Disclaimer: See previous chapters.
Revision Posted: 18-Jul-2009
Chapter Title: To Catch A Thief
Sheltered from the early morning wind by her position among the pile of small crates she'd found next to the shore, Fann stared unseeing towards the water. She wasn't sure how long she'd been sitting there, her arms wrapped around her knees, when a strange sound, almost like loose silverware in an industrial dishwasher, carried over the water to her, shaking her from her melancholic thoughts.
Startled, she looked across the bay, in the direction where the sound seemed to be coming from, but even after she'd stood up on the tallest crate it was too far away to see anything. Over the past few months she'd learned to take advantage of the improvements in her hearing, which now seemed much better than most other people, but judging distance by sounds she could hear wasn't something she was able to do with any accuracy yet.
As the sounds continued to reverberate across the bay, curiosity overcame her common sense and she found her feet subconsciously taking her away from her sheltered position in the direction of the sounds. Keeping to the shadows, Fann crept slowly along the shore towards the pier where she suspected they was coming from. As she got closer it became less scattered and oddly more familiar, in a distant memory kind of way, much like something from a dream or old movie.
She reached the entrance to the pier and made her way carefully down it until she reached a wall of haphazardly placed plastic crates. Hiding behind them, she looked in amazement towards the end of the pier, where the causes of the noises she'd been following were revealed and she was able to distinguish individual sounds.
The last few hundred feet of the cement pier was hidden from public view by a high wooden wall along its edges. Within this large area the pier was empty of any obstructions. It was bathed in an eery bright light falling down from several huge klieg lights hung high overhead.
In the middle of the impromptu arena two people where engaged in a vicious display of swordsmanship. From her position, even with her enhanced vision she could only just barely follow the movements of their blades and arms. They moved in a quick blur, making it hard for her to identify anything more about them than their gender.
Although one of the combatants, a man, seemed to tower over the other by at least a foot, to Fann's inexperienced eyes they seemed evenly matched. The other, a tall thin woman, seemed to be able to stay just out of his reach, only occasionally getting past his guard and inflicting minor damage. The seriousness of the situation was apparent every time their blades collided. She could tell that their complex dance was not just for show.
It took her several minutes of stealthy movement along the crates to get close enough to see their faces clearly. She watched in shock as Amanda fought against a large man in a deadly display. She'd been watching from several minutes, from a sheltered corner between the crates and the outer wall, when the man suddenly jumped forward and drove his heavy looking sword past Amanda's guard and through her side.
She watched in horror as he seemed to gather himself for a final blow. Raising his sword he shouted something that made no sense to her high school French.
Without thinking, Fann grabbed a nearby piece of pipe and jumped out from the crates. She ran across the open area towards the two as swiftly as possible. Swinging her pipe and diving forward, she knocked him away from Amanda, her pipe banging against the sword in his hand as he turned towards her in surprise.
Quickly getting to her feet and standing over the unconscious Amanda, Fann deflected his next swing with the short pipe, wincing at the force of the blow.
"Get out of my way girl!" He growled at her in an unidentifiable accent. "You're interfering in something you should stay out of."
Fann ignored his comments and focused on his weapon, just barely keeping him from reaching the downed woman. From Amanda's stillness as she lay on the ground, she had a bad feeling that she'd been too late, but she was too busy deflecting his blows to confirm it. He attacked over and over again, muttering under his breath in some language she couldn't understand.
She could feel herself tiring quickly, aching and bleeding from the multitude of small cuts he'd inflicted as he tried to get past her. She had the speed and strength to keep up with him for now but she knew that she couldn't last much longer against his skill.
Nothing in her experience had prepared her to deal with this kind of situation, not even the things she'd seen in her often graphically violent dreams. She knew she needed to get him away from Amanda. Now, while she still had the energy. The next time he drew back his sword, leaving her an opening, she dove forward under his swing, wildly waving her pipe. She could feel the dull thud as her pipe contacted his sword arm.
He stopped attacking and stepping back, stared at her in shock, dropping his sword. "Damn it!" He yelled at her. "You've broken my arm."
Not stopping to give him a chance to pick up his sword with his other hand, Fann grabbed a long wooden pole she'd spotted lying nearby. Swinging it wildly in front of her, she drove him further from Amanda until his back was to the wall of crates that shielded that end of the pier from public view. Reacting instinctively, Fann drove the end of the pole through his shoulder, wincing as she felt it slide along bone before it traveled completely through his shoulder and impaled him to one of the larger crates.
He stood there, his broken sword-arm dangling uselessly at his side, grimacing as he tugged at the pole. She watched him warily, breathing heavily, in shock at her own actions. Carefully backing up and keeping her eyes on him, Fann squatted down to check Amanda, finding to her dismay that she hadn't prevent him from killing her after all. She was probably dead even before Fann had jumped in to save her.
She picked up Amanda's sword and angrily stepped closer. It felt cold and heavy in her hands, unlike the wooden pole she'd held briefly minutes ago. But with only a vague idea of how to use it she faced him awkwardly, unsure of what to do with him. Not feeling very sympathetic to his plight, she was tempted to leave him there for someone else to find after the sun came up.
Before she could make a decision she heard a low groan. She turned in surprise to see the woman she'd thought was dead attempting to get to her feet. Forgetting about the man she'd impaled, Fann rushed over and squatting down next to her again. Dropping her sword, Fann wrapped her arms around the shaky woman.
"I hate dying," Amanda grumbled, her voice muffled by Fann's shoulder as she was pressed into it by Fann's relieved hug. Through her hug, Fann could feel her straining to get up. Pushing herself erect, she pulled Amanda up with her, keeping her in a tight grip.
"Dying?" Fann asked. "You were really dead?"
Fann could feel Amanda mumble her answer through her shirt. "Yes."
Fann loosened her grip and as soon as it was clear to her that Amanda could stand on her own, she stepped back, keeping one hand resting lightly on Amanda's shoulder.
"Can we save the explanations for later?" Amanda asked plaintively. "It's been a long day and I'm exhausted."
"What about..." she turned to point out where Amanda's foe was stuck to the crate. Her jaw dropped when she saw that he was gone. She stared at the spot but there was nothing to tell how he'd escaped. "He was there a minute ago," she protested, turning back to Amanda.
"It's alright," Amanda told her, her regret clear in her voice. "He doesn't like to stick around when he loses." She picked up her sword, hiding it under her coat with a quick maneuver Fann wasn't able to follow.
Fann looked back and forth between Amanda and the crate. Something very very strange was obviously going on. "Oh," she mumbled, not sure what else to say.
They walked slowly back to Amanda's hotel. Although she was obviously tired, for someone who'd looked dead less than an hour ago, Fann thought Amanda had quite a bit of energy. But she didn't seem to be in any hurry to explain the earlier events. She followed Amanda into the hotel and up to her suite, her body buzzing like she'd drunk too much coffee in too short a time.
Once in her suite, Amanda hung up her coat and sword before collapsing in the chair furthest from the door. She waved a hand at Fann, pointing at another chair in the room. She still wore the same puzzled look Amanda had seen on her face when she'd come back to life earlier. She rarely found herself in the position of having to explain herself to a non-immortal but unless she could suddenly perform magic to make Fann forget what she'd seen she didn't think she had much choice.
"Why don't you order us something from room service?" Amanda suggested, pointing at the phone. "Anything you want, as long as one of the things you order has meat in it."
Fann ignored her request. "What are you?"
"Tired and hungry," Amanda grumbled. "If you're going to stay, you need to get me something to eat." She glared at Fann, hoping she would take the hint.
Fann gave her a sheepish look before grabbing the phone and the room service menu. "Anything?" she asked.
"Yes. And a lot of it." At Fann's unasked question she tried to answer as simply as possible. "It takes a lot of energy to go through something like that. I need to eat now or I'll sleep all day tomorrow recovering."
"Oh," Fann said, before turning back to the phone and calling room service.
Amanda stayed in her chair, saying nothing further as she waited for the food to arrive. Observing Fann she noticed that she seemed to be very agitated. She couldn't seem to sit still, continually getting up and wandering around the suite before dropping back into her own chair. She wondered what was causing Fann's behavior but was too exhausted to do anything about it.
Falling into a light sleep, she was awoken by a knock on the door. Pushing herself erect, she waved Fann to the door and watched with amusement as she efficiently dealt with the curious hotel employee delivering her food. She seemed to have recovered her composure.
"Go ahead," she told her, seeing her staring hungrily at the food on the dining cart. "I'm sure you ordered enough for both of us."
"Thanks," Fann mumbled before quickly removing covers from the collection of dishes. "What do you want?"
"A little bit of everything to start with," Amanda told her, getting up slowly from her soft chair. Walking over to the small table Fann had quickly placing the dishes on, she sat down and picked up a fork.
She let Fann eat everything on her plate and had made a good start on her own food before saying anything else. "Do you always eat so much?" She asked Fann, giving her a small smile as she watched the girl fill her plate again.
"No." Fann looked a little embarrassed but she didn't stop eating. "That fight with that guy with the sword... I was starving after." She shrugged. "It's never happened before. But I haven't been in a fight like that before." She mumbled.
"I'll have to remember that for the future," Amanda said, winking at her. "You get hungry after a fight."
"The future?" Fann echoed hesitantly.
"Well, I'm assuming that, since you showed up just in the nick of time, you want to come work for me."
"Yes." She took another bite from the large omelet that she'd just put on her plate. "As long as it doesn't involve too much fighting." Amanda could see her visibly shudder. "That sword thing was kind of scary. And painful."
"Okay," Amanda said, pausing for a moment and looking at her closely, but not seeing any signs of any real damage. "I can't guarantee that it will never happen again. But you shouldn't have to worry about defending yourself from someone with a sword in the future." I hope, she continued silently to herself, glad she wasn't famous like MacLeod. She didn't usually have to worry about headhunters; except when she was around him. "It's me they would be after and I can take care of myself."
Fann gave her a skeptical look and Amanda shook her head. "No, this morning's encounter wasn't normal. Except here." She sighed. "Luis and I go back a long way. He looks me up every time I'm here, we have our little fight, and nothing much happens."
"Dying is nothing much?" Fann stared at her aghast, putting down her fork.
"Yes. It obviously wasn't permanent," Amanda answered, negligently waving her free hand. "And while I appreciate the help, if you see something like that again, you can't interfere."
"He said that also," Fann told her. "Why not? I'm just supposed to let someone kill you? And why wasn't it permanent? If someone stabbed me like that I would still be dead." Fann asked.
"I'm not really sure how to explain this," Amanda said to her, reaching for the wine bottle. "But before I start I need you to promise you won't tell anyone any of this."
"Sure..." Fann said reluctantly.
"There are a few people in the world who are able to survive things like that. I know what you think you saw but I wasn't truly dead," Amanda said, popping a piece of muffin into her mouth.
"Sure looked like it," Fann said. "And even if you weren't dead, why aren't you bleeding all over the place? I'm still sore and I was only cut a couple times by him."
"For the same reason I'm not dead," Amanda said. "I heal very quickly after something like that. It's exhausting and I need to eat as soon after something like that as I can but... I'm still here."
"So why did that guy, Luis, want to fight you?" Fann asked, "And is he one of those people?"
"It's a thing he has," she said dismissively, not really interested in going into the whole sordid story, though she could easily recall her first encounter with him several centuries before. "Some day one of us will win."
"How can you win?"
"It's part of the Game," Amanda admitted. "Which is why you can't interfere again."
"The Game? What's that?" Fann asked.
"Well..." She paused for a sip of wine. "It's not true that we can't be killed. You just need to know how. One of the advantages of not dying like other people... is that we live for a very long time."
Fann stared at her. "How long is a long time?"
"I'm not sure. Long enough that some people started calling us immortals." She shrugged dismissively. "It's as good a name as any. I've managed to avoid dying for a thousand years, but I know there are immortals older than myself out there."
"Oh..." Fann looked at her, her surprise very evident. "So what is this game you don't want me to interfere with?"
"The Game..." Amanda mused, "is a contest to the death between all immortals. No one is really sure what the prize is but the last immortal left alive gets it. Whatever it is."
"And you have to do this?" Fann's face expressed her horror at the thought.
"We don't all actively participate in the Game," Amanda admitted. "Some of us only fight when we don't have any choice. I would rather spend my time doing other things," she said, winking at Fann.
"Oh." Fann stopped for a moment to refill her plate again. "Is there anything I need to know?"
"Yes. There are several rules most of us follow."
"Like what?" Fann asked.
"One on one fights. Usually with swords. And once a fight starts, no one is supposed to interfere." Fann shifted nervously and Amanda wondered what she was thinking. They hadn't discussed yet what had happened between the time Luis had killed her and she'd come back.
"Why swords?"
"Mostly because it's traditional. Other weapons work but most of us prefer something with a sharp edge." Amanda grimaced, knowing she was taking a risk trusting Fann enough to reveal her one real vulnerability as an immortal. "And because the only way to really kill an immortal involves removing their head. Swords are the easiest way to do that."
"Ick." Fann gulped and pushed away her plate. "So if I hadn't stopped him, this Luis... eww..."
"Yes. I would now be a foot shorter." Amanda told her bluntly.
"Are there any other rules?"
"Just one. Immortals don't fight on holy ground."
"Why? What's special about holy ground?"
"I'm not really sure." Amanda admitted, "But there are legends that say something bad will happen if an immortal's Quickening is taken on holy ground."
"Quickening?" Fann hesitantly pronounced the word. "What do you mean by that?"
Amanda sighed, amazed at her own patience with Fann's questions. "Whatever makes someone immortal, whatever it is that keeps us alive... whenever an immortal really dies, that power is released and goes into the nearest immortal. It can be dangerous for any bystanders."
"Is it magic?" Amanda detected a curious tone in Fann's question.
"I'm not sure. It isn't anything like any other real magic that I've seen."
"Oh..." Fann looked vaguely disappointed and Amanda filed away her reaction for later thought, briefly wondering why she hadn't objected to the idea of magic.
"You're taking this fairly calmly," Amanda noted.
"Well, I've seen some weirder things than that this year," Fann admitted. "Finding out there are people out there who could live almost forever but who seem to want to kill each other instead... might be disturbing but isn't a big deal."
"Okay," Amanda said. Getting up from the table, she stretched, feeling much better after eating. "I've changed my mind about the job offer."
"Huh?" Fann looked at her.
"I was originally thinking I could use an assistant for a couple jobs this year and maybe next, but after this morning I think that would be a waste. If you can chase someone like Luis away, you obviously have more potential than I thought."
"Okay..." Fann frowned at her.
"It won't pay any more but I think there are several advantages for both of us," Amanda mused.
"Advantages to what?"
Amanda paused for effect. "How would you like to be my apprentice?"
AN1: This story takes place in a multi-fandom story universe of my own invention that, in addition to Highlander and Eerie, Indiana, includes characters and ideas from Harry Potter and Tomb Raider. Those stories, centered around Buffy, Faith, and Willow, can be found on Twisting the Hellmouth.
AN2: I'm well aware of the Wanderverse and Journeyverse stories. My story universe is already complex enough without adding that to the mix.