47 Clever Plan (2/2)

Sylvia stared at me furiously, but I could notice just a tinge of genuine shock in her eyes. She is intelligent and has a knack for attacking when a person's guard is down. I bet she rarely fails, but now she failed twice to the same person. It's no wonder she is a little shocked. Honestly, her plan was almost flawless, if it had been anyone else it would have worked.

However, as someone who was once among the weakest on Agartha my survival largely depended on understanding how other people think. Over ten years I honed my ability to understand how people think as a self defense mechanism. It doesn't work 100 percent of the time, but it has saved me from countless dangers.

After ten years it became second nature to analyze people's actions. I couldn't stop if I wanted to, I would feel defenseless. That's why it stood out when Sylvia suddenly seemed more agreeable. It sent alarm bells blaring in my head. As I opened the door I suddenly realized why she would act that way and why she specifically requested a nail file.

A member of my team in my past life used to have a weird hobby. He loved making weapons out of ordinary objects. He could make spears, axes, bows, just about anything. He said it was so if he was ever captured he could fight his way out. One thing he always said, was that the hardest part was finding something you can use to cut and shape things with. He said a small knife won't get you far in a fight but you can use it to make something better.

In order to stay prepared he kept sandpaper strapped to his under garments. He was a bit of a strange guy. He said sandpaper can sharpen any piece of metal with an edge into a blade. He would say the first thing people do when they capture someone is take away their weapons, so keeping a knife on you is useless. You have to be able to make your own. He mentioned that ceramics, leather, and even cardboard could be used to sharpen metal into a knife.

Ceramics and cardboard haven't been produced in Agartha yet. However, sandpaper has because carpenters need it for their work and it's simple to make. All you need is paper, sand, and glue. Paper is already made, sand is available at Lake Lyenas, and glue is already being produced from the cartilage harvested from local beasts.

Sylvia asked the guards for a nail file. While not widely available Sauer had kept some for his ladies of the night and a nail file is essentially a finer form of sandpaper. The guards got it for her because the request seemed harmless and I told them to fulfill any reasonable request.

In the moment I opened the door all of these facts came together like a light bulb going off in my brain. I wasn't sure how she would attack, but my instincts told me dropping down was safest. I guessed she would follow up with another attack which is why I rolled to the side. The whole process might have lasted a second.

While the guards kept Sylvia restrained I went into the room. Just as I guessed, she made a crossbow. When I heard the click and the sound of something hitting the wall behind me, I figured it was a crossbow. I studied it for a moment. She had used the curved backing of the chair to make the front limb a notch carved out where the bolt would pass. She used one of the chair legs as the barrel with a straight line carved out for the flight groove. The string I assumed came from the disassembled clothes strewn across the bed. The latch that held the string in place was a carved out piece of wood from the seat of the chair. Another piece of string ran from the latch to the door and the whole crossbow was propped on top of the dresser with the book wedged underneath so it would be aimed at my chest.

That's why even though I ducked it still managed to nick my scalp. I placed my hand on top of my head. It stung a little and when I looked there was a small amount of blood. Just a minor cut nothing to worry about. It looked like requesting the makeup and comb was just to cover for the nail file since they were untouched on the bed.

I walked out of the room and looked at the bolt stuck in the wall. It was drooping down but was still stuck in the wood. It's shaft was made from the spindle that held up the arm rest of the chair. It had a notch on the end were the string would go. The arrow head was a sharpened corner from what I think was a bracket used for the bed frame. It was lodged in the spindle and tied with string. She must have used this to carve everything before attaching it here.

She must have known the bolt didn't have enough power to kill me, she just tried to stun and injure me so she could kill me by stabbing me with the stake. I was incredibly impressed with the cleverness and ingenuity of her attack. What kind of training did she receive to be capable of doing this at her age?

Between her stealth and tracking techniques as well as her ability to pull off an intricate multi-layered surprise attack, I had to admit she was extremely talented. However, even though I appreciated her talent, I was furious that she constantly tried to kill me just because I killed her brother in self defense! It was the only thing I couldn't understand about her. Why would she obsess with killing me? She had to understand that I didn't set out to kill her brother. I had originally planned to try to talk to her about this, but now I wasn't in the mood.

I walked up to the guards who were still restraining her, ”From what I can see she had to have made tons of noise preparing this attack. What were the two of you doing? Did you not check on her once?”

The guards looked stunned, ”We.... We.... Just assumed she was throwing a fit like yesterday.”

”Morons! Next time check on her if she makes so much noise! Be careful though, she's dangerous.”

Sylvia was still glaring at me with her arms locked behind her back by the guards.

I glared back and said to the guards, ”Hold her here for a moment.”

After a while I returned with Matilda.

”Matilda want you to oversee this. I want her room removed of anything that can be used to attack and I want her to be restrained. You can turn this room into a cell.”

I had already told Matilda what happened and we agreed that letting her go wasn't an option. However, I didn't want to kill her because I thought she might be useful and Matilda seemed to feel some empathy for her. We agreed to keep her here for now, but we didn't want to mistreat her. I had faith Matilda could accomplish this while minimizing the danger she posed. Surely, through her time in the military she understood how to best handle a situation like this.

”I understand, she won't have the chance to attack you again,” Matilda responded.

”Good.”

I left, I needed rest. I knew the next couple of days would be exhausting. Although, I was a little excited. Not everything was going exactly as planned, but i was getting closer and closer to my goal.