Free Warded Mage (Reawakening Saga) by D.W. Jackson

uses both sword and magic, the rune of a dark assassin might just aid you especially considering that you plan to face the Brotherhood.” 
    The dark assassins, just like he had fought with back in the caverns with Crusher. They had been the hardest fight of his life. Not only were they skilled with a blade they could simply vanish in the darkness taking either part of their body or all of it. It made killing them extremely difficult. Their only real weakness was that in light, they were all but normal fighters. “I will need to train to fully understand the uses of the rune. Do you think it would be possible to meet with one of the dark assassins for a little help?”
    Sae-Thae laughed, “I don’t see that it would be a problem, other than you are short on time.”
    “Short on time?” Thad asked slightly confused.
    “Yes there is a limit to how long a mage on his pilgrimage is allowed to stay within one of our cities. It is an old law set down by our god. You see , cities used to try and delay the mages as long as possible to increase the chance to have more offspring. With the time spent reading through the different tomes and preparing your rite you only have four days left before you must depart.”
    Everything Sae-Thae said made sense though he wished he had just a few more days to add to the time he had left. Four days seemed like such a short time to finish learning everything he wanted to. That always seemed to be the major problem in his life there was never enough time. “Then I better skip sleeping as much. When can I meet with the assassins?”
    “I will set up a meeting for later this day. Using your blessing will take some getting used to. It is unlike using magic normally, though many of the feats you can accomplish using the gift can be performed through magecraft. The gift just allows you to use it with much less effort on your part. Once you get the hang of it using your new gift will become almost second nature.” Sae-Thae said as he went back to reading the book in front of him.
    With little else to do until his meeting with the dark assassins Thad pulled one of the many books he had marked for further study and began reading. It was one of the many books from mages way before the time of the Fae War, one that specialized in the earth element. He was extremely skilled and had devised a host of spells for all occasions, though most of them had few uses in battle. Just as Sae-Thae had said, it was looked down upon during the time of the mages tower to use one’s power to hurt others. While few of the books had spells he could use against the Brotherhood he was beginning to understand more about how the elements formed and worked together.
    Time passed by quickly and Thad soon found himself standing in front of one of the many barracks that belonged to the Warrior’s Hall. It was one of the nicer barracks that Thad had noticed ringing the large central courtyard. The dark assassins were supposed to be the elite forces of the Vathari warriors. Thad rapped on the entrance door timidly as his nerves began building. It was one thing to fight against trained warriors another to go to their home and talk with them, for some reason it felt as if he was walking to his death.
    When the door opened Thad found himself face to face with an overly large Vathari. Thad’s body tensed and the Vathari reached his hand toward him and gripped him hard on the shoulder. “I see our new brother has come to visit us.” The Vathari said his voice harsh and emotionless. “Come in.”
    Once i nside, the barracks opened up into a large common room where at least two hundred other dark assassins were gathered drinking and enjoying themselves. “Brothers I have brought our new brother to greet his family.” The Vathari said boomingly. The common room grew quiet and Thad could hear as many of the cups of ale were clanged against the surfaces of table, then everything erupted in a roar as the assassins came to greet him.