<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>Chapter 7~ On the Hunt</span>
Sydney didn't know how to react. She hadn't used a sword in a long time. It had been at least a few years. She hoped that her sparring skills hadn't gotten too rusty, but the only way she could find out was to spar with Gareth. She finally snapped back into reality, and noticed that Gareth was coming straight at her with his sword. She hadn't really used a sword in battle before. She was better with guns. However, the times she had used a sword, she had been pretty good with it. She waited until he was closer to her before she made her move. As he was closing in, she lunged at him. This surprised Gareth, and he stopped dead in his tracks.
"What's she trying to do?!?" he wondered.
He countered her attack with his own. They were clashing swords, trying to gain the upper hand. Both knew that the first one to make a mistake would be the loser.
"Hmm... looks like I'm going to have to force him to make his own mistakes..." Sydney thought.
She jumped back, away from him, to catch her breath. This puzzled Gareth, but he still did not hesitate to attack. He ran straight at her, ready to take her down.
"Why is she stopping for a break?!? She's making it all too easy for me..." he thought.
As he came within striking distance, she ducked, and swing-kicked his legs. This cause him to loose his balance, and he was soon on the ground. As he tried to get up, he found it deficult to do so, because Sydney had her sword pointed right between his eyes.
"You loose" she said, before extending a hand to help him up.
He took her hand, and he figured it out as she was bringing him to his feet.
"You tricked me. You pretended to be out of breath, so that I would attack. You knew that would give you the opportunity you needed to finish this sparring match" he said.
"Winning a sparring match isn't all about strength, and being a master with a sword. It's also about strategy. You have to come up with many plans, just incase one backfires. But the hard thing is, you have short time to come up with these plans. On the field, you have to be able to think quickly, while not letting your guard down. I knew that is you saw an oppening, you'd attack. I used that to my advantage" she explained.
He brushed his clothes off.
"I promised I would give you the Rambaldi carving if you sparred with me. You sparred with me, you defeated me, and now, I will give you what I promised" he said.
She nodded.
"Follow me" he said, leading her out of the room, and back into the hallway.
<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>Veara</span>
Veara knew Sydney liked to run. She knew Sydney liked to explore. Usually, those to things got her in trouble. If it had been at any other time, Veara would not be so worried. It was because he was searching for her, because he was close by, that she was scared. She kept thinking that he got her, that it was over. That they had lost her for good. She shook her head.
"What am I thinking?!? Think positive thoughts, Veara! Think positive thoughts..."
Even if Rambaldi hadn't gotten to her yet, he would know that she was gone by now, and he would be on the hunt too. She didn't have much time, and she hadn't found anything that even came close to telling her where Sydney was.
"Man, I hope Michael has found something..."
<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>Gareth's Mansion</span>
Sydney was huffing and puffing now. She had walked up 6 sets of stairs, gone threw a whole bunch of corridors, and she lost count of how many rooms they passes on the way.
"Why couldn't he put all the important stuff close together?!?" she thought, as she continued to follow him.
After a couple more minutes, he stopped infront of a door.
"Wait here" he said, as he walked into the room, and shut the door behind him.
Sydney leaned against the wall, and waited. She waited 5 minutes, and he still wasn't out yet.
"What the hell is he doing in there?!? It doesn't take that long to grab a stupid artifact, and come out, does it?!? Come on, Gareth. I haven't got all day..."
She waited a few more minutes, and he still wasn't out. She decided to looked around. She turned a corner, and walked down the hall.
"I'll remember where that room is" she said to herself.
She continued walking, until she came to some stairs. She decided to walk up them. When she reached the top, she noticed that this floor was a lot darker then the other floors. She could barely see, and there was only a faint light.
"Why the hell is it so dark up here?!?" she asked herself.
She continued to follow the light, since she couldn't see where she was going. She came to the source of the light; a lamp. There was a lamp on a table in the corner. Right next to the lamp was a door. It said restricted in big, bold letters. She also noticed that there was a red light coming from behind the door.
"Should I open it?" she asked herself.