First Strike

"Has anyone seen Leah?" Asher asked when the group met up again. "I haven't seen her since before my match."

Killian was the first to answer, "Now that you mention it, I haven't. It's strange, normally she'd already have met up with us. Maybe she took her coin and went shopping for supplies?"

Asher shook his head. "Leah wouldn't bother right now, she would just get food and likely put a good majority of her money back into betting on me during my next fight. I know her too well to think that she's out wandering idly. There's something going on and I'm curious as to what it is."

He had a whole day to himself until his next match and he planned to find Leah in the meantime. He couldn't just sniff her out by scent, he had enhanced senses, but not to the same extent as Leah. Where he was becoming more evolved in a sense, Leah seemed to be taking on more draconic traits as she absorbed more of their power. Asher himself wondered how far that would go.

He had spent more than enough time tracking monsters on foot to sniff out a trail in a city. It wasn't long before he caught sight of something that led him down the same path Leah had gone. Scraps of her clothing over top of her armor, torn off on a shrub. There was something else as well, blood. There wasn't much, but it was enough to be worrying.

Asher picked up his pace and continued tracking Leah. The trail went cold after the blood trail ended suddenly. There was an imprint of a knife in the dirt where someone had pulled it out of themself. Asher felt his nerves getting to him, he had never felt true panic for someone else before, but Leah had been a loyal companion all this time. He didn't want anything to happen to her.

He picked up a trail again, this time it was Leah's footprints heading towards the guild hall. He hurried up and almost knocked over an older man who was exiting the building. The man was about to protest the treatment until he got a good look at Asher and he froze up. Asher almost felt like the man looked familiar, but he knew that couldn't be the case. He felt eyes on the back of his head as he headed inside. As soon as he turned around, the man was gone. "Strange," Asher mumbled.

He checked Leah's room first and saw she wasn't there. After that, he checked Willow's. Seeing that she wasn't in either one of them, he proceeded to his room where he found her sitting on his bed. "I knew you wouldn't be far behind," she said flatly. "We need to talk about some things."

"Like what?" Asher seemed completely confused and Leah didn't doubt he was. There was no indication that he knew he was being tracked down.

Leah sighed deeply and began. "There are people after your life, Asher."

"I knew it would happen eventually," he stated calmly. "Is that why that old man was here?"

"You saw him? He made it pretty clear he wanted you dead, at any cost."

"And did you accept any offers?" Asher inquired.

"Of course not. I would never sell you out, you've done too much for me," Leah stated.

"That's a pity, you could have turned a profit with the money."

"How can you be so calm, Asher? There are people after your life and they've already made it clear that they won't stop until everyone in their way is dead!"

Asher had a smile as he explained, "I don't intend to die. I made a special trip to our coastal province that afforded me with the power of precognition. I'm not sure how much you saw of my match, but even with my opponent moving at lightning speed I could stay ahead of him. I'm confident I can win against a few low level thugs."

"I'm not so sure it's going to always be people who are so weak. Asher, they want you dead. They made it clear to me that they will use whatever means necessary to end you. I have a feeling that includes the guild and everyone in it."

Asher shrugged. "They'll have to find me. I'm not as helpless as you may think. I can avoid detection, especially now with resources at my disposal. This isn't like the days where I was a mere thief. I just won't have backing from the guild at that point."

Leah could see that arguing with Asher was going nowhere, so she dropped the subject. She instead asked, "So how much did you make so far?"

"I'm not sure. I lent money to Willow and told her I expect a percentage. I may very well be able to earn more money off the bets than the first place prize itself."

"How can you be so sure that you're going to win?"

Asher smirked knowingly. "I have my reasons. I'll show you later, when we're not so pressed for time. Just know, I have help, whether it seems like it or not."

Leah left it at that for the moment and said, "So I made a good amount of your match, about ten gold."

Asher responded with, "Put all of it on me in the next round. You won't be disappointed with the results."

Leah nodded and left the room shortly after that. Asher opened the window of his room and peaked outside. He saw several men in hooded cloaks, all standing deathly still in the street. He frowned at the sight. He had fooled Leah, but he was worried about these people. Even if they sent essentially cannon fodder at him, what would be next when that failed? Would they put out a bounty on his head? Did they have the resources for that kind of action? What were they willing to do in order to deal with him?

Asher shook his head at the reality of the situation that he could be on the run for the rest of his life. From the sounds of it, these people weren't going to give up easily. Asher had one ace up his sleeve though. He felt it already, he had his minions tracking down monsters around the outskirts of Imperia. Despite the distance, he could feel the energy flowing into him with every kill. There wouldn't be many jobs being done while the tournament was going on either, with most of the guild members joining up in order to get the cash prizes. Even if they lost, many would still bet quite a lot of money in the same way Asher had been.

"I guess I ought to meet the neighbors," Asher muttered to himself. He left his room and started walking down the stairs, aimed for the outside of the guild hall. He already knew it was going to be a fight, no matter what he did. There was no avoiding it. That was why he already had his sword drawn and ready as soon as he opened the door.

There were at least five people in a half moon formation advancing on him from the street which had market stalls all around. "Cowards," Asher spat at them. "Can't even fight me one on one, you have to rush me."

Still, Asher knew he wasn't alone. There was no way Leah had left yet. He knew if he had spotted them, Leah would have as well. The only issue was, even though she was likely still around, practically no one was at the guild. Even if they were, they were so low level that it wouldn't be worth enlisting their help.

The assassins all began to rush Asher at once until one suddenly had a hand grab him from behind a stall. Asher heard a frenzied gurgling as the man's throat was slit. He braced himself as one man slammed a warhammer against his sword. The impact nearly deadened his arm, but he didn't have time to worry about that. With his jeweled gauntlet, he grabbed the hammer and released a burst of energy that shattered the weapon.

His enemy had a look of horror on their face after watching their weapon shatter so easily. Asher wasn't done yet, he grabbed the man around his neck and drove his knee into the man's chest. He twirled around the strike from another one of his assassins and grabbed the hilt of a longsword before he shoved his knuckles into his attacker's windpipe.

As soon as he saw the next person drop, he saw Leah advance towards one of the two remaining assassins with her sword already drawn. Asher knew she had his back, so he focused his attention on the last one. It was a man with a pair of shortswords, and by Asher's guess he knew how to use them. There was a tingly feeling on the back of his neck and Asher ducked just in time to not have his head removed at the shoulders by a large axe.

While Asher was ducked down low, he launched his leg out behind him into the man's midsection which lifted his opponent off his feet. Before Asher could deal with his fallen foe, the man with the shortswords rushed him. There was a flurry of strikes with Asher just barely keeping up.

Asher grew tired of that quickly and he used his powers of fire to breathe flames onto his opponent, melting flesh almost immediately. He turned around to deal with the man with the axe and saw that they had already recovered and were rushing in to try and catch him unaware.

Asher caught the handle and held the man there. After that, a sword punctured through his opponent's chest with Leah standing behind him. As the man dropped to the ground, Leah smirked and pointed to the man she had been fighting. He was tied up on the ground, still squirming. "Let's find out what he knows," she stated with a smile.