Trying to track Serenity through a dark wood was, in a word, useless.
Long experience and unbreakable habit guided her steps. No sound marked her passage – no rustle of clothes, no careless footstep to break a twig. Even so, she flitted through the forest, faster than an owl might fly and with none of the racket.
Caution came naturally to her – more so these days, summoned as Servant Assassin. Even as an invisible spirit, even with her presence erased so that the most sensitive mediums could stand in front of her and swear she was not there; even then she instinctually ducked through the deepest shadows, doubling back in unpredictable patterns so that she was impossible to follow. Each footstep was light enough to not leave tracks in the loose leaf litter that covered the forest floor.
Sakura's clothes had been spread out, thrown in every direction as soon as Serenity judged she was deep enough into the wood. She'd gone into spirit form at this point, so that not a single trace of the girl's scent still clung to her skin or clothes.
Even above all that, the Einzbern woods had subtle enchantments in them, meant to mislead and confuse intruders. Some of the trees were even identical, grown through alchemy to mimic each other exactly and make an unwary traveller even more hopelessly lost. Serenity herself, naturally, was exempted from any ill effects from her own Master's territory.
In short, as soon as she fled beneath the eaves, Serenity should have been safe.
Instead…
Serenity glanced to her left, and saw a flicker of motion, far in the distance. She threw herself to the floor in a roll, and an arrow split the air above her head. She flung a knife in the direction she judged the figure to have been moving, and took off in the opposite direction.
Five steps later – a fraction of a second, a quarter of a mile – something with claws exploded into sight from her right side. Serenity leapt into the canopy, flinging a flurry of knives behind her and landing soft as a feather on a branch, a dark shadow in a dark twisted tree – but when she turned to look, the thing was gone, only a trail of disturbed leaf litter on the forest floor marking its passage.
Serenity huddled further into the shadows in the tree. If she was impossible to see while in darting, dizzying motion – and she was, she was sure – she may as well not be there at all when she held still.
She heard a growl in her ear.
Serenity was on the ground and dodging backwards in an eyeblink, barely parrying an arrow which shook her knife in her hand and spun her around as she forced it aside. Even before she broke contact, a poisoned dagger from her off hand ripped back along the arrow's path… hitting nothing as a dark figure in the trees vanished from sight, so quickly it seemed to have just popped like a soap bubble.
"Bent leaves," said Archer, from somewhere behind Serenity. "Branches swaying from your weight. Leaf litter rotted where your feet have been. Even air currents disturbed by your passage. You really have no idea how to move in a forest, do you?"
Serenity darted from tree to tree, a rush that only looked frantic and headlong because of the sheer speed of it. She glimpsed a flash of green ahead, and doubled back – only to jerk her head to the side, an arrow grazing her cheek and ruffling her hair. Spirit senses, still new to Servant Assassin, warned her just in time as Archer sped in from behind. Only a flurry of thrown knives bought her enough distraction to duck behind a tree and break Archer's line of sight.
She dematerialised, still running, still dodging. Her caution was rewarded when another shot from Archer missed her by inches.
Cursing wasn't Serenity's style, certainly not out loud and certainly not while locked in mortal combat. But Archer had been right. Serenity was fast, and could use the tree branches like an open road, and could disappear in all the shadows and places to hide. For all that, though, she just wasn't used to forests.
Atalante the Huntress, on the other hand, had been killing things in the wilds of Ancient Greece ever since she was born.
And she was fast. Impossibly fast, in fact. She seemed to be everywhere at once, always exactly in Serenity's path or waiting to fire an arrow from the worst angle. There had to be more to it than just brute speed, although Archer certainly had more than enough of that. Skill, that was what made up the gap. She knew just where to look, where to be, where her prey would run, and when to loose her arrow – every bit the expert in hunting that Serenity was in killing.
Those arrows, too – Serenity had seen what they did to Berserker, and had no illusions she'd hold up as well. Worse, Archer apparently had no trouble slotting them through tiny gaps in the trees, from beyond visual range.
This was why Servant Assassin never fought other Servants directly if they could help it.
Okay, Serenity thought, mind racing even faster than her heart. If Archer could track her anyway, it was time to be a little less subtle. Archer wanted to make this a contest of speed? Serenity was game.
She had not, in life, often called on her full speed… but even so, the Order had made sure that the Old Man of the Mountain was as impossible to outrun as death itself.
When Serenity next touched down, she materialised and crouched, muscles bunching. Then she exploded forward, flying like a black arrow through the trees. Like this, there was no time to touch the ground – sheer acceleration carried her forward at about head height, feet pounding off tree trunks and tearing splinters off from the impact.
These seemed to hang in mid-air, in a frozen world that simply had no time to change before a Servant moving at full speed was past and clear.
While trying to move unnoticed, Serenity covered ground at an incredible pace. Having thrown caution to the wind, there was nothing in this world that could catch her…
… except, perhaps, for the greatest hunter in all of Greece.
An arrow forced Serenity to jink to one side, kicking off a tree with enough force that she felt it start to fall. The next arrow came from the opposite side – and came through a tree, the trunk exploding as the missile simply forced its way through without slowing down. Serenity barely managed to reach out and snag a branch enough to alter her direction enough that she got away with a graze across her stomach. She hit the ground running.
Off to one side, Archer appeared for the briefest instant, an image frozen in mid-step that vanished as soon as it appeared.
With an awful sinking feeling, Serenity realised she was being herded. Every arrow, every direct attack, even the glimpses Archer allowed her quarry to see of her – all of it was calculated to make her prey try to escape in the direction she chose. Serenity had been dodging well, she thought, getting as far away from the threat as possible… but maybe all she'd been doing was playing into Archer's hands.
Sometimes Serenity wished she was a warrior, instead of just a killer. Then, she could have enjoyed this cat-and-mouse game, revelled in the feeling of her life depending moment by moment on her skill and speed. Instead, she just felt a dull terror. This was not where her talents lay. And if she fell here, there would be no-one to make Kiritsugu's dream a reality.
Enough of this. If the obvious escape route was just a trap, she'd have to start taking the non-obvious routes.
Serenity slowed down. Her headlong rush was doing her no favours, and she was starting to suspect Archer might be faster than her anyway. For this, she'd need to act carefully.
The next shot came, a streak of green almost too fast to see even in the slowed-down world of Serenity's perception. The escape was easy – a relatively clear patch of trees to the right with a patch of sullen, twisted undergrowth where Serenity could accelerate and try to lose Archer.
Instead, Serenity flung a knife straight back at the arrow.
This kind of thing was usually a waste, and Serenity didn't usually have a need for this kind of stunt. Poisoning a well by spitting into it worked just fine, and even on those cases where an in-person approach was necessary, most of her kills in life happened at what might be called 'intimately close range'.
However, when needed, every head of the Order could cut the wings off a fly in mid-flight. Serenity was no different. The arrows of a Heroic Spirit moved far faster than a fly, but at least it didn't change direction in mid-air. Green wood met pale metal…
… and Serenity's knife bounced off, altering the direction of the arrow maybe half an inch. Too much force, too much speed – she was never going to match the Servant of the Bow shot for shot. But that half an inch was just enough for Serenity to slip aside, feeling the fletching scrape across her shoulder, then dematerialise and dive backwards through a tree.
Then she darted with all speed she was capable of in the other direction, and made it a couple of seconds before a furious Archer skidded into sight a mile in front of her, firing a volley of five arrows in half a second.
Once again, Serenity recognised the pattern, saw the hole, saw the trap. Archer's bow was drawn and ready, her arrow knocked, and as soon as Serenity finished moving to evade all five shots she would be out of position, unable to defend against a final perfect strike. The trees hemmed her in on either side – she couldn't dematerialise, not without slowing herself down, and Archer's arrows would punch through spirit just as well as flesh.
Fast as she was, Serenity wasn't quick enough to stay ahead.
So, like any good assassin, she cheated.
She slipped aside – and as the first arrow passed by her ear, whipped her hand up to catch it.
The sheer force of it dragged her heels back a foot across the ground as she fought to hold on… and that was all she needed. Letting go, she jerked, rolled and backpedalled, keeping just ahead of the arrows Archer had set up – and when she was done, managed to dart backwards into a shadow an inch ahead of the finisher.
Archer landed lightly, looked around, and scowled. Serenity took the moment to examine the other Servant while she was standing still – or at least, standing in one place. Archer's cat tail lashed behind her, her ears twitched at noises even Serenity couldn't pick up, and she shifted in place, restless as a wild beast.
Next to her wild attitude, her fine green and black dress looked out of place, but her boots were practical and her gloves hard-wearing. Serenity didn't miss the claws on the end, either. Archer's dirty-blonde hair was surely too long to be practical, but Archer had made no effort to style it – instead just tying it up with a loose braid.
That was Atalante – a princess raised in the wild, both aspects showing through in equal measure.
Serenity had less than a second to take all this in. Almost as soon as she'd landed, Archer snarled – and it was a snarl, the sound of an animal coming from the mouth of a noble – and disappeared, leaving only a swirl of leaves and dust blowing in her wake.
In Serenity's head, a little countdown started. Based on how fast Archer had been picking up on her position… Serenity had only seconds until she was found. Time to call in help. Some Servants would have felt shame at having to rely on anything other than themselves. Some Servants, Serenity thought, had no sense of priorities.
Master, she sent, Can you track Archer? I think I might be in trouble.
The reply came quickly. The spells on the forest can. But I can't help - I literally can't think fast enough to keep up with Archer's movements. Do you need me to summon you?
And use one of only three Command Spells, he didn't say. It seemed a waste… but pulling an Assassin out of direct combat with another Servant was a very valid use. However…
Serenity thought back to Archer's Noble Phantasm – the sky filling with arrows, then falling as a torrent on whoever had earned Archer's anger. The Tohsaka house's defences hadn't held. …admittedly Serenity had helped with that, but the point stood – only Rider's own Noble Phantasm had been able to reliably block Archer's.
The Einzbern castle, with Servant and Master inside, was too tempting a target – and was sadly lacking in dragon shells.
No. Serenity couldn't tell, with her and her Master's minds joined like this, which of them had sent the thought. Both had been thinking the same thing in any case.
I'll find a way, Serenity sent. In fact, she had the seed of an idea of how she might turn the tables. Talking with her Master had reminded her.
Do. Kiritsugu paused. El-Melloi is coming. If I need to, I'll have to summon you. Try to defeat Archer before I'm forced into it. I'll hold them off myself as long as I can.
Understood. Serenity felt her Master's attention withdraw, and was once more alone in the wood. Now, though, she was much happier about things.
There had been only a moment to think… but to a Servant who relied on her ability to plan and prepare, a moment made all the difference. Archer had caught up quicker than Serenity expected, and once she had there had been no time to think, only to react to the next threat, the next trap. Before long, Archer would be back on the assault… but now, Serenity had her bearings, had a chance to catch her breath, and had the initiative.
And, more, she had a destination.
No point in waiting – all that would do would give Archer another chance to find her. Serenity shot off into the dark woods, plotting her path in her head even as the scenery blurred around her. As she doubled back, darted from shadow to shadow, and changed direction almost with every footstep, a part of her was still thinking ahead.
How long would it take Archer to notice she was on the move? Which direction had she come from before, and what might she try now? How – and this was the really complicated question – would Archer think Serenity might try to evade, and how was she planning to deal with that? And, above all, how could she bring herself closer to her destination?
Serenity had no hope of beating Archer in a straight fight. And, it was becoming clear, no hope of outrunning her. If she was going to survive, she had to use her head. Over the course of the chase through the woods she had slowly built up a little mental model of what Archer was likely to do. Time to see if she could trust it.
Partly through conscious choice, partly though intuition, and partly through unashamed guesswork, Serenity threw herself forward into a roll. She felt the air ripple above her, and smiled under her mask – before being forced to scuttle awkwardly sideways to avoid Archer's follow-up, an instant after the first.
It looked like Archer was learning Serenity's patterns as well. Whichever one figured out the other first would win, and the other would die.
On they sped through the forest. Archer continued to herd Serenity, who continued to lead Archer in turn. Serenity almost died many, many times, but always managed to stay just an inch ahead.
Eventually, she saw what she was looking for, and felt a surge of triumph.
Her next leap – avoiding an arrow that blasted straight through two trees from her blind spot – took her into the branches. She dropped down, her hands full, and flung her prize at Archer.
Just like every time she'd tried this before, Archer swatted it aside with a contemptuous flick of her black bow.
Most times, however, all Archer had been deflecting was a knife.
Not, to take an example at random, a grenade.
It had been part of Kiritsugu's precautions. His greatest weapon in this war would always be Serenity herself… but anything could happen. If he or Maiya happened to find themselves having to defend their home without the aid of a Servant for whatever reason, it paid to be prepared.
Therefore, the Einzbern forest held various caches of weapons, ammunition, and explosives. Tied to trees, hidden in branches, or buried under the ground, an entire arsenal lay waiting.
Serenity hadn't expected to ever use them. She wasn't against their use, or anything – a weapon was a weapon, no matter what shape it took, which was why she was very happy to firebomb the Matou house into a smouldering hole in the ground. If you were going to kill someone, it was still a sin whether it was done in honourable combat or by a knife in the dark. One of the traits she was thankful for in her Master was his pragmatism – some might call it ruthlessness.
But she had her knives, and she had her tainted body, and those were weapons she knew inside and out. Why struggle with unfamiliar ones that made loud noises and gave away your position?
Here, modern weaponry would do her no good – unless enchanted, it wouldn't do a thing to a Servant, and there just hadn't been time to put spells on everything.
On the other hand, nothing else had worked on Archer, so why not go wild?
The explosion was deafening in the silent wood, far louder than Serenity had expected. And she didn't have cat ears, and wasn't standing a foot away from the blast.
Archer yowled in pain, and darted back. She skidded to a halt and glared up at where Serenity had been, tail lashing in fury and puffed up like a bottle brush.
Serenity wasn't still there, of course.
Knives and explosives rained down on Archer. Off balance, and apparently reluctant to try for a parry again, she dodged instead, blurring out of position. Serenity made a guess as to where she would end up, and made a choice.
Click, went the detonator in her hand.
By the shrieks of pain and fury – mostly fury – Serenity guessed that her mental model of Archer was probably good enough to work with.
She allowed herself a very small smile.
Fire bloomed under the eaves of the Einzbern forest.
