Challenge

Ender sighed again and took his eyes away from me to take a quick glance through the window. Did he think he was being followed or was it just a habit? ''Do you know what's in the guild's basement that they need to keep it locked?'' he asked.

I shook my head, ''No, I don't know.''

''Ah...'' He patted his chin. ''Unfortunately, you didn't tell me anything useful that I don't know already,'' Ender said.

I frowned, ''I can identify the winter fairies if I see them again,'' I said.

''The woman is dead,'' he said, ''The only reason the man is still alive is that we hope he'll give us some important info if we keep watch him.''

I gulped when he said 'we' and 'us'. There must be someone else but him, after the spies of the demon side. ''Are you chasing spies or information?''

''I think I can tell you,'' he said. ''The northern human kingdom has hired us to hunt demon spies, while two other two powers hired us to find what the human kingdom is after. Somehow we found a hole in the confidentiality agreement and now I have both purposes.''

I nodded but I couldn't help worrying inside. Telling me about this meant that he either trusted me more than I thought, or that he thought I wouldn't live long enough to tell anyone else. Or, there was a third option I couldn't guess right now.

''Luckily, there is something you can help me with,'' he said.

I looked at him and waited for him to continue. ''There is a high-level teleporter in the basement of the guild. What was his name, oh yes Ian, I want to learn why he is so interested in it. Sure, I can pretend to be an adventurer and gain their trust, but it will take a long time,'' he said.

''...and there is me, who already did this. I think I get it. But why would I do something like that? I'm not a bounty hunter,'' I said.

He grinned, ''I totally understand. Did I say that they will give you a million diamonds to those who bring you alive? I don't want to blackmail, but... I guess I found you.''

I changed my place in the bed to see him better as he left the window and headed for the door, ''You can be stronger than me, maybe you can kill me. But you can't capture me alive,'' I said.

Giggling, he took the cigarette that I dropped from the floor. ''Reall? But I already did.''

''For the first and the last time. It will never happen again, I can guarantee that.''

''Hmm...'' he peeled off the tobacco paper to see what's inside, ''Let's play a little game. If you pass me and reach the door, you win, if you can't, I win. If you win, I'll leave and forget about your existence. If I win,'' he threw the cigarette on the floor and crushed it with his heel. ''You'll be a good girl and do what I said.''

''This is unfair,'' I said while I examined the room. Window, wardrobe, bed, door with a little open area. ''All you have to do is standing in front of the door, while I have to act and pass you.'' The dagger was under the pillow, the whip was in the leather bag by the door.

''We can have a fair fight if that's what you want,' he said but he knew as well as I did what my chances were in a fair fight.

I reached under the pillow, memorized the location of everything, and closed my eyes, ''Okay,'' I said and took a breath, ''Light! Make him blind.''

The sun rose into the room. Okay, it was just a metaphor, but my eyes hurt like I was looking at the summer sun. He should have been in a worse situation, but he didn't scream. I heard his footsteps heading for the door along with my own footsteps.

However, I wasn't exactly going to the door. I grabbed the leather bag and drew back while taking out the whip. I opened my eyes, the room was not as bright as before, but tears were flowing from Ender's closed eyes, he was in front of the door.

He wouldn't be able to use his eyes for a while. Actually, such a powerful burst of light wasn't necessary to block his vision, but my main goal was to use the surprise effect to get the bag. For a second, I wondered if it would be better if I tried to get out, but no, there was no way I could reach the door before he did.

''Light,'' I said just to be sure, ''Don't let him open his eyes,'' and I said it loud for him to hear. He wouldn't be able to use any of his skills that required his eyes, not just vision.

I had a dagger, a whip, and a blind man to pass. How hard could it be? Was that thing I saw on his face a grin? ''Sessizol,'' I said the keyword to activate my boot's quiet walk feature.

I held my breath and tossed the leather bag across the room and approached Ender from the other direction. The best part of using a whip was being able to attack without getting too close to your opponent. The worst part was that your opponent could predict what you planned from your precise wrist movements.

Of course, if they could see it, heh. I silently congratulated myself. Another downside was that although it was easy to injure, it was difficult to kill someone using a whip. But since I am not trying to kill anyone, it was okay.

I knew that once he heard the whipping, he would focus all his senses on the movements of the wind inside the room, so I decided to aim for the head first. More precisely, for the neck.

I lifted the handle of the whip, aimed, and swung it. The splitting of the air was heard a second later, but Ender had used his arm to protect his neck. If I could control the light and the air at the same time, I could prevent him from hearing and feeling the vibrations in his skin as well as his vision, unfortunately, I was not that good.

Before he even thought of catching the whip, I had pulled it back. With silent steps, I changed the position I was just standing, looking at his arm to see if I was able to damage him.

Sadly, there wasn't even a scratch. The whip in my hand was not made for fighting, and although he had only cloth and not armor on his arms, I guess it wasn't an ordinary fabric. This time, I was sure I saw him grin.