Chapter 3

Two enemies down, one still to go. Or at least that was what Tresdin was expecting, given the remaining healing salve and the dust in her bag, and she hadn't to wait much longer to see if she was right.

Out of the forest, then down a valley, until she reached an abandoned keep: a large, square building made of stone, that stood on the peak of a high hill and loomed over a little river that flowed beside it.

The map was clear, that was her final destination; more specifically, a sentence hand-written on the paper said to go inside the treasure room and retrieve whatever was contained inside.

The heavy wooden doors opened with a creak, revealing a dusty hall: it was empty, except for some piles of rubble and debris here and there.

Everything was silent, so Tresdin advanced further inside the room, eyes opened wide and her entire body ready to react to anything suspicious. Many doorways led to smaller rooms, probably quarters for the soldiers who used to life there. Nothing interesting, only more dust , so she moved upstairs along a wooden staircase, since the treasure room was supposed to be on the first floor.

There she found other empty rooms along with the only one which still had a door, locked with a rusty chain and a padlock. One single swing with her halberd was enough to cut the chain and pry the door open with a creaking sound: in front of her there was a barely-lit room, its windows covered by wooden axes that let through only dim rays of light. On the opposite wall, hanging from the ceiling, there was a huge banner made of red and golden cloth: the Stonehall emblem.

"..."

The Commander stood there, frozen in place, looking at it. If that was a joke, it wasn't a funny one. Under the drape, there was a little trunk.

"Oh, I'm so gonna kick your balls out" she muttered angrily while advancing toward it, when a voice coming from nowhere made her stop.

"Don't you like my little welcoming gift, Tresdin?"

She spun around, but no one was to be seen in the room. Yet the voice continued.

"I thought it could've helped you feel more...at home, you know."

As the calm, soothing voice continued, she could hear light footsteps around her, like an invisible being was walking in the room while speaking. All her muscles were tense, the grip on her halberd hilt almost painful.

"Anyway, Legion Commander, I'd really like to talk some more with you, but they got a bargain when they hired me, so I'm going to fulfill my contract right now. It'll be over quick, don't worry."

As soon as those words ended, a poof accompanied the appearance of a cloud of dense, purple smoke in the middle of the room.

"ARGH"

A sharp pain stroke at her back, a single blow with a dagger that hit right where her back-armor ended. She turned rapidly, and even if the smoke made seeing anything extremely difficult, she could recognize a pair of curved horns, a tail and a satyr-like body shape that quickly disappeared, vanishing like it never existed.

"Rikimaru! Come here and fight me, coward"

"I am no honorable soldier, Tresdin. I am an assassin who melts with the shadow" was the reply just before another blink brought him again at her back, and another strike with his dagger cut a new wound open on the woman's flesh.

Aching in pain, Tresdin turned as quickly as she could, and for the first time she managed to see her opponent's entire figure. For a moment, they stared at each other, the painful but fiery eyes of the woman met the pale, completely white gaze of the satyr; then, he disappeared again.

She knew what to do: took out from her bag the envelope with the dust, and threw half of it in the air, where Riki was standing before. He was still there, his body made visible again as soon as the dust attached on him, and laughed loud.

"So you're prepared, then. What a pity your cheap tactics won't help you"

With his free hand he wielded another dagger from inside his black jacket, a short and shiny blade that looked almost ethereal, impalpable. With a grin, he stabbed himself in the chest, disappearing a second after with a light glow.

"You scum..." he had used a Diffusal Blade to purge himself from the dust, and now she only had one dose left of revealing powder.

She needed time, so she rushed outside the room and down the staircase, hiding inside one of the smaller rooms on the ground floor.. Breathing heavily, she leaned against the wall next to the door, and tried to listen carefully, to detect the faintest sound that could reveal the presence of Rikimaru. It was only a matter of time, Tresdin knew it: her only chance was to act without mistakes, and quickly.

At first there was only silence beside her rugged breath, then, light footsteps approached.

"Treeeesdin, were are you? Wanna play some hide-and-seek? Oh, I'm so good at this game"

He didn't say anything else, and everything went quiet once again. Then, suddenly, another smoke bomb filled the room with those noxious fumes, so the soldier jumped outside, in the main hall, having care to keep her back exposed. A blink, and Riki was again at her back, ready to strike, but this time she had all the visibility she needed. She knew her opponent couldn't have another bomb ready before some minutes, so it was the time: she turned and threw in the air the remaining dust. Here he was, right in front of her, both his dagger and the diffusal blade ready, but this time she was quicker. Before the satyr could purge himself again, she focused her mind on him. Her eyes burned like embers, her voice gave a command he simply couldn't ignore, no matter how he tried.

"Duel me!"

He was forced to fight face-to-face, without being able to turn or leave a ring of yellow light that had appeared around them, on the floor.

He was good with the dagger, but on a fair duel his skills were nothing against a veteran soldier and her blade.

"I"
She stroke at his left hand, disarming the most dangerous weapon, the diffusal blade.

"WILL"

With a horizontal swing, she pushed his right arm aside, thus creating an opening in his guard.

"TEAR"

She hit the assassin in the face with the hilt of her halberd, to prevent any kind of retaliation.

"YOU"

Another swing made the dagger fly away on the ground, outside his reach.

""APART!"

The final thrust pierced Riki in the chest, one, two, three times before she stopped and looked at his body, disappearing like the others. "Exposed...to the elements" was his final cry, then silence fell once again on the building.

Tresdin drank the last salve, then returned upstairs, picking up the locked chest under the Stonehall banner in the treasure room.

She was ready to return home, as her quest had been completed. But how many question still she had...