The arena was full of explosions at this point. Ground shaking, it was easy to sneak around the facility with all the noise. Katrina slowly opened a door and looked around before coming into the room. It was a wet, dark room. Her footsteps echoed, so she knelt down and took off her shoes. Leaving the behind, she ventured further into the room.
Feeling around, she felt her way to the next door. As she opened it, it slammed back at her and knocked her on the ground. She quickly rolled and shot back up to her feet. She stood, ready for whatever was about to pop through the door. A figure jumped through and grabbed her by the arm.
She was pulled forward and held to the ground. The figure looked her over. He let go of her and stood. "Katrina?" A familiar voice sounded.
Katrina's eyes widened and began to tear up. "Meko!" she yelled jumping up and wrapping her arms around him. "I missed you so much! But I stayed strong!" she continued hugging and cuddling against him. Then she kissed him.
Katrina jumped off of him and backed up. Lost for words, Meko laughed. "You're fine. Stress will get to you. I'm your Commander, not your boyfriend." There was a moment of silence between the two. The sounds of the arena beginning to collapse still echoing. "Come," he instructed her as he began heading back to the arena ring.
Katrina grew up in Fort Harft. She had watched the assassins train day in and day out. Through the winter on the mountain top to hot Summers in the jungles below the mountains. However being an orphan, she had to stay in the orphanage.
That's where she met Meko. He was always studying and training. And being three years younger than he was, he became an idol to her through her studies and training. Wanting to be in his squad when they were of age, she worked just as hard, if not harder than Meko.
Once Meko reached the age of 13, he chose to join the Assassin Guild and began as a recruit. She watched him rank up and start going on missions with his own squad. When Katrina was finally able to join, she was able to join Meko.
Starting on different squads, she went along on her own. A mission popped up for both squads to go on a large scale recon together. A ten person crew should be enough to locate a prisoner and extract him.
They had to go to a pirate camp located across the seas to Dragopar. The pirates had been raiding supply ships to the natives and capturing the crew and using them as slaves. The pirates just captured a regiment commander for their guild who was on his way to a mission from the leader of the Dragoparians. That meant war.
Crossing the seas took just over three months. With hopes that the commander was still on the island, they landed on the southern port city of Droke. They were met with celebration and praise as they were the first outsiders to land on their shores in almost a year. The chief of the southern tribe held a banquet and the two squads drank and are before starting their mission early in the morning.
Katrina has woken with a headache from drinking and stumbled to the meeting spot on the deck of the ship. She was met with eyes from both her squad and Meko's. Her squad leader was very pungent when it came to being absent. She and three of Meko's squad would go play Recon while the others would wait for a response.
It was a six hour trip on foot to get to the city the pirates had overtaken. Dressed like the natives of the island, Katrina and the three entered the city with eyes peeled to them. The aroma is the air was that of stagnant water and bile. These pirates seemed to have no class.
They took spot just on the shoreline where they saw the ship with the black sails. Katrina pointed it out and the others nodded. One that was with Katrina's group was a master at Recon, Harl. Having the ability to control animals around him, he sent out a small rodent to get into the camp easier than they would have.
When the rodent came back it began drawing a surprisingly detailed map in the shore's sand. Harl gave each of them a position. They were to say what they saw, heard and smelled. Any and all details were needed. They all split up and went to their positions.
The scribe work was a drag for Katrina. Watching the assassin's was a lot more than what she was expecting. She has been on missions before but had never done a recon. She laid on the ground on a little hilltop and wrote everything she thought to be important. All while keeping an eye for her counterparts.
They used a tiny mirror to reflect the light off the sun every half hour. Since she was watching the road, she was a little further from the other three. If something were to happen to them, she would be a little bit before coming back to them. And if something happened to her, then she would be in trouble.
As she was about to call it to go and regroup, a group of slaves came along the road. Their shackles clanking together as they walked single filed. There were at least a dozen men and women, pushed together as close as they could be. Their steps were synchronized as they were kicking up the dirt. Katrina focused her eyes to try and see through the dust. Then she saw him.
Quickly, she jot down the details and what the other slaves looked like. She held the mirror up and gave four glares, signifying she found him. They all signaled back beside one.
Like Katrina, the one was newer to missions but had been on them before. She waved her mirror back and forth, showing there was distress but not on her end. That's when the Reconer blew into a horn to retreat. They all met back on the shoreline besides the one.
Out of breath Katrina pointed back at the camp. "We have to... go back and... get him. No man left behind." she said between The other two stayed silent and looked down.
"We need to alert Meko before we press on. One gone is better than four. After all, we aren't leaving him, we're thinking of a new plan. Come now." Harl said.
Before he had finished, Katrina was already gone towards the camp. She only branded her hidden blade and a dagger. Sliding into a bush, she crawled to the edge of the camp.
"If they won't help me, I'll do it myself." she whispered to herself and remembered the layout Harl drew up. She branded her blade and began watching the surrounding. She saw three of the pirates by a fire, chowing on grub. Four were on patrol around the edge, her best bet was to take one out.
Disguising was out of the question. There appeared to be no females besides those who worked in the town's brothels. There were two fondling a pirate who was drunkenly laughing. The slaves were on the ship and no sign of her comrade.
She took out the lookouts and drug them into the bushes. Next she took out the ones by the fire. The one with the two prostitutes was easy to take out and the girls were hushed with the last bit of his coin. They then walked back to the town. She began to approach the ship when she got ambushed by several of the pirates.
Katrina fought them off as best as she could, but at the time wasn't very good at hand to hand combat. They subdued her and knocked her unconscious to join her comrade below the deck of the ship.
Unsure how long she was actually out, she woke to the sound of fighting above her. Explosions from clashes of elemental power shook the whole ship. Boards from above started falling onto the prisoners. She desperately looked around the dark chamber.
When her vision adjusted to the darkness, she was surrounded by men with their throats cut open. Blood drenched the floorboards and the smell of death filled the room. She held her mouth with her blood soaked hands as she forced herself not to scream in terror.
It seemed like she's that the fighting stayed on. But the sounds of swords clashing and power explosions stopped. As she whimpered below, a door slowly opened. The freaking hinges were ominous. She closed her eyes and waited.
A pair of arms wrapped around her, followed by a jacket. "Come on, Katrina. Let's get you out of here." a familiar voice sounded. It was Meko. She closed her eyes and cried into his chest.
From that day, Meko was a hero to her. She joined his squad as all others from hers were killed in the fight. The commander had died during the slave executions on the ship. She was the only survivor under the upper deck.
And after the encounter, a vow to be more courageous and strong was set in stone.