ANDREW BLACK

Chapter 9

Levison Dalte

Tying the rope into a loose band Levi placed it on the ground hiding behind the bush, waiting for his prey. He had seen him separate from the group, a leader abandoning his team, was that really a leader? Either way this was good for Levi it made things simpler for him, rather than chasing Two-less and exerting both mental and physical power, his prey had made it relatively easier and now he needed only very minimal effort.
5...4...3...2...1, he counted backwards internally as he felt a weight on the rope, ..0, the weight was gone, he pulled the rope the foot was trapped, and his prey fell to the ground with a yelp. Pulling on his mask he felt the rush that came with hunting, unfortunately this time he had to let his prey live so it may be sent to collect its reward. He jumped out on his prey scanning its body for the flag. His enemy had fallen face first to the ground, so sitting on Richards' back he carried the wooden stick he had found to the man's throat and menacingly whispered "Where is the flag?"

His enemy whimpered and he could see sweat forming on his forehead. To say Levi was shocked is an understatement, he found it difficult to comprehend that an assassin who had been working under the father for so long was frightened by a threat, then again weren't we all frightened by death? Memories came crawling towards him, but he shook his head before they resurfaced. It was times like this the line between work and emotions smudged. "Where is the flag?" Levi asked pressing the useless stick toward the man's neck. The fear of the unknown was a beautiful thing and Levi loved how it made grown hardened men, whimpering little kids who had lost their mothers in a busy market crowd. His enemy, more like prey shook his left leg and pointed to his boots. Levi pulled out the flag, it was blue. He was a tad bit disappointed as he wanted red, but beggars cannot be choosers. "500 squats await you Richards along with other nice things Master Luu's planned out," Levi said patting a shivering Richards' buttocks. Before Richards had the chance to turn around, Levi returned to the bush, cautious to use the trees to conceal himself.

As Levi walked around the forest, he battled his current dilemma in head. Master Luu's instruction was to get as many flags but he had put them in groups. What exactly was the plan? He knew trust was not one of the things he was building on and he knew there was more to the test then gathering flags so what was it? Levi kicked up some leaves as his mind juggled the solutions in his head. He could attack Fuadrin's team, but he was certain Faudrin had figured it out by now. Sometimes, he hated how smart Faudrin could be, but he was definitely intolerable. Hugh was too much of a leader to see past his leadership role to see the real goal. Pity, he was going to have to inflict these hardships master Luu spoke of on Hugh and to be very honest he did not mind getting Barnes too, it is the closest he would get to having a chance to go at Faudrin. Levi heard footsteps and immediately glued himself to the tree.

"How could he do that to us," he heard someone say.

"Does he not know anything about trust?" another complained.

"Or about being a leader, it was your fault. Wallace was right we should not have teamed with Faudrin." The third complained as they walked past, oblivious of him. He was right to assume Faudrin had figured it out and if Faudrin to had figured it out, it meant that his initial assumption was right. It was indeed every man for himself and this was about breaking trust in every form possible. It was like casting a net with holes larger than the fish and believing in the fishes to remain captured. If Faudrin had taken his team members then it meant that Faudrin had 4, that was one less than him. It was left with just a few, he needed to act fast. Now where did he find the rest of Two-less.

...

"Guys," Mirthgust called jumping down from the tree, on jumping down, he held his knee and fell to the floor groaning in pain. Barnes and Hugh rushed to his side.