Daniel brought Amilia to a camp that had number of tall permanent tents set up around a central building. He greeted at least hour men as he passed, before falling into conversation with what appeared to be the mercenaries' leader.
"Ah, Daniel it's been too long!" the man said almost cheerful despite his deeper, booming voice, "What's brings you by?" He stood with his arm crossed, making his square shoulders seem even more so.
"I wanted to see how much fight this one has in her," Daniel replied. He reached his hand back and smacked her behind. Forcing Amilia to take half step forward but she stopped herself from taking a full one. She shot a quick glare over to Daniel while he grinned over to his friend.
"Sure thing," the man chuckled at the both of them before speaking directly to Amilia, "Name's Sal and it would be a pleasure to set that up for you." He bowed his head, but even with that he was still taller than her.
"I'm Amilia, and thank you, I can't wait to have my hand at it," she said then turned to Daniel, "And maybe afterwards I'll get to teach someone where to keep their hands."
Sal looked between the two but Daniel keep a completely straight face like he didn't an idea what she meant by that. He smiled, before excusing himself.
"Now you are going to be put up against various men each getting a little harder," Daniel explained as he started to walk again, "Their size may seem intimidating but your greatest asset is your light frame and speed."
Daniel hadn't been paying much attention to her, and within the next moment his attitude changed to very stern and serious. Amilia straightened up a bit in response. She felt like a soldier for a moment, taking direction from her commander. She swallowed hard, then nodded, "I'm ready."
They walked inside a building, which down a short hall had an open ring in the middle of it. Amilia spotted, the first man waiting in the ring, Sal standing in the corner talking to someone else. Her opponent cracked his knuckles, and looked over in her direction, and a smirk grew on his face.
"Not a talkive one," Daniel commented leaning in to whisper to Amilia, "but he'll go for your own jaw in a second if given the chance."
Amilia turned her head to Daniel, blinking a hard a few times but when couldn't think of a real response to his warning. So she turned back to the ring, not letting her face show any more emotion. Amilia jumped over the fence and into the ring. Her hands balled into fists, and she exhaled, looking at the man as he also prepared himself. "Ready," she whispered to herself this time. They didn't seem to be a go bell, so she didn't wait for one. She jolted forward, her fist rising to the man's face. No luck was found with this quick attack for he dodged sideways, and took a knock at her side. Her breath left her for a moment, as she stumbled to the side.
The man stood back, grinning like he had a remark but didn't venture saying it. Amilia fought the urge to grab at her ribs as she let out a small huff, and she waited a bit before she breathed in deeply. Good, no extreme pain meant nothing was broken. She didn't think her ego could take going down for the day after the first hit. This training will probably also teach her the limits of her body.
She straightened up soon enough, and turned to him again. Her fists returned to in front of her face, and this time, she waited for him to come at her. He shuffled forward, teasing her for a moment with the idea that he was going to attack. She took Daniel's advice into action as she ducked to the side, as the merc's blow missed her jaw completely. Amilia spun back, kicking him square in the chest; he stumbled slightly back, but regained strength seemingly automatically. He came at her again, grabbing for her shoulders. This was hard to avoid, and he successfully grabbed her right arm just under her elbow.
Yanking her towards him, she thought quickly on how to get out of this. Lifting her right arm up, she broke his hold by twisting his hand away from her. Her left hand came toward him, and she hit him in the jaw.
Adrenaline was pumping now, and she could think a lot more quickly about her actions. Her left leg kicked up, and she kneed him in the stomach. She followed by another swing at his head, but this time the man grabbed her arm. Swinging her slightly, he tripped her and sent her to the ground. She rolled away a bit, and she pushed herself up from the ground as quick as she could. She lifted her hands back up, and waited for him to make his move once more. He moved without pausing this time, going for a kick to her side. She tried her best to block the leg with her two forearms, which helped, but hurt a lot.
He then came at her with another punch, which she knew how to evade this time. She ducked, then spun around him and was facing his back. She saw this as the perfect moment. She kicked the back of his leg, right where his knee was, causing him to collapse. Both her hands came at the sides of his head; she knew this was going to disorient him at least. Finally, she ended it with a kick to his lower back, sending him on his chest. She looked down at him, waiting for him to get up. But he only groaned.
She looked at Daniel, who was leaning against the fence that separated the audience and fighters, with a surprised expression at what she had done. She had never taken down a person before, much less a man. Her chest moved in and out quickly though, and she soon realized that took way too long for it to be good in a legitimate fight. Her fists were still balled around her face, and she looked down at the man again. She still couldn't believe it though.
"That's my girl!" he said cheering her on, "I knew you could do it. Keep it up." It seemed her uncle didn't let anyone in his family be completely useless in a fight.
Amilia nodded firmly as she turned to wait for the next man to come in as the one she defeated picked himself up and walked away. She whipped at the dirt she felt on her face, then returned to her fighting stance. The next man was quite larger than her this time, she realized him as the one Sal had been talking to when she walked in, but her eyes blazed determination. He moved towards her, closing in for his first attack. She evaded his punch. Combat went back and forth between the two. Amilia dodging all of attacks and waiting for an opening, remembering Daniel's other bit of advice about her speed. She jumped up and ended it with a kick across the man's face. The man crumpled over to the side, not KO-ed but the water in his eyes was a surprise.
She sighed in relief, but it was short lived as the next man walked into the ring. He was the true brute out of the group in size and manners. And even that seemed like an understatement. His steps fell heavy against the ground, and he towered over her.
Amilia looked at him, trying to disguise any tinge of fear she felt. She knew all her moves needed to be defensive attacks. Her came towards her, swinging his arm towards what left like her entire left side. She nearly had to drop completely to the floor to evade his attack. This game of cat and mouse went on for a couple more times. But inside of tiring like she had hoped, he always he came at her again. The same defense she had with others didn't work this time, and she fell to the ground from the impact of a kick. It almost knocked her breathless, and she didn't have enough time to recover before the man reached for her hair.
Pulling her up to her feet by her pony tail, she nearly wanted to scream from the pain, but she held it in. His free hand moved down to her neck, and now he had his hold there. He grinned at her, making him look sinister instead of like the other men. Amilia stared at him helpless for a moment before an idea came. She tucked her chin down and managed to bite.
This caused him to drop her, back handing her once before she fell to the floor. She faced the ground once more, getting her breathe back. "The bitch bites!" he said turning to comment to Daniel.
He cussed at him but it his insult was lot to the rage Amilia felt herself. Amilia spit the blood and dirt out of her mouth as the man traveled over to Daniel. "I'm sorry to tell you, kid, but your girl just isn't strong enough," he said with a grin, the fact that the two weren't friends became apparent before Daniel cussed him, the vulgarity stepping up a notch.
And so did the man. "She is quite a looker though," the brute said turning to Amilia as she pushed herself up, "I'd recommend you keep her in your chambers nex-"
Within a second, Amilia pounced onto the man's back, wrapped her arms around his neck, while his arms reached back for her. She ignored the pain she had as he grabbed at her hair again, only tightening her grip. Slowly his effort to tear her off weakened. She jumped off as he fell to his knees gasping for air.
She spitting out blood from her mouth again, then spoke, "This bitch also kills." Amilia kicked again, his side, which didn't help his breathing. He rolled over onto his back with a large scratch on his face from Amilia's nail, breathing heavy as he stared up at the ceiling. She didn't look at Daniel yet though, who said stepped into the ring to break things up but stopped short no longer needing too, nor at Sal who was staring wide eyed at the scene. While non-mercs could join normally they showed more respect to fellow fighters. Amilia didn't catch any of these, still too angry to look at anyone. All she could do was look at the man that she just took down.
After a second Daniel decided to move again and walked over to the giant man on the floor. He bent down as he spoke, "You just got beat up by a women, bet you feel pretty foolish now." Sal gestured to a few of his men to get clear the ring of the 'dirt.' Two men came over helping the guy up and escorted him outside.
Daniel stood again and silently looked at Amilia giving her a second to gather herself. "Clear out," Daniel said to the various men still around, his tone sounding strange to her ears. She wondered if it was because she still felt a little out of it. Still coming back from the moment she only saw red, and lost control of any reserve she had. Had she really been such a hot head and she didn't even realize it? Sal's men shared a look and headed outside like they were under Daniel's control.
"You all right?" Daniel asked sounding clinical.
Amilia nodded.
"Good, you have one last person to fight today," Daniel continued as he started peel off his armor and weapons. When he was done Daniel stood in a loose white shirt in front of her. "Me."
That snapped her back into the real world. "Daniel, I don't think I can hit you," she said, backing out. She had been able to fight the first men in a training setting, and the last in a rage. But she didn't want to hit Daniel. She couldn't do that. Not to him.
A smile cracked Daniel's serious expression. "That is almost sweet of you," Daniel said wondering if that was the true reason. He wanted to experience her in a fight first hand, for a number of his own reasons. To chest her stamina, see if she could pull it together after an outburst, if she could go against a different type of opponent, to name a few. Hired mercs might be able to punch a clear whole in the wall but assassins were trained more roundly.
"Come on, that is a horrible stance," he said nodding to Amilia as she had her arms crossed, "Fight me or I can become all sorts of bratty to have my way, and I prefer to stay my charming self personally." On a personal level, it was always nice to be around someone who didn't eagerly forward to punching you in the face.
Amilia took a real stance, before he reached out and reposed her, but she looked at him like she was begging him to not make her do this. But it seemed he wasn't going to budge. "You sure this isn't me start of playback for last night?" she ventured. He just smiled a little, keeping a loose stance that was completely unlike hers and the other men she fought today.
She threw out a jab, that he dodged. Her kick landed against a forward he had brought up to block. It would have hurt a bit more if she hadn't been trying get this over with.
Daniel quickly flipped his hand around, grabbing her leg before she pulled it back, holding her off balance. "What? Am I not worth the effort you gave to the others?" Daniel commented, pushing her leg back to the ground.
She stumbled back a little bit, before finding her balance. The assassin didn't let her take more than a second before he swung at her. It was a powerful swing that Amilia only barely got away by quickly ducking. The near blow the head made her realize that Daniel was truly serious about this.
He was about to start taunting her when he noticed that the fire in her belly seemed to reignite. Amilia kicked again, which actually seemed to be her attack of choice. "You have to use what is around you to your advantage," he said, giving her fighting tips as they sparred. Daniel delivered a powerful kick of his own to her chest, forcing Amilia to stumble back into the railing that encased the ring. She caught herself on the railing, before she fell to the ground.
Daniel backed up a little a bit and let her come to him. She tried another round kick but he seemed to always be a second ahead of her. "Someone in the practice ring might let you get a hit in but out there you need to lead your attacks a bit more. I'm a moving target, you need to plan accordingly," Daniel offered.
He had jumped back from one of her few punches and actually ended up directly in the path of a kick. Daniel got hit square in the mouth. He recoiled creating some distance from her as soon as he could. The taste of metal started to fill his mouth; he brought a hand up his face. Unsure if surprise or pain was ailing him more. Maybe he was too good of a teacher.
Amilia tried to spin away like a dancer but Daniel caught her arm pulling her twirling her back against him as sharp a whip. He shuffled his feet between hers, making the ground feel uneven. Amilia tried to stomp on a foot so he'd pull back and not trip her up, but his boot seemed to protect him.
Daniel reached a free hand around to her back, making her she didn't fall after all. Amilia tensed up as she looked to him, thrown off as he steadied her instead of finishing an attack or some sort. "Follow what I teach you and I will always have you back," he added words that seemed too soft for the ring before releasing her.
"Thank you," she said finding a smile again.
"So, am I good enough?" Amilia asked as Daniel adjusted his hood, his other gear already returned to their places again. She wondered if he approved of her fighting skills. She knew he probably thought she needed to work on a few things, but she was hoping for now, she was at least good enough.
"There is always someone better," he commented nonchalantly. He wasn't a teacher by trade, and if she had been looking for approval or some wisdom he had missed the moment. He at first started to think that the brotherhood gave him this mission because well placed in the guild. But maybe it was because they needed someone handle her.
Sal came throw the show, looking them over to see if either of them was on death's door. "Oh good, you guys didn't kill each other," he grinned as he came closer. "It looked like she did pretty well against a few of those guys. What have you been feeding her Daniel?" If she had been looking for a pat on the moment, it seemed it had come a late.
"She is more like a flower," Daniel replied, "I simply turn her in the direction of the sun and she grows on her own."
"So, you said your name was Amilia, correct senorita?" Sal asked.
She nodded, "Si, Le`Russo," she said holding out her hand for a more formal greeting.
Sal lifted her hand and gave it a small kiss before continuing on, "Ah, your father?"
She paused, wondering why he was asking. "He's passed, I live as my uncle's child," she said.
He nodded, "Does your uncle happen to be Dimitri?"
She shifted on her feet, and her smile faltered to just a slightly confused expression. "Yes, he is. You know him?" she wondered suddenly if he knew about her family situation, and she stopped herself from glancing at Daniel. He tensed but hid his interest otherwise well.
Sal let out a laugh, "Ah, don't be so concerned. We were old friends, but he stopped talking to me several years ago."
Amilia automatically knew what that meant. When her uncle made the agreements with the Templars, the whole family was forced to cut ties from dangerous friends. Lots of couples were torn apart, and many friends wondered why they were suddenly being ignored. "I don't think I ever met you back then, my uncle still has many friends I have yet to meet."
"I don't believe we did. You'd only been a child then. How has your uncle been?"
Amilia paused again, thinking, than shrugged. "He's been good, just very busy with personal matters," she responded.
Sal nodded, "That's good to hear. Tell him I said hello, and hope we can get back to terms again, soon."
She nodded to his request, and then he turned back to Daniel. "Small world," he said casually even though his heart had been beating fast at her every hesitation.
"You know my wife has my old gear she doesn't use. It will suit you better than what you how now," Sal offered.
"Oh, I couldn't impose," Amilia's eyes trailed back to Daniel, and she tried to mask whatever hint of confusion or panic in them with her usual warm smile.
But it was Sal's comment that drew her attention back. "Nonsense, my family was once good friends with yours. A tradition I'd like to start again."
"We will take anything your hospitality has to offer," Daniel offered growing even more curious where this conversation was going. He headed for the door, holding it open to front room which served as Sal's office.
"I hope you're not like your uncle and get into trouble a lot," Sal whispered over to Amilia
"I'm not," she said before turning towards the door, hoping to avoid any longer conversation about her uncle. That was a very dangerous topic for her to talk about.
"Let's get you some armor first," he said offering his arm to lead her down a hall to the left. She hesitated but in the end took his arm.
Daniel had wanted to follow them but handful of men poured into the room. He groaned about his luck until he noticed who it was. "I know you," Daniel smiled, "I haven't seen either of you since the tournament last year!"
"Well if it isn't my assassin friend," one of the men with orange hair replied, "Yeah I have been busy my wife recently had a bady. Cutest little tike!"
If Amilia had been around, she would have noticed that her uncle wasn't the only one who had not been regularly checking in with this faction. Instead of being embarrassed that he hadn't known, he played it off. "You're telling me you actually found someone to bed you?" he teased.
The other men roared into laughter the father wasn't so amused at first. He broke into a playful scuffle with Daniel for a second or two then started to laugh himself. "Amazing isn't it?!" he said still laughing, "She is the greatest thing." Daniel simply smiled, thinking he was being far too cute for his job title. "How about you? Is that the future Mrs. Ortiz down there?"
Daniel didn't follow; he turned to where the other were looking finding Amilia and Sal coming back their way. "Ahh," Daniel replied," Strictly business."
He cornered of his mouth pulled up taking a look of Amilia in limited armor. A chest piece, bracers, and greaves. "Uh huh, sure it is," one of the men commented from behind him but Daniel ignored him and moved over to take to Sal.
"They aren't tailored to her but better than nothing," Sal added seeming content enough.
"Your hospitality knows no limits," Daniel said in thanks once he was checked Amilia's new trimmings out, "We should head out now through."
"Tenga cuidado de mis amigos, (Take care my friends)" Sal replied.
"Thank you for everything," Amilia made sure to add before they left but she couldn't help but take a glance back. Sal knew her uncle, probably very well at one point. Things just kept on getting complicated. As much as she wanted any mention of her family out of her time with Daniel, it seemed to find a way to snake back in. Poisoning the conversations and on a process to ruining her plan.
"This was," she said wondering how to word it, "fun. I suppose." All of this was different, but the good sort. She liked someone actually taking the time to train her.
"Yeah, there is something special about fighting. Almost nothing gets your heart beating like it," Daniel said as they stood on the side of the street for a moment.
"I'm sort of tired now though," she laughed. She did look a bit worse for wear. It wasn't like she was going to pass out soon but she definitely needed a little bit of R&R.
"Come on, I know somewhere we can go," Daniel said promising such a thing.
