Thunder echoed through the mountains as thick black clouds began to darken the evening sky, extinguishing the light cast from the moon and stars. Cole stood leaning lazily against the enormous apple tree, looking up into Daliah’s window. Just as he could see her figure take shape in the stained glass, a plume of red smoke appeared, and a man dressed in a long black cloak with a hood shadowing his face stood before him.
 "Must you always ruin my view?" Cole asked sarcastically.
 "Must you always do the exact opposite of what I ask you to do?" The man shot back in a deep raspy tone. "Don’t you forget boy, you work for me."
 Cole rolled his ice blue eyes and inhaled deeply, filling his lungs with the cool night air. "I’m working on it." 
 "I suggest you work faster. My patience is wearing thin. The sooner you procure the items I need, the sooner you can go about your pathetic life and I can move my plan along." The sorcerer tilted his head back slightly to reveal a smirk on his hallow face and folded his boney hands together in front of him.
 "Some items are harder to come by than others. You gave me a tall order, it’s going to take some time." Cole used his shoulder to push himself away from the tree and turned on his heel, but before he could walk away, the man was in front of him again. In the blink of an eye, his left hand was around Cole’s throat, and he slammed him back against the tree. 
 Leaning in just inches from his face the sorcerer whispered, "you have three days. If you don’t deliver what I asked for by sundown, I will kill everyone you have left in this world, leaving you to waste the rest of your days completely alone." With a snicker, another plume of red smoke swallowed the man whole, and he disappeared. 
 With the man’s grip falling from Cole’s throat, he doubled over gasping for air. Rubbing his neck, he stood up and looked back at the window, hoping Daliah was still there. Just the sight of her, even for the briefest of moments, calmed him. Seeing nothing but the decorative lily in the stained glass, Cole turned to retrieve his horse. In one swift motion, he mounted his sleek jet black stead and headed out of the kingdom just as a wall of rain began to sweep across the land.