To A Thief - Chapter 7: Merciless Training

Having woken up from his reverie, Stiff now faces his training objective with full-focus. Can his motivation and Draven's skills above his own be enough to take on this task?

I don't exactly know what had just happened to me during my black out, but I felt like I could take on the world now.

I guess in the end I wasn't giving myself enough credit. I had been training with the thief's dagger up until now anyway, so I had no excuse to be a slouch.


Stiff stood tall, looking each of the four beastmen that stood before him in the eyes.

"Who's next?" He asked.

An orc with what looked like some sort of sack over its head with orcish designs approached him, holding a wooden staff.

"A caster-type, huh?" He said, examining the orc's movements.

As the orcish caster began to chant a spell, a glowing aura surrounded it. The magic would build up from this aura and soon unleash its powerful spell.

"Shoot, gotta get to it fast!" Stiff thought as he ran straight for it. But before he could reach it, the orc's casting was interrupted by an iron dart that zipped past Stiff's head and into the orc's hand, making it drop its staff in pain.

Looking back, Stiff saw Draven standing there with an extended arm. He had shot the dart at the orcish mage to prevent it from unleashing a possible deadly spell. He looked at Stiff in acknowledgment.

"Hey, thanks!" Stiff called out.

Draven gave a light smirk and shook his head. "Just don't get too carried away, fool. If you're a thief, act like one."

Stiff grinned and turned back to the incoming orcs. "I'll keep that in mind. But I'm sure a couple of nimble thieves like us have an advantage over big, slow punks like these guys." He stated, continuing his run towards the orcish caster and pushing his feet off the ground towards the target and aiming his dagger directly at its throat.

Bullseye.

The orc fell dead just as the last one in a matter of seconds.

Standing in front of the two corpses, Stiff was joined by Draven who now stood beside him.

"Guess it can't be helped.." Draven muttered, seeing that there was no more room for a silent approach. 

The two ran for both orcish scouts, taking one for each. Stiff stood in between the orcs for a second, allowing them to target him and swing before shortly rolling out of the way so that they may whack each other upside their big heads with those clubs of theirs. It worked. They grunted loudly and clutched their heads.

"These guys really are stupid!" Stiff laughed as he readied his dagger.

Draven side-stepped out of the way as one of the orcs swung in a daze after the hard knock to the head. As its club hit the ground, he hopped onto the wide end and used the force of it being pulled back up by the orc to leap into the air, landing on its shoulders and directly thrusting his dagger into the back of the orc's neck, killing it instantly. He jumped off with a swift flip as the orc fell to the floor.

"Show off.." Stiff mumbled, looking to the orc who now began to swing at him  after catching its bearings from the previous blow. "Whoa! Take it easy big fella!" He exclaimed as the orc swung high and low at him, although making it easy for Stiff to just jump or duck from the massive club. His dodging didn't look quite as fancy as Draven's, but he was avoiding the blows nonetheless.

"Shoot, with this guy going on a frenzy like this it's hard to find an opening..." Stiff thought aloud before something caught his eye. "Oh?"

It was the all-too-familiar glimmer of gil coming from the inside of a pouch hanging from the orc's ragged sash. Taking the opportunity to snatch it as he rolled away from another blow, he turned to the orc and bounced the gil pouch in his hand. "Pretty hefty bag of gil, I would say.."

The orc suddenly stopped its swinging and gave a confused grunt, looking down at its sash and then back at the hume thief with an enraged growl.

"Sheesh, what does an orc need gil for anyway? If you want it that bad.. then take it!" Stiff shouted as he threw the gil pouch over its head.

The orc went completely out of its way to try and grab it as it flew across the air, giving Stiff enough time to sprint behind it and thrust the end of his dagger at the back of its neck similar to Draven's attack, felling the orc instantly and cleanly.


Upon falling to the floor lifelessly, the pouch of gil landed on top of the orc's head.

"Money isn't everything, you know.." Stiff said, walking over to the orc's body and taking the gil pouch on its head, bouncing it in his hand. "Unless you are me." He grinned.

Moku sighed and crossed his arms in front of him, shaking his head. "Tch, such dirty antics.. so typical of a thief; exposing one's weakness and using it to their advantage. As such, even beastmen have a knack for gil. In other words, you did a great job. For a thief, anyway." He grinned at Stiff.

Stiff gave a smug smirk and spun his dagger in his hand before sheathing it in its holster and placing the gil pouch in his belt satchel. "Thanks much! Who doesn't?"

"Draven, you showed the utmost level of agility and accuracy for someone of your experience. That was an amazing display. A thief must also be quick on his feet, taking his enemy by surprise in the quickest and most evasive way possible." Moku commended.

Draven just remained quiet, sheathing his blade in its holster and giving a light nod.

"However.." Moku began. "Your teamwork is downright horrible. I've never seen such a pathetic display of co-operation in my whole life."

Both Draven and Stiff were taken aback by this assessment, shooting a glance at each other before looking back at Moku in confusion.

"Remember, this isn't a race." He continued. "The whole time the two of you focused solely on your own displays." He mumbled, rubbing his chin but then quickly looking back up. "Well, there was a second or two where you two did utilize the advantage of being in a group. When Draven interrupted that caster's spell with one of his darts.. thanks to Draven you might have been saved, Stiff." He stated.

"Well, I.." Stiff stumbled over his words, rubbing the back of his neck and looking to the side. What Moku said was too true.

"Not only that, but to think you charged directly towards the enemy.. you MUST be considerate of your group members at ALL times, Stiff! Put yourself in a position where you are to sneak into a base full of elite orcish warriors.. those which could kill you with so much as looking at you. Had you been compromised, so too, would your group members." He said firmly. "The life of a group is in the hands of a single member.. Teamwork! It is more essential than anything else in this world!"

Stiff sighed and looked once more at Draven before looking away. "I got it already.. I won't do it again."

Draven simply listened on. He looked displeased with the assessment, but he took the lecture to heart. "Yeah.."

Moku sighed once more and pointed his little tarutaru hand at both of them. "From here on out, we enter the base. I will no longer offer support. The climb to the top of Ghelsba Outpost will depend solely on both your abilities. As well as conquering Warchief Vatgit." He said. "Now, Stiff.. let me have a look at your side. You took quite a blow there.. don't want you going through this next part of your training with any flaws." He demanded.

Stiff blinked, remembering the blow he had taken that had knocked him unconscious. He didn't even stop to think about it until now. He must have only been out for seconds despite that "dream" taking so long.

"Oh, right.." He muttered, lifting his shirt and showing his side where the club had struck.

Moku's eyes went wide in surprise. "What..?"

Draven rose a brow upon noticing it as well.

"What is it? Is it bad?" Stiff asked, feeling a bit nervous.

"There's nothing.. not even a slight bruise." Moku replied in amazement. "A blow like that should have at the least fractured your ribs.. You must be either really lucky, or have bones of steel, my friend." He said, but even thinking that to be farfetched. There had to be at least some bruising.

Stiff thought back to his "dream", remembering the bit with Sister Eri bringing her hand to his side and healing that area. "Could that have been..?" He thought to himself for a moment before shaking his head. "No, of course not.."

"Okay, well.. anyway, it's getting much later than I have hoped it to be for today. I wanted to at least have the first floor of the outpost cleared by today.. but we'll just have to stay a day behind. We'll call it a day for now. I'm sure I'm not the only one starving here.." Moku smiled helplessly.

"Alright, food!" Stiff exclaimed. His stomach had been rumbling since they arrived at San d'Oria some hours ago.

Draven didn't admit it, but he was actually pretty hungry too. He had been looking forward to getting on with his training to care about eating.

Later that night..

Stiff laid on the soft grass of Ronfaure next to the campfire. They would be spending their days here until Moku deems the two thieves ready for the next step. Everything was a bit silent, save for the singing of the animals from the night.


Sister Eri.. are you at least a little proud of me, yet?

 I'm finally getting back at them.. at the ones who.. took you from me.


A bit of rustling from the other side of the campfire caused him to look up. It was Draven who had sat up. Stiff didn't know if he should continue pretending to be asleep, or if he should say something. The two had been so indirect with each other; there were hardly any words that had been spoken between them. But before he could decide, Draven spoke.

"Can't sleep?" He asked simply in his silent tone.

It took Stiff a moment to realize he was talking to him, and so he finally responded. "Er, no.. heh, I'm too excited about tomorrow." He replied as he sat up. "You?"

"Huh. I dunno.. I guess." He said, resting his arms up on his own knees and looking into the fire. "I just wanna get out of here already; I want to move on."

The look in Draven's eyes seemed to show that he had a set path in front of him already, unlike Stiff whom just followed it as it stretched onward.

"Yeah.. me too. I wanna see the rest of the world; I wanna see it all." Stiff nodded as he now looked into the fire as well. "Who knows what kind of battles I'll be getting into years from now." He grinned.

"Huh, whatever." Draven replied, losing himself in his own thoughts for a minute or two.

The tension began to slowly rise again once more as the two stared silently into the fire. Laying himself back down on the grass, Draven finally asked, "So, why see the world as it is now? Haven't you seen enough during your travels here.. that's basically all there is to it."

Stiff kept his gaze on the warm fire for a bit longer before deciding to tell him. "Well.. there's more to it then that. It's sort of a promise I made.." He began.


I don't know why I told Draven my story. We hardly knew each other, much less spoken to each other.. yet here I was, revealing my tragic past to this guy.

I think it had something to do with the look in his eyes.. they were a lot like mine in a way. They seemed empty. I think I was beginning to understand a little what Moku had meant.

So I told him everything: Being born an orphan, the invasion at the orphanage, Sister Eri, the man who set my path in motion.. I even told him about the events that have taken place since I met Moku.


"Barrel Strike..?" Draven said with a light smirk as Stiff told him about the incident with the pirates and him making up a random name for such a clumsy attack.

"Hey, gimme a break I was lost in the moment alright?" Stiff chuckled helplessly, rubbing the back of his neck.

Draven sat there silently for a moment on the edge of saying something but in the end, unable to say so. Instead, he laid back down and turned his head to the side, facing away.

"Sounds like you've gotten a lot better.." Was all he said. "Anyway, we'd better get some sleep lest you fall asleep during training tomorrow. You probably would, too.."


It was kinda weird being told that by a guy like Draven. But it also felt good being praised and all. I guess it just feels good to have somebody acknowledge your progress.

I wonder what Sister Eri thought of me now..


Stiff smiled at the compliment and laid back down on his arms, crossing them behind his head. "Right. Warchief Vatgit will be going down by the end of this week.." He vowed, looking up at the stars until his eyes slowly began to close.

A small crunch followed by a bit of munching ensued.

"... Stiff?"

"Nompe, it'sm Mokvu.. *gulp* Sorry, I was still a little hungry." Moku said with a mouthful as he chewed on some of their left-over roasted rarab.

Day 2 - A Fixed Attempt

The very next early morning when it was still night out, Moku had the two young thieves use the element of surprise. It was kinda creepy, but when you were out in the open world you were expected to be ready for combat day and night.

In the first floor of the outpost stood many trees that spread out along the open area. Using these trees, Stiff and Draven kept out of sight from many patrolling orcish scouts who were the greenest fighters from the outpost. They used hand signals to let each other know from afar when to strike an unsuspecting target.

Moku had cast an invisible spell over himself and stood in an unknown section of the floor where he would be left unseen.

The two handled the orcs in this first floor without being seen save for the second they struck an enemy. They achieved this state of no alert by dragging their victims' bodies out of sight and in between the trees.


I dunno what it was, but we were both so in-tune this time around. Maybe it was Moku's lecture..

Or maybe it was because we were finally starting to understand each other a little better. Whatever it was, we were making one hell of a number on these orcs.


"It seems the two have finally started grasping the concept of teamwork a bit.." Moku smiled to himself as he watched from a distance.

Stiff was still a bit clumsy with his kills, but he tried to pick up the maneuvers off of Draven. He seemed to aim straight for the back of the neck, delivering insta-kills.

As an orc neared Stiff's tree, he gripped his dagger tightly and prepared to make this a kill that was just as swift. Once close enough, he spun out from behind the tree but felt it pierce tough wood.

The orc had parried the attack with its club!


Jumping back; now detected, Stiff gritted his teeth. "Damn.. you orcs aren't as stupid as you look, are you?" He mumbled.

They might have been slow, but they do pick up on what they see. This one apparently knew it would be ambushed from behind the trees.

The orc just growled in response, swinging its large wooden club at Stiff who dove out of the way feeling the force of the swing brush wind against his face.

"But you're still slow as hell!" He shouted as he rolled on the ground and chucked his dagger directly at the orc's throat before it could raise its weapon once more.

The orc let out a whistled breath as it choked, falling to its side and dying momentarily with the dagger sticking out its throat.

Catching his breath, Stiff wiped some sweat from his brow and looked back up to see Draven standing before him. Looking at his collective face, he expected him to say something smart about the kill he had just made. 

Instead, Draven gave him a light smirk and held out his hand towards Stiff to help him up.

Stiff was surprised at first but shortly grinned in response and took Draven's hand firmly, jumping back up to his feet.

 Removing his invisible spell, Moku hopped off the ledge he had been standing on and made his way daintily over to the two who were hiding the body after Stiff had retrieved his dagger from its neck.

Dawn had already broken.

"Now then! That'll be it for now. They'll be sending in a new batch of scouts most likely to continue patrolling the first floor later. You'll be taking them out too. Tomorrow morning you'll be starting at the second floor of Ghelsba Outpost. Let's head back to camp."

Day 3 - Warmachine

The next morning, the trio made their way into the second floor of Ghelsba. This area was very open and had no trees like the first floor did, rather, it had a couple of orcish tents and a watch tower in the center. The orc tents were spread out near the walls of the entire circular floor. For now, the three hid behind the pillars that held the arch over the entrance of this floor.

"There's not much cover area here.." Draven observed as he scanned around. "Not many spots to use for a surprise attack."

"You can't complain." Moku said silently. "When you're facing the enemy in the open world, you're going to have to make due with what you have. But in this case, it doesn't matter. This portion of your training is going to focus on something else. There are no orcs on this floor." Moku said, motioning the two thieves to make their way into the open area.

Stiff and Draven made their way into the open area, approaching the tower in the distance. As they got closer to it, a horn that could only be heard from the second floor sounded out. The sound stopped the two thieves in their tracks.

Shortly after, a loud rumbling and what sounded like a roar cut through the silence. It was coming from a wide cavern in the southern wall of the mountain surrounding the orcish outpost.

Fire burst out of the cavern in a focused manner, not really like a fire spell but in a way that made it seem as though the fire was somehow "hurled" at the two, who promptly jumped out of the way just in time.

"What the hell is that!?" Stiff called out upon rolling on the floor.

"I don't know.." Draven shortly answered.

"Prepare yourselves! An Orcish Warmachine approaches..! These are rare contraptions built by the orcs themselves. They were once used as cannons to break down the borders of many towns and cities, though they have aged and broken down over the years so I doubt this one is too strong." Moku shouted. "Still, it will kill you if you get caught in a direct assault from it, so get ready. This is your next part of your training: Using your surroundings! Failure will result in death."

It was unknown where Moku's voice came from, as he had been invisible. He only spectated as the training ensued.

Stiff couldn't help but feel a bit of fear as the Orcish Warmachine made its way out of the cavern and into the open area.

It was quite large in size, about the mass of a hut. Its orcish wooden designs were very apparent, and it had a large "mouth" that was aligned with sharp teeth and would open up shooting out that fire it had done so a few seconds ago. It seemed to almost roar like a beast whenever it spit its fire out in bursts.

The Warmachine rode towards the thieves with small tank-like wheels and two wooden arms portruding out of it with what looked like spiked-buzzsaws at the end of each most likely used to cut down defenses.

"How are we supposed to damage that..?" Was all Stiff could bring himself to ask. A mere dagger would do nothing against such a machine.

"We can't.. we have to use our surroundings." Draven stated as he holstered his steel dagger and began to look around. "We don't exactly have too many to choose from.."

"S**t.." Stiff cursed under his breath. "Here it comes!"

_______________________________________________________________________________
Stiff and Draven are forced to face an entirely new type of enemy- one whom renders their small daggers useless.

How will they face this new threat?

Stay tuned for Chapter 8: Warchief Wreckers

Author's Note

Comments and Reviews MUCH appreciated! :)