Ultimate Assassin Saga: Woodlands

The Ice Demon blinked before his brow furrowed in confusion and he stared at her. His ice blue eyes were filled with confusion and she supposed that if she were in his position she would be confused too. However, she didn't care if he knew what he'd done or not. All that mattered was that he'd done it and she was going to yell at him as much as she wanted to. It was her right.

"I just saved your life. You could show a little damned gratitude for it." the man said in a light, slightly annoyed voice. His ice blue eyes were filled with his annoyance, and in fact, she noticed that he was glaring at her. Six months ago - hell even a month ago - she would've cowered in the face of his anger, but now, she stood up to him and had no intention of backing down anytime soon. He was the one in the wrong and he would leave here knowing that. "This is the last damned time I help a woman with anything. You're all so ungrateful."

He turned away after that and those winds began to swirl around his hands once more. It was obvious that he was intending to leave her there alone without caring what he'd done. Well, she wasn't going to allow that to happen. He was going to know what he'd done and that he hadn't helped her at all. She shot forward and her hands wrapped around one of his forearms, making sure that he couldn't raise up into the air.

He stopped, the winds dissipating from around his hands and he turned his head slowly to look at her. One light blue brow was lifted in askance, but he said nothing. Instead, he let the annoyance glowing in his ice blue eyes speak for him. It was obvious that he didn't like being stopped when he was leaving, but that was just too damned bad. He'd done her wrong and she was going to spend a little while longer running him over the ringer for it.

He wasn't getting away that easy.

When she was sure that he wasn't going anywhere, she released his arm and stepped back out of distance of his arms. "You didn't help me." Diana told him in a matter of fact tone and she watched both of his brows shoot up in surprise. He probably thought she was just an ungrateful woman as he'd put it earlier, but if he stopped and listened, he would understand shortly enough. "You hurt my chances to become a warrior in the Elk tribe."

The Ice Demon stared at her, his eyes narrowed and searching her for any deception. She stared into his eyes, daring him to call her a liar. She wasn't lying so there was no way he could come out and call her a liar. Everything that she'd just said was the truth, and if he were an honest man, he would know that this was all his fault.

"Look, I'm sorry okay? All I saw was a bear baring down on a woman ready to rip her to shreds and I acted." the Ice Demon said with a shrug of his shoulders. Instead of thinking that he was dismissing her problem though, she decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he hadn't purposefully sabotaged her, but the plain and simple fact was that he'd messed the hunt up for her. "I apologize for ruining your hunt and I will do all I can to help you. In fact, I would like to show you to a cave where big game is known to be."

She stared at him, shocked that he would actually offer her help. She knew that she couldn't take blatant help in battle, but there was nothing in the rules that said that she couldn't be lead to a location with big game. The Ice Demon had only offered that and there was nothing wrong with that. He was just being a good ally. An ally that she didn't even know the name of.

Well, it was time to rectify that.

"My name is Diana." Diana said in a calm voice and stared at him. She held out a hand to him in greeting and she stared into his eyes. His ice blue eyes were alight with amusement, but it was obvious to her that he wasn't making light of her situation. He was merely finding humor in the situation, something that very few people could do in such a glorious screw up as this. "May I know your name?"

"Diana huh? A beautiful name for a beautiful girl." the Ice demon replied, the smile from before reappearing. Now that she wasn't so angry at him, she could aptly say that he was a very handsome man. In fact, if it weren't for the situation, she would probably be nervous and shy around him. However, she didn't have the time for that. "As for my name, I'm called Marlin."

She stared at him, surprising by his name. It seemed a rather sedate name for his people. From what she knew about the Ice Demon people, they tended to name their people after some sort of ice formation, but Marlin wasn't an ice name. No, it was a fish name actually. Strange, but that wasn't really what was important right now. What was was this man showing her the place that he knew big game frequented.

"So, about this place you know..." Diana said, trailing off as she reminded him of what he was here for. She pulled her cloak tightly around her, hiding her body from him. She stared into his eyes and waited for him to respond. She hadn't hidden her body because she was afraid that he would assault her. No, she'd hidden her body because there had been a chill in the air and she'd wanted to rid herself of it.

He smiled at her words and turned away from her. "Follow me." Marlin replied to her question and he began to walk slowly. She knew that he could've simply lifted into the air using his magic, but he'd decided to walk instead. He was being nice to her at least. She was starting to like him more and more. However, she knew that she couldn't leave just yet. She had to get her daggers out of the snow bear that he'd killed.

The Barbarian girl made her way over to the dead snow bear, stepping around the blood and moving to pull her daggers free. She pulled each one of them free, cleaning them of blood and sheathing them under her cloak, arming herself once more. When she turned, she noticed the Ice Demon was standing a few feet away from her and was waiting for her, that same smile in place.

She nodded her head and she hurried after him. She stopped in front of him and nodded to him. He nodded back before turning and walking away. She watched him walk for a moment before she set off after him. She didn't really need the man, but she wanted him around. There was something about him that she liked, despite the bad foot they got off on.

Diana smiled and followed quickly after him.

XXXXXXXXXX

Diana followed behind the Ice Demon, her feet tired from the long walk. She wasn't so sure about following after him any longer, suddenly unsure that he was really a friend. What if he was an enemy that was luring her out to kill her? He was a Demon after all, and despite the fact that they had Demon allies, there were several thousands of Demons that would willingly kill her.

If she was right about him being an enemy, she didn't know how she was going to get out of this. She was several miles away from the Barbarian village and it was already dark. The snow had stopped falling more than an hour ago and the full moon had come out, bathing the Tundra in its silver light. It was beautiful, but scary at the same time. She'd never been out of the village at night before and never with someone she didn't know.

The Barbarian looked ahead of her and watched Marlin descending the slope they were walking down. There was a snow covered mountain in the distance, the black of the rock pushing through the pure white snow. She could see no opening to the mountain, but she had the feeling that that was where they were going.

Reaching the bottom of the slope, the Ice Demon stopped and turned back to her. She stopped ten feet away from him and she stared at him. Her arms were within her cloak, and if he showed any sign of aggression, she would pull her daggers. She didn't stand a chance in hell against a Demon, but if he attacked her, she wouldn't simply roll over and die. She would fight to her death, and if she were lucky, maybe she would injure him badly enough that he would die as well.

"There is a cave that leads into the mountain. There is always big game in there. Wolves, bears, deers, and several other creatures." Marlin told her, his voice empty of all emotion. His ice blue eyes danced over her face and he smiled softly at her. "I will wait out here so I don't get in your way. I hope that you succeed because I would like to see you again."

The Barbarian Princess narrowed her eyes on him, wondering if what he'd said was genuine or if he was setting her up. Was their a trap in that mountain for her? Was he a part of some rogue group that wanted to kidnap her and hold the Elk tribe up for it? She knew her brother, and if she was kidnapped, he would do all that he could to get her back, even if it meant sacrificing someone's life, including his own.

She couldn't let that happen.

If her brother ever died because of her, she would kill herself. She was strong, but she wasn't strong enough to deal with losing all of her family. Right now, it was just her and Darville. Other than that, she had no family. Her mother had died giving birth to her, her father had been poisoned by Darcine, and Darcine had been killed by Darville. He was the last of her family and she couldn't afford to lose him.

Shaking herself from her reverie, the Barbarian stared at him and nodded her head once. Then, she stepped past him, presenting him with her back. She'd expected a knife in her back at that very moment, but when nothing came, she stopped. She looked over her shoulder at him, and when she met his ice blue gaze, she knew somehow that she could trust him. He was no enemy of her's or the Elk.

"I wanted to thank you." Diana told him, her voice kind and genuine. She stared right into his eyes and she smiled. She knew the truth about him, that he was an ally and not an enemy. She didn't know exactly how she knew that, but she did and she trusted her instincts. "You messed up the first part of my hunt. Most people would've gone on and left me alone, but you didn't. Instead, you decided to help me, and for that, I thank you."

The Ice Demon grinned at her, the corner of his mouth quirking up. His ice blue eyes lit up with amusement and mirth. He sat down cross legged in the snow and he looked up at her with his hands on his knees. She looked down at him and she wondered just what he was doing, but she supposed that it didn't matter. He was going to allow her to fight alone as it should be and she was thankful for that.

"Come back safe, little one." Marlin replied with his patent grin. Then, he lay back on the snow with his fingers threaded behind his head and he crossed his ankle on top of his knee, looking at her. She was surprised by how laid back he could be, but she supposed that he could be that laid back. After all, this wasn't his battle, and even if he was attacked while she was inside, she felt that he could take care of himself.

She said nothing to him and she turned away from him. She took a deep breath and she walked across the area towards the mountain. She narrowed her dark blue eyes and she began to search the mountain face for an opening that he'd described. After several minutes of searching, she finally found it. A large cave opening that lead into the mountain and the darkness beyond was a bit frightening.

The Barbarian knew that she couldn't go into the darkness and hope to come out alive. If she went into the dark without any sort of light, she would get lost and more than likely killed. She would need a light of some sort, a torch perhaps. She didn't have one with her so she would have to find some wood and use the flint in her pocket to make one. The problem was going to be finding some wood for the torch.

Before she started looking, she heard a clearing throat behind her and something was tossed her way. She caught the item and she frowned at the Ice Demon who'd thrown the item. He was still laying calmly in the snow, but he was looking at her and grinning. When he saw her looking at him, he winked once and went back to not paying attention to her.

Frowning, the Princess opened her hand and looked down at the item that he'd thrown to her. It was small clear sphere with a flame burning inside of it. She'd read about these things. They were known as torch spheres and they were ideal for dark caves. The flame inside of the sphere would remain miniscule in the light, but once you entered the darkness, the flame would grow and put off plenty of light for someone to see. It would seem the Ice Demon had helped her once again.

Turning away from him, Diana took a deep breath and she held the sphere out in front of her. She walked into the cave, the darkness enveloping her, but before she could get worried about losing herself inside, the flames inside the sphere heated a little, casting light through the entire room. She could see that the cavern beyond was carved nearly ten feet from floor to makeshift ceiling and it was surprisingly warm inside. Also, the walls weren't made of regular stone, but some sort of limestone.

As she walked deeper, the warmth of the cavern went up and she soon found herself sweating in her cloak. However, she wasn't going to shed it. She had more than half of her daggers sheathed on the inside of the cloak after all and getting rid of the cloak would get rid of half of her weapons. Besides, this was the only memento that she had of Acheron and she wasn't about to lose it.

The Barbarian's free hand stroked the hilt of her dagger as she walked, her booted feet making little noise much to her surprise. She walked deeper into the cavern, seeing nothing, but when she rounded the next corner, she stopped and stared in surprise.

There were mountains of bones piled up on top of another, the skeletons having long fallen apart. Some were that of animals and others were of bipedal creatures, but there was one thing they all had in common. They'd been completely stripped of flesh. It was obvious - at least to her - that this was where something was feeding on several creatures and this was its den.

The Princess wasn't able to see any creature yet, but she had a feeling that it was close. To make sure that she wasn't ambushed, she pulled one of her daggers. With the weight of the dagger in her hand, she felt more comfortable, stronger. Taking a deep breath, she stepped deeper into the room, bypassing the mound upon mound of bones and looking between the two different passageways that cut off into different parts of the cave. She didn't know which way to go, but she knew that she would find something eventually. There was something within this cavern, and even if she wondered for several days, she would eventually come upon something.

She just hoped she didn't get lost in the process.

Diana closed her eyes for a moment, trying to decide. Opening her eyes, she pushed on and turned left, hoping that she was going in the right way. She entered the left passageway and she walked slowly down the hallway slowly. With her dagger in one hand and the flame sphere in the other hand lighting the way, she felt comfortable and confident in her ability to slay whatever was within this den.

Reaching the end of the hallway, the Barbarian stepped out into the open cavern and she frowned. This room was suspiciously empty, but it looked like a sort of living area. She could see that there were several furs laying atop one another in the corner, creating a sort of bed. This was the creature's sleeping area, that much she could tell.

She knew that she could search for hours and never find the creature. She simply didn't wait that long. So, to bring the creature to her, she opened her mouth and she screamed as loud as she possibly could. She listened to the scream echo through the caverns and down each hallway. She knew that if there was something there, they would hear it and they would come. The creature wouldn't come to save her though, it would come to kill her. She was encroaching on its territory after all and no creature took well to that, not even Humans.

The Princess listened after her scream and she could hear her own scream still echoing. Well, it was nice to know that this cavern was open and stretched from one side of the snow covered mountain to the other. Then, she heard it. A loud, territorial cry sounded from somewhere in the cavern and she could hear the creature stomping through the hallways, moving directly towards her.

Taking a deep breath, Diana knew that she couldn't do this with only one hand. So, she tossed the flame sphere into the corner and prayed that it didn't go out. The sphere didn't. It continued to light the cavern and she thanked the gods for that. She would never have been able to fight the creature in the dark, and considering there was no kind of lights within the cavern, she supposed the creature had some sort of night vision.

The Human girl threw back the hood of the cloak, freeing her red hair. She did that not to piss off the creature, but to further her range of sight. She reached under her cloak and pulled a second dagger, holding both of them out before her as she waited for the creature. However, she was too exposed here so she moved back to one corner and she knelt down, waiting for the creature.

Suddenly, the large cavern opening across from her was filled with an equally huge form. Her eyes widened as the creature stepped further into the light and she could see the creature for what it was. A Yeti of all things. She cursed inwardly and wondered just what she'd gotten herself into.

The creature was huge, standing at eight foot tall, and it was covered in thick dark white fur that hid rippling muscles all over its large body. Its head was that of an ape's with two inch long, razor sharp fangs and glowing blood red eyes. Its underbelly was coal black as was its face, hands, and feet. It looked like a giant ape, and yet at the same time, it looked like a man covered in thick white fur.

The Barbarian felt fear course through her at the sight of the creature. She'd never seen one herself, but she'd heard the horrible stories. She'd seen a hunting party of nearly a dozen return with only one horribly wounded warrior who refused to ever go out and hunt again. The stories were equally as bloody, telling of terrifying speed and strength that could rip a Human being apart with a single punch of its mighty fist.

The creature's blood red eyes darted to the small sphere of flames in the corner and she saw the confusion on its face. Then, its eyes moved around the room, and when they lit upon her, she saw the pure anger that lit upon its face. It was obviously not happy that she was there and she wasn't sure that she blamed the creature. If someone came into her home in the middle of the night, she would be angry and would try to kill them as well. That was a trait that transcended all races and even whether one was a sentient being or not.

Suddenly, the Yeti threw back its head and roared in pure rage. Before she could react, the creature lumbered towards her, its huge frame moving towards her and each step it took made the very ground shake. She was frozen in fear, staring at the creature as it moved towards her and she felt warmth suddenly invade her crotch as well as her legs. That could only mean one thing.

She'd pissed herself.

Despite her fear, she wasn't going to allow the creature to kill her. She sent her legs into movement, diving out of the way of the mighty fist of the creature at the last second. She heard the Yeti's fist slam into the wall hard and it made the cavern shake with the sheer force of the strike even as she rolled across the ground, coming up into a crouching position.

Daggers held tightly in her hands, Diana dove forward with a battle cry. She slashed at the Yeti's back, hoping to injure it before it could recover and turn around. The blade of her dagger bit deep, slicing flesh and drawing crimson blood that washed down the back of the Yeti. However, the creature didn't fall. Instead, it whirled around on her and it narrowed its blood red eyes on her, its ugly lips peeling back as it snarled at her. Well, it would seem that she'd succeeded in one thing: pissing off the beast.