Ted Donnely took another long look at his beautiful collection of jewelry. Whistling at the beauty of his 'borrowed' collection, he began to place them into his chest. Taking one last look outside the shop window to insure there will be no snoopers, he raises the secret door from the floor and places the jewels where they will not be found. "I'll like to see someone find this.", he mutters to himself. He sets the door back in place and moves the barrel of kerosene back over the door.

Ted Donnely is known as one of the most cheapest sales men in Shorn. His weapon collection has always been of good quality and his stock of traveling supplies is very adequate for the average traveler. He has always tried to give the lowest prices in town with the best quality. For the past few years, his store has always brought in the most business.

About five years ago, his store wasn't as popular as it is now. He could only sell mediocre weapons and didn't even have travelers supplies. Matter of fact, he could barely afford to keep open because of his lack of business. About the time when he decided to call it quits, a man came to his store wanting to make a deal with Donnely. He asked Donnely if he would supply information about the knights of Shorn and everyonce and awhile house some of his 'associates' as he put it, Donnnely would be given the locations of graveyards that contained wealth beyond his wildest imagination. He would be given locations, people to go get the stones, and absolutely no problems with authorities. Ted had little choice but to accept the deal. His financial career depended on it. Besides, as long as the stranger didn't ask for illegal information about the knights, what could hurt asking a few questions or holding up a few travelers at night?

After the deal was finalized, his store took off like a wild horse. He could afford the best weapons, traveling gear, anything he pleased and sell it at the lowest prices. With all the money he received from selling these gems taken from dead people, nothing could stop him. It wasn't like his life was really burdened by the deal either. The men who brought him the stones, never asked questions or even asked for money, he has only had four travelers ever needing housing as the arrangement said, and finding out some of the names and faces of knights was never annoying. "Life is good,." Ted simply stated. The door to his shop opened and Ted quickly walked away from kerosene barrel to avoid bringing attention to it. Making his way to the front counter, says, "Welcome traveler to the finest shop in Shorn."

The young adventurer said nothing in return. Not surprised in the lack of curtsy, Ted took a seat next to the counter and took a better look at his customer. "He is about 6feet tall, medium build, short cropped brown hair, and wears simple black pants and shirt. An obvious warrior. Not exactly big enough to be looking for heavy weapons. Maybe some kind of short sword or even archery equipment.", thought the merchant.

The young warrior started looking through the shop's weapon supplies. Everyonce and a while, he stopped to examine a weapon more carefully, but never actually picked anything up. Ted started to get the feeling he was after something other then made weapons.

Ted asked, "I have material to make weapons if that's what you are looking for."

"What was that?", asked the warrior.

"I said, if you are after something that you don't see, I have much more in the back."

"Well", says the warrior keeping his face away from the merchant, "I'm actually interested in finding some good quality wood to make some arrows out of. Do you have any Elm or even Oak would do."

"I knew you were an Archer!", happily exclaimed the merchant. "You've come to the right store, because I have some of the finest wood in Shorn."

The merchant quickly stands up and walks to the room in the back. He grabs samples of all of his best wood and returns to the main shop. As he enter the room, the warrior has come up to the front counter and is waiting rather impatiently. Getting his first view of the warrior face, he almost drops all of the samples. The man has the most unusual eyes he has ever seen in his life.

As he sets the samples down, the merchant says, "I have never seen that color of eyes in my life. Deep deep bluish-green. It almost looks like j.."

"Lets see those samples.", interrupts the stranger.

The warrior picks up the first piece of wood and runs his hands up and down to feel the grain of the wood. He then tried bending it to test it for strength. He pounds it on the counter to see if it leaves a mark on the wood on the counter of the sample. The counter now sports a huge dent in the side.

"Almost perfect wood." simply states the warrior.

"Yep, I try to find the best Shorn has to offer. I usually buy it off the furniture maker down the street. He really does harvest some great wood." says the merchant. "Are you interested in buying some?"

The warrior takes a deep breath and says, "I'll try out this sample and let you know later. Its great wood, and I will probably buy some later if all things work out for the best." Smiling, Ted replies, "That's great. I'll have to go down the street tomorrow to buy some more wood, but you'll have the first pick of it all."

"Thank-you." says the warrior. "I do have some other business I need to discuss with you."

"Ok, what else do you need?"

The warrior turn to look out the window. He reaches into his pack and pulls out a diamond the size of a man's fist. "Whoa, look at that rock!", exclaims the merchant.

"I heard from a friend that you possessed jewelry."

Crossing his arms, Ted says, "And you want to sell this?"

"Well no. Actually, this sounds really stupid but I need to buy something like this this." Seeing the confused look on the merchant's face, the warrior continues, "About a year ago, a man gave me a mission to take a diamond that was stolen from him. It looks just like this one, but has an intricate cut in it. The initials JK are the marking I am seeking for. I've looked for so long, I don't think I'll ever find it. I was told, find the diamond and die. Now, I'm desperate. You see, no jewelry store would ever see a diamond with a marking on it. I'm wondering if you would happen to have a diamond that is marred in any way. Then I could pass it off as the diamond I'm looking for."

Ted Donnely took a long hard look at the adventurer. He looks to be desperate enough to never tell anyone about his secret operations. "I'll tell you what: you promise to forget you ever knew I have diamonds like this, and I'll see what I have." The nod from the warrior is all the insurance Ted wanted.

With the help of the warrior, Ted pushed the kerosene barrel off the secret door, and pull the chest out and onto the counter. Opening up his collection, Ted begins to search for a marred diamond. Reaching into the very bottom, Ted pulls out a diamond, just smaller then the one the adventurer holds now. It is almost perfect in color, and weight, but along the left side of it, a huge piece is missing. The diamond would be worth a fortune had it not been missing that piece.

"I think this will do for what your looking for." Ted hands the diamond to the adventurer. He looks over the broken part and says, "I'll take it." Ted quickly places the rest of the gems into the chest and return it to its hiding place. The two cover the door back up and walk back to the counter.

"I'll take 200 gold pieces for it." says the merchant.

the warrior places the money on the counter and puts both gems and the sample of wood into his pack. "Thank-you for your help. I'll let you know about that wood." Before the merchant can say anything, the adventurer turns and walks into the streets of Shorn.

"I wonder if I will ever hear a warrior say goodbye?", says the merchant.

****************

As the sun begins to set on the city of Shorn, the young of the city begin to find their way homes. Shops hurriedly close their doors, and the guards of the city get ready to roam the streets to stop villain's. By the time the sun has gone down, the streets are complety empty and shops closed. Nobody wants to walk out at night in Shorn.

Ted Donnely takes a deep breath as he locks his shop door. He normally is the only person who dares walks at this time of night. Its not that he is not afraid of walking out at night, its because he has no choice. He did say to that mysterious man five years ago he would stay open until an hour after sun-down. The only real downfall to the deal, but since he lived only a few houses down the street, he was never in any real danger.

Putting his keys into his pocket and placing his candle in his right hand, Ted begins his short walk home. The chilly night wind has forced him to pull his cloak closer around his aging body. Keeping an eye on the alleyways to his left, he begins to walk slightly faster to avoid the more dangerous part of his journey. Halfway there Ted begins to slow down. "I can't believe after five years of the same walk, you still get paranoid.", he mutters to himself. Shaking his head, the merchant slows down and begins to enjoy the night sky.

The snap of a twig to his left quickly brings Ted back to reality. He's being followed. Immediately Ted, runs towards his house. Dropping his cloak, Ted sprints as fast as possible towards his house. "A turn to the right and I'm home free!" he thinks to himself. Looking behind him, Ted sees nobody. Thinking he may be safe, Ted slows down slightly and turn the corner towards his home.

"I out-smarted them this time!" Ted says. Looking straight ahead of him, Ted pulls out his keys and prepares to open his door.

"You should know the streets of Shorn have no twigs on them.", says the man who has just stepped out of the dark and into Ted's view.

Ted drops his keys and looks at his adversary. The light of his candle revels the hooded man already has a bow loaded and aimed at him. "I..I..guess I shouldn't have thought about that. Um..I..ah don't have much money on me, but I'll give you anything you want as long as you don't kill me please? I own a shop. I'll..I'll give you the keys!", cries Ted.

The man steps closer to Ted. The light of the candle further revels the man's features. His six foot body, medium build, and deep bluish-green eyes. "You! You were in my shop! Is it the diamond? I swear it was the finest of quality and..."

"I'm not here for your money.", the warrior explains. "I'm not here about the diamond. I'm here for your crimes. For the past five years, you have been stealing jewelry from dead. You will steal no more."

"Your not a warrior of archer. Your a damn assassin.", says Ted. "Please, don't kill me. I swear I'll never do it again. Please, God, show some mercy!" "Not even God will protect you now. For the crime of stealing from the dead you have forfeited your life.", the assassin takes aim, "My name is Jade, and you life is mine."

The arrow pierced Ted Donnely's before he could even take another breath. The merchant fell dead on the cobbled-stone street. Jade placed his bow back into the straps of his pack and walked towards his former target. It was simple justifying his death. When Jade placed that ruined diamond in the grave of some un-heard of noble, he knew the person stealing from the graves would come get it. Using the rumor passed down to him from the jewelry store, Jade made up some stupid story to buy the diamond. The stupid fool never thought. Then again, he didn't really think in the first place. Bailzon does not like men stealing from the dead. Its almost funny he was given this mission anyways. Why would the head of the assassins need to take a small mark like this?

Stopping in front of the body, Jade pulls out a ornamented dagger and cuts the money pouch off his victim. Standing back up, the assassin reaches puts the money pouch into his pack and slides the dagger back into its scabbard. He then reaches for a small pouch attached to belt. Reaching inside, he grabs a small jade gem and places it on the chest of Ted Donnely. With the mark planted, assassin walks away into the cold chilly night. The mark is not show he did the killing, it is to tell the city of Shorn that the greatest assassin to ever live has come home; Evil beware.