The sounds of the forest as she approached her camp were dim. It was silent. Much more than it had been the two previous nights. She felt uneasy, as if something was wrong with the place, as if someone had been lurking around. It may be nothing but it was better to be safe than sorry. Astrid took out the knife and scouted the area around the camp before returning slowly towards her shelter. There was no one around, no tracks of any kind either. She was becoming paranoid; the stress she had felt since this began felt like a boulder.

Astrid took what she could from camp and walked a kilometre before she felt safe enough to stablish a camp again, closer to the mountain beside a boulder that felt out of place but familiar, uninviting but reliable. It called to her. Against her instincts she placed herself at a crevasse between the stone, at a spot that felt right and before she could even notice anything she fell into a deep sleep.

That night she had the strange dream once more. She had almost forgotten it as it had almost completely vanished after she was captured. The same man as always speaking of conquest and control; this time it was longer and clearer than ever but it vanished as ethereal as always.

Her memory has fuzzy on the details but it seemed like the man contained her consciousness; focused on the dream, he helped her maintain her sleep.

When she woke up, she found out there had been a storm during the night. Rain came down strongly as she came out of her shelter and branches were scattered across the floor. The temperature inside the shelter was considerably higher, meaning she could use her powers for self-preservation while asleep, that was a relief, she could survive any climate. She noted the information before starting her walk towards the mountain one final time.

Rain covered her movement while she moved through the snow. This time she erased her trail while moving to avoid being followed and closely watched her back while moving towards the base. Each day the climb seamed easier; the terrain more familiar; before Astrid knew it, she reached the rock where she had rested with Zorlo.

After they separated, she had gone towards the cliff, south, he had gone north towards the main entrance; towards the weak spot in their perimeter.

“That bastard” She told herself with a laugh “I suppose that if we’re not working together then we’re enemies; I would have done the same to him”

There was no resentment towards Zorlo, he had guided her towards the incorrect path, however, he must have felt guilt in lying to her because he had provided the knife.

Less than ten minutes later she was looking at the wall. From this angle everything looked bigger and the guards’ way scarier. Deciding to be safe Astrid waited; the hole she witnessed while on lookout was more subtitle while on ground level. The path appeared each hour and by the second cycle, two minutes after it was clear, she started to move.

Her hiding spot was twenty metres from the wall. In the snow it would take twelve seconds to close the distance but by hiding her tracks it took almost three times as much. When she entered the base, Astrid felt at ease; there was no guarantee she went unnoticed but was confident of her ability and speed.

The building main entrance was locked but there were marks showing the window beside it had been opened lately. She opened it looking for anyone inside; it was empty.

The interior was filled with objects and equipment, most of it for mountain climbing or general survival. Passing through the window she entered and shut it close before anyone could see movement. The inside was pitch black, there were several windows in both sides of the structure but all of them covered so no light entered.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

The solution was simple and quite quick; one of the old-school climbing ropes could be used as a torch. Astrid found the largest in the room, igniting the tip she started to look for her price.

The room was larger than she had expected, both walls were filled floor to roof in equipment of different kinds, the oldest near the entrance point while the newest were maintained towards the back.

There were no objects denoted with a number. However; her time here was not wasted; Astrid was able to attain proper cloths for the cold and other equipment including a pike and set of three lightning rods, an artificer invention that used explosives to generate a bright light and a thunderous noise. With these objects on her possession, she could focus her abilities in other aspects of the competition and will let her mind rest.

As she finished her preparations Astrid extinguished the rope and focused her attention on the camp outside. Using the pike, she was able to scratch a hole in the corner of a window to look outside. She had to cross towards the next building without being noticed by the guards.

The idea was fearsome; two armed guards stationed on the towers would see any moment in the centre of the camp. Even if by some miracle she could pass with no one noticing her, the way out should be the same she came from meaning twice the exposure.

While scouting the guards’ pattern she saw something odd about the movements of one of them, he looked stiff and as he turned, he looked unnatural.

Astrid looked at their movements until she found a pattern; one that left her a space of around thirteen seconds to cross.

They moved like clockwork and by the third round she decided to take a chance and cross at full speed.

As she ran, she counted the seconds.

One, two; she removed the lock and opened the window.

Three, four; she went out through the window and closed it.

Five, six, seven; she closed the distance towards the closest window of the second building.

Eight, nine; she got to the wall and opened the window.

Ten, eleven; Astrid entered the room and closed the entrance behind her.

Breathing heavily; her shoulder against the wall with one ear to the window, Astrid focussed to hear any movement outside.

Nothing.

She started to look around, as fast as she could move; they may have not seen her running but she left tracks as she crossed. With a deep breath she noticed she could have unlocked the window beforehand to avoid losing time. She felt like an idiot.

This building was different from the last one; divided into at least three sections judging by the size of this room. All windows were clear, this was the building where she had seen movement the day before.

As she always did, thanks to Eigil’s training, Astrid looked for security across the room.

A fickle of light near a corner of her eye made her look again into the celling behind her. It was small but there was a bell connected though a set of string to the main entrance. Due to the environment, it could be a well-placed alarm for anyone trying to enter.

In any case, she had to move, if the guards saw the tracks outside, they would come running. Astrid was confident she could beat most guards even in groups but this was a test for an assassin so stealth was her priority.

The door to the next room was a large, flat steel block with no handle. To its side a hole with a moving part told her this was an automated door that needed some kind of piece to activate. This was expensive, made by a master artificer and could work with heat or electricity. Time being her main focus at the moment and low to no knowledge on this system, Astrid decided to force her way in.

It took her a minute to heat up the bottom right corner; as soon as it started to glow yellow, she started to bend it outwards while continuing to pour heat into it.

The hole she managed to create was barely enough to pass.

The next room was larger than the one she left, it was warm and dry being lit by gas torches lining the walls at either side.

Against the back wall ten pedestals were placed in a semicircle; most of them were empty but four still had a black cylinder can with white numbers on the side. Only two, seven, nine and ten were still in place.

Astrid surveyed the room, nothing seemed out order but she had a feeling something was off. There might be a trap in place, something like removing the canister activates a dart or net. Using her own fire, she investigated the room but found nothing; the floor and walls were smooth and the roof was exactly the same as in the other building.

Still with a bad feeling in her gut but worried about her time Astrid approached her pedestal, with caution and as slow as she could she removed the canister.

“I might have been a little paranoid” she said looking at the cylinder with the number seven.

BOOOM