With the next wave of enemy soldiers in attack range, Huskar was able to regenerate some of his health. The Phantom Assassin kept looking at him out of the corner of her eyes and it made him strangely uneasy.

They destroyed the enemy tower without any problems and their soldiers ventured on. They headed back though, because they could easily be attacked from out of the woods to their right.

When the Phantom Assassin looked at him again, letting her gaze travel up and down his body while her face betrayed nothing of her thoughts, he stopped. Oddly enough she stopped as well and turned towards him. Somehow their relationship had changed during the last battles. Huskar thought it had begun with him apologizing to her for grabbing and hurling her away from a fight. After that the fights had gotten better, the two of them acting together and not separate.

It didn't really matter, though, as long as it was working now. He wasn't as on edge around her as at the beginning of the war and he could trust her to participate in a fight, now. Those two things had made him loose the hesitation he had developed occasionally.

The Phantom Assassin was still staring at him, clearly waiting for him to say something, to explain why he had stopped.

"Why do you keep looking at me like that out of the corner of your eye? It is awfully disturbing."

She was quite for a second before answering. "I find it strangely fascinating how your skin colour changes depending on your health. The dark blue makes you look even more dangerous and fearsome. It's gorgeous."

"It's what?" Huskar was sure he hadn't heard right because in no way could she have just called him gorgeous. And it such a neutral tone, as if simply stating a fact everybody should know.

"Gorgeous. It's gorgeous." She repeated. "No need to get irritated about it. Judging from the tales I have heard I'm not the first female to tell you this."

Now Huskar was totally flustered. She had heard about him? And what the hell had she been told, because no one had said anything similar to him before. Of course he had gotten some female attention over the years, he was attractive after all, but this was definitely new to him. Still baffled he shook his head and the Phantom Assassin raised her eyebrows.

"Come on, Sacred Warrior, no one ever told you that? That definitely explains why you are not as arrogant as I thought you would be. Some kind of I'm-better-than-you-all type who always thinks he is right and everyone else is wrong. Maybe even a little macho about it."

His jaw dropped open in shock. What the hell was that? She had thought he would be arrogant? She? There must be something seriously wrong with the tales going round about him. But it also made it clear why she had ignored him at the beginning of the war.

The Phantom Assassin laughed at his expression. "Well, it seems I have misjudged you. I'm sorry about that. No come, gorgeous, lets meet the others. We have a war to win."

Huskar could still hear her laughing softly as she continued walking. He took a moment to process their encounter, her telling him he was gorgeous with his changed skin colour, her prejudice based on some tales about him, her laugh and, hell surely must have frozen over, her apology to him. It seemed he had misjudged her as well and all because she had been told something about him that wasn't true. They could've had such a good start into this war if they had had a neutral relationship towards each other. Too late to think about that, now, especially since the whole situation had taken a turn for the better anyway.

No wonder her behaviour changed after my apology. Makes sense now.

He ran after the Phantom Assassin, who was still smiling when he reached her.

"I won't complain about you calling me gorgeous, but I do have a name, you know."

"Oh, I've heard. But calling you by your name is a little too personal, don't you think?"

"And calling me gorgeous isn't?"

"Well, I could call everyone that. It's just a word."

Huskar grinned. "I would love to see how the Lord of Abaddon would react if you called him that. I'm sure he has never been called gorgeous in his whole life. Care to amuse me?"

"Do I look as if I'm here to your amusement?"

Huskar let his gaze travel from her boots over her shapely and muscular legs, encased by tight pants, her ass looking firm and biteable. Then farther up, over her flat stomach and her breasts, which seemed to be just the right size for his hands. Her shoulders looked wider than they were with the armour the Assassin was wearing and though her face was not completely visible under her helmet Huskar could see her small but straight nose, her slightly tilted, green eyes, highlighted by the shape of her helmet. Her high cheekbones and slender face made her look very feminine until one realized her fierce expression. But since it had changed with her laugh she now was really beautiful, the freckles on her nose even giving her something cute.

Huskar's grin got even wider. Damn, did she look like she was here to his amusement. She must have realized the meaning under his grin, because her cheeks darkened a little, like a blush, and Huskar chuckled and refrained from answering her question. They entered their town, Huskar heading into the safe zone for a little regeneration and the Phantom Assassin coordinated with the Lord of Avernus and the Pugna, who were standing at the entrance from the bottom road.

When Huskar left the safe zone only the Assassin was still under the tower at the entrance, the others had obviously already left. He joined her and together they headed out. "We thought it was most likely for the enemy to attack at the bottom road, since it is the only first tower we still have and they will probably want to destroy it next. When we got them, we can try to go for their second tower on that road."

"I'm ready."

The enemy heroes were already gathering in front of second tower, which meant first tower was down. They kept their distance, though, as if they were unsure how to proceed. That would be their death.

The Shadow Fiend activated his invisibility and circled through the woods into their backs. There he stood and waited, giving them vision over the whole enemy team. The golem and the gargoyle were standing a little back, now near the Fiend while the rhino and the man on the flying device were more at the front. The nature man was a little off to the side and enchanted some trees out of the woods into tree-soldiers, who followed his command and started attacking the soldiers and the tower.

The Phantom Assassin took a second to survey the positions of the enemy before she announced she would go in. "I focus on the rhino and at least one of you should go for the rhino as well, the rest maybe first for the flying man, since he is not very strong but has that annoying missiles. Ready?"

Without waiting for an actual answer, she hurled her dagger at the flying man while jumping at the rhino, the magic immunity visible as a yellow light floating around her body. Without hesitation they all followed and since they could see the forest mage they wouldn't be surprised by him again. Huskar leaped at the man on the flying device, a burning spear in his hand. He didn't look what the others were doing but someone must be helping him because it was ridiculously easy to kill the man.

Next to him he saw the Phantom Assassin finish the rhino off and together they went forward, looking for the next victim. But the other three were already retreating. Huskar looked over their group and cast his heal onto the Shadow Fiend. He had started to attack when he had still been standing between the enemy and he had taken quite some damage.

They pushed forward together with a group of their soldiers, looking for the enemy heroes but since only three were still alive they didn't really expect to encounter them.

Huskar was grinning as he ran forward, side to side with the Phantom Assassin, their soldiers right behind them and at the two sides their allied heroes, the Pugna staying a little back and the Shadow Fiend scouting to the side. Abaddon was with the Pugna.

In contrast to Huskar's joy about their success the Phantom Assassin showed absolutely no emotion. She was focused as always, her face expressionless and blank. But when she noticed him looking at her she winked at him and cast a downright cute half smile in his direction. That made Huskar grin even wider.

They had the tower destroyed within seconds, the enemy soldiers taken down without pause in their stride. As soon as the building crumpled into a pile of stones they headed back. They wouldn't push further because until now the two heroes they had killed were probably back and they decided not to take the fight at this place where they could easily be surprised.

When they reached the way down to the stream they followed the water. To the right a black pit appeared, shadows clouding the inside of that pit. They all knew what was inside though, namely a beast called Roshan, a giant creature whose dead body released a stone that could resurrect a hero within second at the place he had died. Therefore this creature was rather hard to kill but the price was worth the effort. Since they were all five together, it would be no problem for them to get the stone and they entered the pit.

The creature was really huge. It had claws and horns and fangs and they were, even in comparison to the size of its body, huge. It had dark skin that was hard to pierce and more than two eyes. Its vulnerable parts were shielded by horned appendages of its skin to make it harder to hurt it.

As soon as they were within reach, the beast attacked them, growling low and threatening in its throat, hitting them with his sharp claws. It didn't matter because it wasn't strong enough for the five of them and really, after the killing blow was delivered, it transformed into a yellow and red stone, the size of a fist. There was no discussion about who would get the stone. The Phantom Assassin took it and, after examining it shortly, she placed it into a pocket at her hip. Regardless of where she put it, when she died it would trigger and resurrect her on the spot, slowing all enemies in her vicinity for a few seconds.

It also meant she would initiate the next fight because her death would gain the enemy nothing. Her first death, anyway.

They went out of the pit and up to the middle road. The enemy heroes should all be resurrected by now and they would surely expect them.