Comradery

Humming to herself softly, Sam nocked another arrow to her bow. She pulled back the string, fletching to her ear, in one fluid motion & paused only seconds, before letting it fly. A slight groan told her that she hadn’t missed. Again. No more shadows moved, so Sam retied her quiver to her belt, unstrung her bow and placed it in its case. A slight smirk came onto her face as she leapt from her perch on the tree limb. Landing on her soft leather boots made no sound. She gained her direction quickly and trotted off silently, wasting no time.

Before she had gone a hundred spans, she heard a footfall. Human. Her smirk grew into a malevolent grin as she turned, pulled out a long knife, and threw it straight. She slipped around a tree trunk and listened for several minutes, being careful even though she knew she hadn’t missed. Back-tracking only 3-4 spans she found the bush where her would be attacker now lay at rest. Her blade gleamed dully in the moons shafted light.

"I never miss." Sam thought to herself. She pulled out her knife and wiped it on the dead man’s cloak. The deadly, sharp weapon then went back into it’s sheath while Sam trotted toward camp once more, a crooked smile painted her boyish features.

Small fires were now visible, and the dotted the base of the hill. Sam broke into a run, but not before whistling out a bird-call, only native to the upper, frozen mountain region, so the guards would not shoot HER. They whistled back, a golden-feather call this time, saying she could continue. She nodded to herself and headed straight to one particular fire, with only one tent standing close by it.

Now Sam could pick out the figures standing near for heat that the fire’s light gave. Moments before she entered into the sight, she stopped and crouched down, slinking through the shadows closer and closer. Then she balanced for a moment on the balls of her feet and launched, like a playful cub with a sibling. She took one down in a heap with her and they began wrestling on the ground. The other burst into laughter, unable to control herself.

"Sam got you, Kira" Mia wheezed through her laughter, "What is it now? Four to three?" Right when Mia was about the fall on the ground from laughter, Sam pinned Kira on her back.

"Got Ya." Was all she said, but a huge grin, showing white teeth bloomed on her face. Kira stuck her tongue out at Sam, but nodded and added another loss to the tally in her head. Sam stood after a minute and helped Kira to her feet. They clasped arms and smiled at each other for a moment before sitting down on a dead log.

"Any oosquai left?" Sam inquired hopefully.

Mia stuck out her tongue in disgust, but tossed a waterskin to Sam, "I don’t see how you can drink it, it’s like brown water."

Sam took a big swig, " Yeah, but it sure is a mule-kick to the head, eh?" she finished off the remainder in the container and threw the waterskin to the ground.

A huge gong sounded. The Alarm. "Attack?" Sam mouthed to her comrades. They nodded and quickly stood, now a deathly glitter in their eyes. "shall we?" Kira whispered, buckling on her long-carved double-bladed broadsword. Mia nodded and smiled as she slipped her axe into it’s loop on her belt. Since Sam was already prepared, she just strung her bow and nocked an arrow, pulling it back slightly, so as to shoot quicker. She doused the fire before running off toward the now present sound of steel clanging and screams of the wounded downhill. Mia and Kira followed closely behind, not wanting to miss out on any of the fun.