The second assassin cursed loudly, and held out his hand to fire off a spell. However, at this moment, the door opened a second time. From it, a small boy darted in, faster than a blink, and rammed into the assassin. Immediately after the shoulder tackle, he turned and looked at Danwe.

“Lewis, reporting! No guards outside! They’re all distracted! Let’s move!” The boy picked up his leader, but struggled a bit. “Er, sorry, miss Danwe? Do you mind taking him? I’m not exactly cut out for heavy lifting.”

Xeik groaned, “Did you just call me fat, Lew?” He let out a hefty sigh, and struggled up. “No, don’t worry about me. I can stand.”

Lewis shook his head,” No you can’t. At best, you can lean on mine or Danwe’s shoulder.” He helped Xeik to his feet, and started towards the door. After a quick glance in either direction, he pulled Xeik out of the shed and in to the open. He made it two steps before he was struck from above, knocking Xeik to the side. Lewis himself was knocked down.

“Ah, so this is where they were hiding the rat,” Terrance said, standing up from his surprise attack. “Good. I can finish this now. Lewis…kill the Lightning Thief, and maybe I’ll spare you the pain I was planning on dishing out.”

Lewis growled, leaping up. “Not a chance!” he yelled. He drew his knife. “Miss Danwe…could you take Xeik?”

Terrance let out a loud guffaw. “Excuse me? You think you can take me, you runt!?”

The small boy let out a small chuckle. “Maybe, maybe not…” He lowered his stance. “I’m not going to let you take Xeik, though. That’s a promise…!”

Danwe was about to blink-step to reach the first assassin as he raised a hand to shoot a spell at her, when he was driven to the ground with surprising force by a much smaller body. She blinked forward and drove her hand into his chest and delivered the same shock to him as she had to the other man. He convulsed on the ground a moment before he fell still and unconscious. She looked up at Lewis and gave him a quick applause. 

"Well done, Lewis. You've been practicing," she praised him as she helped Lewis get Xeik to his feet. She draped one of Xeik's arms over Lewis' shoulders. She paused as if remembering something and turned and went back to the assassin she had first stunned and began rifling through his pockets. She found the brightly glowing purple stone and put it into her own pocket. That was something she couldn't allow them to keep a hold of. 

She went back to Xeik and Lewis who were headed out the door of the shed. She barely avoided being landed on by Terrance, and the two boys were knocked down. What a pain. Terrance never did get the hint. 

Lewis asked Danwe to get Xeik out, she blinked from behind Terrance to Xeik and Lewis' side. As she heaved Xeik up onto her shoulder she leaned over to Lewis. 

"If you are serious about taking him on, stay low, stay fast. I'll be back for you once Xeik is safe."

She looked at Xeik. "Hold your breath," she ordered. She blink-stepped and they were out of the compound and several streets away.  "Breathe," she said. Once Xeik had taken a couple of breaths she ordered him to hold his breath again. This happened a couple more times before she was standing in front of Bat at the House of the Heaven's Dawn. 
"Here, Bat. Take Xeik. I have to go back for Lewis." 

She handed Xeik off to Bat who turned and carried Xeik inside and Danwe blink-stepped back to the Blood Echo hideout, into the courtyard where she had left Lewis.

With Xeik and Danwe gone, Lewis turned his full attention to Terrance. Danwe was right. Low and fast would be the way to survive the fight. With a smirk, though, Lewis drew his dagger. There were clear differences between Xeik and Lewis. While Terrance had fought and won against Xeik, he had never seen Lewis fight. Furthermore…

“I’m not as nice as Xeik. Nor Danwe.” He lunged forward, pulling a feint at the last moment to the right as Terrance tried to punch him. Elegantly, Lewis spun himself around, using the momentum to draw a set of throwing knives and toss them into Terrance’s side at point blank range. The fighter grunted, jumping back in surprise, his hand immediately moving to the wound. He winced as blood started to trickle from it, the spread slowly growing on his shirt.

Lewis’ eyes were cold and calculating. If I end it now, they won’t need to know, and he’ll never bother us again… He started to move forward, but one of the assassins that they had dealt with on the inside appeared, coming out of the building in a right fury. He came at Lewis with a dark aura bursting from his body, grabbing the boy by the throat and holding him hi.

D-damn… Lewis struggled, his small hands gripping at the assassin’s large ones as the life was squeezed out of him. Not here…it can’t be here…

There was a flash, and a small knife blossomed from the hand that held Lewis aloft. The assassin yelled and released the boy. Before he hit the ground, Danwe had him in her arms and electricity crackled in her hands. She drove her palm into the assassin's solar plexus and sent him ten feet across the yard. She turned to blink away from the area with Lewis in tow when she felt a hand grab the back of her arm. She was yanked around and bleeding wheezing Terrance caught her across the face with a left hook. 

Danwe spun and staggered, and her grip on Lewis slipped as they both fell to the ground. She was dazed for a moment and she shook the lights that had exploded in her head away and rubbed her jaw. Rough hands rolled her over and Terrance bore down on her, his massive beefy hands wrapping around her throat. Danwe clawed at his grip, her nails leaving deep runs on his skin, but he showed no signs of letting up as they struggled. Black spots began appearing in her vision, and in a last attempt to get the pugilist off of her, lightning crackled in her hands again. Both hands alight with sparks, she grabbed Terrance by the face and unleased as much energy as she could muster. The shock ripped through Terrance and sent him hurtling from her in a smoking heap into the far wall. Hands singed from the amount of energy she had just expended, Danwe choked and coughed by scrambled over to Lewis, grabbed him, and blinked out of the courtyard as more assassins began streaming out after them. 

As the two landed on a rooftop, they crashed hard, rolling for a few feet and separating. The commotion below had escalated to more than just the assassins as guards and civilians alike started to the courtyard. Apparently, there had been an anonymous tip about illegal happenings; another part of the initial plan that had gone of without a hitch.

Lewis groaned, sitting up and holding his head. “That could have gone better,” he said, his vision swimming for a moment before spotting his savior. “Danwe!?” he exclaimed, crawling over to her, his eyes wide with panic. “Are you okay!? We can’t stay here! Get up!” He started to look around, frantic. If they didn’t move fast enough, some of the assassins would be able to catch up.

“C’mon! Let’s go already!”

Danwe pushed herself up onto her hands and knees as Lewis crawled over to her and inquired as to whether or not she was all right. She was wheezing a little bit, and a hand lifted to rub her neck which was angry red. 

"I'm fine," she said, her voice raspy and hoarse. She staggered back up to her feet, her vision swimming for a moment before she straightened up. She grabbed Lewis around the waist and blinked away from the area, and came to a halt in a deserted alleyway. 

"That's as far as I can go. I'm spent," she panted. She leaned against the stone wall. "You ok? He had a good grip on you," she asked, her voice still raspy. She wiped perspiration from her forehead and rubbed her neck again. "That went well. With the exception of a certain asshole, this whole thing went off without much of a hitch," she smirked. She rested a few moments longer before she stood again. 

"I'm in no shape to blink or fly right now, but it should be a nice peaceful walk back to the Guild House," she mused. "Come on…"

Lewis checked the sides of the alleyway out of paranoia, but nodded. He traced his hands across where Terrance had held him, and sighed. “I’m fine. It could have been worse…” He was lucky. Danwe had been too. But they had won in that exchange.

“It could have gone better though,” Lewis commented. “We should have anticipated him.” He checked the sides of the alley again. “Okay. Let’s go then.”

The walk back to the tavern was easy in comparison to everything they had done. The assassins seemed to have retreated, and Terrence was nowhere to be found. As soon as they entered the tavern, though, they were swarmed by a crowd of concerned faces, asking if they were okay. Xeik was upstairs in a spare bedroom, apparently sleeping, though Lewis had a sneaking suspicion that the boy was struggling to sleep, and just as worried about the two of them as the rest of the boys.

“I’m fine,” Lewis said. It was true. He was fine. But he didn’t exactly feel fine. He had missed an opportunity to kill Terrence, and what was worse, he felt no remorse for the thought. At least, he should have felt something. He knew that he wanted Xeik to stay safe, and that he would kill for his leader, but…past that, he felt nothing.

He motioned to Danwe, pointing up to signal that he was going to check on Xeik. Maybe a talk with Danwe later would help, but for now he would at least do what was in his capabilities.

Danwe nodded to Lewis before she moved over to the bar and stepped up on top of it.
"I've never been more proud of you boys after all that you did tonight! Bat, the best cider you got! These boys are thirsty!" she called out. There was a cheer from the boys, and after a moment she raised a hand and they quieted down. 

"Boys, we may have been successful tonight, but you all should know that we should expect retaliation from the Blood Echoes," she explained. "They do not take this sort of thing lightly. So, as such, I have to caution you. We need to keep our heads down. For the next few months we need to be almost invisible. Do not do anything to attract attention. Stay vigilant. But tonight, eat and drink up. We will face tomorrow when it comes." 

With that Danwe jumped from the bar to the cheers of the boys again as Bat began passing around cups of warm cider and a store of sweets he had been saving up for the boys. 

Danwe quietly slipped up the stair to find Xeik and Lewis in the private rooms and she quietly bolted the door behind them. 

"Xeik, Lewis, we need to talk…"

When Lewis had entered the room, he noted that Xeik was, at least for the moment, awake. It wasn’t strange. Even after all that they had been through, Xeik was by far more resilient than most children his age. The would be assassin sighed, and walked over to the bed, and silently sat down on the floor, his back to Xeik.

Lewis found comfort in this. He had always had issues with turning his back to people, but he felt at peace when it was Danwe or Xeik. It was trust. A feeling that he was not so sure he was even capable of feeling. Yet, here he was.

“You okay?” Lewis asked.

“Yeah,” Xeik replied. “You?”

The other boy didn’t answer right away. “Xeik…I…” He paused. How to put it into words? Lewis frowned. He didn’t know if he could. “I’m sorry.”

Xeik sat up. For a moment, he collected his thoughts. “Lewis…are you….” The thief cocked his head to the side, pondering a response. “Mad that you couldn’t kill Terrence?”

“I don’t know.”

Xeik took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly. “I think-”

They both stopped, and looked to the door. Lewis’ hand twitched, but was far too slow of a reaction. He silently cursed himself as the door opened, and he was unprepared.

The two both settled though as Danwe entered, bolting the door behind her. At once, their guards dropped again. It was still safe. There was still no threat. Everything, at least for the night, was okay.

“Danwe?” Xeik asked. “What is it?”

Lewis stood up. “Okay then. Let’s talk.”

"I won't sugar coat this… It isn't safe for Xeik and I here in Hoja Mesto anymore," Danwe said as she came to sit down upon the edge of Xeik's cot. 

"The Blood Echoes want us both, me dead, and Xeik for something sinister. We are going to have to vanish, and very soon," Danwe summed up. "The longer we linger here, the more at risk you and the others are Lewis," she said as she rubs her neck and tosses her hair out of her eyes. 

"We won't be able to tell anyone where we are going, but I'll be sure to leave a nice false trail so as to take suspicion off anyone here," she explained. 

"That being said… I know there are things weighing on each of you about tonight. I interrupted something when I came in…"