Saber crept silently into the room, making sure her face mask was on. How stupid, she thought. There were barely any security in the room. Were they serious when they said this was the treasury of the family? Saber stood up and scanned the area with the help of the bright moonlight before moving towards one of the chests covered with chains. Well, they did try, she scoffed. She pulled out her picks and once again scanned the area before squatting low and working on the numerous locks. A few minutes was all it took. Saber smiled at her expert handicraft while looking at her watch. “Done in less than three minutes,” a voice from behind her said. Saber quickly turned around with a hand reaching for the knife hidden in her boot. “Are you the security guard, then? Pretty sneaky,” she acknowledged his stealthiness, noticing from the corner of her eye that the door was slightly ajar.

“I’ll take that as a compliment, but I’d like to clarify one thing: I’m not exactly the security guard,” he replied from the shadows. His expression was hard to discern and Saber could not tell his intent or whether he had anything dangerous at hand from his position. She stepped back as she straightened to her full height, hoping to intimidate the man, but was momentarily stunned to find him much taller than herself. For Saber, it was rare to see anyone, man or woman, as tall as her, much less, taller than her. However, it was not enough reason to panic, she was the best in what she did, after all. “Well, who are you then?” she asked with the knife poised for attack, her body tense with adrenaline.

“Let’s just say I’m a very selfish man when it comes to things such as these.” He gestured faintly in the shadows. He appeared to be standing in front of a desk where his hand quickly grabbed something metallic. Saber was having a hard time figuring out what it was he now held in his hand. She did not need wonder for long; he stepped out of the shadows and pointed at her with the blade of a sword. He wore an attire similar to hers except he had no mask on. His face was handsome in the moonlight but his eyes were calm like the night sky.

Saber narrowed her eyes. There was a good chance he was the owner of the mansion and a real swordsman; then again there was a good chance he was merely bluffing--who used swords anymore, anyway? She took out another knife and mentally calculated the distance between herself and the enemy. “A sword, huh? Quite a weapon you’ve got. Are you sure you’re not here to steal the treasures as well?” she calmly inquired.

“Oh dear, no. I am living quite well off not to resort to robbery. Unlike you.”

Anger boiled inside Saber. She knew what he said was true. If only he did not interfere, this may be the last heist she would ever have to do. “That doesn’t work on me.” She chuckled lightly as she flicked her wrist and produced throwing blades which quickly made its way to his heart. Swift as the wind, the man evaded the blow and caught the blades in his fingers. Shock and amazement registered in her eyes. The man smiled slightly, looking so innocent. “It’s not nice to throw sharp things at people, you know.”

Was he mocking her? Saber held a knife in each hand and assumed an offensive stance. “Oh don’t be such a damn showoff.” Saber ran full speed at the man, determined to rid him of his sword. She aimed her knife for the wrist but the sword’s point quickly blocked her. She twisted low and swiped for his leg but he jumped away from her. She rolled closer while keeping an eye on the blade that swung in her direction. She knew she would gain advantage if the distance between them was shorter, preventing the sword much movement. Yet the man was much more skilled with the sword than she had expected and he grazed her back slightly. Barely feeling the cut, Saber kicked his elbow, hoping to dislodge his grip on the sword but his other hand took hold of her ankle and threw her away from him. Her head hit the one of the chests and the chains clinked solidly against her skull. Wincing, she quickly got up, blinking a few times to refocus herself. The man was smiling now. “I thought you’d be much more of a bother but I guess I was wrong.”

Not one to be humiliated at her own game, Saber threw a knife at him which caused him to block with his sword and momentarily lower his guard. At that pivotal moment, Saber dove at him with her hand that held the other knife, barely seconds after she threw the first one. She caught his ribs and she dug the knife deep. He roared in pain, elbowing her jaw in return. Saber hit her head hard on the marble floor. Fearing she might pass out, she bit her lip until it bled so that she felt the pain and stayed awake. With a throbbing skull, she quickly tried to get up but found that the blow was too strong for her to counter. She fell to her knees but kept her eye at the enemy. He was pressing a hand on the wound she had given him, his eyes shut in pain.

“I spoke too soon, huh?” he said in between slight grunts. He stood up, using the sword as a crutch. “However, you are mistaken if you think this little cut can stop me.” Amazingly, he stood straight and aimed the sword tip at her face once more.

Still kneeling on the ground, Saber, very much frustrated at being perceived as the weaker one, flung all her energy into her arms as she swung her knife against his sword. The force was so strong, it vibrated to his hand and caused him to let go of the sword. Along with it flew her knife, both weapons sliding to the floor to a space under a huge chest.

Realizing they had no weapons at hand, they looked at each other, fearing the fight they’d have to finish without any help. Saber smiled, saying, “Looks like you’re out of weapons.”

He frowned at her. “So are you.”

“That’s what you think.” With that she pulled out the metal cord that hung from her belt strap. She stretched it out, warily keeping note of his position by the wall. If she cornered him, there, nothing would get damaged and he’d have nothing to grab as a weapon. Saber stood up, her sight was still slightly foggy from the blow on her head. While she tried to show she was fine, she felt a slow drip on the back of her head.

The man shook his head as if in defeat. “I never thought I’d have to fight a girl with my bare hands.” He ripped off a piece of his sleeve and stuck inside the bleeding hole in the tight leather shirt he wore, obviously attempting to stop blood loss. After doing so, he stood up again as if there was no wound hurting him on his side.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked, irritated by his statement. He smirked at her, which irritated her even more. “I hate to say this but I’m not here to fight you. If you insist, however, I’ll have no choice but to fight you until one of us is at least unconscious, which would be you, of course.”

“I like that you’re so sure of yourself, but don’t underestimate your enemies. Ever.” He sprinted forward and aimed a punch in her stomach, she sidestepped the attack and landed a blow on the side of his neck. His foot stretched back, causing her to fall down on her back. He raised the same foot to land a blow on her stomach, but she was quick to roll away.

As soon as she stood up, his fist connected with her jaw, causing her to stagger backwards from the force. She shot a foot out, aiming for his groin, but he was also fast to evade it. With her foot out, he grabbed it and pulled her down to the ground. Saber kicked with her other foot. The man stepped back a second too late and her foot connected with the wound on his side. He visibly gritted his teeth in pain but didn’t slow down from her blow. He grabbed her arms and straddled her settling his weight right on her stomach. Saber struggled under his weight but could do nothing in the position she was in. He leaned down, his face inches away from hers. “Don’t think I’d let you go after this.” Then he knocked his head against hers with every ounce of strength he had left. Saber felt the pain but soon lost consciousness. The man staggered to the side, paling from too much loss of blood and soon followed her into the darkness.




Saber felt a tightness at her wrists. Quickly she opened her eyes and moved her arms only to find herself tied up and sitting on the same floor that she had fought a match with an equally aggressive person of combat. There was no one in the room with her. She looked up with the sound of footsteps coming closer. Looking at the shadows, she knew she hadn’t been out for too long. With her feet tied together as well as her wrists, she stood up and leaned against a chest. She saw the same man from earlier come through the door but now he had a piece of cloth tied around his wound. His face was still a little pale and sweat was beading on his forehead. “You’re awake.” He seemed to contemplate this. “That didn’t take too long, for a girl.”

“Why don’t you just--” Saber noticed that something was somewhat muffling her speech; the mask was still on. Her brows furrowed; wouldn’t anyone take off the mask to see who the culprit was, she thought to herself. Thinking the man might have been concussed from his own head-butt, she let it go, hoping against hope that he had completely forgotten.

“I was so tempted to look under the mask, you know.” His eyes met hers calmly, unreadable. “But obviously you’re wearing it for a reason.” He tilted his head to one side. “You almost had me back there, had I not done that.” He touched his forehead and winced. “I passed out mainly from blood loss, but I was almost sure I’d be the last one to come to.” His smile was a bit evil, even if it did brighten his features handsomely.

“Why don’t you just hand me over to the police and get this over with?” Annoyed at the conversation at hand, she wanted a chance to escape; at least the police, or something close to it, in this place was surely not as expert as this man was at combat.

He made a tsk-tsking sound. “Now that wouldn’t be a good idea. You’d be out of jail in a second with that skill of yours.” He looked pointedly at the chest with the opened locks.
Saber hated how he could read her so easily from such a brief encounter. She twisted her wrists in a fruitless attempt.

“I should just keep you here until your accomplices come and attempt a rescue, but it would be too much of a hassle if I have to fight more than one of the likes of you. Not to mention, I’m not at my best at the moment.” The man crossed his arms and took a step towards Saber. “No one else is in this house, you know. If your friends come then I would surely be in a lot of trouble, wouldn’t I?” He narrowed his eyes at her. “I wonder…” A slow smile crept into his lips before he said, “Your eyes are magnificent, angry as they are right now, but still lovely.”

Saber launched her tied fists towards his arrogant face but was slowed down by the ropes and the vertigo that crept into her head. He was out of her reach in half a second, chuckling slightly. “Shut it,” she warned as she struggled to balance herself.

He chuckled again then backed away from her, gazing at her from head to toe and back up again. “Wonderful hair, by the way.”

Saber felt like she had been violated from the way he was talking. She was planning to hit him again when a sudden banging on the mansion’s front doors jolted her. The man looked warily at Saber’s face, searching for a clue. He then looked out the window, muttering something under his breath before giving her a suspicious look and walking out the door, not failing to lock the door behind him. Saber hopped to the window to glance at her saviour; it was a woman cloaked in black robes. She had a basket in the crook of an elbow while her fist knocked vigorously on the wooden door; she appeared to be crying. Saber quickly knelt on the floor and peered under the chest, never forgetting for once the weapons that slid under the huge chest by the wall. She saw a faint glint of steel before looking for something to reach it with. She looked at the loose chains before trashing the idea--it would be too noisy. She scanned the floor for something, anything long enough and thin enough to get to the blades. She tried pushing the chest to the side but it also made a grinding noise on the floor. It moved slightly but enough for her to try her hardest at reaching the hilt of the sword that was merely centimeters away from her fingers. She gave a push in desperation and the sword slid towards her, blade first. She pulled it out hastily, not caring for the loud scratching sound it made for she would be free soon enough.

Fortunately, she had reached the window when the man burst into the room. He saw the ropes lying on the floor and then found her eyes full of contempt.

“You’ll pay for this, I swear it.” She then jumped off without hesitation. The man quickly ran to the window and looked down only to find no trace of her.

“What took you so long?” Sparkie asked from her room as she hurried down the stairs at the sound of her older sisters’ arguing voices. She gasped at the sight that met her eyes.

Her mouth gaped open upon seeing Saber covered in blood and bruises. “What happened?” she asked in horror.

“Sparkie, get the med kit. Quickly!” Stilus yelled from at the door, dropping the dark robes and the basket on the floor as she held Saber’s barely conscious form.

“Right!” Sparkie nodded and ran to the bathroom.

Stilus urged Saber to walk a few more steps to get to the couch where she laid down her older sister. “You should have just left before you had to fight at all!” she reprimanded her older sister.

Saber, annoyed at her sister’s advice, gave her a glare as well as she could manage. “What’s done is done. Just fix me up, okay?”

Sparkie ran down the stairs with the med kit in one hand, handing it to Stilus. “Is it bad?” she asked Stilus, who was more knowledgeable about injuries from curing Saber after her past rumbles.

“She’ll be fine, Sparkie. Don’t worry.” Stilus expertly patched up the bleeding on her older sister’s head, trying not to worry about Saber’s blue eyes that rolled up into her head. Stilus could tell she was trying her best not to lose consciousness.

“After I get better, we’re making a better plan before I go back there,” Saber gasped.

Her statement troubled both of her sisters but with Stilus, to quite an extent. “What are you talking about? We’re not trying that one anymore.” She frowned at her older sister, wondering whether or not she was still logical after the blow to her head. “Are you forgetting something? You tried stealing from them and failed, so obviously they’re going to put up a better security for good measure.” She paused for a moment. “Are you still thinking straight?”

Saber sighed with exasperation. “Just help me up to my room.”

Stilus and Sparkie helped her up the stairs with a bit of difficulty since Saber kept swerving to the left. “Sorry,” she said. “I’ll walk properly this time.”

Eventually, they got her to her room and laid her down on the bed. Stilus and Sparkie removed her tattered outfit to get to her cuts and bruises. After cleaning out the blood from her wounded body, Stilus covered her up with blankets and urged her to rest for while before doing anything else.

“Should I get her something to eat?” Sparkie offered.

“Oh, don’t bother, Sparkie. I’m completely fine; just need some sleep.” Saber gave her a weak smile. “Just go finish what you were doing; your big sis is a lot stronger than she looks.”

On the other hand, Stilus nodded a yes at her younger sister and she left the room in a hurry.

Stilus, seated on the side of the bed, watched as her older sister fell in and out of consciousness. “Just sleep, Saber; it’ll be good for you.”

Saber tried to focus on Stilus’ face. “Do you know who that man was?”

Stilus shook her head. “I don’t remember the Windemwest family having someone his age. Sparkie might have missed something when she asked around for information or he might have been a security guard.”

“Uh-uh. He said he wasn’t one.”

Stilus sighed. “And you believed him? What is this, are you going slow in the head because of the blow or it is just because you’re aging?”

Her older sister glared at her weakly. “What the hell has my age got to do with this? I’m only twenty-four, you know; I’m not a ninety year old woman.”

Stilus ignored her remark. “Sparkie will get you some food from the pub. You can eat it after you rest for a while.”

Saber looked away from her sister and grumbled, “I hate it when you ignore what I say.”

Stilus pretended she never heard the comment and said, “Hopefully you’ll feel a lot better after you take the medicine.” She stood up and watched as her sister avoided looking at her direction, slightly annoyed at her ‘ignoring’ habit. She knew better than to keep talking to a Saber who has just been slighted. She left the room and closed the door behind her. She walked down the stairs and looked for Sparkie. She was worried about her younger sister worrying over Saber and she knew Saber was even more worried about Sparkie than herself. Saber was like a mother when it comes to protecting Sparkie from harm or from anything that would cause her stress. And Stilus was naturally worried about Sparkie who, at her age of eighteen, was very childlike and had a sensitive nature. The two of them tried hard not involve her in the heists but she would always want to be of help. Being the cleverest of them all, they elected Sparkie as the informant. That way, she could contribute but not be in any danger of getting injured during the actual heists. She would subtly ask around and get the information she wanted, well able to put two and two together when she came across a missing clue.

Stilus could not find her and so went out to look for her in the pub. It was close enough to the house they recently moved into. Nobody else was awake at the late hour and the empty streets were silent as clouds. Stilus walked down the muddy road and warily looked around her, with the black night cool and filled with cricket songs and loud toad croaks. She momentarily thought about Sparkie and wondered if she got to the pub alright. She shook her head and told herself to stop being so silly. Sparkie was a big girl now, easily able to think for herself and take care of herself.

She took bigger steps and started jogging, remembering how she hated toads. She looked at the ground trying to watch if there was any on the road with the help of the bright moon. She sighed with relief when she reached the pub without meeting a single toad. The door of the pub was left open, the owners obviously not worrying about mosquitos or insects that would come inside, attracted to the candle lights and lanterns. She saw Sparkie standing by the bar where Barry, the bartender and pub owner, talked loudly. “...keep her strength and be back on her feet in no time. Oh, your sister’s here.” He waved at Stilus as she moved close to Sparkie.

“Hello, Barry. Sorry to bother you so late at night.”

He nodded, “Well, since your older sister is so sick, it’s only right you come here and got food to give her, eh?” He turned around and got out a big cylindrical container, setting it on the bar in front of the sisters. “Also, I’m making here some mix to get her drinking. It’ll numb senses to remove pain.” He started pouring several powders into the container.

Stilus must have shown concern on her face, internally figuring out what exactly Sparkie had said to the man.

“Don’t be looking scared for your sister now. This is the best for any kind of pain she might have: cramp, backaches, headaches--heck if she rolled down the stairs and got her noggin cracked it’ll do her wonders still!” He laughed so loudly, incidentally unsettling Stilus. She looked at Sparkie who smiled a bit the old man’s humor.

Stilus cleared her throat before saying, “Uhm, what kind of food are you giving her, Barry? Saber doesn’t particularly like weird-tasting food.” She looked embarrassed after what she had just said, but she knew Saber wouldn’t eat anything with an awful taste even if it was just medicine in the food.”

As if on cue, Dame, Barry’s extraordinarily handsome nephew, came out with a bowl well shut with a plastic lid as well as a sealed brown paper bag on the other hand. “Here you go; I made it so it’s extra sweet.” He winked at Stilus. “I don’t like awful medicine tastes in my food when I get sick, either.”

Stilus reached for the bowl and bag but Sparkie took the paper bag into her hands. “What’s in this bag, Dame?” She smelled the brown bag, trying to identify its contents.

“It’s bread made with herbs that’ll help improve her strength.” He wiped his hands on a towel. “It’s perfectly normal-tasting bread.” He smiled sweetly, and he almost looked like a girl. “Tell her to get well soon.”

Sparkie smiled and said thanks to both of them while Stilus simply nodded in acknowledgment before they left the pub.

Barry grunted in concern as he stared at the entrance of the pub. “Hope she’s doing good.” He then looked at his nephew and said, “Close the door now, boy, we’re done for the night.”