The Birth of a Ranger

Chapter Ten

Four months had gone back and Azura not once released her from her duty at her side and to Dante's gratefulness, stood by her side. The fort was plagued by some unknown force that was distracting her enough that she felt the need to stay by Azura's side. She worried for the fate of her family and the visions she had been plagued with continued, occuring every other day. Though nothing ever seemed to make sense of what she was seeing and she could never really put it together.

This particular day she stood outside with the following of men from the Akiyama that she had amassed over the past few months. They took care of all that was evil in the fort and she had taught them everything they knew about fighting. She had turned some of the most trusted Akiyama into weapons of stealth.

Eventually she had formed what they now called the Aurilia Assassin's Guild, be it however few they had, they stood by her side and even trained with her from dusk until dawn. She learned just as much as they did from the way they fought and prided that she didn't need the help of Kieleth, who just months before had stopped coming around her.

Dante had become a master of poisons thanks to Resley, also known as Res to the other guards. That included the many sedatives that the world had from natural plants. They were so easy to make, it was scary to her.

She had sent two letters back to the mainland in the past two months as she had grown and even took note of how cold she had become. How blood thirsty she was. She could kill in seconds and feel no remorse for doing so and in a way, it was thrilling to her. Still no word came back from the fort and she wondered just how long they were going to ignore her, if that was what was going on.

The clang of swords brought her from her thoughts to realize Resley and Norn had begun their second sparring session for the day. She smiled, leaning against a nearby wall watching the eight men she had gathered and formed their Guild together train and fight until their heart's content. None of them ever asked to fight Dante because of her brutal training. The few times she did spar with them was to test their forms, another thing she had learned a lot about from Kieleth.

"How long do you think it'll take them to realize it's only been a few hours and they're still at each other's throats?" Garrick spoke next to her.

"When they're hungry." Dante smiled and held back her laugh when Garrick gave her a glare that suggested they wouldn't train that long.

"Name one time those two haven't trained into the long hours of the night." Garrick glanced at the two sparring and nodded his head with a smirk knowing Dante had won that conversation.

Dante had become all too observant in the recent months taking in every movement, every sound and breeze. Training was no different. Their forms were always off and when it came to switching hands to fight with their non-dominant hand, most of them couldn't do it. She was the only one of the bunch who had learned to fight with both hands and could do it with such ease that it scared the men. More than one time she bested them, bringing them to the ground with a victorious grin.

Resley and Norn finished their sparring and pulled their hoods back, cloaks of her own courtesy. They took them without question and their training included them wearing them to get used to their weight around their body. They were light all things considered and most could fight with them though others amusingly got tangled up in them.

Resley glanced at her with his long black hair and brown eyes. His jaw was sharp and he had that certain look that made you yearn for him. His eyes were hypnotic and almost golden in some lights.

"Again." Was all Dante could say when he looked at her, a smile forming behind her cowl.

A sighed escaped the lips of both Res and Norn, much to her own amusement and she watched them take up their form once again. She lifted her head and looked at their forms slowly before pushing off the wall and approaching them.