our food getting cold. Open the fucking door.”

“Alright, fine, sheesh.”

The door clicks and Deacon pushes it open.

“There, are you happy now?”

“Not until I lay down.”

“Fair enough”

Deacon walks into the kitchen and lays the food on the counter while Triss replaces her armor with shorts and an oversized black tee shirt. Deacon changes into some sweatpants and another tee-shirt before coming back and laying down on the couch, starting up a movie that Triss put in.

Triss immediately flops on top of him and takes the remote from him.

Deacon's eyes focus on Triss.

“Is that my shirt?”

“Yeah, well, I didn’t have anything comfortable ready.”

Deacon sighs and waves his hand in the air

“Whatever, I guess you can keep it.”

“Good, because you’re not getting it back.”

Deacon asks, “Hey, What movie are we watching?”

“It’s that random horror movie I got a few days ago.”

“Nice.”

They both sit there and watch for a while they eat, they cycle through a few more movies until the night finally washes over.

As they lay there, getting more and more comfortable, they start to rest their eyes from time to time to try and fight off sleep.

Triss turns the TV off. She turns back to Deacon and whispers, “I’m tired, so either get off the couch, or you're my snuggle buddy tonight.”

Deacon mumbles, “Don’t threaten me with a good time.”

"I was even threatening you with it."

"at this point i don't care"

They peacefully drift off to sleep in each other's arms, ready to put this day to an end on a good note.