Chapter 20 – Team Work

Two weeks passed and Tiene was as good as new, her arm and shoulder having healed as if it had never been broken or dislocated in the first place. Fyn's healing touch had certainly made a tremendous difference.

Communication between her and Sauren however, had not mended so easily. He was away mostly, but when he was in the grounds, although he was always polite and pleasant, it seemed strained somehow. He no longer snuck up on her and her group now and again, giving them frights or testing how long it took them to detect his presence. She missed that.

A couple of months further down the line and she regretted ever having been told what Lexie confided in her. Her so-called friend had not even kept in touch like she said she would. Further proof that her story had been nothing but an attempt to unsettle Tiene and undermine her opinion of Sauren.

Oddly, and she knew not why, she found herself lying awake some nights, listening to see if footsteps passed her door, or sighs and moans could be heard from across the hall. Daft, she supposed, considering he was mostly out of the grounds anyway.

Training continued with her team. They learned how to dodge and parry with super efficiency. The art of bluffing, which turned out to be great fun against each other often resulting in shrieks of laughter, but which Ylwen emphasised could be the difference between the giving or receiving of a death blow in the field. Agility was tested to the max, more obstacle courses although nothing like the Fall of Death Trial. Some of the agility tests were actually held outwith the grounds either in the woods, where the students learned how to shimmy up trees in the blink of an eye and use the surrounding flora for camouflage. Sometimes they even ventured into the city, scaling some of the buildings and crossing rooftops. The team worked well together and also on an individual basis.

They learned many new strikes. Tiene had her favourites. Exsanguinate, where you twisted your blades in your victim to make them bleed so much faster resulting in massive blood loss. Then Fan of Knives, she loved, especially when they were issued their collection of throwing knives which were stored in wrist, ankle and thigh wraps. Each little blade had its own slot and Tiene thought she looked very good with all that metal glinting on her. Well, she did until Ylwen pointed out that those little glints could give away their positions to the enemy, so camouflage was pertinent.

Tiene practiced and practiced with her little blades, even into the night when others were sleeping. Quite often she just sat in the middle of the courtyard, bathed in moonlight, thinking fondly and longingly of her beloved Camnath. She had to be honest, she was envious of him. His letters told her of the missions he had been on, well, as much as he was allowed to tell her. He had been on five now. Granted he said some were only small affairs, collecting documents and such, but still. So, she would end up sharpening and repeatedly throwing all her blades at the hapless target dummies, honing her skill and trying to cap her frustration.

Sometimes she thought of Sauren too. He was gone a lot of the time, but when he came back, he did not spend much time with the group or offer words of encouragement. All the praise came from the trainers. Which was good! But he was the one everyone wanted noticed by. His opinion was what mattered. She was sure he still avoided her because of that day in the library.

It was one night when she sat sharpening her blades and then throwing them at the dummies, that finally, things looked like they might get back on track.

"You are improving with those," Sauren said from behind her. "Although, if you keep sharpening them after every other throw you will have no blades left."

She turned. He was in full battle gear, bladed to the teeth, his long hair pulled back tight under a black bandanna, the full platinum locks hidden under a cloak. He looked – lethal.

"Thank you," she said, continuing to sharpen a blade regardless. "I wasn't aware you had noticed. You're always away." That had come out a little more bitterly than she intended.

He sat down beside her and clasped his hands over his knees.

She sighed. "On your way out again on another mission?"

"Yes. Soon."

"Good! I mean, good for you..." She groaned. It wasn't coming out right at all. She sounded all huffy and petty. "I mean..."

"I know what you mean Tiene. Look, I'm sorry for the way things have been. I do not want you disheartened. You are a formidable rogue, potentially one of the best assassins we have ever developed, and that includes your parents."

"Doesn't feel like it. Training has mostly been great but... " she sighed again, "I know my father said there was a lot of training that was tedious maybe even boring, forgive me, I am not criticising your trainers, nor your schedules it's just..."

He remained silent. It wasn't an awkward silence either, it was a polite one. He was waiting for her to finish saying her piece.

"I feel I am suffocating here. I want to get out, do missions. Like Camnath."

His jaw tightened, but she didn't see that. She threw a blade. It hit the dummy smack in the middle of the head.

His eyes stared at the blade. "I'm glad I didn't approach you from the front," he said and turned to her. She held his gaze, then looked at the blade. Both started to laugh. It was good to laugh together again.

"I know you're frustrated. I promised to take you on missions once you were better, and I haven't done so yet. I'd be annoyed too, if it was me."

She smiled. "Yes. Well..." she threw another blade. It shaved the edge of the first one, making the metal sing.

He raised his eyebrows. That was impressive. "In two days, I will take you and your team on a mission. It will be just be a search and find one, but good practice for your skills in stealth and agility. After that, they will be regular." He stood up and dusted down his britches.

"Promise?" she felt her spirits rise.

"Yes, I promise. You are past ready to be honest, especially going by that last throw." He nodded towards the dummy. "We will make an excellent team, I promise you."

She smiled. Things were looking better. Definitely.

"Good night, Tiene." Before she could respond, he ran forward, scaled the walls of the courtyard and disappeared into the night.

"Show off!" she smiled. Gathering her blades, she made her way to her rooms and for the first time in a long time, had a relaxing sleep.

Next morning, she felt exhilarated, even more so when a letter arrived from Camnath. In it, he let her into a secret. He let her know that very few rogues practiced the magic form of stealth which she had mastered and had taught Camnath.

This had turned out to be extremely advantageous for him if infiltrating enemy rogue camps, as it literally made him undetectable by other rogues, unless they knew the same method, which was very rare indeed. The only snag was, any enemies who specialised in the art of magic, could detect you, as the magic had a certain pungency to spell-casters.

Tiene found this interesting. It was perhaps, something she herself should have realised, with Inaris being a warlock, it would explain how he had always had the upper hand when she engaged it. She made a mental note to use it if a mission so required. She had, wisely perhaps, never used it inside the Crimson Blade grounds, nor had she told anyone about it. She was now glad she had kept it secret. It could give her an edge sometime.

She was excited to tell her team about the pending mission and they were equally looking forward to it. It seemed to give them all a boost. They met their chores, tasks and studying with vigour the next couple of days.

Having just bathed after returning from the mission he had been on, Sauren leaned, shirtless, on the railings, above the courtyard. His eyes focused on Tiene like a cat followed a mouse. She was coming along very nicely. Her movements were lithe, fluent, swift. The strikes honed, potentially lethal but still needing a little fine tuning. His eyes checked out her team. Every one of them, massively improved and inclined to follow her lead, he noticed. "Interesting," he said under his breath.

Brett stood silently to his right. The older man watched his master's face. He didn't so much hear him, as he saw him utter something. "Sorry, Sauren?" he said.

The half elf glanced quickly at his right hand man, then pointed down to the trainees. "Look, Brett. They follow her, they have elected her leader."

Brett looked down into the courtyard. Sauren was right enough. The others did look to Tiene for leadership. No other teams had done this, they all just followed their trainers. He glanced back at Sauren. The man was obviously pleased by this development. "Tomorrow shall be good," Sauren said, a smile on his lips.

Tishleen wiped her brow, the last bout of duelling had been quite ardous with Tiene. She was super quick and although Tishleen was also light on her feet, she had still been bested three out of four bouts with the blonde high elf. As she tugged back her hair that had adhered to the film of sweat on her face, she glanced up. "Oh my!" she gasped.

Tiene followed her gaze. Sauren stood watching them, shirtless, his skin with a fine sheen on it as if he had just stepped out of a bath tub. Tiene grinned at Tishleen as the dwarf started fanning herself. "Down, Tish," she laughed. "You'll give yourself an injury."

Emmek looked up at what had caught his cousin's attention. He made a sound of disgust and grumbled under his breath, "Harlot! Keep yer eyes off that half breed and focus on yer training."

"Whae are ye callin' a harlot!" she spat back, bristling as if she had feathers ruffled.

"Him! Rumour hus it he dips it in onything that walks past him withoot drawers on."

"You had better not lose your britches on any iron poles again then, Emmek," Thil'las said with a smirk as he came into the duelling arena to take on Tiene. The other team members tried to stifle their laughter.

"Och, ye dirty long-eared git," Emmek growled, shuddering at the thought.

Laughter erupted from them all at that. Until they saw Ylwen scowling at them that was. The trainer glared at every team member until they all resumed a serious disposition and carried on with their training. She turned away after to look across the courtyard. She had found it difficult to stem her own laughter, but she daren't let the trainees see that side of her.

Just before the duel began between her and Thil'las, Tiene's eyes drifted up to the walkway once more. Their half naked leader had disappeared.

The following morning, the team were called into a room off from the library. One which none of them had been aware even existed. It was a relatively basic room, the walls all wooden panels and the flooring too, polished to a high quality sheen. A large heavy table sat at the top of the room, one or two chairs dotted against the walls nearby. The one time window had been blacked out, preventing any inquisitive eyes from looking in. Lighting in the room was afforded by four large free-standing oil-filled lanterns and an ornate chandelier.

Sauren was already waiting for them. He stood looking over something on the table as they approached the far end of the room. "Good morning," he said without lifting his eyes.

"Morning, Guild Master," they all replied.

He remained quiet, still studying what was in front of him, his long platinum hair brushing whatever it was that had his interest. The team stood, occasionally glancing at Tiene, wondering what was going on. She shrugged but indicated they all just look forward and wait.

Finally, Sauren spoke. "The Crimson Blade is approached by considerably wealthy clients who require certain tasks to be carried out. Their identities however, are strictly confidential and known only by the team leader or, obviously should there be no team involvement, the lone rogue."

The group were riveted. "Tasks can range from finding war plans, blueprints for buildings, or weapons of war, artifacts of great value, some merely of sentimental value. Sometimes, it requires us to very discreetly, dispose of some, shall we say ... troublesome individuals."

The team shifted on uneasy feet. All except Tiene. Sauren's eyes peered at her from between his platinum plaits. She was focused. He lifted his head and looked out over the entire team. "An assassination however, is a very different operation from one where it is simply a case of kill or be killed. I hope you are all at least confident that you can do the latter?"

There was a hesitant nodding of heads. Sauren smiled. "It is also immeasurably easier to do, first time anyhow, if the potential killer is a creature, as opposed to a humanoid."

He stepped out from behind the table. He was as Tiene had seen him the other night, in full battle gear. Black leather, hidden compartments with deadly blades and poisons as well as two ornate daggers sheathed at his hips. He was quite something to look at. Tiene suppressed a grin as she noted Tish's eyes widen as he neared the team. His leather clad frame did not escape Shenyssea's attention neither. Tiene rolled her eyes.

The guild leader carried on. "We are heading out to Deadwind Pass where we will encounter, amongst other things, spiders the likes of which most of you may not have seen before. They are large, ferocious and they simply will not stop coming at you until they are dead."

"I hate spiders," groaned Zachery.

The guild leader laughed menacingly. "Not as much as they will hate you, Zach."

"I mean, they scare me."

"Then I suggest you get over your fear boy, or you will end up as spider food!" Brown eyes flashed at the human trainee. The whole group tensed.

"Y – yes, guild master," Zach said feeling foolish.

"I take it we are not just killing spiders though, so what or who is our actual target?" Tiene asked, trying to take attention away from the embarrassed Zach.

Sauren turned to her. He smiled warmly. Astute as always. "What gave it away, Tiene?"

The team all turned to her. "The fact you were studying something on that table at length when we came in. Also, your introductory speech was way too detailed for us to simply go out bug-stomping."

"Clever girl," he said. He turned to the rest of the group. "Follow Tiene's example, be observant, listen, assess. It's not all slice and dice that makes you a good rogue." He moved back behind the table. Leaning his palms on its surface he told them what they were going to be doing. "We will be trying to locate evidence of a library in the vicinity. It was believed to be destroyed when the boy wonder, Khadgar, defeated Medhiv, the last Guardian, during the First War."

"We are looking for books, ten years after the library was declared destroyed?" Keeaen asked.

"Our client suspects it was not so much destroyed, as concealed." Sauren explained further. "It will no doubt be guarded by magic wards, which we are not qualified to breach. But, if we find the location, our client will be able access it."

"Warlocks and mages would be better at finding it then. Why waste rogues' time on such a mission?" Keeaen asked.

Tiene thought it was impertinent of Keeaen, and she tensed, thinking he would be shouted at like Zach had been.

Sauren lowered his head as if deep in thought, then he raised it again and looked directly at Tiene. "Someone once implied that training could be tedious and boring, perhaps wondering what its purpose was at times..." Tiene's mouth gave way to a small smirk. "Well," he continued, looking back at the rest of the team. "it's purpose is to hone your skills, prepare you for the future and keep you safe. That is why sometimes we do what may appear to be menial tasks and missions. But all have a purpose. All can shape our future."

They all nodded.

"A portal awaits," he said leading the way to the door. "Let's get going. The place we go to is huge, a maze within a maze, it will be easy to lose each other, therefore we must stick together unless I direct you otherwise. The location by the way, is Karazhan."