The Gift

Chapter Seven

When we returned we found that the house was all in one piece and the men were all entertaining themselves.  We stayed at the house on the Twelfth Isle for a week.  The next morning, we set out on another job that Daniel had been offered.

Six months passed without much excitement.  Nobody had near death experiences, or got severely injured.  I saw houses that Daniel owned on the Third and Seventh Isles as we stayed on at them for a few days between long jobs.  I worked well with all the members of the band but found myself paired with Daniel more and more while we worked contracts.

As we worked together I found myself being drawn toward him.  I tried to resist it and distance myself from him but each time I did, my little voice told me to trust him so I let him in a little bit more.  We got to where we could work together flawlessly.  The masquerade of husband and wife was perfected and it helped us gain access to information and pass through the Sixth Isle without suspicion.  When in a fight, we knew how the other moved and could fight together without the other getting in the way.  Upon the occasion that we had an assassination contract, he would get us in close enough and take care of any guards while I slipped in and took out the target.

Seeing as how I was incapable of lying, working with him was helpful because, when he needed to, he could lie seamlessly.  When he introduced me as his wife, all I had to do was smile demurely and murmur a greeting.

Over the months, I also found that he had an uncanny ability to know how to best work each band member’s strengths and weaknesses.  We needed a loud distraction one time, so he sent the brothers in to make a ruckus while the others slipped through unnoticed and did their job.

I worked with Mark and taught him some of the finer points of my poisons.  I taught him certain combinations of plants that rendered any immunity that was built up useless.

Edwin showed me tracking and how to use different clues to track what path someone had taken and how to cover my own tracks.  With my improved eyesight, it was easy enough to pick up.  In return, I taught him to draw a bow and shoot more accurately.

Within my first month with them, Brandon challenged me to a fight where all weapons were allowed.  If I won he would stop calling me ‘little sister’ and if he won I had to stop protesting to him calling me it.  One night we stopped early for camp and set up an area for our fight.  All our weapons were lined up in two lines except for any of my weapons that I used poisons on.  Those were all tucked inside my poison bag.

Daniel told me later that we fought for a good half an hour before Edwin called the fight a draw.  Neither of us had been able to get so much as a scratch on the other.  He had superior strength and knew how to use his weapons while I was smaller and was more flexible and faster.  Since neither of us won, he continued to call me little sister and I continued to tell him to stop.

As we neared six months that I had been with the band, we had a difficult contract.  I had advised Daniel not to take it, but he said that the band needed the money before we went to the Twelfth Isle for the cold months.  In the skirmish that occurred during the contract, Stephen got hurt, to the point where he could have died were it not for Mark.

Daniel and I had stood over Mark and Stephen, protecting them, while Mark helped him as best he could during a fight.  Once we had a clear path, Daniel hoisted Stephen up and we got out of there as fast as we could.  As soon as we got to our campsite, Mark went back to work on Stephen, treating him.  The other men soon followed us and Daniel set up a guard.

“I told you not to take that contract,” I hissed at him once the men were busy tending to their own minor injuries and recuperating from the battle.  Daniel started to walk away from me and the campsite.  I followed, not finished with what I had to say.  “Now Stephen is hurt and he could have died.  He still could.  You said that if I told you to do something, you would do it.  If you’re not going to keep to our contract, tell me now so I can leave.”