A/N: okay, so for some reason the link got cut off for the two wolves story...and I'm sorry for that if you were really interested in the story. :(

I'm sure you can find it if you search 'Tale of Two Wolves Story.' It'll pop up somewhere.

Okay! Here's the next chapter as promised!

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Enjoy!

Chapter: 29

Tori pulled at the armored leggings, they felt friggin' weird. She was not used to wearing armor, flexible or not…or any protective gear at all. The Talon suit was weird to her, it was also damning, like she was now officially her family's enemy. It was strange how everyone back on the other side of the river was now her considered family. Yes Dick and Tim were truly her family and Jason…he could be her family one day, but Bruce, Steph, Babs, Alfred and Damian were in that category as well. Maybe it had taken what happened to her for her to realize that for all their differences, they were her family…they were the ones who had her back and right now, she had no idea where they were or if they were even looking, but they were still family no matter what.

Tori followed William down to the training area, the Talons didn't stop their work to stare or gawp at her, they just continued their training. One pair, sparring with swords nearly ran right into her, oblivious to the fact she was there or they just didn't care. He led her to the forge, which was surprisingly larger on the inside than expected, hotter too.

A Talon stood at the anvil, striking the molten metal with a hammer. He had his back to them. William waited, as did Tori, until the Talon finally put the hammer down and dunked the metal in the water bucket beside the anvil. He turned and faced William. He was tall, broad shouldered with light hair and grey eyes. Mutated veins spiraled his face and neck, he must never leave the nest she thought to herself. Tori shook her head, she should not be using terms like that…should she? Tori bit her lip worriedly,

"William," the man said, "It's been a while," William smiled, actually smiled,

"fifty years Danbury," he said,

"What can I do for you?"

"My heir needs a teacher. A sword teacher, you are the best," Danbury frowned,

"I still have responsibility at the forge, I make all the Talons' weapons. I don't have time to train someone, even if I do owe you,"

"I know, but she's never fought before with a sword—let alone at all—I doubt she's even held one for that matter,"

"I've held a sword," Tori snapped, crossing her arms. Both men turned to look at her and Tori uncrossed her arms warily. Danbury huffed out a sigh before getting up and grabbing two swords by the points and held them out for her to see,

"Hold the one that's the better of the two," he said, Tori stared at him wondering if it was a trick question. The swords were identical. She may not have her super brain chip anymore, but she was still pretty smart for someone her age. Tori glanced at William, who frowned at her, then at Danbury who nodded towards the blades,

"Um…this one?" she said uncertainly, grasping the one in his right hand. Danbury made a 'tsk'ing noise at her choice before looking at how she held the blade,

"We have a lot of work to do," Danbury said,

"I'll get her in an hour for her next lesson," William said before hurrying from the forge,

"Well that was encouraging," Tori muttered, "What did I do wrong?" she asked. Danbury didn't reply for a minute, he just looked at her a hand to his chin,

"Are you related to William? You are his heir, I know, but his other one completely rejected the idea and I don't know if he just picked you up off the street or if you are actually related,"

"I'm his great-granddaughter," she stated flatly,

"Right, I can see it now,"

"Who are you?" Tori asked, stopping herself from snapping that she and William had nothing in common,

"I'm Danbury, and that is all you will need to know. I have been in service to the Court since the sixteen-fifties and I'm a master swordsman and blacksmith,"

"And you're teaching me because you and William are besties?" Tori asked,

"How heavy do you think a sword is?" Danbury asked, clearly done with the light discussion,

"I dunno, pretty heavy?" Tori stated, "This one is," she added, nodding to the sword she still held,

"That's because it's a bad sword,"

"Are there really bad swords?"

"Yes. Swords that are balanced and weighted correctly are actually pretty light," Danbury said, swapping the sword she held with the one he still held. The tip swept upward the moment he let go, it was still slightly too heavy, but it was generally easier to hold up than the other sword. Danbury moved closer and grabbed her wrist. He then positioned her fingers differently around the hilt, "Be careful about how you hold the sword," he said, "You never know when you will need to change or use both hands. This will give you the room and time you need to make that change." He then took her out of the forge and into a ring drawn with chalk on the concrete floor. Danbury taught her some forms and movements which she, on purpose, sloppily mimicked until he frowned and walked over to stand in front of her,

"You are William's great-granddaughter right?" Danbury asked, Tori nodded, unsure of what he was getting at, "But you didn't want to become a Talon did you?" she shook her head, "And you are not trying because of that," reluctantly she nodded. Danbury sighed and looked up into the bright lights shining down on them,

"You see those windows, lining the room above the whole training room?" Tori nodded, "That is where the Owls are. They watch at all times, making sure none of the Talons slack off. We have free time, but when it is training time, we train. They watch because they want to know who they can count on, who they can send on assignments without a doubt of success. Those they deem untrustworthy, they freeze for a time before letting them out again…the ones who still lack the motive to try afterwards, they kill," Tori looked over at Danbury sharply,

"I thought we couldn't die,"

"There is a way. The Owls have found a way. Why do you think none of us turn against them? A lot of us did not want this life. Some chose it, some were forced to choose it…but we all did it to survive. The Owls know that and came up with a way to keep us all here. We can die of old age…we do age, why do you think they freeze us and created Electrum? It brings us back to life, but it also changes the speed at which we age once resurrected. We age slowly, very very slowly," Tori looked up at the blackened windows,

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because, I want you to try. I do not want you to fail on purpose because you think there is nothing to learn here. There are plenty of things to learn. Do you know how many people would kill for the chance to be taught by me, one of the last known swordsmen trained in several forms of sword fighting dating back to the Middle Ages? I come from a line of warriors, many of whom were both good and bad. What you do with this knowledge is up to you. I know you believe you will be rescued from this place, but if, or when, you are…take some of this knowledge you learn here back with you and put it to use,"

Tori looked over at Danbury, slightly stunned by his speech. She wasn't sure what to make of it. Was he just saying that so she'll try? Was he lying to her? Manipulating her…or was he trying to tell her something deeper. How did he know she expected to be rescued and why would he want her to use his teachings once out of this compound? What could he want? Tori knew he wouldn't say it outright, maybe that's a lesson in itself, but if what he said about the Owls was true…she had to try otherwise she'd be dead before her rescuers even came.

"…fine. Do we start again?" Tori asked finally,

"No," Danbury said shaking his head, "Your arms are not strong enough yet. We need to make you stronger,"

"Hey, I've had super strength for the past…um…two years. I'm not used to being just me," Tori said, crossing her arms and feeling slightly offended and awkward,

"You are anything but just you. You are a Talon, but a new one and a weak one. We need to make you strong," he said, leading her back to the forge,

"And how are we going to do that?" Tori asked,

"By putting you to work," Danbury said, holding out a hammer to her.


And put her to work did they. Tori was not prepared for the magnitude of knowledge they would hand her. None of her teachers tolerated any kind of slacking and as William said, expected nothing but mastery. William taught her most of the combative lessons such as hand-to-hand combat, archery, and dagger throwing(his specialty). He was a tough teacher, but a very good one. No wonder Dick had trouble defeating him when they fought in December. The days flew by and Tori could feel every sore bone and muscle, sometimes she could hardly move but they never let her spend a day off and some days she felt like she could hardly breath.

Marius taught her how to create and disarm explosives while Helga, one of the Talons that helped her when she first woke up, taught her everything on acrobatics and gymnastics. It was bitter work, but Tori was learning. They were masters at many different crafts and they taught Tori everything they knew. Tori did not expect to enjoy the things she learned, but boy did she learn.

Tori learned how do walk through shadows like a ghost on any surface in any shoe. She learned how to climb up a wall with no harness and barely any foot or handholds. She learned how to move so fast no one could follow her movements, not as fast as when she had super speed, but much faster than any human can. Tori learned how to track a target—no a person—from miles away through night or day, good weather or bad weather. Tori learned how to track footprints and make traps. She learned to hear things from a great distance and to discern what those sounds were. Tori learned everything, she nearly mastered everything within weeks. It was hard to believe how fast time had flown, she had been a Talon for a whole month, and the others had still not come for her. Tori wasn't too concerned anymore though…as horrible as it may seem…she didn't think she'd care if they came or not.

William was very proud of her progress. The only thing that was lacking was here sword skills. Danbury was a slow, precise and practical teacher. He taught at his own pace and didn't move on until there was perfection in the last thing he had taught her. As of two weeks after he gave her her first lesson, she was still hammering away in the forge. Danbury was determined to teach her the proper way to create three different types of metal work weapons: a Spadone, a short sword and a dagger. She would not learn to use any type of sword until she mastered creating them. Tori would only learn with the weapons she made herself and no other would suffice. She asked him one day why those three swords and why only he wore three swords,

"I wear three swords because I was taught to use three swords," was all he said, "And you will learn to fight just as I did, with those three swords made by your own hand,"

"How many other Talons have you trained?"

"None," was all he said…then, "One," he amended,

"Who?"

"My son,"

"Where is he now?"

"Gone," was all he said. Tori hammered away in that forge, failing every time to make the swords the exact way Danbury wanted them. She was falling behind and if the Owls took notice, she was dead. The greatest Talon's great granddaughter or not,

"How is any of this going to help me swing a sword!" She snapped one evening, tossing the hammer aside in anger. Danbury narrowed his eyes at her from where he had been leaning against the wall. He grabbed a sword from its fastenings and moved towards her. Tori stepped back, thinking he was going to attack her…you could never be too sure here…everyone got attacked randomly whether out of anger or spite at some point or another,

"Take it," he said, holding the blade out to her. It was the heavy one, Tori took the sword, it felt wrong and she said as much, "Swing with it. Do one of the movements I taught you on the first day. I know you remember them," Tori scowled. She could not lift the blade well back then, but as she stepped and swung, the blade flew gracefully through the air with a light swooshing noise…like it was singing. She turned to face her trainer, eyes wide. Danbury nodded, a light smile on his face,

"That is why you have been here, hammering away at the forge. To lift a sword, you need the strength to do it. You heard how that blade sung? That was a faulty blade, imagine what you could do with a real sword. That hammer, the one you threw and the one you have been using to shape metal for the past month? It has been strengthening you, you do not gain muscle from just lying around, even if that is not what you have been doing. You need weight and resistance, something swinging a hammer in the heat of the forge will do," Tori looked at the blade, a grin forming without her consent before she gave it back to Danbury and picked up the hammer again.


A/N: Yay! New character!

Danbury is a character I kind of borrowed from another book series I really love. He was a sword master in that book too, but he wasn't a main character and he was only mentioned, not really there, there so I based this Danbury off of what I knew about him. The series he's from is the Riyria Revelations(first book is called Theft of Swords). It's really well written and I highly highly highly recommend it. I'm trying to recruit fans because there's not that many people who know of the series! :)

REVIEW!

Next chapter on Sunday!