Jeb didn’t think they needed so many members of the guild to complete this mission. A mission would usually have one member with a backup team for research and to assist entry to a target. However, they also looked out for bounties to be claim, though usually it was dead or alive with the preference on dead. Their target had a very low level, only fifteen or sixteen. The girl with him was only around level twelve. The target George was known to use a lot of fire magic, which wasn’t surprising. May low level mages think fire is the best way to go for damage output. It is quicker, but not the best in the long run, at least in the guild’s opinion. Well in all fairness the guild didn’t typically want to draw attention to themselves either.

They boarded the Silent Wave, which was a river boat doing the run between the Capital and Deepwater. They boarded at the small town of Greenwater. It was the first stop after leaving the Capital and will give them over a day to grab their target before the boat reaches Deepwater. Jeb wasn’t sure how the Guild found out George would be on the boat, but it must have been some seriously powerful magic. Typically, his team would have a tracking device for their target, but not this time. That told him George and his companion must have powerful concealing magics. Still it didn’t matter how strong his concealing magics were if his team knew he was on the boat. Also, they had a nice picture and his current name, both of which were totally different than his wanted poster.

The guild members took two cabins and then separate on the top deck spotting George and Nora quickly. They just keep a different member of the team with an eye on them periodically until they retired to their cabin. The team will take them tonight after midnight to give them time to fall asleep. They retired to their own cabin to prepare. All the guild members have a protective stone that will absorb 500 points of fire damage, though the guild master hoped they would not have to use them as they were very expensive and would cut into profits. Each was dressed in clothing that blended with the walls greatly increasing their stealth. Each was also armed with a dagger and darts coated with a poison that would knock someone unconscious quickly.

As midnight approached, they make their way from their cabins to stand in front of George and Nora’s. Jeb had the honor of picking the lock on the door as he had the highest lockpick and trap detection. He detected no traps, which did not surprise him. His team had absurdly high levels for this mission. Jeb was level forty-six, Kal was level fifty-three, Jason was level twenty-two, and their lowest member Anthony was level twenty. Anthony should be able to handle them by himself. Frank lead the way into the room and that’s when things began to go wrong. As soon as Frank crossed the threshold there was a flare of fire mana surrounding him that his stone absorbed, but the noise woke their targets.

George and Nora woke to a bright flare of fire covering a man standing in their doorway. He was dressed in black that seemed to briefly try to match the color of the flame before it died leaving him unharmed. George cast Concealing Mists and used Shadow Step to grab Nora and then Step to the far corner of the room. At the same time, he arrived in the corner he heard a sharp thump as darts appeared in the bed where they had both been laying a moment ago. The man in the doorway has some serious protection against fire. Let’s see how he handles lightning.

George: I am going to hit him with Enhanced Lightning.

I activate an Air Shield and then a Dark Shield, which just deepens the shadows around me as I maximize and double my Enhanced Lightning spell taking him in the chest. He turns and hurls a fan of darts at me striking my Air Shield shattering it, but my Dark Shield absorbs the rest. He draws two daggers and charges me, which is what Nora was waiting for. She executes a Jump Step to the Bed and then another behind him. He ignores her as a threat as she executes a flowing blade planting two enchanted daggers to their hilts in his back. That staggers him and now he takes notice of her and turns even while I am still frying him. She uses a Timeless Step to dodge and then plants another enchanted dagger in his shoulder before Jumping to the other side of the room.

He turns back to me with a grunt of frustration and then starts to glow a deep violet and I realize I am not going to be able to kill him before I run out of mana. He is just too high a level, so I switch tactics and divert all my remaining mana into one action. Mana infuses the air and darkness around me as they funnel down and strike the man who is rushing at me once again. This time I am not trying to injure him. Instead the blast of darkness and air lifts him slightly from the floor and propels him out through the doorway. I see his surprised and angry face disappear over the rail and here a distant splash from the fire below.

Nora just starts to draw another dagger when a sphere is thrown in the room that explodes releasing a cloud of gas. Notifications begin to flash at the edge of my vision as I try to Shadow Step to Nora to grab her and escape to the river, but I have completely depleted my mana reserves. I take one, two steps, and collapse at the same time Nora does. Everything goes dark as I see a pair of feet in the doorway.

Jeb cautiously stepped into the room after giving the gas some time to work. His team is immune to the gas that was still filling the room. He could hear shouting outside the cabin and they needed to depart with their targets quickly. Kal grabbed George and Jason grabbed Nora and they jump over the rail and land lightly on the rivers surface. They run toward shore meeting a wet and singed Frank. Together they run into the woods for several miles before coming to a cave entrance. This was one of the remote safe house’s setup for the guild members to use as needed. They were to lay low here and notify the guild they had the target before getting orders on what to do. The guild wanted to see what attention if any was raised by their targets acquisition. Jeb was sure he would get an earful about how messy it turned out.

They put George and Nora in a quiet room, which was shielded from magic with a reinforced door and walls that should handle any stamina-based skills they had. Obviously, they had excellent builds for their level. Jeb found it much more believable that George was involved in kidnaping the princess now. After they drop George and Nora in the cell, they gathered in the main room to share in the after-action report. They tried to all be candid about how the mission went and they all had to share some blame about being overconfident. Frank shared his combat log and the damage was impressive. The fire ward did 400 points of damage when Frank entered the room and the Enhanced Lightning spell hit him for a continuous 300 points of damage a second. Nora struck him for 600 points of damage between her three daggers while avoiding any counter attack. If Frank hadn’t had such a high resistant, armor, and constitution he would be dead. If George had known how close he was to death he may have continued to attack instead of throwing him out into the river. Of course, Frank had some tricks left that should have handled George and Nora, so George really did the smart thing.

Now we just had to wait for the gas to wear off. Typically, we avoid using the gas because there is no cure other than time to make it wear off. It should take about six hours before they regain consciousness, then we will see what they have to say. Even though Frank is maintaining a good poker face I have no doubt George and Nora will come to regret injuring him so badly.

Jason was maintaining a watch when George begins to stir. Everyone gathered and we opened the door to the cell, which held us all easily. George and Nora were laying on the cold metal floor while we leaned against the walls by the door. I have the only key and with the door locked they weren’t going anywhere. George opened his eyes and held his head when he sat up. I know exactly what he is feeling. Before we are given out immunity to the gas, we are each dosed with it, so we know what to expect from those we use it on. I start the ball rolling while he is still disoriented.

“George, we have some questions for you.”

George removed his hand from his head and looks at me ignoring the discomfort he must be feeling and then stands up, which is impressive. I expected him to vomit from the effort. I still can’t see any of his stats or anything except his fake name when I inspect him.

“George? I am afraid you have the wrong person.”

I smile. “I don’t think so. You and Nora are exactly who we are after. Now you would save us a lot of trouble if you would tell us where the princess is?”

George surprises me by chuckling. “You are after the princess? Who sent you on this wild goose chase?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Do you have a way to sense if I am telling the truth?”

“Yes.”

‘Then use it and I will help you understand why I am laughing at this situation.”

I gesture to Jason who pulls a truth stone out and tosses on the floor at George’s feet. “Pick it up and put a drop of your blood on it.”

George picks it up and draws a dagger from his inventory and pricks his finger before putting the dagger back. He smears his blood on the stone, which glows blue. “I have never kidnapped or even assisted in any way kidnapping the princess. At the time the wanted posters were put up I was traveling with Nora here. I am a Reborn and I know very little about this world yet, but I know enough not to get involved any anything like what I am accused of. Finally, I suspect someone put up the wanted posters to distract from what is going on, but I don’t know enough about this world yet to guess at what that could be.” Then entire time the stone glowed blue leaving the assassins speechless as George tossed the stone back to Jason.

“Well crap.” Jeb said.

“You can see why this is pretty frustrating for me and why I am trying to hide, but apparently not good enough, since you found me. So now are you letting us go?”

“No. We will have to communicate what you told us to our leaders and see what they want us to do.”

Jeb can guess that will be a final death for George and Nora, if for no other reason than to cover up what a colossal mistake the guild has made. Jeb is unlocking the door when it is blown off its hinges by a column of water taking him into the far wall just missing George who side steps toward Nora. The three remaining assassins remove daggers and flatten themselves against wall, while George scoops up Nora and heads to the far corner. George makes it right before twin streams of water cut through the walls and two of the assassins before they can move slicing them in half. George feels the wards on the room fading allowing him access to mana again, so George raises an air shield and Air Steps to the other corner avoiding the last assassin who looks at him starting to open his mouth to say something when a giant tentacle of water shoots into the room and bends sideways hitting the man so hard, he pops like a balloon. George wishes he hadn’t had to see that.

George settled to the ground as a figure in bright blue robes with silver trim entered the room. He has short cropped blond hair with piercing green eyes that took in the room with a glance. His face split into a smile when he looked at Nora and myself. “My name is Harry and I am the Head Priest of the Goddess of Water in Deepwell. May I see to your companion?”

George considered the man, but with the power he had displays just a few moments ago there would be nothing he could do to stop him. George gently set Nora down and Harry kneeled in front of her taking her hand. He cast a spell that caused golden lines of power to follow her veins from her hand and up her arm and into her chest. Nora opened her eyes shortly after that and I filled her in on what had happened. I turn expectantly to Harry. “Thank you for helping us.”

“That is not a problem. My Goddess told me to expect you and help in any way I could. When I sensed a group running from the boat on the river and hear about the attack and your disappearance it was easy to put together that you were abducted. It just took me some time to find this location. Now I suggest we leave. Far too much power has been used here and who knows what attention it may bring. Come.”

Harry takes us outside and he throws something on the ground in front of us that rapidly expands into a huge leaf. Harry walks on the undulating surface and gestures for us to do so as well. We all take seats as the leaf rises into the air. It doesn’t take us long to reach the river and then continue to follow its course. We are moving swiftly, but the wind we feel is no more than a stiff breeze. The view from the air is breath taking and I hope that my Air Step will one day evolve into something that lets me accomplish the same thing. Both Nora and I sit and relax as we continue down the river to Deepwell.