Elwen the Conquered

Varian hid in a tree, overlooking the meeting spot. Silvia, or rather Nymreia, as she had reintroduced herself after their agreement, stood in the clearing, talking to a large lizard-man Darkscale.

“Is the job done?” A raspy voice came from the lizard's inhumanly wide mouth.

“Yes. I found him two nights ago. It was simple to lure him, he never suspected a thing.” Varian internally cringed at her words. It was their agreed upon story, but it wasn't exactly untrue. He really did fall for her tricks pretty easily.

“And the blood?”

“Yes, I have it. Although...” Reia trailed off.

“What?” The lizard angrily spat out.

“I could only collect one vial, and the storage ring you gave broke, so I had to get a new one...” Reia explained, pulling out a small ring with a blue gem embedded in it. It was similar to his bag of holding, except not having nearly the same capacity, and being far more expensive. It did, however, have the advantage of freezing time on the inside, which made it perfect for transporting perishable goods.

“Pull it out!”

Reia pulled out the vial of blood, letting the lizard man inspect it. Of course, it wasn't actually his blood, but rather Reia's. She explained to him that the blood was requested by the client, and could apparently be used to destroy magical contacts or impersonate one of the parties. However, it needed to be fresh. She didn't know how the client knew that Varian had a magical contract, but he figured that someone must have been following them for a while, and probably even overheard his discussion with the slave merchant. The client couldn't be the merchant himself, as their contract would have prevented it, but it could have been one of his employees. A plant, someone who was there but not technically a part of the company.

The lizard-man looked over the vial, before giving back to her and telling her to put it back in her ring. Varian let out a silent sigh of relief. Part of their plan depended on the Lizard-man not bringing his own ring. The lizard-man's plan was to take the ring from Reia and take it to the client, but rings like these tended to be bound to the user. The previous ring was bound to the lizard-man, so he would be able to use it fully, while Reia only had the ability to put things in.

“Is it bound to you?” Darkscale asked, not sounding very happy.

“Y-yes. I couldn't find one that didn't need to.” Reia answered.

The lizard-man let out a growl before responding, “Fine. You're coming with me. Try not to cause any trouble.”

“But what about the vial?” She asked.

“I'll switch it over to a more useful container when we get back to base.” The lizard man answered as he whipped around and started briskly walking out of the clearing.

Reia quickly caught up to him, trailing just behind him. “Where are we going?”

“To base,” he curtly answered.

Reia ducked under a branch that the lizard-man move out of his way as he passed. “Where's that?”

“You don't need to know. Now shut up and follow, stupid girl.” Part two of their plan seemed to be working: annoy the lizard-man enough that he wanted to stop talking. This meant that he wouldn't be in the mood to ask any questions, which should help them keep their cover. It would also hopefully make his less observant, and make it easier for Varian to follow. It was somewhat risky, but they were banking on the fact that he would already be angry from not having his plan work out perfectly, which would make him both easier to annoy and easier to misdirect.

Reia promptly did as she was told, being careful not to anger Darkscale further. She really hated him, but right now she had to endure it. Only then would she get her revenge, and her freedom.

Varian watched as Reia rubbed her shoulder, irritated by the strange sensation coming from it.

'You idiot!” Varian internally screamed, 'You're going to give us away!' Like she could actually hear him, Reia quickly stopped the offending action as Darkscale briefly turned around to make sure that she was following.

The spot that she was irritated by was the location that Varian had imparted his brand on her, evidence that she was a slave and not bound by her magic contract. After all, one couldn't serve two masters, and it just so happened that he was the stronger of the two. He felt quite a bit of resistance as he applied his crest, but he knew by the end that it had overwritten the contract's control of her.

The process was, regrettably, painful, but fortunately not as painful as his own. He knew that, even a full day after applying it, there was a bit of lingering pain and irritation, but if she was just a second too late she could have been discovered, ruining their plan. If only she had tried to kill him a few days earlier, then they would have more time.

He could control the visibility of his own mark, and he could partially do the same for hers, but it worked on the magic crest itself, not the marks that were left on her skin during the process. His had healed over a few days, and now he could make his entirely invisible if he wanted to. Which he generally did, he didn't see a reason to keep it. He currently had Reia's also hidden, but hers hadn't healed enough, and was still plainly visible. If they had another two days, it would have been undetectable. That was, of course, assuming there wasn't a way to detect the crests while they were hidden. He imagined there was, but he assumed that Darkscale couldn't, as he hadn't started attacking Reia as soon as she got close. It also meant that he wasn't aware that the contract wasn't working, too, which was good.

Varian followed the two, being careful to keep enough distance from them that the lizard-man wouldn't be able to detect him. While was able to do so without seeing them, as his [Slavemaster] system allowed him to track his slaves, he preferred to stay within sight of them. His system only gave him a general direction, and it was pretty ambiguous, so he didn't want to rely on it, unless it was an emergency. Plus, he also wanted to stay close enough that he could hear them. It was a bit like playing the older Assassin games. He had to stay close enough to his target to overhear the crucial information, but far enough away that they didn't suspect him.

After about two hours of trailing the two, they finally arrived at a cave. Darkscale and Reia immediately entered, not stopping to grab a light source. He did the same, stealthily, hoping that the reason he did that wasn't because he had night vision or something that meant that he didn't need it.

A short walk later, they arrived at a small hideout in a miniature cavern. There were a few tents and a single wooden building in the center, forming a circle. There was a second building that seemed to be under construction, but to him it looked abandoned. It was like they got half way through and then ran out of money to pay the contractors. There were little lamps hung every dozen feet, giving enough light to see. Still, it was barely enough, and his eyes were still trying to adjust to the darkness.

Darkscale entered the building, not stopping for anything else. Reia followed him, although a bit hesitantly in his eyes. Was she worried about being led into a trap? Probably. He couldn't tell how many people were inside, but the outside seemed empty. He saw a window on the side of the building, although he had no idea why it was there. The only thing to see was the darkness of the cave.

He decided to use that to scout out the inside, and if needed as an impromptu door. There might be some sort of defense inside, and he was torn whether to enter through the door or the window. The door might be guarded, but the window could also be trapped. He had no way of knowing.

He did make sure, as he approached the window, to check the tents. He found a couple guys inside, loudly snoring. He made sure to silence them, permanently. He couldn't have them providing reinforcements to whatever he found inside, could he? Plus, he kind came here to kill them all anyways. There was no reason to wait until they were away and swinging swords at him. For all his sneaking around, he finally picked up a [Stealth] skill.

'I could have used that earlier...' he complained. Still, he hadn't been spotted yet, so maybe he didn't need it.

When he arrived at the window, he peeked through it, trying to get a good picture of what was going on inside. He could only see the blurry images of four people, the window was far too glazed for him to see much. Still, he could identify Reia, mainly due to the fact that her frame was much smaller than the other three. Judging by the tail, he also could identify the blob furthest from him as Darkscale. The other two, however, he had no clue who they could be.

One hung out by the door, seemingly leaning against the wall next to it. He assumed that this was a guard. It would be safe to kill him. He could barely hear a deep voice through the window. It clearly wasn't Darkscale's, and he assumed that it was the last man's. Darkscale seemed to be more of a messenger, so he assumed that the mystery man was the leader here. He would be the one he took alive.

He quickly moved to the door, giving it a light knock, and activated his new [Stealth] skill. He didn't feel anything different, but he assumed that it made him harder to detect. Then, he snuck back over to the window.

“Check it out.” The leader commanded, and the guard opened the door. He walked outside, looking for anything unusual.

Varian took out a match and silently lit a torch, briefly waving it passed the cloudy window.

“Something over there!” Darkscale called, walking over to the window. They heard the knock, but they weren't expecting any company. It made them suspicious, but at the same time they had a dozen people outside. There was no way anyone could have snuck past them. Darkscale didn't even notice that most of them were already asleep, and the few that were were so bored out of their minds that they were half-asleep. That made them easy for Varian to dispatch without making too much noise.

As soon as Darkscale reached the window, Varian activated his [Charge] skill, crashing through the window and embedding his knife deep into the lizard-man's throat. He collapsed quickly, choking on his own blood.

The guard burst through the door, hearing the commotion inside, his sword already drawn, having just discovered the corpses of his former comrades. He quickly ran at Varian swinging his sword down at him, but Varian was faster, deflecting his sword to the side with his own.

Seeing this, the leader took a dagger with a chain and spiked ball attached off the wall, and starting swinging the ball, getting ready to hit him from a distance. He was interrupted by Reia stabbing him in the side. It wasn't an immediately fatal wound, but it would be eventually.

“You bitch!” The man roared, “I command you! Fight the intruder!” He relied on the contract to force her to fight for him. He would deal with her betrayal latter.

Reia only responded with a sinister grin as she finally got to use her skills on someone she actually wanted dead.

Varian and the guard had a fierce exchange. The guard was clearly more experienced than him, able to move his sword in ways that perfectly block Varian's and simultaneously created an opening for him to strike back. Luckily, Varian's power leveling seemed to be evening the field, allowing him to keep up and even overpower him in some of their clashes.

Varian jumped back, dodging a horizontal swing from his opponent. He put himself in a bad spot, not having the proper stance to use his sword effectively. Still, he had managed to a few steps of distance between him and the guard, who charged at him, seeing his weakness.

Varian's hand felt it's way to his new weapon, and he quickly unfurled it, sending the end towards the man's feet. Little blades seemed to to stick out of the whip as it wrapped around his leg, digging deep into it. Varian pulled back, tearing large gashes as the whip retreated. The man nearly collapsed, but he kept his stance, albeit a little lopsided. Varian followed up with another swing of his whip, and the man blocked it with his sword. However, he couldn't do anything as Varian lunged at him, stabbing his sword through his heart.

As the man collapsed, Varian looked on at Reia's fight. She seemed to be dancing circles around the last man, gracefully dodging the swing of the chain as she leaped past him, leaving a small cut behind.

“Leave him alive, Reia.” He could have her accidentally killing him. He would have told her earlier, but that could have given the man an unfair advantage, as he would know that she wouldn't kill him.

“Tch! Fine!” She replied as she jumped in one last time, kicking in the side of his leg as she grabbed his arm and twisted it behind him, breaking it at the same time.

Varian looked at her dumbfounded, wondering why she didn't just do that it the beginning.

“What?” Reia tilted her head, “I am higher level than him.” She had [Appraised] him as soon as she walked into the room.

She wasn't allowed to do so under her contract, but now that she was able to she was baffled and angry at how these people were even able to trap her. They were so low level! Sure, they might have been higher up than the average person, but she had been sent after people twice their level! They were nothing! She had thought that they were much stronger than she was, and perhaps they were, when she started.

She let out a sigh, glad that her years of servitude to them were finally over. At first, she was terrified when she met Varian. He was the only one that she had seen that was higher level than her in a long while, and she was worried that she wouldn't make it out of that assignment. Now, she was relieved that she wasn't strong enough.

“Now then,” Varian said as he walked over to the broken body of the last member of the Assassin's Guild, “I have a couple questions. And you're going to give me answers.”