Hey everyone! How's it going?

I just wanted to warn you all that this chapter is a warning for all creepers. Seriously.

Oh, btw: can we all just assume that when I refer to Briar as 'he', 'him', etc. -that there is a (she) next to it? Thera did not quit being a girl. I just got annoyed at the way they kept interrupting the story flow.

Edit: Never mind. You managed to convince me. I will refer to Briar as 'she', even while she is under the illusion to appear as a male...

Enjoy~!

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“Keep that façade up and I’ll begin to start thinking you actually do think that way.” Laura said, sitting on the bed. “What was the real reason?”

Briar looked out the window, staring into the endless distance of the blue skies.

“Punishment, to be sure. But there also needed to be a certain level of distraction. Do you know by now how many eyes are upon us? There needed to be some sort of distraction to take the eyes away.”

“Why?”(Laura)

“So that the magic trick can be set up.” Briar turned and smiled at Laura. While, on the surface, her face was the picture of mischief, in her eyes remained a single sad glimmer.

Laura was quick to pick up on it.

“Why do I feel that you’re crying inside?” She asked, slowly.

Briar paused for a moment. Then she caught a glimpse of the faintest traces of two shadows near the crack in the door. She let the silence spell dissipate.

“Hmm? Oh, no. It’s not that. I’m just a bit tired, is all. You’d best get back to your room, Princess. Your bathwater should be there soon.” She said a little loudly.

The two shadows disappeared from under the door.

Laura stared Briar in the eyes a bit more, but when it became apparent that Briar would share no more with her at that time, she sighed with frustration and stood up.

“I don’t know what’s eating you, but I suppose I’ll leave so that you can mope about it some more.” She paused. “I worry about you. Sometimes it feels like you’re even more of an adult than most adults. And sometimes you seem more innocent than a child…seriously! I’m right here! Can’t you rely on me for a bit?”

Briar turned to Laura, and looked at her with an odd expression on her face. Then the mischievous mask was back in place.

“Hahah! Don’t tell me that you’re starting to fall for me? That I should be so lucky!” Her teasing jab made it clear that the opportune opening had since vanished.

“That’s not what I meant. Stop being an ass!” Laura punched Briar’s arm, and with that, she left.

“She’s far too observant for a child her age…” Briar muttered to herself.

Soon enough, the bathwater was brought up. Briar took a bath, dressed in some comfortable clothes, and went across the hall to knock on Laura’s door.

“Yes?” Laura’s voice came through the door.

“Kohun! I am here to remind you that dinner will be soon. Since the owner warned us not to be late, I believe it would be better to arrive a bit early.” Briar said.

Laura didn’t answer.

“Prin-I mean, Miss Laura?” Briar asked again a few moments later, after not hearing her reply.

“Ah, yes! You go ahead. I’ll come down in a few minutes.” Laura replied.

Briar frowned. Strange…Laura’s voice sounded very strange.

“Okay, I won’t wait then. See you downstairs, Prince-I mean, Miss Laura.” Briar said, with a chuckle.

For anyone who was just listening, then Briar sounded normal. But if anyone was watching Briar’s face, they would have seen an intent, serious expression that belied the cheery tone of his (her) voice.

Briar turned and ‘skipped’ down the stairs.

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Laura stood still, not moving even an inch, a knife’s sharp edge pressed against her throat.

She had been taking a nice nap, when suddenly a man in dark clothes and a mask had slipped in through the window behind her, and easily restrained her.

Laura found that she couldn’t move. She struggled, her face growing red with effort, but she couldn’t move a single muscle. Was this man a magician!?

Laura’s mind reeled as she began to panic.

When Briar had knocked on the door, he had pressed a knife’s blade against her neck, and hissed at her to answer, warning her with the knife lest she spout something to make the warrior break down the door.

Now that Briar was gone, the man relaxed a bit, pulling his knife away from her neck.

Satisfied that the plan was going well, he smirked, pleased with himself as he shifted his focus to his bag to get a rope, still holding the knife against Laura’s neck. But he suddenly stiffened, the knife falling from his hands as he keeled over on the bed.

Laura backed away from the man, to get some distance, and grabbed the knife, pointing the blade towards the man in case he attacked again. But there was no need to be on guard. The man was dead.

Laura was confused. Upon closer inspection, she found a single needle lodged in the man’s spinal cord.

Then everything made sense to her. She walked over to the window, peering out of it into the street below, but no one was there.

Down below, Briar whistled merrily as she waited for the food he ordered to arrive. It couldn’t be seen, but one of her throwing needles just so happened to be missing.

Laura joined Briar’s table silently. Neither one said anything as they both tucked into a stew made from lentils, meat, and vegetables.

The rest of the customers kept to their own tables, muttering in low voices, or playing card games. Every now and then, a round of hearty laughter would come from table furthest from them, as the men traded tales and stories and the occasional joke or two.

Thera and Laura finished eating quickly, because the feeling that eyes were fixed on them gave that edge of discomfort that caused the hairs on the back of their neck to prickle. When dinner was over, they each returned back to their rooms.

This time, it was Briar’s turn to knock on Laura’s door.

“Hey.” She said, leaning against the door frame.

“Well? Don’t just stand there, hurry up and get in here before somebody sees!” Laura scowled. Of course, she was talking about the dead corpse that just so happened to be lying in her room, waiting to be discovered.

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The first thing Briar did was unmask the black-clothed man. It held the face of a man who appeared to be in his late thirties, or early forties. His mouse-brown hair was just starting to take on a hint of grey, and a five o’clock shadow graced his jawline.

“Do you know him, or have you seen him anywhere?” Briar asked Laura.

“No. I’ve never seen him before, but he might be someone involved with someone that my dad knows.” Laura replied. Because of the fact that they were referring to Master Thales as father, Laura called the real one, her dad, to distinguish between the two.

True, since Laura’s father was a rather well to do noble, with a rather large estate, who dealt with his colleagues honestly and justly, there were probably at least a few of the unsavory kind of noble who wished to gain an edge over him, or deal him a low blow.

As could be seen from the case of the Hades fever incident, Laura’s father was not entirely devoid of enemies.

However…this did not really make sense to Briar.

First: how would they know that this girl was Laura Murlough? She had worn her hood the entire time they were out in public.

Second: how would there be an agent from said unknown employer conveniently placed in a village in the wilds of a different country? They would have to know where the two of them were, but there was no such applied tracking magic, or item to help them do such a thing.

It would be much more likely that this was something done regularly by an organization that specialized in capturing a randomly chosen target, rather than an assassin.

Therefore, Briar concluded that it was probably another slave-capture attempt.

After confirming things, Briar proceeded to loot the body. As she began going through the pockets and clothes, Laura exclaimed.

“What are you doing!?”

“Shh! Do you want the whole inn to come up here?” Briar rebuked. “If you must know, I’m looking for anything useful.”

“But, still...this seems a bit…indecent.” Laura winced as she observed Briar’s blatant disregard for the dead man.

Briar paused. The two shadows were at the door again. She voicelessly threw up a silence spell and turned to Laura.

“He attempted to kidnap you and threatened to kill you, and you still think that this man deserves common decency?” Briar asked in reply. “Think of it as just remunerations.”

Briar turned back and looked at the dead man. There was hardly any blood, due to the nature of the death.

“Besides, if this man has any friends, and they get ahold of the body like this, there’s no doubt that any evidence will be destroyed. If we have any luck, we’ll find some kind of identification so that we can show it to your dear beloved father to make tracking his group down easier.” She added in his defense.

Laura hesitated, but remained quiet after that. Briar took her silence as compliance, and continued to search the body.

From what Laura had told her, this man was not an ordinary fellow. Yet, seeing that he had so easily been sniped, he couldn’t have been that high a martial practitioner.

It was so much more difficult to tell the level of the man, because after death the energy becomes released back into the surroundings.

Briar found the man had a magic bag upon his waist belt and opened it, placing the contents upon the bed. The bed was soon filled up with items.

Inside the magic bag on his belt there was the rope, a large bundle of throwing knives, about fifty bottles and vials holding different substances, enough food to last a week, and a rather tidy sum of money.

There was also a leather-bound book tucked away in a corner of the bag. If not for Briar’s improved eyesight, she might have missed such a thing earlier.

After checking to make sure that there was nothing more, she took the magic bag off the man and tossed it to Laura.

“Here. This’ll be useful.” Briar said, as she tossed everything on the bed into her own magic bag.

Laura held the dead man’s magic bag at arm’s length.

“What am I supposed to do with this?” She asked.

“What you’re supposed to do with any kind of magic bag.” Briar replied sarcastically. “You wear it…actually give it here. We’ll use it to move the body away.” Laura quickly handed it back as if it were a hot potato.

After searching the body some more, Briar noticed a ring on the man’s hand and took it off, hoping to find some sort of marking upon it.

Unfortunately, it was a plain ring, and rather dull-looking too. But Briar thought it would be good for a disguise if she ever needed one, and pocketed the ring. There was no other jewelry on the man.

After confirming that everything useful was taken, Briar managed to stuff the man into the magic bag. She swept all the man’s items into her personal magic bag. And thus, all traces of that man in that room were gone.

“Keep the windows barred until you hear me knock to the tune of “Dragon’s Festival” Briar said, naming a widely known festival tune.

Laura nodded and watched anxiously as Briar vanished through the window frame. But quickly barred the windows as ordered after remembering what had happened earlier. To be sure, she certainly did not want another strange man walking into her room.

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It seemed like ages before she heard the rat-ta-tat-tat upon the window pane, but she quickly jumped up and unbarred the window.

Briar lithely jumped into the room, clapping her hands to signify a job well done.

“That should take care of things.” She said with an air of finality.