<span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="font-style: italic"><span style="text-decoration: underline"><span style="font-size: 150%; line-height: 116%;"><span style="color: #80BF80">Ademar Djalili</span></span></span></span></span><br/>No matter how things changed, they always seemed to stay the same. Ademar left the King's<span style="font-style: italic">Companions</span>two years ago; no longer committed to serving his needs. Today, he ventured out on his own, but where did he spend his time between work assignments? At the same tavern, with those he spent most of his life while in the service of the king. He finished off his last tankard of mead.<br/><br/>"Ademar?" Queried an inebriated voice. "You sticking around for another?"<br/><br/>"No sir," the 30-year old soldier responded. "I haven't been feeling very good. I really need to head back."<br/><br/>"Suit yourself," the owner of the drunken voice returned to drinking his demons under the table.<br/><br/>Ademar stood up, headed for the entrance. The place was crowded. He bumped his way through several bodies standing or seated around the tavern. He felt exhausted and needed rest. When he finally reached the door, he was happy to be free of the stench of sweaty, smelly bodies. Not that he smelled any better, but all these others stunk like shit. A room full of sweaty men was no lilac bush.<br/><br/>The door open, Ademar stumbled into the moon-lit sky. Scattered torches about the street illuminated the area sufficiently, aided by the full moon. The moon and torches would guide him in his return to his hovel beneath the ramparts. He had gotten his hole in the wall simply because he knew a guy who knew a guy. It wasn't much, but it was definitely his hole in the wall.<br/><br/>As he reached the torch lit evening, an arm grabbed his wrist. He immediately attempted to pull away from the stranger. He looked down to see an elderly woman, less than a foot shorter than him, hunched over with eyes glazed over in a gray sheen. He could  not see pupils or the whites of her eyes. They were all gray. Her face appeared wrinkled from experience; years walking the earth. He had never seen her before, based on her expression, he knew she was different. Not in the,<span style="font-style: italic">everybody's different</span>sort of way, but that odd peculiar way that makes the hair stand up on the back of your neck different.<br/><br/>"Hey lady, what gives?" He tried to pull away, but she began speaking as though she could not hear him.<br/><br/>"You are the chosen one!" Her voice hissed, more like a snake than a snake charmer. Her boney finger pointed up at him. Three warts dotted her gnarly face. Yellowed teeth, a few missing chattered in the evening as she spoke. "You are the one everyone is talking about." Ademar had never heard anyone speak about a<span style="font-style: italic">chosen one</span>. Curiosity left his wrist in her hand. He wanted to hear what she had to say. "You are going on a journey. It is filled with perils. Dragons! You will encounter people who you cannot trust. They may say they are but to help you, but they are not! Do not trust them!" She hissed this last warning, leaning into him. "Love. You will find love. Love has always eluded you, Admar Djalili, but this time it is there."<br/><br/>"How do you know my name!?" Ademar was nervous, almost scared by this woman's visage.<br/><br/>"Love will come to you in the strangest of ways. I cannot see how or who, but it will happen. Don't look for it. You have a brother!" Ademar was a single child. This woman was crazy. "Ah, your brother does not know you either," the woman chuckled. "This is interesting," she smiled. "Your brother will save your life before you even know he is your brother. He is someone you will not trust. It will be many days before you know who he is. But he is out there in the wilderness waiting for you. Excitement, danger, love and family await you out there in the desert. Be very careful where you go. You will survive, but this journey will change you forever." The woman released his arm and shuffled slowly away.<br/><br/>Ademar grasped at his senses as he tried to take in everything she said. This was one of those bizarre moments when you wanted to find someone to share it with right away. It knocked you off balance trying to figure out what to do. "Hey!" he yelled at the woman. She kept her head down, under a gray hood and continued to walk away. "Hey! I'm talking to you, old woman!" Ademar rushed over to her and grabbed her arm. As if to turn her around, a cloud of smoke burst from the gray wool garment and the woman vanished. Her trappings fell to the street. Ademar was left holding the material looking in disbelief. Where had she gone? Who was she? What the hell was that all about? What had she told him? His heart raced trying to make sense of this encounter.<br/><br/>As he walked along, filled with incredulity, his heart racing back to his hole in the wall, he tried desperately to recollect what she told him.<span style="font-style: italic">'I have no brother,'</span>he thought to himself.<span style="font-style: italic">'Love? I  am not looking for love. What was that all about? A trip? I'm not going anywhere.</span>The experience was very off-putting.<br/><br/>Twenty yards from his door, a young man on a horse sauntered closer, stopping him, "Ademar Djalili?"<br/><br/>Ademar looked up, the thought of the old woman on his mind. Those strange, other worldly eyes still glued to his mind. "Huh? what? yea, I'm Djalili."<br/><br/>The messenger leaned down, parchment in hand. "Message for you, sir."<br/><br/>It must have been close to twelve bells.<span style="font-style: italic">'Who the hell is sending me a message at this time of night?'</span>Ademar reached for the missive just in time to hear one bell toll. He waited for the other eleven, but apparently he was wrong about the hour.<br/><br/>The rider didn't wait for a response. As soon as the piece of papyrus was free from his grasp, he spurred his horse on and departed.<br/><br/>The dust settled as he opened the document. He neared one of the torches to see what this was about. The first thing he did was see where it came from. Expecting to see the King's seal, he found nothing. "Hey! who sent you?!" But the rider was out of ear shot. He skimmed over the words on the letter.  Napridos. Dragons. Gold.<br/><br/>At least the reward appeared to be favorable, but fighting dragons was no easy feat. He would need to be well prepared for this task. He wondered if anyone else received such a letter. It was as though he forgot about the earlier contact; the brush with an oracle? a mystic? a witch? Who was she? Who was sending him on this quest? Whoever it was, knew him. They spelled his name right.<br/><br/>Ademar had no other plans.<span style="font-style: italic">'This quest seemed to have the proper timing,'</span>he thought to himself as he drifted off to sleep on his bed.<br/><br/>In the morning, he found the letter on the floor. He hadn't bothered to undress or even remove his boots. He slowly pulled himself to a seated position. A distant rooster called off to wake the morn.<span style="font-style: italic">'I'm up!</span>He thought to himself.<span style="font-style: italic">'Stop that bloody racket!'</span>Ademar pulled the note into his hand and read it over again. "Looks like I'm heading to Napridos."<br/><br/>An hour later, he was fed, dressed, armed and mounted on his horse. Ademar preferred studded leather armor, bracers, leather trousers and a low hard boot. He wore two Shamshir swords with Damascus steel blades crossed on his back, one eight inches shorter than the other. He had practiced a two-sword fighting style for the past ten years. It was something he was skilled at and it worked well for him. He also carried a handful of daggers and throwing knives tucked into belts and various scabbards attached to his leather jerkin.<br/><br/>He set off early in the morning, with a pack of provisions; enough to get him to the foothills, if not further. The sun was low on the horizon. The air smelled warm. He knew it would bring blistering heat by midday. He planned to go into a shaded spot around noon and rest for a few hours rather than try to ride through the hottest period of the day. He searched for an oasis or small village as he rode.<br/><br/>His thoughts drifted back to the old woman and the messenger. Then he focused on the mission. Who was his the benefactor? The note mentioned the reward would be obvious once the  quest was complete. Ademar skeptically looked forward to this trip. He sipped at some water and headed toward the horizon.