Silvered Assassin

Chapter 08: Second Attack

"Ouch! Go easy on me, sis," Erwin winced in pain as Ilse treated his numerous wounds and bruises. The soldiers that pinned Erwin down earlier certainly did not go easy on him.

"It's your fault for trying to attack those soldiers. How many times must you worry me with your rash actions?" Ignoring her brother's complains, Ilse continued to apply the ointment on Erwin's badly bruised back with some force, as if to punish him for his earlier misdeeds.

"Sheesh… so much for trying to help you…" Erwin protested softly as Ilse continued to nag at his earlier actions.

"Are we really going to let them stay? Haven't they caused enough trouble?" Erwin spoke up after some time.

"I'm not sure…" Ilse paused for a moment before answering Erwin, "We'll have to wait for grandpa's decision."

"We should just throw those troublemakers out," putting on his shirt, Erwin walked towards his grandfather's room.

Standing outside of his grandfather's room, Erwin knocked on the room's door, asking for permission to enter.

"C'mon in…" a soft voice could be heard coming from the room and Erwin promptly went in.

Having hurt his back earlier, Altman was unable to get up when his grandchildren entered his room. He could only wait for them to go to his bedside. Before Erwin could say anything, Altman raised his hand, telling Erwin not to speak first. He already knew what his hot headed grandson was going to say.

"I'll have them leave this place tomorrow morning," knowing Erwin's impatience, Altman made his decision known quickly.

"But grandpa, they must leave now. Haven't those witches caused enough trouble?" Erwin wasn't slow to reveal his displeasure at his grandfather's decision.

"Stop it, Erwin. Instead of thinking about those Claymores, why don't you put more attention into grandpa's health?" knocking her knuckles softly against Erwin's head, Ilse attempted to knock some sense into Erwin's mind.

"But…" Erwin decided against arguing with his sister. He could never outtalk Ilse.

"Let's just forget about those Claymores, ok? Go back to your rooms and rest. It has been a tired day for the both of you," Altman laughed as he patted the head of his grandson.

Erwin and Ilse soon made their way to their own rooms. Erwin, however, was far from satisfied with his grandfather's decision.

Meanwhile, the three Claymores remained silent in their room. Rachel was concentrating on regenerating her right arm, while Charlene was in her usual silent mode. Magdalene just sat on the floor, her back leaning against the wall. With a serious look on her face, Magdalene thought on what she wanted to say to Charlene. She certainly wasn't happy at Charlene's earlier actions.

"Honestly, what's wrong with you," finally deciding to start her long delayed lecture, Magdalene broke the uneasy silence in the room.

Charlene gave no response. She just continued to look at Rachel, her apathetic expression concealing her deep concern for her best friend.

"Why are you so bent on killing that man?" Magdalene questioned Charlene again, hoping to get some answers.

"He killed my master, that's all," Charlene replied after a long pause that seemed to last for eternity.

"That lousy general said your master was a traitor. Was he really a traitor?" Magdalene decided to try her luck and pressed on for more details, "Your master was wronged, and that guy was a villain who plotted against him. So you wanted to take revenge for your master. Am I guessing correctly?"

"I'm not really into taking revenge for my master. In fact, there is every possibility that he really was a traitor, and Argo might just be doing his job. I don't really have a valid reason to go after Argo if you look at it from a certain perspective. So I just told myself that if that man appears before me, I will just kill him out of convenience. Other than that, I will not make any plans to take his life. He appeared before me just now and I just took advantage of it," Charlene replied, surprising Magdalene with a longer than usual answer.

"Even then, you could see that there were people around us. You could have chosen to take your revenge in some deserted place where there are no witnesses or something. Next time, just choose your time carefully. Do your revenge stuff in a place without any humans or those black coats around, ok?" finished with what she wanted to say, Magdalene closed her eyes to rest.

Charlene did not say a word more as the night went on. She had already spoken a lot more than she would normally do already.

--Section Divider—

Within the Zeeman residence, a particular room was off limits to all except for Argo himself. The room was situated at the far corner of the residence. It was sparsely decorated. Apart from a huge table and a few chairs, there was hardly anything in the room. Standing at the room's balcony was a gruff looking man looking to be in his late twenties. While not of a tall height, he was well built and had the look of a seasoned warrior. Dressed in normal looking clothes, the only accessory the man had was a sword worn at his left side. Despite his seemingly unimpressive appearance, this man was the one controlling Argo. He was a mysterious man who seemed to have no past or future. The few people who were in contact with him only knew that he went by the name of Erebus.

"Argo failed. What a pity. At least your mission was completed perfectly. Did you leave that sword behind as evidence?" Erebus started talking when a young man entered the room.

"Not to worry. Everything has been set up. But honestly, what a complete fool he is. Just what did you see in him, Erebus?" seated on one of the chairs was Nicolae, the right hand man of Erebus. Unlike his master, Nicolae had sharp and beautiful features, with his golden hair extending beyond his shoulders.

"Lust for power. That's what I see in him, and by using him we can achieve our goals," Erebus replied as he continued to look out of the balcony.

"Seriously, what kind of a foolish human rushes head on against three Claymores. He must really be dreaming to think of such a useless strategy," Nicolae continued, his criticism clearly directed at Argo.

"Not to worry. Should Argo fail, I'll let you have her after we successfully take over this city. That should please you, am I right?" walking back into the room, Erebus definitely made his subordinate happy with such a decision.

"Mmm… I'm looking forward to having some fun with her," Nicolae did not conceal his excitement as he was eager to meet Charlene as well.

"You should be more far sighted, Nicolae. That girl is just a pest that can be taken care of whenever we like. You should be more excited about our final goal," Erebus reminded Nicolae.

"Of course, I can't wait to crush those who caused us to suffer. I'll definitely make them pay," Nicolae's eyes showed plenty of hatred as he thought of ways he would take revenge against all who made him suffer.

--Section Divider—

"Quick! Get the archers ready!" Argo hissed at his men as he neared the inn where the Claymores were staying.

After he was thoroughly humiliated by Charlene, Argo was eager to get back at her. More importantly, he was not going to tell Erebus that he had failed. With the advice of his advisor, Argo decided to approach the Claymores with a different strategy; or a smarter strategy, to be exact.

"Are the arrows lit?" Argo asked his advisor as he waited anxiously.

"All preparations are done, General Argo. We're ready to attack," his advisor replied.

"Good. Commence the attack," Argo wasted no time as he ordered his archers to fire their arrows.

Within seconds, hundreds of arrows were fired at the inn. The arrows were all lit with fire, and the whole area was soon illuminated by the fire's light. Smashing through the windows, the arrows soon set the whole inn ablaze. Argo was so desperate to capture Charlene that he was willing to take the lives of anyone who might happen to be inside the inn.

The crashing sound of the arrows flying into the inn ensured that the inn's occupants were woken from their slumber. Everything that was flammable was on fire as more arrows flew into the inn. By the time Erwin knew what was happening, the smoke caused by the fire was too thick for him to even locate his room's entrance.

Crouching down, Erwin crawled on his stomach as he tried to reach for the door. The suffocating smoke was taking its toll on Erwin but he couldn't care less. The only thing on his mind was Ilse and his grandfather.

"Erwin! Over here!" shouting to her brother, Ilse had somehow managed to get her grandfather out of his room amidst the chaos.

Rushing to help his grandfather up, Erwin and Ilse made a dash for the stairs, but the arrows that were constantly fired into the inn prevented them from reaching the stairs. Erwin and Ilse could only hide behind a pillar as they tried to avoid being hit by the arrows.

"Wait here! I'll get something to shield us from the arrows!" without hesitation, Erwin made his way to one of the guest rooms down the corridor, keeping his body as close to the floor as possible.

By then, the entire inn was on fire. Whatever escape routes available were rendered useless by the raging fire. The arrows that were flying in made matters worse. The structure of the building was extremely unstable as the walls and ceilings started to fall apart. By the time Erwin crawled inside the room, his body was already full of cuts and burns. With his body in such a bad shape, Erwin was unsure if he had the strength to save Ilse and his grandfather.

"Forget about me, Ilse. You have to get out of here," too weak to even stand; Altman did not have any hope of surviving the fire.

But Ilse was having none of that. She was not going to abandon her grandfather just to save her own life. Ilse looked down the corridor for her brother, but the thick smoke prevented her from doing so as visibility was almost non existent.

With Erwin and Ilse helpless against the situation, it looked like they were not going to survive the fire. The situation was grimmer for Altman. He was an elderly man to begin with, and his body was already weakened with injuries. Furthermore, he had inhaled too much smoke and was suffering from the effects of he poisonous gases caused by the fire.

Erwin was struggling heavily in the fire. He was hoping to get hold of a table to use as a shield. But the constant barrage of arrows made it impossible for him to reach it. Erwin's right leg was already hit by an arrow when he tried to get near that table earlier. With his body in pain and fatigue setting in, Erwin was certain that he was going to die, until he felt a firm grip on his arms.

The next moment he knew, Erwin was lifted off the ground. Strapping Erwin over her shoulders, Charlene broke through the window and leapt to the roof of a building opposite the inn. Landing behind the line of archers who were firing at them, Charlene quickly jumped off the building and ran off before the archers could react.

"Shoot! Don't let them escape!" Argo yelled frantically when he saw his target escaping.

Unfortunately for Argo, the three Claymores were too fast for his archers even if they had someone on their shoulders. The few arrows that got to them were not sufficient to cause any serious injury. They had suffered more serious injuries and survived.

"Damn it!" Argo shouted furiously as he allowed Charlene to slip from his hands once again. Slumping down on the ground dejectedly, Argo could not imagine what would happen to him if Erebus knew of his failure.

Jumping from roof to roof, Charlene headed for the city walls. It was pretty obvious that she could not exit the city using the gates. She was joined by Rachel and Magdalene soon after.

For Erwin, it was probably one of the most terrifying experience of his life. All he knew was that he was flying around at insane speeds. For someone who had never jumped off buildings and cliffs, Erwin was certainly not enjoying his gravity defying experience as Charlene continued to jump from roof to roof without slowing down a bit.

"Arghh!!!" was probably the only thing that could come out from Erwin's mouth.

As if the roller coaster ride wasn't enough, Erwin soon found himself staring down from Agartha's towering walls. Standing a hundred feet tall, Agartha had one of the tallest walls on the continent. Jumping down from such a height would certainly mean death for a normal human being. Of course, the three Claymores were far from normal.

"Err… you're not jumping down, are you?" Erwin asked softly, though he sort of knew the answer.

Charlene just turned her head and looked at Erwin, showing her trademark stoic expression. After a second or so, she turned back to look in front of her. Without giving any hint or so, Charlene stepped off the wall and started plummeting down at high speeds. Striking her boots against the wall occasionally to slow herself down, Charlene soon reached the bottom of the wall. Erwin could only groan in pain as the impact was pretty hard on him, especially since he was lying on top of Charlene's shoulder armor, not the softest of things to lie on.

By dawn, the three Claymores were deep within the forest, a considerable distance away from Agartha. Erwin was in a complete daze as Charlene threw him down on the ground rather roughly.

"This sucks! That idiot just had to attack when I'm still regenerating my arm," Rachel complained as she looked at her uncompleted arm. She had just completed regenerating up to her elbow when Argo's men attacked.

"Just be glad we're alive. These arrows are really a pain," Magdalene added as she pulled out several arrows that had hit her back. Even with her lightning quick responses, Magdalene could not dodge all the arrows that rained down on her.

After removing the arrows that struck them, the three Claymores took off their armor and rested. It took quite some time before Erwin and Ilse recovered from the shock they just had. Altman, however, remained unconscious.

The forest was quiet save for Rachel's constant babbling as she kept on complaining on what had happened earlier. Charlene just listened to her silently while Magdalene looked rather irritated at Rachel.

"Oh? You're awake?" Rachel was the first to notice that Erwin had gotten up.

"Yeah… I think so…" Erwin was still rather confused at this point of time.

"Where are we?" looking around, Erwin realized that he was in a unfamiliar place.

"10 miles east of Agartha," Charlene replied rather curtly.

"That's right. That inn of yours cannot be saved. We had to rescue you guys from that fire," Magdalene deciding to add on to Charlene's answer.

"Well, thanks. But… why were we brought here?" Erwin asked again.

The three Claymores then looked at each other. They obviously had no answer to that question. They simply took the three human beings with them as they escaped from Agartha.

"Well…" Rachel scratched her head with her new right arm embarrassingly, "We have quite a problem, don't we?"

It was then that Erwin remembered about his grandfather, "Grandpa!"

Running over to his grandfather, Erwin felt like crying as his grandfather looked extremely weak. His breathing was slow and heavy, and his pulse was weak. It then came upon Erwin that his grandfather was not going to survive this ordeal.

"He's not going to last long," Magdalene did not mince her words as she told Erwin about his grandfather's condition.

By then, Ilse was unable to hold back her tears. It was clear by then that she was going to lose her grandfather. Fighting back his tears, Erwin could only stay by his grandfather's side in silence.

It was close to noon when Altman breathed his last breath. Nobody said a word as Erwin and Ilse buried their grandfather with their own hands. By the time they were finished, it was in the late afternoon.

"Let's go, sis," as soon as they were done, Erwin urged Ilse to leave the area.

"To where?" Ilse asked, "Do you know the way back?"

"She's right," Magdalene added, "The two of you are better off staying with us. Let's just say that I will play nice and bring the both of you to Xylar."

"We're not going with you," Erwin glared at Magdalene. He did not know how he managed to have the courage to look at Magdalene that way, but his anger probably took away any fear he might had at that time.

"The three of you have caused enough sufferings to us. We would still be safe and sound had the three of you not appeared, and grandpa would not have died. I will never forgive you Claymores," Erwin continued with a soft but hateful tone.

"You can't survive in the wild," Magdalene said again, trying to persuade Erwin and Ilse to follow them.

"Leave us alone!" shouted Erwin, his anger at boiling point by then, "How long must you pester us? You've taken our peaceful live and grandpa away! We've lost everything thanks to you!"

"Fine," not bothering to talk any further, Magdalene turned and started walking east to Xylar, motioning Charlene and Rachel to follow as well.

"What are you thinking, Erwin? We will die here!" Ilse scolded Erwin as the Claymores left. She wasn't too optimistic about their chances of survival.

Erwin shrugged off Ilse's comments and just walked in a direction he had chosen randomly. He just made sure he did not choose the same direction as the Claymores. Having no choice, Ilse just followed her brother. While she knew that following the Claymores was their best chance of surviving in the wild, she did not want to waste any energy arguing with Erwin. Moreover, she was also quite relieved to be away from the Claymores. She never felt particularly comfortable with them around.

With the sun setting in a few hours, human and Claymore headed out in opposite directions, their fates destined to be different.

--Section Divider--

"C'mon, Charlene," Rachel tugged at her friend just as the sun was setting.

"Huh?" not the kind of response Rachel wanted. Not that it really mattered.

"We can't leave them alone," turning back, Rachel started walking towards the direction where Erwin and Ilse heading, pulling Charlene along at the same time.

Hmph… what bright ideas do you have this time, Rachel? Magdalene thought to herself as she sat down and rested against her claymore.

End of Chapter 08

Hope this chapter is good. Please let me know if I handled the interaction between Erwin and the Claymores well.

Thanks for reading!