Three days.
By the end of it I could barely tell where the training ended and the exhaustion began. Sword drills, magick application, stealth work, basic survival. All of it back to back from sunrise until the compound lights came on. Dormin and Layla pushed harder than I expected either of them to.
"Visualize where you want to go and the shadows will make the way," Dormin said, swinging at me mid-sentence without breaking stride. "Don't let your emotions drive it. That's what gets you killed."
He looked as wrecked as I felt. Maybe worse. I was fairly certain he'd slept less than I had and I'd barely slept at all.
Layla's sessions were different. Less hitting, more patience.
"An assassin's greatest tool is invisibility," she said, moving through the training yard without making a sound even on the gravel. "If a dog can smell you or an animal can hear you, a trained person already knows you're there."
I practiced until I stopped hearing my own footsteps.
By the end of night three my arms felt like they'd been filled with wet sand. Dormin crouched beside me while I sat with my back against the yard wall drinking water in between trying to catch my breath. He put his hand on my head without saying anything.
The warmth spread through me immediately. Every ache, every bruise, every pulled muscle dissolved at once. I stood up feeling like I'd slept eight hours.
"How much longer," I said. Not a question exactly. More like something that fell out of my mouth.
Dormin just looked at me.
I stretched and took stock of things quietly. Three days ago I could barely hold a defensive stance. Now I could feel the shadow magick waiting at the edge of my chest like something patient, ready when I called it instead of surging when I didn't want it. My stamina had doubled at minimum. Something about the training had started carving a different shape out of me and I wasn't sure yet if I liked what it was carving toward.
Layla walked over and sat down next to me, pulling her hair back.
"Rue sent word. Front gates at sundown."
Dormin walked away toward a supply area. "I'll get our packs ready."
Layla downed some water and started pulling arrows from a nearby post.
"Your training is coming along well. Now we see if you can apply it to the real thing."
I grinned. "I feel like I can do better now," I said confidently. After sparring with Dormin and Damian I felt like the bandits that nearly killed me last time wouldn't scratch me.
"This is serious, Oren. With Rue as our team leader it means harder missions, stronger opponents, and complicated objectives. I don't think you realize what Damian did by putting him in charge." Layla looked forward at the targets, a blank and distant glare in her eyes.
"I got it. I won't fail this time," I murmured.
Dormin walked back and threw each of us a bag.
"Let's go. Rue is an asshole when he's kept waiting."
We all stood. I sheathed my swords and shouldered my bag. The weight pulled down hard.
What the hell is in this?
Rue was waiting at the gates sharpening his sword. He wore one sword on his back and one at his side along with daggers hanging off his belt. His horse stood nearby nickering and pawing at the grass.
"I was beginning to think you wouldn't show. Of course I could have handled it but the extra backup never hurts." He laughed at his own joke. His eyes burned with a faint red. Fire magick, probably.
"Alright, mission brief. We are infiltrating a heavily guarded counter intelligence site. They allegedly have information that would be bad if it got out to the public." He pointed at a map laid on the ground.
"Dormin and I will be the main attackers. Layla provides cover if it goes wrong. Oren stays back near the tree line and runs for backup if we all go down." Dormin put his head in his hand. Layla sighed.
"I can do this. Just give me a chance." I stood up.
There's no way I did all that training to be nothing more than a backup call.
"You will NOT be risking my mission like you did with Charlotte's. Save your begging for someone who cares. Is everyone clear on their positions?"
I put my head down. "Yeah. We're clear."
"Clear," Dormin and Layla said in unison.
"Let's move." Rue got on his horse.
● ● ●
We took a different route out of Riverdale, going along the northeastern side of the Cataclysm Mountains that border Eratiell. Apparently this was safer than going through.
"It'd take days of paperwork to get us through Eratiell, let alone the questioning. Better to make our own path." Rue spoke from the head of the pack. Nobody questioned it.
We rode along the side of the mountains. The cold breeze came down like a wall of frozen air. I looked up and saw shadows of towers above the clouds.
"What's up there?" I asked.
"That's Draznkal. The most cursed place in all of Arramoor. Grade One and above only. And even then most don't come back." Dormin kept his eyes level with the path. I looked back up and felt a shiver run through me.
Rue held his hand up fast.
We all stopped.
"We're being watched," he said quietly. He got off his horse and moved toward the nearest treeline. I dismounted and posted by a tree next to him. Dormin and Layla did the same on the opposite side of the path. I went to look past Rue. He pushed me back with one arm without looking at me.
"Do not mistake the situation."
Three arrows cut past my face close enough to feel the air off them. I stumbled back, blood trickling from my nose where one had grazed me. A cry from across the path. I looked over. Layla was down, an arrow in her shoulder. Dormin grabbed her and pulled her behind a tree, his face tight.
I glanced back at Rue. He hadn't moved. His arm had though. An arrow sat pinched between two fingers, stopped inches from his face.
Ahead on the road four archers rose from ledges lining either side. On the road itself walked five figures in hoods. Each one bore an emblem on their chest. Two crossed swords behind a sun. Both slashed through.
"Hello friends. From one assassin to another, greetings." The figure at the front stepped ahead and removed his cloak. His aura detonated without warning. Lightning tore down the valley in violent bursts. I stumbled back. The hair on my arms stood straight up. From twenty feet away I could see the charge rolling off him like heat. The air itself felt like it was going to split open.
Rue walked out into it like he was stepping through a doorway. Sword resting on his shoulder. Completely unbothered.
"Boy oh boy." He smiled. "You all chose the wrong team to attack."
The leader walked toward Rue, a smug look on his face. Rue stepped once and disappeared. A sharp clang rang out as he reappeared behind the leader with his sword stretched out, a black mark left on both blades from the contact. The leader looked back at Rue, eyes wide, a grin spreading across his face.
"It seems I've caught a strong one. You four take care of the boy and girl."
Two broke toward Layla and Dormin. The other two came for me. Rue clocked them the moment they moved and reappeared beside me in a flash of dust.
"Come on. Safe to assume they're all strong. We need to split up." He looked at Dormin and nodded. Dormin lifted Layla and disappeared into the trees.
A bolt of lightning flashed past Rue's face and fried the tree beside us.
Rue's aura ignited. Fire tore through the valley road in a wall of heat and light. Licks of flame spread in every direction, setting the trees and brush ablaze.
I breathed, and my aura expanded like a slow flood of shadow, swallowing my entire body. The shadows nearby deepened, my swords coating themselves in pure night.
I moved to Rue's back. Two assassins stood in front of us. The leader faced Rue.
"Ready?" he asked.
"Like you wouldn't believe."