Thanks to Ann E. Casap for her review! I am very grateful for your input!
Now, it's time for the climax to begin!
Chapter 13 – Deception and Destruction
Red light from a sunset filled the entrance to a canyon where two figures stood, swords drawn and bodies tensed in preparation.
Teresa's gaze held Adriana's, unwavering and full of determination. This was her chance to prove herself to Adri and to gain the warrior's sought-after trust. As the trainee waited for the slightest movement by Adri, Teresa quickly ran through the events that led to this encounter.
After Adri had sidetracked Teresa from Orsay's ultimatum by reminding the girl of their sparring match, the two continued to travel through seemingly endless expanses of desert and canyons. The sun was lowering in the horizon when they reached a long cliff, which spread out in either direction as far as the eye could see, and had one gap. The entire rock structure gave the impression of a tall rampart. In that gap, three figures - two wearing the common gear of a ranked Organization warrior and the other wearing leather armor similar to Teresa's – lounged in the shade with their swords acting as backrests.
Once Teresa and Adri drew nearer, one of the two warriors raised a hand in greeting then roused her companions. Teresa (who was actually still practicing her new yoki sensing technique) had been observing their auras for quite some time, but couldn't place the familiarity of two of them until she was closer. The two warriors were Numbers 4 and 12, Galena and Leoni, respectively.
Leoni rose from the ground and clasped forearms with Adri, a broad grin spreading across the Number 12's face. "You finally made it! Gale and I were worried that you'd run into trouble along the way!"
"We had our share of close encounters, right Teresa?"
Teresa nodded as Leoni turned away from Adri and looked the girl over. "Hmm…Just by looking I can tell you've grown significantly stronger, Teresa! I can't wait to see what you're capable of now that Adri's been giving you her 'special training'!"
A faint smile brushed the trainee's lips but soon fell once she met the openly hostile gaze of the other trainee other than herself. Though Teresa hadn't paid much attention to the other trainees in her class, this girl was definitely unique even among the common-place warriors. The girl had the normal silver eyes of an Organization warrior but she bore long, nearly silver, straight hair and two pointed, elf-like ears.
Galena was greeting Adri and motioned for the trainee to come towards them, breaking the girls' eye contact. "Adri, this is my student, Irene. She has shown excellent progress in her swordsmanship, but I would be honored if you tested her yourself to get a feel for her true potential."
"The honor would be mine, Galena. However, Teresa and I must take care of a few matters first. Teresa, prepare!"
This brought them to the positions she and Adri currently held, waiting for the other to make the first move. Finally, Teresa's patience wore thin and she charged at Adri, her sword kept in a position she could use for both offense and defense.
Adri parried Teresa attack with ease then launched a slow counter-slash. Teresa quickly deflected the slash then thrust her sword, aiming for Adri's exposed side. Adri nimbly twisted away then jabbed her sword tip at Teresa's head, causing the girl to jump back.
The older warrior smiled, "Not bad. You'd definitely hold your own if not completely defeat anyone ranked in the forties. Now, let's see what you're truly capable of, Teresa. Fight me with all your strength! Don't hold back!"
Something dark within Teresa stirred but the girl ignored it and attacked Adri with fast slashes and cuts that sent the older warrior retreating a few steps, but after four steps, Adri stood firm. She dodged and parried Teresa's attacks with cool efficiency before unleashing a strong and swift chop down at Teresa's head.
Teresa had to use two hands to stop the blade at the last second. Angling her blade, Teresa let Adri's claymore slide just over her shoulder before sending her longsword straight at Adri, the tip following the claymore up to its wielder. The older warrior deftly twisted her blade around and redirected the thrust into empty air. Another hard chop came at Teresa's head, but instead of intercepting the blade, Teresa jumped back, effectively dodging the blow.
Teresa quickly resumed her ready stance and locked her gaze on Adri's eyes. She almost lost focus with surprise. Adri's eyes held a mischievous glint and showed absolutely no sign of changing color. Teresa took a breath and calmed herself. If she kept fighting this way, Adri would soon overpower her just like in every other sparring match they had. But, if she used her new skill…
It was a risk, Teresa knew that, but if it worked it would be worth the exhaustion afterwards. Relaxing her gaze, Teresa let her mind slip into only observing the yoki around her. She felt no yoki emanating from Adri at first, until there was a brief flash of power as Adri swung her sword in a vicious diagonal slash. Teresa stepped out of the way with a few milliseconds to spare before she stepped forward, too close for Adri to counter, and thrust at Adri's side.
As the blade approached flesh, Teresa's yoki sensing waivered and began to fade but she ignored it. Had she paid closer attention, she would have noticed a pulse of yoki flow through Adri's arms. Blade met flesh but only grazed Adri's side as the warrior twisted out of a fatal injury and brought down her pommel onto Teresa's left shoulder.
There was a sharp crack and Teresa's arm fell limp to her side as the girl collapsed in shock. Adri took a moment to check her open wound then turned her attention back to Teresa. "Is that all you're capable of? You'd only survive in the 30's with that pitiful performance!"
Teresa gasped, trying to catch her breath and ignore the hot pain engulfing her whole left shoulder. Frustration flooded through her and tears fell from her eyes as the realization that she'd failed sunk in and that Adri would probably never trust her. Before she knew it, the dark presence in the back of her mind raged and her world turned black.
Adri took a step backward as she felt the air around her suddenly grow heavier. Glancing down at Teresa, the warrior's black eyes widened. This burst of raw power was radiating off of Teresa! The girl slowly rose using her sword as a support in place of her broken left arm, her head lowered.
Suddenly, Teresa's head snapped up, revealing the unbridled fury on the girl's face as she stared straight at Adri with menacing gold, slitted eyes. Adri cursed under her breath. Teresa must have lost it under all the pressure set on her.
"Some mentor I turned out to be…" Adri muttered. "I couldn't even see that she was starting to crack."
Adri risked a glance at Galena and Leoni, who were standing with their hands on their sword hilts. Adri shook her head as she backed farther away and motioned with her sword tip for the two to head deeper into the gap. Leoni, ever faithful Leoni, stayed where she was at, waiting for Adri to reconsider. Adri gave her a stern look, a message seeming to pass between the two without a word ever being uttered. Slowly, Adri nodded then turned her attention back to Teresa.
Leoni bit her lip and followed Galena and Irene after whispering, "Be careful, Adri."
Adri was left alone with a berserk Teresa. Thankfully, the trainee seemed more concerned about trying to heal her broken left shoulder, but Adri knew it was only a matter of time before the trainee's now evil eyes set their sight on the only person left to oppose her.
Steeling herself, Adri drew in a breath for confidence. She knew that if she prolonged a battle of shear power she would eventually lose to Teresa. Her set controls on her yoki power would break sooner rather than the preferred later. But perhaps there was an easier solution…
She could let Teresa win, but that would encourage the girl to delve deeper into the whirling morass of uncontrollable power rather than teach her not to rely on the beast-half for power. Another option would be to overpower and win with one earth-shattering blow, but that would endanger Leoni, Galena, and the trainee Irene with a rockslide. There was only one option left to take but it was the riskiest and had the smallest chance of success.
Teresa was quickly losing patience with the length of time it was taking to heal her arm and growled with frustration. Finally, the trainee gave up altogether and charged at Adri. Adri was ready for her.
Opening her now silver eyes, Adri unleashed a flurry of hard and swift blows at Teresa, forcing the girl to halt her advance and defend herself. With one burst of strength, Adri knocked Teresa's blade to the side then grasped Teresa's forehead with her right hand. The girl struggled violently to escape Adri's grip but the warrior would not be denied. Gradually, the fight began to leave the trainee until she eventually stopped completely.
Tentatively, Adri release Teresa, who stumbled back, disoriented. Adri knew it was a low blow but she brought her sword up and swung down at Teresa. There was no hesitance, not even a second given to take stock of her surroundings, when Teresa reacted.
A faint smile presented itself on Teresa's lips as the girl spun out of the way of Adri's claymore and brought her own blade to rest in the 'kill' position, next to Adri's throat. Adri smiled and thrust her sword into the ground. The fight was truly over.
Teresa had won.
The sun had long set when Adri, Galena, and Leoni gathered outside the camp.
"It's time to strike. You both remember your tasks?" Adri asked, her voice barely audible.
Both Leoni and Galena nodded. Adri smiled grimly, "Then let us begin."
Galena and Adri disappeared, using their inhuman speed to travel to their destination, a cliff overlooking the Organization-occupied town of Staff. Once there, Galena separated from Adri and continued into the town itself.
Adri watched the town in the dim moonlight, her eyes missing no detail in the mayhem below her. Galena and four other cloaked warriors fought against the guardsmen stationed in the town. It should have been a massacre but that wouldn't follow Adri's plan. Instead, the five warriors were suppressing their yoki as much as possible and causing a much needed diversion.
Movement from deeper in Staff alerted Adri to reinforcements. After taking a deep breath, she let fly a piercing whistle and the five warriors below immediately disengaged. The four cloaked warriors ran straight out of Staff, the guardsmen in pursuit, while Galena used her speed to head further into Staff.
Adri waited, her task would soon be accomplished and then the true games would begin. Three quick flashes of moonlight caught her eye, Galena's signal. Steeling herself, Adri gathered her yoki for one large burst then swung her sword right into the cliff-face, her eyes glowing gold.
Explosions of rock, boulders, and dirt rained upon only one area in Staff, the Organization's labs. After a few seconds, the cliff shifted and began to collapse, heading straight for the administration part of the Organization. Adri leaped into the air her sword raised. With one massive burst of yoki, she slammed her sword into the area between her two targets.
The Organization would forever remember the night where nearly half of their facility was destroyed in an instant and their Number 10 could do nothing to avert the disaster. The attack was over almost as quickly as it had begun but the damage was done. The Organization's manufacturing of new warriors was practically crippled and half of their painstaking research gone in a fraction of a second.
Adri's 'revenge' had begun.
Back at the camp near the Wandering Warrior valley, another sort of encounter was occurring. Teresa stood before Orsay, shaking slightly from exhaustion but mostly from nerves. The man in black was as calm and dark as ever as he asked, "Well? I hope you have made a wise decision."
Teresa nodded and gulped. "I have made my choice."
"And that is?"
"I will accept the task of killing Adri. In exchange, I gain the Organization's trust and a rank suitable for the task I've completed."
"A wise choice indeed, trainee Teresa. The deal has been struck."
What in the world? Teresa's betraying Adri?
Tune in for the next update to see what in the world happens next!
Your faithful author,
~Aurora Shadowglen~