Dragon (S)Layers Ch. 45

Chapter 3 - The New Trade

"The Ace of Diamonds is one of those little whispers you hope never crosses your ears and pray to each god individually never crosses your lips. Some of those in less scrupulous circles have developed their connections and bladecraft because of her. Others? We develop our hospitality.

Starting with words like 'The myth, the legend, as I live and breathe! Come in, come in! May I get you something to drink' seems like the most sensible way to begin any such conversations with those who can end your life as they make their morning meal; many people sincerely underestimate the value of groveling.

But then it didn't help my father any, so maybe you shouldn't be listening to me."

Baharah Molsen

'Killers and Saints of The End of the World'

Felicia

Splash!

Cold wet daggers ripped Felicia from the embrace of a fitful, shallow sleep. She started awake with her fight-or-flight response tearing at her and a mind so muddled with exhaustion she couldn't even remember where she'd gone to rest. Soaking wet and miserable she clawed at her sleeping bag, orienting herself to the ground and only eventually becoming aware of a presence standing near her.

"Guh!" Felicia spat a bunch of water and wiped at her face eagerly to clear her eyes. There was gloom all around which meant early morning. Maybe? Remembering the presence she felt, she looked up to it and blinked a few times. "Why'd you do that?!"

The teenager didn't even have time to react before that presence was upon her pushing her into the damp earth with a heavy hand right between her breasts. "Why," it- she- whispered in a low purr. "What is your reason for waking up today?"

Panic shot through her like a cold spike. The predatory rumble of the northern hunter atop her made the question a statement, a test to pass or fail. Felicia blinked a bit more water from her eyes and squinted against the dark. She could barely make out Lostariel's features, pale and angular though they were, she was a wraith extruded from shadow more than she was a human being. Her eyes were intense, focused. Boring straight through Felicia's soul.

"I won't ask again," the would-be murderer said.

"Uh-" Thinking quickly, Felicia blurted out the first thing that came to mind; the truth. "To learn how to stop you from killing my friend."

"That's a long term goal," Lostariel said flatly. "What is your goal for today."

Felicia puzzled on it for a moment. "To put more distance between us and the guards-"

"We have several leagues lead. We are going to need to get on a caravan route before much longer. Try again."

Try again? What the hell was she supposed to say? "Gee, I don't know. Maybe I'll get my boots shined and-"

Lostariel slapped her. Hard. It stung so hard that Felicia almost cried before the northerner's arm had finished its powerful arc. She covered her mouth. Bit into her palm. A lifetime on the southern plains had taught her you didn't scream at night. You bore the pain.

And what a pain it was. When Felicia went to articulate it she tasted blood.

The two women stared at one another. Friends- at least in Felicia's eyes- and adversaries at once. But there was something to it. Felicia had begged to be taught what she needed to know. She'd willingly become a student to someone her elder. Getting snide or combative wasn't going to help anything if she wanted a chance to learn what she needed to.

Reluctantly, and with a quickly numbing mouth she mumbled a vague apology.

Lostariel closed the final bit of distance, burying her knee right between Felicia's thighs. She was quick, sharp and demanding with her hand grabbing Felicia's uninjured shoulder and pulling her in so there was no doubt who was going to be in charge- as if there ever had been- of their interactions going forward. "Face the day with a goal in mind," she said icily. "One that serves your plan and can be accomplished before you sleep. Repeat this day in and day out. This is your first lesson. . . .now what is it you are going to do today?"

Felicia licked her lips, swallowed her own blood. She didn't raise her eyes but she made damn sure her voice was strong enough to carry her words; "I'm going to pay attention to your next lesson and when that's done, I'm going to get you to dry off my sleeping bag. . ."

The woman actually chuckled. She laughed! Of all the things in the world she could have done, she laughed right in Felicia's face. Then she produced one of her blades and waved it in front of Felicia's face. "Cut up your bag. You won't need it any longer."

"W- What? No! No, that's- No!"

The blade touched Felicia's cheek. She went still. "You convinced me to train you. You have your victory, now you refuse the spoils that come with it? You want this, you accept what comes along with it. . . .today you will learn how to live like a survivor. This bag will make you complacent and weak when you need to be aware."

"Nghhh... But I spent good money on it- c- come on, can't we keep it for a couple days?"

"No." Lostariel said simply. She then got up, staking her blade beside the girl before she trotted off to the tree where they'd tied the horse up. He snorted his disapproval at her presence but she ignored him and went for Felicia's pack. With a little fishing around she found some dry clothes and tossed them to the still groggy Felicia. "Get up. We're going for a jog."

Thus began her first day as an assassin trainee- not with some incredible feat of heroism or flashy maneuver but with a goal accomplished; she'd gotten her trainer to dry her sleeping bag. . . .by having her destroy it.

Felicia made a mental note not to ask for anything henceforth.

#

The run was murder.

Panting and heaving, holding her heavy chest as they jogged through a creek, Felicia just about collapsed. She'd gone too many days without food, her body wasn't ready for this kind of activity. Putting one foot in front of the other was itself an act of will, one that was becoming harder and harder to attempt. She thought about quitting- a lot- but every few moments Lostariel would glance her way.

A subtle dare. A little challenge. Give up. You'll only fail Sarah. You'll fail me, too. You can't stop this.

Felicia tried to push her body. To push through the burning agony in her calves and the uncomfortable jostling of her generous chest and, more than anything, to push through that voice telling her she was going to watch one friend die at the hands of another friend. She wasn't going to give in.

She wouldn't let that happen. The Mawik Plains had bred stronger men and women, stronger than anything the world had seen. She couldn't fail-

Not until she tripped and faceplanted in the dirt, anyway. Lostariel was beside her in an instant, rolling her over out of the mud and wiping her face down. The killer's expression was impassive, eyes hard and unforgiving. "You need to do better than that."

"T- Trying," Felicia wheezed.

"Good." Lostariel didn't offer to help her up, neither did she give her the chance to rest. She started off down the path leaving Felicia to recover herself on her own time. Eventually she did just that and got herself sorted out, eventually she got moving again and dug herself out of the pit of whining about how much her body hurt and eventually she got jogging again.

Eventually.

Lostariel kept a slow enough pace that it wasn't hard to catch up, even though she knew it was partly out of pity. This woman had no idea what it was like living on the plains and she had the nerve to treat Felicia like an invalid! Sure she was dangerous, incredibly so, but that didn't give her any reason to just ignore what Felicia could do. . .

So Felicia pushed herself. Harder and harder with every step. She panted and wheezed and held her unruly chest down flat against her body until it hurt so much she wanted to cry. She fought to take up and then keep the pace they'd set early on and every time she tripped and almost fell, every time she almost gave up she glanced at Lostariel. She reminded herself what was at stake and then she pushed herself.

Right up to the point where her body betrayed her; she crashed down on all fours and threw up while Lostariel held her hair back. Then came the tears and the whining. She wasn't going to make it. She wasn't fit for this life. She'd run away from home for the wrong reasons and now she was going to get herself killed trying to stop something that was probably destined to happen anyway! What an idiot she had been! What an idiot she was!

"That's enough for now. . ." Lostariel plonked a flask down beside her. "Wash your mouth out and drink."

"N- Nuh-" Felicia spit. "I- I can- I can go."

"No. You can't."

Felicia grabbed for the woman's arm already prepared to tell her- beg if necessary- she wasn't giving up. But to her surprise Lostariel met her gaze with a calming expression and a flicker of warmth in her sharp purple eyes.

"I wanted to see how far you'd go. I wasn't going to stop until you couldn't continue," She ran her gloved fingers through Felicia's muddy hair to brush it from her face. "You made it farther than I had thought you capable of. Consider me impressed," She drew back just as easily while Felicia rolled over to sit. "Rest for a few minutes, you've earned it."

"A- A test?" Felicia shakily brought the flask to her lips and drank from it. Cool water never tasted sweeter. "It was a test?"

"Everything in life is a test. The answer isn't always obvious, neither is the result of your answer at the time." Lostariel pulled her gloves off and crouched down in front of the younger woman. Her thick, powerful thighs were coiled tight, tense and ready to release at a moment's notice. It was a fighting stance even in this moment of calm. It occurred to Felicia that she never really let her guard down. She was hardly sweating, even! Gods, who was this woman?

For her part in it, Felicia sipped more water and handed the flask back. "At the time, huh? So you're saying that the results of your choices have landed you here. In a creekbed with me, watching me look a mess."

"You'll be more a mess before the day is through," She replied casually and downed the rest of the water. "Have you considered that when we find Sarah, your real test begins? Do you think you can hope to stand a chance when that time comes?"

Felicia knew better than to reply, instead feigning an interest in cleaning her hair. As the moments dragged on she tried to muster the stomach to break the silence. Lostariel was content in silence, though, she didn't seem to have the same hang ups or fears the younger girl did. Knowing better than to risk pissing her off, Felicia did the only thing she could do; she looked the woman in the eye and smiled. A tired, empty smile.

Lostariel smiled in return.

It was anything but kind.

#

On the heels of the run came the next round of morning training: strength training. Lostariel's idea of a joke was to have Felicia move an entire rockbed from one side of the stream to the other. One rock at a time- even the small ones- and then move it back ensuring every rock was in exactly the same place as it had been.

"Leave everything as you found it and no one will see the effort you put in," She said from her perch on a log. The sun was just beginning to creep over the horizon and the day's heat was already swelling in the valley. The longer the monotony went on the more bored, hot and irritated she became. Knowing, just knowing, that Lostariel was watching and judging her every movement made her all the more self conscious and irritable. It was the same way her uncle had taught her to ride a horse, and it drove her up the proverbial wall with how silently damming it was.

Finally sick of it, Felicia wheeled on Lostariel, "Say something!"

But she didn't. Her purple eyes turned up to Felicia and she simply neutralized her expression in a mask of absolute indifference.

"I- what am I doing it wrong?! Right?! Do you want this one over there or-"

"Continue." Lostariel said tonelessly.

"But-"

This time her voice took the tiniest edge. "Continue."

Felicia stood here for a moment gauging her chances of showing this woman she was more than capable of whatever she had in mind for them. Sure, maybe she hadn't run as far as Lostariel would have liked, maybe she wasn't a soldier and maybe she wasn't prepared to actually kill someone but she could do this. Experimentally she tossed a rock up in her hand. Once. Twice. She then tossed it to the other hand trying to make a circle in the air. "Think I could do a magic trick with this? Maybe I could make it disappear or something."

Lostariel was not amused.

Before the girl had even realized what was going on she tossed the stone up once more. She caught sight of a blur of motion from Lostariel and in the next instant the rock in the air emitted a sharp crack as it was stuck by another one. Shards of hot stone lanced across her tender flesh and she flinched away grabbing her face and cursing in every language she knew.

Lostariel's voice was irritatingly calm as she spoke, completely ignoring the vile mutterings pouring from the teen's lips. "Effort that gets spent without recognition is the way you will act from now on if you hope to have an impact. The world sees what you wish it to see; no more; no less. The moment you let your concentration slip you invite weaknesses into your public facing persona—"

"Gods dammit why did you-"

"People, your enemies especially, will pick on your weaknesses and find ways to bring you down to their level where they are more comfortable. Your responsibility is first to your own safety, that safety begins with your mindset. If you do not want to take this seriously, then neither will I. . ."

Felicia started to protest but Lostariel held up a hand.

"I won't tell you again. If you wish to waste my time, you've only yourself to blame when I leave you some night when you're asleep. My time is more valuable to me than that."

"So you'd just leave me, even after I saved your life?"

She scoffed. Openly. Felicia knew she had something; the woman was proud, almost arrogant. Like many 'civilized' folks she thought her reputation defined her. It was something Felicia could use, if rarely. Lostariel hopped off her log and strode over until she was a few feet away. "Would you rather I bleed you dry instead? I told you, I tolerate you, that does not make us friends. If I didn't see potential in you, I wouldn't be here right now. . ."

"Then why don't you do it?" Carefully- and hoping to hell she'd see it coming if she was wrong- Felicia raised her chin a bit to bear her throat. "You want to be a slave to your namesake, then you'd best get off killing Sarah."

Lostariel actually flinched. Her right eye twitched and her gloves creaked a loud protest to her tightening her hands into fists. A flicker of angry, deadly fire sparked in her eyes and for just a split second she looked about to act on the invitation. But she didn't. She stood there for a moment looking the mud splattered teenager over and let out a soft derisive chuff of air.

That stung more than it should have. Not that Felicia was under any illusion she'd be able to actually fight, but to be disregarded so easily bothered her considerably. Something of her irritation must have shown because Lostariel closed the distance and smirked at her. A smug grin if there ever was.

"We'll start with sweat. Then we progress to blood. Then bones. The more sweat you pour out, the less of the other two you'll lose." She thrust her hand out beside Felicia's face. So fast she didn't see it coming. The girl startled. With a flourish Lostariel balled up a handful of Felicia's hair and pulled just hard enough that it was felt. "And in the future. You don't tempt fate you're afraid of. . . You become stronger until you can face it. Do you understand me?"

Felicia swallowed and said in a tiny voice. "I do. . ."

"Good." In a display obviously meant to accent her point, Lostariel tightened her grip and released it, wandering back to her log. "Finish your work."

#

An hour later Felicia was setting the last rock down- not tossing it as she had before. Lostariel looked over the breadth of work she'd undertaken and then hopped off her log. She didn't say anything or even acknowledge the work as she lead Felicia back down the path to their camp. As usual it was the younger woman who broke the awkward silence between them. "Are we going to eat, too?"

"Tonight."

Felicia groaned. "It's been days-"

"You will get used to it. A wolf will go days without eating and consume large portions of an animal in one sitting." Lostariel glanced back. "Hunger motivates all animals to their peak performance. A contented wolf pack will not hunt as well as one that understands its very survival is contingent on a successful hunt."

"I uh, you. . . .you realize how insane that sounds, don't you? We're human beings, we can forage and hunt- my entire family are hunters. We didn't starve ourselves to get better at it!"

"Then you will hunt for our dinner."

"You're killing me."

"That's a possibility, not a guarantee."

Felicia sighed. "Do you ever, I don't know, lighten up? This whole severe routine is getting kind of old-"

"Tell me something," Lostariel stopped in front of her. "Why is it you want me to teach you how to stop me?"

"Because if I can convince you Sarah's life is worth sparing, and maybe we can find a better way for both of you to continue living." The older woman gave her a thoughtful nod. Strange considering her normally economic movement.

"Would you die to convince me?"

"Should I have to?" Felicia shot back.

That earned her a slight smile. Then it was back to the trail in that heavy silence that followed Lostariel around like a cloud. Surprisingly it didn't last long. "The identity of the Ace of Diamonds has been a generational nickname, a legend carried by a hand full of women for over ninety years. Two of them were killed trying to fulfill contracts beyond their skill, three were killed by their successors before they themselves took the name. It's how it's always worked with this name." She glanced back briefly. "We have bled and died for an identity, a concept."

"You mean something to belong to. . ."

Lostariel didn't respond, she held some branches aside for Felicia to stagger through. Eventually they emerged at the edge of their little camp and she lifted a canteen from her bag, refilling her flask and handing it off to Felicia. "I was five when I was taken in by the woman who wore the title before me. I was purchased," she sipped her water. "From an orphanage. Myself and eight other children, I was the only one who took to the training and expressed enough initiative to survive the trials she had laid out for us. . . .I killed her when I was fifteen-"

Felicia blanched. "D- Do I need to hear this?"

She held her hands out in casual indifference. "With my bare hands wrapped around her throat, her pinned under me just as she had taught me to do. I nearly bled out from her knife in my thigh- it's remarkable I can walk at all, actually.

"I tell you this so you will understand me with perfect clarity; I am exactly what I am meant to be. I have climbed to my position and I have staked my life on the skills I have trained over years. You came along and put a dent in my identity- in the Diamonds persona itself because you want to feel superior. . ."

"That's not it-"