Ursula's Epic Quest

The figure stood behind the pair. The strangers had been traveling for days, stopping only to rest and eat. The man seemed lightheaded, his steps unstable and slow. His daughter was worse, her eyes red from crying and her frame thin from lack of food. The figure knew that what he did next would determine the course of their journey.

"You there," he said, his voice rough. "Would you like some help?"

The young woman stopped and turned to face him. Her eyes were exhausted but alert. "Who are you?" she asked, her voice hoarse but defiant.

The figure smiled a smile that made his face crease with wrinkles. "I am called many things by different people," he replied as he approached them. "But my friends call me Balthazar."

The man raised his hand in warning. "We have no gold or jewels to pay you with," he said wearily. "Whatever you need I cannot give you." He sat down on a rock to rest.

"Nothing at all?" Balthazar asked with a wide smile that brought more lines to his face.

"Nothing," the young woman answered firmly. She looked sadly at her father who rested on the rock before returning her gaze to Balthazar. She slowly shook her head in affirmation of her words. "We have nothing left."

Balthazar nodded slowly before saying, "Well then, perhaps you would be interested to hear my proposal."

The father glanced up with interest at Balthazar's words while the daughter raised an eyebrow in surprise at his words. "What kind of proposal?" she asked suspiciously.

Balthazar burst into laughter at the question and proceeded to tell them about his proposal for their journey across the land toward Rome where they could find justice for their cause against Duke Bernhard of Saxony and Prince Charles of Burgundy who had framed them for murder and theft respectively after they had discovered evidence of their crimes while staying at an inn owned by Balthazar's family in Antwerp where they happened upon a letter addressed to Duke Bernhard from Prince Charles instructing him to kill both of them if he managed to capture them alive because if they escaped from imprisonment, they would spread news of his secret plans for conquest which would weaken his position as prince-consort in the heartland of Burgundy as well as costing him much money since he'd need a new front in Saxony through which he could conquer Europe without having to worry about any interference from other nations...