Inconspicuous Devils

[Asri]

It had been a few days since they joined the rebels in their secret base. It was an old fort in a mountain, abandoned since two years before Bandit War ended, a perfect base which hidden and protected by the mountain as its natural defense. There was a reason why the goverment army never found this place, making this fort a safe place for these rebels to plan their move. To get there, people had to get through a thick forest, swamps, and some wild carnivores.The only safe path to reach the fort was not easy to be found, even the rebels only knew one safe path.

Today, a small force had left the fort to raid a supply caravan. The squad consisted some regular members of the rebel force and many new recruits, General Bale thought this would be a good experience for his new soldiers. This attack might not do much damage to the official army but it would reminded them that they should fear the rebels.

Now, they were waiting for the target, hiding themselves in the thick forest. Everyone was holding their breath and trying not to make too much sound. This raid was planned to be a surprise attack, they needed an element of surprise to win against the better-equiped soldiers who guarding the caravan. Fortunately, the trees and bushes helped them hiding themselves.

Asri and Nera was sent too, ruining Asri's plan to gather information. The thief didn't seem interested with this battle, she had been bored since they left the fort. Why did she have to risk her life for these people? She might win some trust if she fought well but it could make herself even more stand out than she had been, she would hate that.

"Why we need to wait in a place like this? Those bushes made me feel itchy," she grumbled, turning to Nera who stood next to her. Asri had begun to feel impatient, they had waited for two hours and the caravan didn't come at all. "I actually wonder, maybe our idiot captain made some miscalculation," she said, gesturing at the man who stood a few feet away from them andsending a piercing glare to his back.

[Nera]

Nera yawned. Waiting for even ten minutes in a bush was boring enough, but two hours was just too much, especially for her. Though she was surprised that they had kept still for that long, not doing much else except quietly fussing about their situation. She slid her hand across her sleeve, brushing off some dirt had built up for the fifth time in her two hours waiting there. "Naturally you would be itchy in that outfit of yours." She tugged at her sleeves in order to point out the difference in their clothing. "I am really just bothered by all this dirt..."

Nera shifted her eyes to the left. Some winged insect was buzzing near her ear, and the noise it made turned her boredom into annoyance. This too had happened many times over the course of the two hours they had spent waiting. "...And these bugs." She draped a cloth over her hand and held it out, trying to keep it from shaking in the slightest. When it had finally stopped moving, the bug landed on her hand. She examined the bug, seemingly uninterested as it moved around in her hand. In her mind she counted down from three. On one her hand closed on the clueless bug. Nera smiled, finding temporary entertainment in the action. A grimace and a sigh followed.

"If fighting only were this easy..." Nera held the cloth with the crushed bug inside it infront of Asri's face. "It would not be surprising at all if anyone in this group had miscalculated something. But go talk to him if you really are that curious...and if you do, do you mind giving him back his handkerchief? With my thanks of course."

[Asri]

"Huh! I would have brought a cloak or something if I knew we had to wait this long," she remarked at Nera's comment about her sleeveless shirt. As much as she had it, the thief couldn't say that she didn't feel itchy at all, she had been tortured since they hid here, actualy. Her mood was bad, she started to feel an urge to kill something, anything. "Come faster, you worthless Ilians..." she grumbled weakly.

The crimson-haired thief glanced the handkerchief Nera holding. Was it really that man's handkerchief? "No, thanks. I've had enough dealing with idiots, I don't need to add that man in my list of..." She paused. "Why didn't I think about this sooner?"[/b] Asri smirked, she just got a good idea. The battle would be somewhat chaotic once it began, maybe she could orchestrated it a little to kill the captain. But it would be difficult to do this alone, should she ask Nera for her help? Nah, she didn't want to share the fun.

"Our target is coming this way. They will arrive in 5 minutes. Prepare yourself and don't get killed, okay?" Suddenly, the captan started giving order to his troops. Asri turned her eyes at him, then at the hooded archer beside him. She remembered that man, hewas the scout the captain sent to find the location of the caravan, if he had returned here then it meant the caravan was already nearby. "We outnumber them so we will win for sure," he said. Soon, he and the others hid themselves in bushes or trees, waiting for the caravan.

The next 5 minutes felt very long for a few people here. When the caravan came to the sight, they started to tense up. Everyone looked at the caravan, waiting their orders, some felt excited and some others felt nervous. Asri unconsciously glanced at Nera, hoping to see her trembling with fear. "Hey, maybe you should hide when the battle begins. It's not a job for amateurs," she said, smirking. She then switched her glance to the target. "Six carts, approximately twenty or thirty guards," she muttered to herself.

The captain assessed the timing and the distance, patiently. He seemed experienced doing ambush, the man didn't seem rushed or nervous, not even sweating, as he watched the caravan coming right to their trap. "Archers!" he shouted a command. As soon as his order came, some archers came out of the bushes and started firing arrows to the helpless caravan, killing some of the guards and the horses. Scream of fear and pain filled the air as the arrows fell upon the surprised guards.

"Attack! Kill them all!" His last order was something Asri had waited to hear. The sound of rustling bushes and weapon drawn filled the air, the rebel's soldiers attacked the caravan with ferocity. The guards didn't let themselves get butchered, they started their counterattack to defend the caravan, and their lives. "Heh, it's my first time fighting in group like this." Asri joined the fray as soon as the order was ensued, bringing her sword in her side.

[Nera]

Nera gave the opposite response that Asri had been expecting. Instead of sitting and trembling in fear, she had crossed her arms and sighed, more dissapointed at Asri's little joke than anything else. "This is the first time I have been the one ordered to kill, not the other way around...I might as well practice as early as possible."

Nera took out her knife as arrows flew through the air, causing the dying sounds of horses and men to emerge seconds later. Then came the attack order. Her fellow soldiers emerged from the forest, ready to kill. She even saw Asri do so. She however had continued to lie still in her spot. "It seems I have underestimated our captain, we seem to have the advantage in all aspects of this battle after all. I suppose I can serve as an executioner this battle." She scanned the area around her, waiting for anybody weakened or alone to cross her path.

[Asri]

"Aaargh." A soldier fell to the ground with bleeding neck. Next to the lifeless body was Asri, standing and grinning. She just got her first kill in this battle, and it was an easy one too. This soldiers was already gravely injured by an arrow struck in his chest when she fought him, it only took three seconds to defeat himt. The thief looked around, there was a fierce battle going on around her. "Well, it seems we will win quickly at this rate," she stated. That was true, the rebels seemed to have upper hand in this battle.

"Now, I should continue with my plan." Asri glanced to where the captain was, but he wasn't there anymore. He probably had joined the battle so she turned to look for him around the battlefield. "Die!" While she was busy searching, a soldier came toward her, pointing his spear to the crimson-haired thief. "Tsk..." Asri kicked the ground, sending some dirts to his eyes. The soldier's movement stipped for a second when the dirts got into his eyes. Taking the chance, Asri swung her sword diagonally downward. The soldier got slashed in his chest, he took some steps backward with a painful expression. He then stumbled and fell near where Nera was standing. Asri laughed and then said, "My treat. Do whatever you please to him."

[Nera]

"Do whatever I please? I do not think you understand what you have just given me permission to do." Nera said, circling around the downed man with a sort of childish joy in her face. "Consider yourself lucky today, I feel quite lazy." She kneeled down and rested her knife on the neck of the man, drawing a bit of fear out of his eyes. And a little resentment. For a split second, Nera reflected the man's annoyance, whatever it was, with a little frown before pulling her knife across his neck.

The blood began to gush out of the wound, emersing the knife, and splattering on Nera's hands. It was a rather crude job, with more blood getting on her hands when the knife was yanked out of the man with some difficulty. Nera found a cloth the man was carrying and used it to wipe her knife before sheathing it. She then proceeded to continue to search the man. "This is a spying mission, correct? I personally could use some information regarding the government's army. Not to mention people carry interesting things sometimes."

[Asri]

"Do what you want to." Ignoring Nera, Asri's eyes scanned the battlefield looking for a certain target, which was her own captain. Maybe it sounded weird, but the thief had wanted her own captain to die just because a simple reason. She knew that it could be a dangerous move, and probably would blow her cover if someone found out what she was planning, had she failed here. But that wouldn't stop her. This was her bad trait, to often thought that eradicating someone who annoyed her was the best solution to her. And actually, she considered this as a game, a game of wit and trick.

However, this time she might have to wait a little longer before making a bold move. The battle would reach its end soon with the attackers slaughtering their opponents. It would be risky to work her plan now when only a few opponent left to keep everyone busy. Sighing in defeat, the thief decided to pick another target. She spotted a soldier walking backward toward her, he probably didn't see her behind him. "Well, you couldn't be careless in a battle..." she muttered under her breath as she dashed toward the next victim. Soon, blood splashed over her face as her sword stabbed the soldier's back. His groan sounded like a music for her, a smile appeared in her lips as she enjoyed the tune.

Most people might think that Asri was a twisted person because she enjoyed killing and didn't value human life. That might be a true in some extent. But there was something they didn't know, she wasn't born like this. There was some reasons in her past that had shaped her like this, the cruel life she had gone through left a mark in her soul.

Satisfied with her victim, Asri walked toward Nera with a casual smile. A smile that normally shouldn't be there after killing someone, a smile of satisfication and enjoyment. "You won't get anything from a low-raked soldier like him, maybe...Still, you might find something useful if you searched throughly," she remarked. She stood next to Nera with blood all over her clothes, and she didn't even consider to wipe the blood in her face.

[Nera]

Nera returned the smile, not at all bothered by how unseemly it was. In fact, she was quite amused. Asri was definitely a interesting person to be around, to observe. That was something Nera had to admit. To get pleasure from killing people without any remorse, she had always heard about people who killed with that mindset. But seeing Asri acting like that right in front of her, it was a delight to Nera.

She stood up, just finished with searching through a second body. As was the case with the first body, the search turned out to be fruitless. "I expected as much...I do not think I would have found anything interesting, even with a thorough search." She held her empty, bloody hands out. Earlier, blood was caked on her hands, but it had liquified when she had searched through the second body. The thick fluid had finally managed to reach her wrists, where it dropped into a pool on the ground.

She glanced at her hands, then at Asri. She brought her fingers together then grimaced as she slowly pulled them apart. The sticky feeling bothered her, but was definitely something she had to get used to if she were to continue in the underground criminal buisness. As for being covered in blood, she thought that to be something only Asri could enjoy. "You are quite the messy one...Is this how your hair got this beautiful color?"

Nera slowly walked up to Asri, making herself seem as innocent as the situation called for. She sighed as she brought her hand, now somewhat dry, over Asri's hair. Despite drying, her hands were still sticky, and a few hairs came with her hands as she pulled them away. The stickiness of the blood brought another frown to her face, along with another sigh. "Now what shall we do? It seems like you are not ready to stop killing yet."

[Asri]

"Right. You wouldn't. I don't understand why you did it." Asri then noticed Nera's strange behaviour. Asri watched the younger woman playing with her fingers, not knowing if Nera still hadn't used with blood.

"Huh...I will take that as compliment," the thief remarked at Nera's words about her hair color as she brushed her hand through her hairs. She always liked her hair, red like the scarlet sky and glimmering with crimson color. However, it could also make her job harder sometimes because people would recognize her easily. "Aaand...Before you talk about how messy I am, you should look at the battlefield. Everyone is covered in blood. Not just me," she said.

Asri didn't mind Nera boldly touched her hair. She even ignored her and looked over the battlefield, her eyes scanned the area to judge the situation. "Hmm...Maybe we should wait. The battle will be over soon," she said, watching the battle carefully. Asri raised her sword and then swung it to the side, wearing a satisfied grin. "Finally we can go back to camp. I want to take a bath after this...bloodbath.

From the corner of her eyes, Asri saw a soldier running toward them. It seemed he had lost his mind, the soldier looked panicked and confused. His armor hinted that he was an enemy, probably trying to attack them. "Look," she said calmly as she gestured at the soldier, sighing. "I am interested to see how good you are in battle. Would you please show me your skill, Your Majesty?" Asri gave a push to Nera's back.

[Nera]

The push from Asri was sudden, and Nera was sent stumbling forward. Luckily, she had been able to catch herself before falling face first into the mixture of dirt and blood beneath her feet. Straightening herself out, and dusting her clothes--a purely theatrical action--she refused to glance behind her to comment. Instead, she muttered under her breath, "A queen will not forget such insolent actions from a pawn..."

Instead, the soldier running towards them had the focus of Nera's glance. He definitely seemed to have gone crazy, possibly a new recruit who had seen his friends get wiped out so brutally by a certain red haired woman. It could be seen in the way his eyes darted around, and the way he carried himself toward Nera and Asri; a relatively fast hobble. She herself was oddly pleased with the man's state of mind. This would make for a quick first battle, considering that the man more reasoning pertaining to his life.

As the man continued to charge forward, trampling over the dead bodies of his comrades, Nera became slowly more unnerved by him. Fighting without any concern for his life would, in theory, result in a quick battle. It would also cause the man to fight like a berserker, against the battle-experience lacking Nera, who found the matchup unnapealing. But Asri stood behind her, calmly watching, and she refused to give her the satisfaction of watching her lose. So she readied her knife as the man came into range and began stabbing at her with his sword.

Nera stepped back with each stab, getting hit many times in the arms due to the man's unpredictability with his hits. This continued for a fair amount of time, with the man adding in a few overhead swings for good measure every so often. After the series of stabbing and backstepping however, Nera found herself with her back pressed against a tree. The man smiled and let out a deranged yell, and Nera replied with her own grin. He hesitated for a second before bringing his sword up, than for another second before bringing his sword down at an angle.

Nera sidestepped, chuckling as she heard the man's sword lodge itself inside the tree. She placed both of her hands on the handle of her knife, bringing it down into the man's chest. The man however, did not drop, and instead punched a surprised Nera on the arm on an open wound. "Wh..what the hell?" She was sent flying to the ground, her hands still tightly gripped around her knife as it came out of the man's chest. On the ground, she placed the butt of the knife on her chest as the man attempted to pounce on her, but instead impaled his forhead on the portruding knife. Nera turned the man over, taking out the knife, and this time brushing her clothes with good reason. "I do hope that it was an entertaining show..."

[Asri]

Asri felt rather disappointed but glad with the result. She should have guessed that Nera wasn't a good fighter. The fight could have ended with her death and Asri would be the one to be blamed. Grey had said he wanted her and Nera to be alive at the end of his mission, although he clearly stated if that wasn't the priority. The bonus he prepared was pretty good if they both could return alive. This, however, brought some trouble for Asri who never tried to care about her companion's life. "Geez...At least she didn't die," she muttered as she looked at the wounded Nera. She had to admit that the soldier's berserk attacks were really dangerous.

The thief didn't want to show that she was worried, Nera would certainly make fun of her if she noticed. This was nothing like a worry about a friend's safety anyway. Shrugging when she heard her annoying partner's proud comment, Asri put a condescending smile as she approached Nera. "Well, not really. I thought I was going to lose my beautiful precious partner. I was so scareeed..."

Soon a loud cheer filled the air as all rebel soldiers let out a winning roar after all enemies were either dead or routed. Asri tilted her head toward the battlefield where was now filled with corpses from both parties, mostly were the Ilia's. "Well, those people will soon pillage the dead and the wagons. You might want to join them, you like searching something on a dead body, don't you?" Asri made another sarcatic comment for Nera. For some reason, she really enjoyed doing this.