Anya wandered out her little tunnel like she always did, and after a long day of doing absolutely nothing, she was buzzing for the night ahead. Sage had been out of the castle for about a two weeks, and while she was glad that he was back where he belonged, Anya had gotten used to seeing him everyday. If you knew the girl, you could say it was almost like she missed him, even though they would get to go for their little wonder in the evenings. Still, the last few nights had felt... off. They would do the normal. Explore a little, try again with the water and maybe a little training here and there, but there was an overwhelming sensation that they were being watched... very similar to the one she felt when she had first started going out to see him. Nothing bad had come of that though, so Anya brushed it off. Anya went straight through the woods and towards the lake, where Sage would without a doubt be waiting. She had gotten into a habit of trying to surprise the boy by sneaking up behind him, though she had been unsuccessful so far, it didn't mean she would stop tonight. Anya paused when she spotted Sage, tip toeing around behind him before edging closer, eventually putting her hands on his shoulders in a swift movement to try and scare him. She let out a sigh when she got no reaction, and just gave a grin. "Evening, Tavern boy!" She squeaked excited ited, looking down at him for a moment before sitting down just next to him. As she moved, she felt a small shiver go down her spine, like a pair of eyes were burning into her back... she wondered if Sage could feel it too. "Anything planned for tonight?" She asked with a slightly cocked head.

Sage tilted his head backwards with a grin. "You're getting better, but you still can't focus your breathing enough to sneak up on me." He thought for a second and shrugged. "It doesn't matter to me. We can walk around or take a day to just sit by the lake and relax. Its up to you " He felt uneasy, though he wasn't completely sure why. The lake was generally safe, but someone could always come down here, and there were lots of places for people to hide. He didn't like what he felt then, and he wanted to keep Anya relatively close tonight...the atmosphere had the same tense feel he was used to...like the calm right before a huge storm hit. He was just waiting for the storm.

Anya sat crossed-legged for a moment, lightly biting her bottom lip in thought. "I suppose we could chill out here for a bit. Maybe we could have another go at swimming?" She breathes out airily. Thanks to Sage, she had gotten pretty good at it... well, not good, but she could lay flat without freaking out for a little while. She gave Sage a sly grin. "One day, Sage. One day I'm going to get you." The girl chuckled lightly as she peered out into the lake. She knew the chances of actually surprising the boy seemed slim. He was so aware of everything that went on around him... nothing got past Sage, but Anya could dream. And although the fear of being watched had unsettled her on the way to the lake, she felt a little more at ease with Sage because of it.

Sage chuckled and nodded. "That's fine with me." Then he stood up and offered her a hand up with a teasing grin. "In your dreams, kid," he laughed, knowing full well they were the same age. As soon as Anya was up he heard the whoosh of air and turned slightly, catching a knife that was only a few inches from his face. He scowled slightly. "If you're going to try and throw a knife at my head, can you at least aim better," he called out to the person that threw it. "Thanks for telling me where you're hiding though, I do appreciate it." As he said that, he quickly flicked the knife back at the man, who fell out of the tree. Sage didn't watch to see whether he got up or not, one because he didn't particularly care, two because he knew he had hit the man in the chest so it was highly unlikely he was alive, and three, because now there were two other men converging on them, both with huge longswords and large, bulky figures. It was a good thing Lizzie had decided not to come, then, because watching two people would be harder. Without a word, Sage sprang at the two men. One fell and scrambled away quickly. The other was a much better swordsman, and as him and sage stepped back to asses each other the man looked over at Anya. "That's a pretty piece you have there, little boy. Dontcha think a real man should have er?" Sage just cocked his head and stared the man down, quite a bit of anger burning in his eyes. "You're not going to touch her," he hissed, his voice quiet and low but with enough force to make the man step back slightly before returning to his position. He said nothing but send the sword Sage's way, and he blocked it easily. They exchanged blows, but they weren't really fighting, not yet. They were just testing each other out.

Anya went stiff for a moment, trying to process what was going on around her. Sage had jumped into action relatively quickly, but the men seemed to be everywhere. Everything inside her wanted her to run. To go somewhere safe, where she could hide away from everything until it was over... but Sage was there. She trusted his ability to fight the men off, and Anya felt safe with him because of it... or as safe as one could feel in this situation. While he seemed perfectly capable of looking after himself, she found herself worried that something would happen to him if she left... although, her presence hadn't exactly helped by the looks of things. The men wanted something, and it sounded like it was her.

Sage felt out the man, and the other man seemed to have felt him out too. They parted slightly, the air thick with tension, before Sage lept at the man and broke it. Now the actual fighting had started, with both of them going at it with quite a bit of their strength. The other man had the advantage of size and weight, but sage was used to that. He was quicker, and plenty strong enough to keep up a high speed while landing hits in. They were both master swordsmen though, and the other man was even better than the few castle guards sage had fought. He briefly wondered if all the castle guards were at that skill level, then refocused on the right after the man almost made contact. It was a fast,vicious fight, both of them going at it with the intention of killing the other...neither of them would back down in this. Sage was enjoying it a bit though....he almost never got matched up with someone almost as good or as good as he was, and it felt great to be able to leap and spin and fight someone with equal talents. He could let himself loose, and do the things he normally wouldn't get a chance to do. The light shined in his eyes like it rarely ever, did, and a smile stretched across his face despite the tense situation. It wasn't a happy or friendly one though, as happy as he felt...it was more of a snarl, really. He knew he could beat this man, he just had to outlast him. He was big and heavy, which meant he shouldn't be able to go at this speed sage was pushing him at for very long.

Anya watched for a moment, her breathing shortening slightly as she took a few steps back, slightly giving into her instincts to run. She wanted to stay - to make sure the boy got out of this unharmed. Sage was talented... she knew that, but so was this other guy. He didn't seem like he was from the area... the lower-class villages. He was dressed respectfully, not well by any means, but he didn't look like he was wearing a sack of sorts. He had had some form of training, but Sage had experience... surely that meant that Sage had the upper hand. He was smiling, and Anya didn't know exactly what that meant, but it was surely a good thing. The girl took a breath before taking another step back, about to turn around when she felt an arm wrap tightly around her waist. Were there four of them? It was odd neither Sage nor Anya had noticed another one creeping about. The girl squeaked and wriggled around for a few moments before the arm tightened to the point that it hurt. Anya wanted to shout or scream, but she couldn't get anything out... not that it would help at all. A callous snicker came from whoever was holding onto her, followed by a taunting voice. "Yer not from here, are ye sweet lass?" The voice cooed, scratchy, and slurred like it had been drowned with a drink. "Make this easy 'n stop ye strugglin' and we'll take you someplace nice," The voice dripped with malice, which only sent Anya into even more of a panic. She tried to control her breathing, reminding herself of the little pocket knife Sage had given her. She had tucked it up in her sleeve, in case she ever needed it. It was safe to say, that right now it had a small purpose. Anya silently shook it from her sleeve until it fell down into her hand. The girl took a breath, flipping it open before using it to stab the man, making him release her so that she could get away. She backed up against a tree so that no one could sneak up on her again. Her eyes were like that of a deer in the headlights, quite clearly terrified. The guy got up again, holding his arm as it dripped with blood before staring at Anya and marching towards her. "You little bitch." He snarled, which only sent one thought through Anya's mind. Shit.

Sage wasn't paying a whole lot of attention to Anya, since fighting this guy was taking most of his focus. He was barely faster than the man, which meant he had to pay attention to what the man was trying to do, or he'd most likely get himself cleaved in half. When heard Anya's yelp, though, he risked looking over at her, and where he saw the fourth man he cursed himself. He should have known they would try something like that ... They weren't from the slums, which meant they would have formed a plan to make sure they got what they wanted. And it looked and sounded like that thing was Anya. Well, it wasn't going to happen. Not while he was still alive. A kind of furious growl rose in his throat and turned into some sort of enraged scream and he kept at the man he was fighting, abandoning all forms of cation and just jumping into the man and sending his dagger ripping through the man's chest. He didn't stop to see what damage he had done, the amount of blood on his hand and dagger told him what he needed to know. He didn't miss a beat scrambling over towards Anya and the other man, who by now had a knife in his hand. He was hurt though, and Anya's knife had blood on it. Good for her. He couldn't help but feel satisfaction that Anya had over ome her fear enough to stab the man. Though, she quite ovbiyhad no idea what to do next. Sage was still halfway across the clearing from the when the man raised his hand to strike, clearly intending to knock Anya out so he could take her quietly. Sage jumped in between them at the last second, shoving Anya to the side and taking the hit. It knocked him backwards into the tree, and he fell and rolled clear of the situation to give himself the second he needed for his vision to clear. It was a good thing he knew how to take a hit, or he would have been out cold. He struggled to his feet, panting by now, but planted himself firmly between the man and Anya, who he had shoved onto the ground in his haste to get her out of the way.

Anya watched the man as he edged closer, pointing her knife out with a shaky hand. It wasn't clear what she was planning to do with it, though. Even though Sage and Anya had been training, and she had gotten a little bit braver with the knife, it didn't mean she was very good with the thing. Admittedly, even if she tried to stab the guy again, she would most likely have missed. He wasn't a small guy either, so that didn't say very much about her. The girl heard Sage's enraged yell and blinked for just a moment, trying to clear her head a little, but she opened her eyes again a fist was coming down on her. She flinched, tilting her head to the side before she felt herself being shoved to the ground. When she finally sat up, all she could see was Sage scrambling to his feet. What had he done that for? He had only just recovered from his previous injuries, he didn't need to accumulate any more and make himself any worse just to protect her from whoever these men were. He looked tired and out of breath, so why would he put himself through another fight? If Anya went missing, people would notice and the castle would have a search party out... though if that happened when they found her, the chances were that she wouldn't be in a very good state, not by the way the guy had spoken to her. When she looked back, the man was charging at Sage, a very clearly frustrated look on his face.

Sage sighed and gave the man a bored look as he charged him and waited until the man was almost on top of him before slipping to the side easily. That was mostly because it was a good way to avoid the large, bulky, and pretty slow man, who acted more like a drugged bull than a human, he thought. The other reason was that he had dropped his dagger when he hit the tree, and with the man struggling to slow down and turn around, he had time to reach over and scoop it up. The man charged him again and this time Sage let the man bowl him over, but hooked his legs around the man's knocking him over as well. They rolled about on the ground for a moment as they both tried to keep fighting while also figuring out where limbs were and what position they were in. Or at least sage was...the man was more fist than brain. Whatever...Sage needed the man to punch him, so he opened his chest area up. Once he did that, Sage could stab him and the fight would be over, with all of the four men dead....they would have kept coming back if he had left them alive. Once the fourth man was dead, Sage wriggled out from underneath the heavy body and crawled over to Anya. "You alright? They didn't hurt you, did they?" His breathing was heavy, but most of that was from worry that Anya had somehow gotten hurt rather than exercise. Only one of the men was good at fighting, and while the fighting had tired him out, he was much more worried about Anya than himself. He had a cut across his cheek from when he hit the tree and a few other along his torso and arms, but none of the men had given him a worse injury than a decently bad bruise.