Chapter 4

"Ariel, I still don't see why you were so dead set against my having brought my Bastard sword with me as a backup incase of trouble. I mean you have your swords with you. I just feel safer with mine as well," said Nathan grumbling as he walked along.

While he wasn't really irritated at Ariel, he was irritated at the situation.

"For the very reason you just stated. You should be comfortable with every weapon you know how to use well. But that won't happen if you only carry that one weapon with you all the time. You know I'm right and that's why you agreed," smiled Ariel.

She had convinced Nathan to only bring his collapsible staff in its back holder with him as they headed out to the mission. It was a discussion that Nathan resisted heavily as time to leave approached, but Ariel knew that for her he would give in.

Ariel also knew that when she got him to agree to do it that she might have to put up with his grumbling from time to time for awhile, but like everyone else when forced to face something new that they don't want to do, he would be happier for it afterwards.

Besides she made it a night to remember before they left as compensation.

How long had it been since they made love while Nathan stood and held her up against the wall as he did? And she didn't even care that she had passed out while they were doing it that way later that same night. The moment up to that point was incredible!

It had been a while since they had done quite a few of those positions last night, and as enjoyable as they were it wouldn't be that long before they did it again. She might not remember all the positions from Nathan's book, but she knew that he did.

But as they walked on she pulled him close and quickly kissed his lips. Nathan tried to look happy, but it was obvious it was forced.

But as they traveled on Ariel was lost in thought as she decided that he would be using at least one more weapon before the start of next season for four in total.

She was always a big fan of Nunchaku's as a surprise weapon.

They were deceptively easy to learn but extremely hard to master. And as a weapon that was in very limited use, they very often surprised opponents with their lethality.

But as they walked on Terrance and Rory were up ahead, and every once in awhile one of them would turn around and make sure the lovebirds were still behind them.

They were aware that Ariel and Nathan had drifted back to have a conversation, but were once again slowly gaining ground on them as they talked.

"It's no good dreaming of what you wish could have been," said Rory as he looked over at Terrance who had looked back again at them again.

"I know. But if I could find someone like that, someone who shared my interest and I could team up with, someone who was as gorgeous as her I might be willing to quit this," said Terrance softly.

"You thought you found her last season before Keith's men killed her didn't you?" asked Rory equally as soft.

He realized that some of what Terrance was feeling was loss at the death of the woman Melissa that he met during that job.

"That too. She was special as well and Keith robbed me of that. I'm glad he's dead," said Terrance savagely.

That still got on his nerves that he never got to be the one to kill Keith. He didn't even know what he looked like. But any time it was brought up all Nathan would only say was that he was now dead and that's all he would say.

"Well I still believe that Nathan made sure that he wouldn't hurt anyone else even though he won't admit it, and that should work for us," said Rory smiling.

"But I wonder if he ever had to work for Ariel that hard or if he was just in the right place at the right time. They never like to talk about their past and they change the subject if you try too hard. I wonder what they are hiding?" wondered Terrance as he again looked behind them to check where the two of them were.

"I know I've wondered that as well. They are very devoted to each other, and they never even look at other people whether they are together or not. I mean Nathan doesn't even look at the occasional attractive tavern wench even if Ariel isn't watching," said Rory.

"Yeah, she must be something in the sack if he can't even be tempted to look around," said Terrance with a smile.

"Well all I know is that you'll have to get through him to get to her and through her to get to him. But you also have to admit you wouldn't want anyone else as backup," said Rory with a smile.

"I know, I'm glad they told us about that smith. I've never seen a sword like this and I'm glad that we got my old one replaced after Ariel trashed mine. At least I understand now after I got it how she destroyed my sword as she did. But it was strange at time and I still can't understand why I couldn't see the blow that severed my blade," said Terrance and he looked at his replacement sword.

"I know I didn't see it ether. All I saw was the blade flying away. There has to be more to her than just skill," said Rory as they walked on.

Soon the conversation changed to more general things as Ariel and Nathan caught up to the two of them as they walked on to Delcai

When the group arrived in Delcai they immediately headed for the client's residence and checked the timetable for the job.

They had accepted the job back at the guild headquarters, but the clients hadn't expected them to arrive for another week.

But now that they were there, the clients said that they would be willing to head out in two days. So they were free to move around the city until they were ready

Free for a few days Rory and Terrance quickly hit a few taverns and entertained a few ladies during that time, but Ariel and Nathan tried to be as discreet as possible and asked around for any rumors of the fake Battlemage.

As they thought the rumors were pretty much what they'd heard in the guild hall. Someone had first appeared in Ravenswind and was using Nathan's name to offer protection and was then running into the night with the client's money.

But they were at a loss for what those clients needed protection from so badly. No one in Delcai really had any idea what was going on and why they were so desperate to pay for that protection at any price.

A few days later found the four as they started down the road doing the job of protection.

The client as one of the stipulations of them taking the job had to provide horses for them to ride while they were on guard duty. The client would take the horses back once the job was done, but it was easier than having to travel all the way to Ravenswind on foot.

And the four agreed to a unique guarding method where they took up points at the four corners of the caravan in the front and back, and they then rotated their positions every few hours to keep anyone from feeling lax or becoming complacent with where they were.

As they traveled, Nathan noticed that one young man seemed to clearly be one of the main points of interest of one of the client's daughters.

The client had three, but this one was very pretty with a pert nose, dark blonde hair, a nice hourglass figure, and dark blue eyes. She looked to be in her early to mid twenties and she was working very hard at getting the young man to notice her.

And it quickly became clear that she only came because of him, as the other two daughters stayed home.

She volunteered to be the one to lead them to where the delivery needed to be made because they learned that Ravenswind was a fairly large city with a lot of people and it was easy to get lost in.

And like the four of them, he hired on as driver and to travel with them and drive one of the lead teams as they headed to Ravenswind. He mentioned that he had lived there a long time ago and was familiar with the city as large as it was.

But as he observed the young man, he appeared to be pleasant when dealing with her, but Nathan noticed that while he smiled often at her the smile didn't really reach his eyes.

There seemed to be a sadness all around him that you could just feel if you knew where to look.

And before Nathan realized it he shuddered as a flash back of him at eighteen came unwanted to his mind as he relived the second most painful moment of his life, the one when he discovered Andrea's deep betrayal.

It was always worse that she along with his best friend at the time were both trying to make him responsible for their child to raise as his own without him being any the wiser, and for years they never really understood what they did wrong.

But if he was ranking them, then the most painful night of his life was the one where Ariel almost died in his arms.

And as he thought about it, he realized that he hadn't given Andrea much thought over the seasons and he really wanted to keep it that way.