Tek crouched in her hiding spot, her muscles tight and beginning to cramp with strain. Her black cloak kept her adequately hidden amongst the shadows of the tree hollow in which she hid. Not even the dull glint og her obsidian eyes, glazed with a blood red hue, would reveal her. Not so if I slip, she thought dryly, feeling her legs beginning to go numb. A breeze rustled the foliage, and Tek took the oppurtunity to shift her position, wincing slightly as blood flowed back into her leg.

The dull clop of hooves on dirt path mixed with the crunching of leaves caught Tek's ear as an unsurpressed grin spread across her face. Right on time, my dearest prince.

:Cross: Tek called mentally to her partner, reaching for his mind with her own. A cloudy shield of sleep stopped her. :Cross!: A mental kick accompinied the thought and the glaze disappeared instantly.

:Tek, you damn near made me fall.: Cross replied, resentment dripping from his "voice."

:Hush. Is our bait ready?: She inquired, watching the road intently, the sound of hooves nearing.

:Yes...: Cross replied hesitantly, a drop of uncertainty tainting his "voice." :One wingless wyvren coming right up.: With a flash of gold, a panicked squawk, and a wet thud, a wyvren landed on the ground, blood from its severed wings coloring the road.

As soon as the travellers neared enough to hear the agonized calls of the helpless reptillian, the horses reined to a stop. From her hiding spot Tek caught a glimpse of three pairs of boots - one a detailed, opulent pair, ringed by two thick leather pairs.

"A wyvren? Way out here?" The prince's deep voice carried well through the forest. Tek gave neither of the guards a chance to respond.

Like a cat she leapt gracefully from her hiding spot, landing soundlessly behind her first vitim. With the ease of much practice she slid her jeweled obsidian dagger accross the jugular of the first guard, then swiftly, lethally slid it into the back of the second. Before the corpses hit the ground, Tek was beside Cross in his hiding spot, opposite her old hollowed tree and masked by bushes lining the road.

:Nice.: she praised.

:I finally got the hang of summoning.: her partner replied, looking up at Tek and smiling lopsidedly. She spared him a quick smirk before settling quietly back into crouching position.

Her third target, the lavishly dressed prince, turned to his guards for a response. Before the sight of the mutilated bodies registered, Tek was on him, piercing through his thick armour with her dagger.

"What?" The prince gasped. The theif-assasin wedged her dagger out from between armoured plates, simultaneously palming a small blade, clumsily hidden beneath a golden belt strap, and prying the prince's sword from its sheath. Using the prince as a base she pushed herself away from him, leaping nimbly out of his reach, and tossing his sword aside. She glanced up at him, mischeif and challenge gleaming in her eyes.

"A... theif... You bloody..." But what exactly the prince thought of Tek was cut off by a sharp gasp as a particularly brutal stab of pain lanced through him. Blood dripped down his back into a deep sapphire puddle, augmented by the second, at his feet. He glanced widely around with ice blue eyes, muttering hoarsely and incoherently. Tek felt his mental cry for help reverbrate through her skull.

:Cross: she snapped.

:I'm on it.: her partner replied obediently. A second later the prince's pleas ceased. :Nobody's close enough to have heard that.: Cross reported. Tek sent him a quick thought, the intangible equivalence of a curt nod. She took up an offensive stance, calculating quickly the distance between herself and her opponent.

"You'll... be arrested..." The prince said, breathing heavily.

"By whom, exactly?" Tek replied smartly. Her opponent looked taken aback slightly. She raised a sarcastic eyebrow. "Something surprises you, my prince?" She lowered her head in mock respect, her ebony hair falling forward and framing her face, cold amusement shining in her eyes.

"You speak... like an in... telligent being... not... the lowlife a-assassin... you are." He stammered darkly. Tek laughed.

"My dear prince, you belittle me. Of course I'm an intelligent person -" the prince shot a look of scorn at her.

"No assassin is... intelligent..." He managed between breaths.

"I, prince" Tek hissed, sneering slightly and adjusting her stance slightly "am. And you, my dear, are dead." At her last words the prince dropped to the floor, Tek's dagger glinting between his eyes. "Intelligent, I am." she whispered, kicking his body harshly. "And rich, too." She added as an afterthought.

:Come out, come out, my beloved partner - half of this is yours.: Tek called mentally to Cross, who leapt from his hiding spot.

"Shall we?" Tek asked sweetly, gesturing to the corpse and loaded saddlebags with a sweep of her hand.

---

She's a bitch, ain't she?

I wrote this in English last Thursday I believe. I've a lot to write about my weekend, but no time at all to do so at the moment, so you must all settle for this.

Tek is my [Alter Aeon] character. She's a theif more than an assassin, but I wouldn't put cold-blooded murder just for money beyond her capabilities.

No, she doesn't really weild a Jewled Obsidian Dagger - she has one, but her alignment is Neutral, not Evil (for the time being). The Tek in my story is an older, much more diabolical character.

Cross is Ish's character. I cast(ed?) him more as a sidekick than a partner in this short story, but in reality, Cross is at a much higher level than Tek is. I believe Tek and Cross were created around the same time, but Cross is a less social being than Tek is, and thus has had more time to level.

End