I perched silently as observed the princess running in the forest floor below me, better to let her tire herself out then chase her all over again. As she passed below me I leapt to the next branch, always staying above her.

She finally stopped, when she thought she had finally out run me. I studied her, something was wrong with her. The way she held herself was not in the way that royalty often did, shoulders back head pointed up, instead she cowered and flinched at every small forest noise that she heard. 

Something definitely wasn't right, but things got even more wrong just as I was about to leap down. 

She glanced around once more before lifting her hands infront of her, i watched in fascination of a ball of bright white magic flowed into a ball between her palms. She stretched the ball out, noticeably calming as she did so. But as I watched her I forgot to watch around her. 

"Now" a gruff voice yelled and all of a sudden a hoard of around 20 barbarians emerged from the surrounding forest. She froze, the magic vanishing, and trembled as the barbarians slowly closed in. 

I knew that in my state I couldn't fight them off, so before thinking twice about the horrible decision i was making  I carved a summoning sigil into the tree trunk, quickly slit my palm and pressed the blood to it and before i could second guess myself I leapt from the tree, daggers out. 

I landed on the shoulders of a barbarian, causing immediate chaos. I snapped his neck before he  could throw me off and moved on to the others. 

I became a whirlwind of sharpened blades, doing my best to defend myself from all sides but i was tired and injured, and i knew I wasn't going to last mush longer. My hope for the summoning spell going through has nearly faded entirely until i noticed one of the barbarians dead on the ground with an arrow sticking out of its chest, but another of the barbarians took advantage of my distraction and sent me flying into a tree trunk with his club. 

My head snapped against the tree trunk and I was plunged into darkness.

"Stay away from me" someone yelled. The person was scared, evident by the trembling of their voice. 

I slowly opened my eyes to the princess surrounded by elven warriors with their bows notched and drawn, i rolled my eyes, then winced, before standing up. 

"I thought you guys were at least smart enough to tell a princess from barbarians. Put your bows down, can't you see your scaring her" I stood tall, ignoring the black spots swimming through my vision and the searing pain in my ribs. 

I walked with the least limp as possible over to the quivering scorcerer-princess. I gently grabbed her hand, helping her up. She looked at me, startled, I winked at her. 

"Watch your mouth, mutt." A sadly familiar voice shot at me. 

I glared daggers at Adair, or as I like to call him, the most pompous bastard in the kingdom.

I bit my tongue and dug my nails into my palm, the black spots swimming in my vision were coming a lot more frequently now. 

"No retort" he pushes, obviously delighting in my lack of response. 

"If you keep talking you're going to have a lot more to worry about than trying to explain how I got my injuries" I growled, relishing in the fact that he almost definitely will be blamed for my injuries, our feud isn't exactly new or hidden. 

He glared at me before giving the signal for the others to lower their bows. I released a small breath of release before attempting to stumble over to the steeds, as horses wasn't an accurate term to describe them, they were beasts that had long ago been infused with the magic that ran through the forest, which came with a few side affects. 

Before i had even managed a full step i crumpled back to the ground, every muscle in my body trembling as i struggled to stand. 

I felt a pair of arms slide beneath me, scooping me off the ground. I struggled, not a large fan of restraint, but I soon realized that I wasn't getting out so I stopped struggling. When I was placed on the back of one of the larger steeds I did my best to sit up but a gentle hand was placed on my shoulder, i looked to see the princess, her long dark hair wild around her face and her eyes were a dark grey- nope, no time for that while death was a very possible option. 

She looked down at me worried and spoke the first words that I've heard from her throuought this experience.

"It's going to be ok" She whispered gently. Her voice was soft but scratchy, almost as if she didn't speak much. 

She gently placed her hands over my ribs, and if it didn't cause me immense amounts of pain i would have blushed. She scrunched her eyebrows in concentration and small whisps of her magic floated from her fingertips and into my chest, dulling the pain. 

I breathed deeply, cherishing the fact that i could do so without grimacing. As the steeds took off through the forest I felt my eyelids grow heavy, comforted by the gentle sounds of hooves and paws on the forest floor, I gently closed my eyes, trusting that although Adair was a self centered a-hole, he wouldn't let anything happen to me, unless he wanted to get blamed. 

Without realizing it i fell asleep, only to be woken by someone shaking me. I shot up and fell off the steed, but thank gods my instincts took over and i rolled as i hit the ground, lessening the impact.

I quickly stood, one foot behind the other and fists raised, and looked around, relaxing slightly when i remembered what was happening.

I took a deep breath and winced, cursing the dragon and barbarian who both decided to play 'throw the half-elf at hard objects' today. 

"Bryn" Adair barked, making me jump at the sudden noise. I glared at him. 

"Go to the healer, now" he commanded, I mock saluted him with a gesture that would make pirates blush.

"And you, make sure she actually goes" I heard him order behind me but I didn't turn to see who he had sent, I simply trudged over to the healer, to weak and hurt to avoid it. 

I heard quiet footsteps behind me and when I glanced behind me, somewhat surprised but also relieved to see the princess following me. I paused to allow her to catch up to me and when she did I noticed her holding her right arm tightly. Through her fingers I saw angry red marks on her arm, like she'd been hit with something. 

"Was it the dragon or the barbarians" I asked her. She look at me confused until I nodded at her arm. 

"I hit it in a tree branch when I was r-" she paused "when I got taken by the dragon it must have scratched me" she said, changing the story completely. 

Before I had time to question her we arrived at the healer, which I knew by the distinct smells and more obviously by the healer yelling 

"Bryn Darkwood, if you come in here with another broken bone after I told you what would happen, that curse is going to be the least of your worries" I paled slightly at that, knowing that she was right. 

I stepped into the hut, clutching my ribs. 

"So about that" I said grimacing.