A giggle sounded from behind Kai and he breathed out. “You need to always be prepared for anything.” A raven haired beauty stepped from behind Kai. She was five foot two and had hair to her waist in multiple braids. Dressed in all black even from a few feet away she was hard to distinguish in the growing shadows from the setting sun. The knife she had held against Kai’s neck spun in her hand and disappeared to Kai didn’t know where as he was unable to follow the flashing metal.

“Kai, allow me to introduce your instructor for this evening’s session in stealth and perception, Leona.” Alric turned to the woman. “Leona this is Kai. He has been progressing well and is not to look at his notifications or spend any Path points. He has a large supply of potions that you are encouraged to make him use throughout your training this evening.” He turned back to Kai. “Pace yourself as you will not be sleeping and we shall have a full day again tomorrow.”

Kai groaned as he had been up with the dawn and it seemed there would be no rest for the wicked this evening. “I know I have stamina potions but is there any rejuvenation type potion?” Alric smiled and shook his head in the negative then turned and walked away.

Kai hung his head and closed his eyes. This is going to be hell. That was all he could think. He steeled himself for the night to come, opened his eyes and raised his head. Leona stood before him an appraising look on her face. “Good. You are ready now. Follow if you can.” With those words Leona turned and melded into the shadows. Kai took two steps forward and realized he had no idea if she had continued straight or turned.

“Shit. I have no idea where you went. Do you have like a 50% setting on that thing?” Kai asked in a resigned tone.

“This is 50%. At worst you should be able to follow my footprints. You never played hide and seek as a kid? Take at least ten steps before giving up next time.” Leona’s voice came from Kai’s right. He looked down and noticed a smudge in the dirt that could have been a footprint.

He began to follow the smudges in the ground. After two minutes he walked right into a tree. Leona’s voice came from next to him. “Don’t look down the whole time. The idea is to always be aware of what is going on around you but still follow the footprints. Every three steps look down to confirm the footprints are still there.”

Kai nodded. “Will do.” He shook himself off and started to move to the left. After three steps he looked down again and there were no footprints in sight. He checked behind him and spotted an impression. She had immediately turned trying to get him to go way off track if he didn’t check often enough. This time her trick hadn’t worked. Kai followed the new direction and every few steps he glanced down to make sure the footprints continued. She led him to a copse of trees and then took him in circles. After he had gone in a circle around a tree for the third time he looked to his left about three trees over. If her pattern continued that was the tree she would circle. Kai acted as though he had lost her trail and was searching for a footprint but he was intently watching the ground near that tree. The moment he saw the footprint appear he launched himself forward. Three giant steps later he dove forward in a tackle as he attempted to catch Leona. He fell flat on his face and her laughter rang out.

“Excellent.” He felt cold metal press against his neck then disappear. “You’re dead by the way. But at least you saw the pattern and had a plan to overcome it. However you mistimed your attack and died instead.” Leona appeared four feet away and to his left. “At least you are adapting and learning. Now we are going to work on your own stealth skills so you could have followed me less like an elephant through a china shop.” She laughed at her own joke. “Now believe yourself to be a part of the shadows and stay within the forest. This shall be our playground for the evening.” She turned to the tree and began to count as though they really were playing hide and seek.

Kai climbed to his feet and began to move off toward the center of the small wood. After about 100 feet he saw a tree that was perfect for what he wanted. He was able to jump directly up to a low branch without using the trunk to support his feet. He did a pull-up and got on top of the branch. He walked along it towards another tree and jumped from the branch he was on. He climbed from one branch to another and had circled back towards his starting position without touching the ground. After five minutes he was twenty feet above the ground and wedged between a tree trunk and a branch that jutted out and turned upward at a sharp angle, enough room to place himself without being stuck.

He kept the image of shadows surrounding his position firmly in the front of his thoughts. Two minutes later he felt a rock hit him in the side. He looked down and saw Leona standing there. “If that had been one of my daggers you would be dead. Come down.” She stepped back and vanished from his vision. Kai cursed and began to make his way down from branch to branch.

“I will admit you did better than most with your evasion. However, you put yourself in a corner with no avenue of escape, so you failed that portion. Two rules to always keep in mind when you are the hunted. Rule one, get as far as possible as fast as possible in as stealthy a manner as possible. Rule two, always give yourself an out. Now rule one can be bent a little should you feel that you could turn from hunted to hunter, which you somewhat attempted to do with your loop back around trick. Rule two should never be broken.” She walked towards the tree trunk. “Again. This time I will only give you a five minute head start. Keep the shadows in your mind.”

The entire night was spent where he would evade her three or four times in a row, usally anywhere from five to ten minutes each time. Then it would be his turn to track her once. Then he evaded multiple times again. The time spent in each activity ending up being about the same as he normally could not find her for about thirty minutes. As dawn approached, he found her near the outskirts of the wood.