Summer Garden

Rendi

He closed the door as quietly as he could, dragging the Faeling who was trying to fly back inside.

Astrian pouted, crossing her arms and sitting on the doormat.

He sighed heavily, patting his pockets for amber, and then held one up, "Only if you don't go back inside until I say you can."

The Faeling considered his request, and then shook her head.

Rendi rolled his eyes, "Two?"

"Tree." Astrian stated flatly, as if there was no possible way he had three pieces of dried tree sap on him, when he was in a garden filled with trees.

"Three it is." He replied, and held them out.

Astrian grabbed them and ran, moving off into the garden. Rendi signalled and two of the other assassins moved ahead to scout and shadow the Faeling. He'd called them all in after Luna had arrived in the garden, after Summer's death.

He couldn't afford for the same situation to happen again.

He paused, watching as the elf danced, spear in hand, weaving circles around the clumsy oaf that was the key to all of this. How could such an ineffective fighter be their hope? How could he have the power to change the world around himself?

This untrained idiot was akin to a god?

The assassin shook his head as he moved towards them, yawning tiredly. Then he paused. He'd misjudged the situation. The elf truly was spectacular to behold. The spear moved as one with her, and there was never a chance that the mortal could strike her. Yet, neither could she land a single blow against him. Every blow was blocked with disproportionate strength. The mortal knocked aside a deadly aim as it were not delivered with the full force that the elf had available to her.

The ground beneath both fighters was torn and shredded where each of them had planted their feet before being knocked backwards by the other.

Alphege paused, breathing heavily, and waved a hand, "Come to do better, assassin?"

He coughed as a squeal emitted from the cabin in the background, and the elf rolled her eyes, "About time."

Trei looked from one to the other, "Is Luna okay?"

"Yes." Rendi spoke very quickly, and raised his hands, "Let us see what you can do against knives, mortal."

He spun tossing two knives and using his wings to get a burst of speed, circling behind the mortal and tossing two more. As he did, his eyes widened as he saw the first two knives already heading in his direction. The mortal was fast. Faster than he could see.

He deflected all four blades before they impaled him, watching the mortal in surprise. He wasn't sweating, nor breathing heavier than normal, despite already having fought the elf. "Are you not trying to hurt me?"

Trei shrugged, "You're my ally."

"You will have to try." Rendi growled angrily, trying not to be distracted as another inappropriate sound pierced the air, and tossed a knife before the mortal could ask another awkward question.

As he did, Rendi slipped through the cracks of the dimensions, emerging above the mortal to toss half a dozen blades straight down. He paused midair, flinching as he heard a cracking sound.

Rendi plummeted to the ground, unable to breathe as the pain overwhelmed him.

He glanced to the right, staring in astonishment at what was left of his wing. The sound had been a knife piercing it at an ungodly speed. No. A godly speed. A speed fast enough to breach the sound barrier, and blow away the fragments of something that was not nearly as fragile as it looked.

Alphege fell beside him, her spear slamming into the ground. "What was done, is undone."

Rendi hissed through his fangs as his wing seemed to reconstruct itself out of fragments in the air, and then he sat upright, looking at the mortal in astonishment, "If you can bring that against our enemies, we might stand a chance."

Trei nodded politely.

He should have expected it, really. The body might look like the mortal now, but it was once his master's. If the mortal could reshape a Fae's physical shell, one that had been at the peak of physical capability, then he would reshape it into something better. Something more.

The knife hit the ground nearby, and Rendi shook his head, "You threw that?"

Trei shook his head, "Nah. I'm punched it back at you."

Alphege raised an eyebrow, "How? The assassin hadn't yet emerged back into this dimension. How did you know where he would be?"

Trei shrugged, "It's where I thought he would be. Wasn't it obvious?"

"No." Alphege replied and sighed, "Luck. You managed to force the assassin to take the route you wanted him to. Astonishing."

Rendi bit of his angry retort that it was more painful than surprising.