Two Sides Of A Coin

•2•

    I was awake at dawn, already dressed and waiting in the dining hall by the time the sun was up. Rain beat down on the roof as I waited for my companion. He walked into the room about ten minutes after I had, him wearing leathers nearly identical to mine, different only by certain spots for different weapons. Daggers and such. He had a sword sheathed down the center of his spine, daggers at his hips, and a mask that covered his nose and mouth hanging at his throat. His hood was down, leaving his entire face visible. My hair hung in a braid down my back, bow and arrows at my back and daggers sheathed down my legs. A mask identical to Sam's hanging at my neck.
    "Ready?" I asked, leaning against the wall and tossing a dagger around.
    "Have you eaten anything yet?" He asked, picking up a muffin from a basket on the table.
    "No Sam I'm going to go into a day of scouting on an empty stomach." I rolled my eyes jokingly. "Yes, I ate breakfast."
    He chuckled and sat on the edge of the table, pulling the wrapper off his muffin. "Y'know, judging by your tone a lot of people would think you were serious about not eating breakfast. I just know you well enough to know the difference." He grinned at me. Most would wonder how he seemed so fine when we're about to figure out how we'll get in to kill the prince but, when you've had as many jobs as he's had in his five years since becoming and assassin-
    "Yeah yeah whatever." I fiddled with the edge of my hood slightly.
    He snorted and finished his muffin. "C'mon, let's get going while we still have the shadows in our favor."
    I nodded, tugging my hood up over my head.
    He did the same, pulling his mask up as well before slipping outside into an alley way.
    I pulled my own mask over the lower half of my face, following silently.
     We scaled the wall, looking for loose bricks, windowsills, anything we could use to climb. I made it up first, hauling him up when he could reach.
    Neither of us said a word as we bounded across rooftops, the traction of our boots keeping us from falling. Finally we made it to the building across from the palace. Getting past the fence and to the palace itself would be interesting.
    "Go around back. More shadows, more darkness. Less likely to get caught." Sam murmured. I nodded in agreement and jumped to the next roof. Eventually we were both around back of the castle. It'd be an easy shot to get to the roof from where we stood now. Less guards around back. And it'd be quite difficult to catch someone they couldn't see. We lived in a land with magic and some had some type of power. Controlling fire or ice, wind or light. Some were as basic as being able to turn invisible for a few moments. Others were things such as shape-shifting, though they were rare. Kept as, 'pets' by those with money. Used as entertainment. The very thought made me shudder. Most magic was outlawed and illegal. If you were caught using it you'd be arrested. Sent to slave camps, have a collar forced around your throat that others could use to control every part of you. Or executed. Magic users were rare enough that you almost never saw anyone with one of those iron collars around their throat. If you did see one of them, run. Sam could make himself and another person invisible for about ten seconds. The other person would have to be holding onto him for it to work but it did. Two problems. One, if he was found out, well, who knows what would happen to him. Two, the more he used his power the more tired he got so he had to be careful.
He gripped my hand and nodded as we leaped onto one of the stone pillar like structures of the fence that surrounded the castle. In a moment I knew we were invisible, bounding across the lawn and scaling the palace wall. He had to let go to climb so we'd have to stay hidden. He made it up first, his steps near silent as he turned to pull me up.
I gripped his fingers and stood next to him, ducking into the shadows with him as a guard passed by. They made this almost too easy as all the guards that had been up there left the roof. So we waited, spending the first day of our scouting and learning the guards schedules and who went where. We always started like this. This is gonna be interesting.