AT FIRST SIGHT

There was a slight overcast as the young men stealthily dashed through the thick underbrush of the rain forest. There were ten of them; their leader was in the front. His jet black hair glistened occasionally whenever the bright sun shone through the clouds as well as the canopy. After hearing rumors of the King of Norm sending a gift of precious cargo to the Prince of Roses, the group of thieves began their journey to intercept the carriage containing the amazing treasure.

"Think of all that gold! We'll be rich!" One of the boys exclaimed.

He was quickly hushed by two of the older boys as Brendan, the leader, peered through the branches and down upon the road. The carriage was nearing their ambush. Twenty-five royal guardsmen were defending around the carriage which was brimmed with sapphire gems.

"This must be quite the treasure… to have this many guards defending it." Brendan whispered with a hint of annoyance in his voice. He wasn't one for trouble, but if it meant becoming rich, he'd kill as many as it took; not to say that he hasn't already.

"I bet that carriage is worth just as much as the treasure inside!" One of the other boys said. The guardsmen were at the right spot and Brendan threw several poison soaked daggers at them. Three of the guardsmen were hit and killed instantly, the others moved into a defensive position. Brendan drew his sword and slashed down another guard. The nine other boys charged in and nearly cut the surprised soldiers numbers in half! Brendan leaped onto the carriage and opened up the doors.

"Haha, we're rich guys! We're rich!" His eyes gleamed greedily as he peered into the cab. Inside was a girl. She was a curvy brunette with beautiful blue eyes! Brendan gulped nervously as he stared into her sapphire eyes, while she stared right back into his ruby eyes. They stayed like that for what seemed like hours. They said nothing and the two were zoned out of the real world and what was happening right now. They were too surprised to speak.

"Brendan! Brendan what the hell are you-! Gwaah!" One of the boys fell dead behind Brendan. He snapped back into reality and turned into one of the slashing guards thrusts. He was struck in the forehead by the blade and fell backward off the carriage. He thought he heard the girl scream "NO!" but he could've just imagined that because the soldier continued to come after him. Luckily, the last surviving boys came from behind and stabbed the attacking guard in the back.

"Go Brendan! Get the hell out of here!" He yelled. Brendan started to argue but looked around and saw the rest of his friends were dead. He slowly backed into the foliage and dashed away. His forehead was bleeding profusely and after only a few minutes of running the boy collapsed onto the ground. There he lay, bleeding out on the coniferous floor. He heard the footsteps of someone. He couldn't see who it was as they stood over him and he blacked out.

Brendan opened his eyes. He blinked a few times and looked around. The room was small and anything but cozy. The walls were decorated with vials and bottles filled with all sorts of potions and medicines. An old man stood over a fire. He was stirring something. Another elderly male walked inside.

"Ahh, I see you're awake." He stated, placing a bucket down on the floor beside Brendan. He took a rag from Brendan's head and dipped it into the water then placed a new rag in its place.

"We managed to stop the bleeding and heal the rest of your wounds, but the loss of blood as well as a few side effects of the potions caused your hair to lose all its color." The old man handed a small mirror to Brendan. His hair was snowy white now, and the black rag wrapped around his head as a bandage had a circular red marking on it, maybe the blood stain?

"Who are you two?" Brendan asked. He realized that they took his weapons and he scanned the room with his eyes. He appeared calm, although inside he was frantic and quite scared.

"I am Inity, and this is my brother Infin." The one wearing the orange robes answered. "We are alchemists, although our work transmuting things into gold has not been successful… however, we are expert potion brewers!" He explained.

Infin, the one wearing the green robes, reached atop a tall shelf and pulled down Brendan's old clothes where his weapons were too. He handed them to the boy who proceeded to put on his red and black top and his layered black bottoms. His black cloak was tattered, but the alchemists had washed it for him. His sword had a black blade and emerald green markings on it. It had no guard and the grip was nothing more than green cloth wrapping around the black metal. He sheathed the sword and attached it to his belt.

"We saw you attack that carriage, it's not like us to pry but what business did you and your friends have with the princess?"

"Princess… is that who that was? We thought that the "precious cargo" was a grand treasure. Turns out it was an angel... say, if you knew about it being the princess, perhaps you could point me in the direction of where she is headed. I'd like to see her again."

The elders looked at each other and sighed. Infin handed Brendan a map and showed him the location of the Prince of Roses castle.

"It's a suicide mission… but if you're this set on going there is no point trying to stop you." Inity handed Brendan three bottles that had a green liquid. It was highly lethal and could burn through any metal with ease. Inity said it would help him break into the castles well-guarded walls. Brendan thanked the two old men for their hospitality and began his descent from the mountain and then east toward the coast where the Princess was to go to.

Brendan arrived by nightfall and he scoped the walls of the castle to find a suitable entryway. He grappled onto a low guarded wall and used one bottle of the acid to burn through the iron bars and break into the castle. He stalked the hallways and nearly turned a corner where two guards were. They started in his direction and the young man readied his blade. In his other hand he had a poison dagger aimed at head level. When the guards passed by Brendan threw the dagger into the farther away enemy's skull and impaled the other with his sword. He tossed them out the windowsill that he climbed through and continued down the dark corridors. He was nearly caught again but this time he climbed out onto the roof of the castle to avoid any more trouble. He scurried along the rooftop until he finally found the room where his love was waiting. He watched as she innocently stared out the window at the night sky.

Suddenly, her door opened and the green haired Prince of Roses entered. He was enraged for some unknown reason to Brendan. He watched as the two argued. Then, The Prince hit her and Brendan lost his cool. In a fit of rage he dashed toward the tower at full speed! He leaped across the gap to catch the windowsill and climb into the room. A sharp pain entered his right shoulder and Brendan felt himself lose his velocity and he fell backward. If not for his quick thinking, he would've plunged to his death, but he had adjusted his fall so he'd land in an open hay cart. He grabbed the arrow lodged in his shoulder and pulled it out. He groaned loudly from the excruciating pain caused by the projectile.

"Ouch… damn that hurt…" He whined. Someone slapped his hand and he dropped the arrow. A guard had grabbed hold of him.

"Normally we'd just kill you. But Prince Drew had ordered us to capture any intruders and question them to find out how they got inside." The guard sneered, dragging Brendan down into the depths of the dungeons. They took Brendan's sword and dagger but they neglected the last two potions he had and left him in the cell.

"An interrogator will be in shortly to question you, although I doubt that's all he'll do." He chuckled evilly. Brendan smirked as the guards walked out of the room. He opened the last two potions and burned out of his shackles and then the iron bars of the cell. He grabbed his sword which was resting upon one of the tables that held the torture utensils. The guards were coming back and Brendan didn't have anywhere to hide! He frantically searched for things to sit behind but all he could find was an oddly positioned table. He went to push the table over so he could hide behind it but when he attempted to move it, the floor opened up revealing a staircase down deeper into the castle.

Brendan walked through the secret passage corridors. There were several skeletons of people who had gotten lost and starved to death inside the caverns. The boy moved the torch around to find some sort of sign of the castle wall or any man made pathway. His torch was dying and time was running out. The torch flickered and burned out leaving the boy in the darkness. He looked around and thought he saw a faint light in the distance. He ran to it, tripping over several corpses in the process. He reached the light and began his ascent up the stone staircase. The secret passage opened up into his loves room. He stepped onto the marble floors of her sleeping quarters and she turned around.

"It's… it's you!?" She gasped in surprise.

"Yeah… it's me." Brendan smiled nervously at her. She ran up to him and kissed him.

"Already, I was thinking I'd have to take you on a few dates first." He chuckled and kissed her back.

"I don't like it here… Prince Drew is…" She started. Her head was tilted down and she avoided eye contact with Brendan.

"Yeah, I saw. I tried to go after him but the guards stopped that…" He pointed to his bleeding shoulder. The Princess gasped and quickly grabbed a white cloth to wrap up his wound. She tended to his injuries as best she could before Prince Drew burst through the doors. He was frantic and was halfway through his sentence about an escaped prisoner before he even realized that the escaped prisoner was with his soon to be bride.

Furious, the Prince drew his sword and prepared to kill Brendan. Brendan drew his sword as well, crouching down and slashing the air as he drew. The Prince charged toward Brendan and cut at him, the white haired boy blocked with his black bladed sword and they parried for a few moments before swinging their blades at each other again. The green haired opponent was strong, but not quite as fast, and Brendan was able to kick the Prince through the stained glass window and onto the roof. Brendan chased after the foe, with an intense vigor he slashed again this time slicing through the green haired man's cape. Suddenly, the Princess called out to her love to warn him about the archers and Brendan lost his focus and he turned to look at her. Prince Drew took advantage of this and he attacked! Brendan barely dodged the strike, losing his grip on his sword and dropping it down. He lost his balance as well and fell hanging over the side of the roof just as one of the archers fired the arrow. Drew was hit in the chest since Brendan fell out of the way, and the Prince toppled down all the way to the ground.

Brendan climbed up onto the roof, he recognized this area as the place he was shot with by the arrow before. May was at his side now and the two lovers hugged each other in a warm embrace. Brendan looked up over her shoulder and saw the royal guardsmen surrounding them.

"There is no escaping this time. You're both wanted for plotting against Prince Drew and murdering him! Any last words…" They readied their arrows. Brendan nodded and looked toward May who had a desperate look in her eyes.

"Don't hate me for this." He smirked, elbowing her gently so she would fall off the roof. Brendan turned to salute the royal guard and fell backwards just as they fired their crossbows! Brendan caught The Princess and they landed in the familiar hay cart. The couple quickly mounted on a horse from the nearby stable and escaped the castle, the guards firing arrows at them the entire time. Thanks to Brendan's swift maneuvers they dodged every single one of them.

The castle was far behind them now and Brendan and the Princess had a huge lead on the chasing army. Brendan lost them in the rainforest and made his way back toward the elders hut atop the mountain.

"So, I'll have to give up my status as the Princess… it's going to be hard to live with us constantly having to hide from my parents." The Princess said. She was upset that she was giving up her old life for this boy that she had just met, but she felt that it would be for the best and the decision to be with him made her happy.

"What are you talking about? You don't have to give up anything." Brendan smirked holding up a satchel that contained the crown of the fallen prince. He placed the golden crown atop his head of white hair.

"You're going to pretend to be a Prince?" The princess asked confused.

"Mmhmm…" He hugged her.

The Prince and Princess stood on the ledge of the mountain watching the sun rise and the new day beginning, just as their new beginning was starting to unfold.