chapter twenty

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The assassins fanned out, Elle counted four of them. Three crouched, edging closer to the river and the precious item. If Mather and the Section Leaders were watching, this would be one of the key moments of the game. The fourth, however, hung back, no doubt waiting for Rand to leave the disk behind him.

Tan yelled over the bank to her teammates when she spotted the intruders, who launched into an attack. The three of them had knocked the wind out of the third member and fought steadily against both Tan and Rand. No one had a satchel and Rand, despite his stupid complexion, didn't leave the disk behind.

He opted for swinging the heavy thing as a weapon, switching between clubbing his opponents and stabbing with a knife he had on his person.

 A vicious fight ensued, with neither party afraid of seriously hurting the other. When Elle stood on the branch to peer over the hill, she saw golden curls almost scratching someone's eye out.

She blew out a breath. The final intruder was biding their time in the long grass, waiting for the opportune moment to swoop in and steal it. All of a sudden, Rand growled loudly as an assassin managed to stab him in the stomach. Flinging the heavy thing slowing him down aside, he fully engaged with the pair.

With the disk a good few steps away from him, Elle could only watch as the final assassin snatched it and took off.

He was a step away from the tree line before something hit him in the back. With a wet thud, he keeled over, dropping the disk. A knife protruded from his back. Rand stood, breathing heavily at the crest of a hill. He turned to attack another agent with his fists, Tan battling against the other.

Elle clambered down the trunk, staying close to the hard ground as she crept through the tall grass. She stepped over the body of the unfortunate agent before. Beside him lay the golden disk. With her dagger between her teeth, she picked it up with both hands. Gods, it was heavy.

She moved, faster than before, back to the safety of the trees. Lugging the disk onto the first low hanging branch she spied, she pulled herself up. Being on the ground was too dangerous, other teams skulked through the woods, not to mention Rand would be hot on her tail.

About a minute or two into her search for the best stowaway for the precious cargo, she heard the screech of frustration from Tan. She didn't need to glance back to know she had kicked the limp body in her frustration.

Elle remained calm. She steadied her breathing, keeping her movements fluid as she switched between trees using only one hand. The other arm was dead from carrying the disk. Although she was high, she wasn't swinging fast enough. Each movement of the disk felt like her arm was about to be ripped from its socket.

Rand and Tan entered the forest behind her, slashing through bushes. "Hells," she murmured.

They soon caught up. Perched just above their heads, she prayed they didn't have the sense to glance skywards. Without leaves to cover her, any sudden movement would catch their attention. She would have thrown the knife down and hopefully stabbed one of them, apart from the obvious flaws in her plan.

Tan stood with her back to Elle, oblivious to how her body shielded Rands. The assassin wasn't about to kill her only ally in DETRA. Besides, throwing a tiny knife would only maim a massive man such as Rand, and piss him off once he discovers who threw it.

The pair decided to split ways, combing the forest of recruits to locate the disk. The game could be declared over at any second, and Elle needed to have the disk in her possession. She clutched onto it tightly. Her chances of winning had seemed dubious a mere hour ago. Now, they had significantly brightened.

As soon as they had moved out of sight, she sprang into action. Her blood thrummed as she made quick work of leaping from one branch to the next. She grit her teeth as her arms ached. Looking down, she scrutinised the forest for a good place to leave the disk.

Being on solid ground would help. Silently, the assassin made her way down, sighing in relief when her feet touched solid dirt once more. 

She was so focused on checking trees and bushes for recruits that she didn't see the pit, concealed with moss and sticks in front of her face.

The assassin tripped, the heavy disk falling from her hands with a resounding thump. It rolled dangerously close to the edge before she reached out with both hands, lying on her stomach to catch it. The dagger had remained in her mouth, but easily could have wounded her.

The assassin peered over the edge. "Holy shit," she muttered between the metal blade.

The fall would have been a painful one—splintered sticks and rocks had been laid at the bottom. If she had placed her boot slightly to the left she would have broken through and tumbled in. A stupid error. She cursed herself while dusting off, eyes scanning the trees. Had anyone heard the slight commotion?

A surge of relief rippled through her as she with both hands, lifted the disk from the floor.

This calm was temporary as a flash of blue darted in her peripheral vision. Her head snapped towards the disturbance, her dark hair whipping her numb cheeks. She was very much alone in Lorel's woods. The team still perched atop the hill miles away.

Although her heart picked up, a smile found its way onto her features. She was an assassin of the Order, not some nobody recruit from Fernweh. Come and get me, bastard.

Emerging from the bush, teeth glinted in a wolf-like smile. Filed to a sharper point, she knew that a single bite from the man would tear through skin and sinew. His intimidating height worsened as he took a step forward. Rand didn't call for Tan, or alert his other teammate. Instead, his blue eyes glimmered with a kind of amusement, as if he enjoyed playing with his prey.

She straightened her spine, switching the disk to her left hand while taking the knife in her right, shooting him a confident grin.

"You have something of mine," Rand's voice was guttural.

"Do I?" She shrugged. "All I have is what is mine." When he took another step forward, she bolted. She zipped and wove through trees, trying to lose him. The assassin was faster than the man but with the disk leaden at her side, not by much. 

Rand crashed through the frozen woods behind her, swearing colourfully while shaking off clinging shrubbery and ducking low branches.

Even the bitting cold had been forgotten.

Careening off the more trampled path and into a mess of thorns and frost, she swerved and raced deeper into the woods, up an incline. She made sure to dislodge a few stones as she scrambled up, kicking them into his face. At the top of the hill, she could just about spy the edge of the woods. There was only a slim chance of her making it that far. No.

She spun, looking for anything to help her. A tree leant over, its branches almost beckoning. With the heavy disk it was mad to try and make that jump. If she missed, she'd tumble down the hill, into the ditch where Rand would catch up and kill her. One of the thicker branches looked stable enough.

Rand had figured out she had nowhere to go and started to murmur threats as he climbed the peak.

"Gods," she spoke aloud, dropping the knife to free her hand. There was no time to test the safety of the branch. She rocked back on her heels, clenching her frozen fingers together. For a moment, her breath clouded the air in front of her. Rand's goads sounded from only steps behind her.

His hand brushed her jacket just as she leapt, the hand grasping at nothing but empty air. His strangled yell sounded behind her as her own arms looped around the branch, leaving her body dangling before instinct kicked in and she hoisted herself up.

Her elbows scraped and ripped the jacket's sleeves as she propelled herself to go faster. A faint sting as her finger caught on a tree's jagged limb. Adrenaline electrifying her veins, setting them alight. Despite the cool climate, strands of her hair had shaken loose from the tight ponytail and were stuck to her forehead.

Clouds still obscured most of the sky allowing only thin streams of sunlight to beam through. She couldn't tell the time anymore. Glancing back, Rand had fallen behind due to her quick thinking. 

Trees stretched on until the horizon when she looked south, and the assassin could almost imagine Mikel working religiously at his desk, thousands of miles away. And Kade, with his pointless pin declaring his affinity to the High Council.

Both of them so far away from where she perched in a tree, freezing her fingers off and trying to catch her breath.

Bones creaking, she shifted her weight. Elle could have sworn she heard something, but when she looked there was no sign of life. She narrowed her eyes, freezing.

She heard the muffled whistle before she felt a tiny prick in her neck. Her hands fumbled, reaching the skin there and finding a dart. Her blood turned cold with every pump. Some kind of dart had just been fired at her neck. 

Elle groaned as she lost feeling in her legs, wobbling precariously on the branch.

Then, she keeled over. Dragged by the heavy disk, the assassin fell in a heap onto the forest floor.  

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