“Neave?” Alexei hissed under his breath. He didn’t even notice her leave his side, and now she was nowhere to be seen. Alexei peaked up over the rock that he had been using for cover, and that was when he saw her. Neave had ducked from cover piece to cover piece so that she could get closer to the fight, and now she was practically in the middle of it all. “Goddamnit Neave,” Alexei muttered to himself as the clash between the Proto Lord and Risa sent spirals of arcane energy rippling across the room, obliterating anything that they came into contact with. Her ears twitched and she looked back at him with a determined look on her face, so Alexei knew that she could hear him. “Don’t do anything you’re planning,” Alexei said, “Risa can handle herself, you’re going to get yourself hurt or worse.” Her eyes narrowed, it was clear she wasn’t interested in listening to anything that he had to say. The only way he’d be able to stop her would be by making his way over to her, but with t
Getting out of the underground labyrinth was easier than getting into it. Risa’s magery trail had held up even through her fight with the Proto Lord, and it acted as a shining beacon that they were able to follow out of the tunnels. What Alexei quickly realised was that Risa was far more injured than she was letting on. As they wound their way through the darkness she still couldn't move her right arm, and she was limping heavily on her left leg. She was also trying to keep herself from whimpering any time she jostled her arm but was doing a spectacularly bad job at it. Alexei felt a surge of relief as they clambered back up the steep chasm that led down into the pits of the mining system and out into the dwindling daylight. “They probably won’t have a medic at the town, but we can ask,” Alexei said, “If they don’t, I’m taking you right back to Alandria, I don’t care about the Assassins Guild, making sure you’re safe is more important.” “Don’t be stupid,” Risa grunted, “I’m not
The healer had been at first confused and then annoyed at being dragged out of his practice to heal a woman who didn’t even appear to be injured. Then he left with a grunt toward the barkeep about not being disturbed any further. For her part, Risa fell asleep shortly after her wounds were healed. It seemed that the healing Neave had used only sped up Risa’s own healing metabolism, it didn’t do any actual healing of her own. That meant the woman had used up a lot of energy and needed to rest, and when she woke up later on she would be ravenously hungry. Alexei had summoned a small cushion of air and laid Risa on top of it. He had then levitated her up to her room and gently down onto her bed with it. She hadn’t even stirred in her slumber. After making sure she was okay and still breathing he went back down to the bar, where the Barkeep and Neave were sitting at the same table. She was drinking some kind of juice and it was quite clear that the barkeep was drinking some of his t
When Risa woke the first thing that she saw was Neave sleeping in her bed and Alexei sleeping in the chair next to her own. She remembered very little from the fight, only that it had ended when Neave had summoned a colossal vine to attack the Proto Lord and then she had thrown Alexei’s entire bandolier of explosive pots. Clearly, the desperation play had worked or none of them would have probably been sleeping in the inn. She sighed and shifted in bed, only to have her stomach give off a colossal rumble. She was hungry, really hungry. The noise was loud enough to wake Neave up, her beastkin ears twitching against her pillow. The girl grinned widely the moment she saw that Risa was awake and seemingly fine. “What’s a girl got to do to get some food around here?” Risa said, raising her voice slightly to get Alexei’s attention, she knew he tended to sleep like the dead. He woke with a start and took a moment to blink the sleep out of his eyes. “Risa… you’re awake!” He exclaimed,
The bar to the tavern opened and two people dressed in white cloaks walked through the door, one a woman and the other a man. The barkeep had never seen them before, and for a moment he got ready to give the usual speech about how they should leave if they valued their lives. But then he realised he didn’t have to do that anymore, not after the man from the Royal Defence Corps had defeated the creature that was abducting people from the streets almost every night. It had been a day since then, and the town hadn’t had any more incidents of screaming in the night or strange spectres roaming the streets. It was still odd to get so many new folks coming through the town in such a short period, though. Most people breezed past the town and made the final stretch of travel up to Alandria, or they went on to one of the towns further down the trail. They didn’t tend to stop around and come to his tavern. “What can I get you?” He asked as the pair approached the bar. “Nothing to drink, I
“So, how far away from the Assassin’s Guild are we now?” Alexei asked. They’d been on the road for over a day. There hadn’t been any more towns so they’d had to make camp around the caravan for a night, huddled up to the dragonhorse for warmth. The landscape had been steadily changing the further south that they travelled. The trees that made up the forest were slowly becoming more and more hardy, leaves were traded out for thick pines, and the temperature was falling lower and lower. “We should actually be coming up on the nearby town pretty soon now,” Risa said, “According to the maps I took from the Mage Temple the town should be just over that ridge.” She nodded toward the upcoming hill which seemed as though it were only a few minutes away. “And it’s a similar situation to Alandria, right?” Alexei said, “The Assassin’s Guild is situated in the mountains above the city just like the Academy.” “Pretty much,” Risa said, “You’ll be able to see it in a second anyway, so just ch
Risa and Neave had both protested, but he knew that they’d see sense in him going on his own in the end. Time and time again Risa had told him about how frosty the relationship between the Mage Temple and the Assassin’s Guild was. She’d never given him a reason for the breakdown between the two rival organisations, but considering the Assassins also had no real contact with the Academy he imagined it was likely some matter of principle. Either way, Risa had almost died once on their trip already and he didn’t particularly want to risk it happening again, and Neave was far too much of a wild cannon to trust going into a place that taught heavily armed killers. Besides, there was a chance she would be so enamoured with the idea of danger and risk that she’d end up joining them or learning something, and he didn’t want that. The climb up the mountain face was arduous and long. There was a clear path, but it was covered in ice and snow, two things that Alexei had never had to deal wi
The inside of the Assassin’s Guild castle was even more labyrinthine than the Mage Temple. Alexei’s assassin guide took him on a twisting and turning journey that seemed almost to never end. When they rounded one corner another corridor, with its thick stone walls and its flagstone floors was waiting. For the beginning part of the walk into the depths of the castle, he could still see the outside world through windows. Before long the windows stopped appearing on the walls, likely because they had delved deep into the mountain itself. The only thing Alexei knew was that they were going ever upward. After every few twists and turns down long and winding corridors, the assassin would usher him up a flight of stairs. Alexei was sure that there had to be some kind of central staircase somewhere in the building, it would be ridiculous for there not to be, but for some reason, the assassin didn’t want him to take that route. The only logical reason Alexei could come up with for that w